Rain! It's coming!

We made snowflakes and little men too!

We are supposed to be getting more rain here today and tomorrow. 70% chance, so you know what that means. It reminds me of Oregon and Washington, except the people here love it when it rains. I suppose friends and family up there will be getting more snow and having a white Christmas this year. So I guess you could say the rain is our version of a "white Christmas". So far the skies are clear, but we'll see what happens later. I suppose I should be out doing errands before the rains come. Then there's all the wrapping to be done, and then we need to make a birthday cake for Jesus. It's his birthday tomorrow.

Sunday E's friend Paige came over for a play date in the afternoon. Paige recently changed schools, and now Elise "doesn't have anybody to play with or eat lunch with at school." Heartbreaking, really. We attempted to construct a gingerbread house. We could have used my dad at this point, as the engineering was not thought out well. I knew the thing was going to fall over any minute, so I suggested the kids have a piece of it right away. Personally, I like my gingerbread thick and chewy, not tooth-breaking hard. I also tried to do some crafts with the kids like card-making and making a winter scene (too difficult). Meanwhile, I started to notice a tug-o-war going on between the kids over Paige. It seems they all wanted to play with her, or talk to her, or show her something. After Paige left, A made her a Christmas card and we made our annual Old-fashioned Sugar Cookies. I like this recipe, because the cookies are not too sweet, then after the kids went to bed, we adults iced them and decorated them. N stayed up to make a few "for Santa." They taste just sweet enough with the icing.


Monday I decided it was haircut day, and all the kids got haircuts. They were so well-behaved at the salon, but it could only last so long. So much for the trip to the grocery store. They were so fidgety I had to get the %$#*&@! out of Dodge.

We have (six) oranges on our dwarf tree!


OLD FASHIONED SUGAR COOKIES
1/3c Shortening
1/3c Margarine or Butter
2c Flour
3/4c Sugar
1 Egg
1T Milk
1t Baking powder
1t Vanilla extract
In large bowl, beat shortening and margarine with electric mixer on medium to high speed until well mixed. Add half of flour and all other remaining ingredients. Beat until combined. Stir in remaining flour and mix well. Divide dough in half. Cover and chill 2 hours.
Roll dough out to 1/8-inch thickness on lightly floured surface. Cut into desired shapes. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet and bake in 375-degree oven for 7-9 minutes.


SUGAR COOKIE ICING
1c Confectioners sugar
2t Milk
2t Light corn syrup
1/4t Almond extract
3 drops food coloring, any color
In small bowl, stir together sugar and milk until smooth. Add corn syrup and almond extract, mixing well. If icing appears too thick, add more corn syrup. Divide mix into separate bowls and add food colorings to desired intensity. Paint mixture on cookies or dip cookies into bowl.