Christmas Baking with the Kids!

So today was spent baking Christmas cookies, to enjoy in the lead up and on the day. Although the kids don't really get into the baking side yet, Miss C loves to help decorate them. I keep Mr N away most of the time, he just tends to make a giant mess and the product ends up a disaster, but he is only 3.

So first is the classic shortbread. I made two batches today, one using cornflour and the other using rice flour. I did not like the rice flour shortbread as much. So,  will stick to the cornflour version.

Next came the classic Christmas Trees. We make these every year, just plain vanilla biscuits, cut with christmas tree shapes and then iced with green icing. We then decorated them with colored choc chips and melted chocolate for the trunk. Very yummy and loved by the kids.

These starts were meant to be white, with the metallic cake decorations on them, but we made a decision to make them red, as red is a christmassy color and Mr N's favourite color. And he loves the stars. Although they look more orange in this photo!

And finally, the grown-ups get their own christmas bells, coffee biscuits topped with melted dark chocolate and sprinkled with icing sugar. Absolutely delicious and perfect for the coffee lover, or someone with a more mature palette. Not as sweet as the others, but definately rich!

I think I am done with the baking for now, and the next few days will be about ensuring I have everything I need for christmas lunch, including food and decorations. The turkey is defrosting in the fridge, presents are all wrapped, so there's not too much left to do in the next few days.

Outdoor Knitting

Yesterday was a gorgeous day, Spring is definately in the air! I had the kids outside for a few hours, playing on the swings, slide, trampoline, balls and with Angel, our dog. When they got bored with that, out came some books and the matchbox cars. While my DD read about Wooly Mammoths (and insisted on sharing every word :P) my DS set up his car ramp to race his matchbox cars through the umbrella hole in our Jarrah table. A couple of sandwiches and some fruit and they were content away from the tv which was a miracle in itself.

I, on the other hand, got to enjoy a few hours of "Day Knitting" in one chunk. While outside they let me knit on my black ribbed cardigan which was fantastic. It was so much easier to see in daylight. A lot trickier to see inside unfortunately. But I managed to add a few inches which I'm really pleased with. Just hope it fits at the end! I've never made a cardigan for myself before.

I'm hoping to go outside again today, it's supposed to be another nice spring day, but knowing Melbourne, maybe not! I need to work on my dishcloth blanket and dad's sweater today too, even a couple of rows feels very productive.

Oh and yesterday was a cleaning day too, which followed a baking day! I tidied up a lot of the house, which isn't easy with 2 kids and 2 grown men who quite frankly, can't seem to put anything away. They all have a habit of turning any surface into storage, which gets very cluttered very quickly. A bit of vaccuuming today, some more tidying and hopefully a lot of knitting!

Til next time......Danielle