Christmas Cookies!

Emily invited a few friends over yesterday to decorate Christmas cookies with her. I had visions of little girls sitting nicely at the table decorating cookies (with sprinkles all over the table and the floor and whatnot!), then working on the activity packets I put together of Christmas themed mazes, connect the dots, coloring pages, word searches, and word finds while I prepared lunch. What I did NOT envision was a pack of screaming wild maniacs tearing through my house at top volume and top speed, leaving a trail of dress-up clothes in their wake, all the while bickering over who had what dress-up dress, who had which dress-up shoes, who was "allowed" to wear gloves and who wasn't, etc etc etc. They were loud, rude (to each other), yet overall worked out their own problems and jumped quickly from one issue to the other with very little drama in the end. I hid in the corner and sucked my thumb. ha ha. Not really, but I did keep clear for the most part as they were working things out on their own and having a great time. No one was asking to go home, no one was tattling, no one was being left out... Em's already asking when she can have another cookie party. I think maybe she can have another cookie party after I have a little Vodka party! ha ha ha! Just kidding. It was really really loud and chaotic,but the girls, overall, had a fantastic time and they all put up a fuss about leaving, so that made me feel good! Em hardly stopped talking about it alllll day!

Here's the table I set up. The activity packets are set out underneath their plates of cookies and there are fresh packs of crayons and colored pencils, and plenty of snacks, and they ALL have their own little cups of frosting so they could lick knives and fingers to their hearts content and I didn't have to worry about the spreading of germs... Am I good, or what? ha!


Here's the pack of screaming wild maniacs (minus Lilly, she hadn't arrived yet)


Here's the cookie decorators! Top: Emily, Jared, Lilly Bottom: Rachel, Sydney, Taylor


Here's the finished cookies (same order as the above pictures)


They were all dressed up, pretending to be the dancing girls in the Nutcracker, dancing around the Christmas tree (the little one Emily and Jared still need to decorate!!)


Lilly and Taylor: (I couldn't get anyone to stand still long enough so I don't have many dress-up pictures)


Emily and Sydney:


And Jared refused to be left out of the fun, and got on his pirate costume. And after the fiasco over who got which dress-up shoes, Jared figured it must be a pretty big to-do to have some on, so when he found a discarded pair, he helped himself!! (can we say "blackmail picture?!?!")


Rachel's grandma and Uncle Lenny came to witness the fun, and the little girls decided at some point that Uncle Lenny's attire was a little too bland


He's such a good sport


And Grandma got right into the fun as well!