amid the cold of winter

like jessi has said, it is a little hard to get in the christmas spirit around here. i think the problem lies in the fact that we are transplants, and this is the first christmas season we are experiencing down here in the valley of the sun. we talked just today, in fact, about how we will probably be bundled up in coats and scarves this time next year, or the year after that. but this year, things are not quite christmas-y yet (wishful thinking. and i don't love the snow, so let's hope it stays that way.) so, to get myself a little more excited, i made sugar cookies! those cookies are a tradition and it definitely wouldn't feel like christmas without them. so i attempted, and they turned out decent. (lately, i have been having fantasies about becoming a domestic goddess - sewing, cooking, decorating... all the fun stuff.)

i tried to be cool like bonny and the pioneer woman and take pictures, but i kept forgetting. so i ended up with one of the beginning, and one of the end. plus 2 in between (one of which jessi took, of me being a mess. it is unavoidable for me, i think.)

this is the amount of cookies we had after making half the dough. this recipe is the most delicious one alive, but it makes enough cookies to feed one million people. and i love them so much i have to restrain myself from scarfing down handfuls at a time, like the cookie monster. too bad i couldn't make jessi take any home. all of those bad boys were left here tempting me (cookie eater - reason #6?)