holiday cut-out cookies

This past weekend the kids and I headed to my sister’s house for a cookie decorating party. It was really a few hours to eat cookie dough and spill sprinkles all over Auntie’s floor, but we all sure had fun anyway. This December has been rather odd for me; our house troubles are still ongoing (we are now currently gutting our entire basement and can’t run our furnace in freezing Minneapolis) and my father-in-law has temporarily moved in with us for a bit (to help with said basement and spend time with the kids). All those things combined make me feel slightly displaced – our home still doesn’t feel like ‘home’ to us as we struggle with trying to find root problems and share space. My facebook feed has also been filled with tragedy this past week, adding another layer of sadness. I’ve been listening to a lot of holiday music, finding solace in lyrics of Christmas cheer and hidden thoughtfulness.

The table is set
And all glasses are full
The pieces go missing
May we still feel whole
We’ll build new traditions in place of the old
Cause life without revision will silence our souls

Speaking of Holiday music, my Best of Christmas vol. 3 is now up on 8tracks! You can find Best of Christmas vol. 1 and vol. 2 there also. (Check out Eustace the Dragon’s cover of Justice Delivers Its Gift on vol. 3 – I’m in love with their version. Also! they have a holiday EP out now. It’s worth every dollar.)

And this made me chuckle: James Thurber pens “A Visit from Saint Nicholas IN THE ERNEST HEMINGWAY MANNER” for The New Yorker, December 24, 1927.

Also: 51 Of The Most Beautiful Sentences in Literature to cure a bad day.

We used Food 52’s Holiday Cut-Out Cookie Recipe for our cookies. They were delicious.

Quarterly Co. sent me a lovely box of cookie decorating essentials last week, which is what we put to good use here. The box (curated by Food 52) contained cookie cutters, fancy sprinkles (white pearls, and silver, gold, and green sparkles), icing bags, and also a variety of piping tips. I had heard of Quarterly before but hadn’t checked them out. I must say: what a great idea! Every three months a box arrives in the mail, with handpicked, ‘secret’ items from the curator you selected. “Each product will reflect on the person who selected it, and help inform your understanding of them. So maybe you’ll get the same kind of notebook that your favorite author used to plot her recent bestseller. Or maybe it’s the tea a musician was drinking while he penned a famous track. Or perhaps it’s a secret family cold remedy an artist used while working on a masterpiece. The point is, every object—while uniquely brilliant in its function—will also have a story, and through that story take on new meaning.” I had no doubt that the Food 52 box would be wonderful; anyone who runs the Provisions store has great taste. I’m also very curious about the Book Riot boxes and the For Bookworms box. I think they would make a lovely gifts!

And, while Quarterly did provide me with the box, all opinions (as always) are my own.