The Annual Cookie Bake-Off

Each year for the past 10 years, during the week before Christmas my two older grandsons come over to bake and decorate cookies. We began this tradition when the oldest was around four years old, and his brother probably joined us a year or two later.

We also make a gingerbread house-this year it is a gingerbread train.

Here's GS#1 working on construction of the train-we use a kit, it's so much sturdier and saves Grandmother heaps of work! GS#2 broke his arm at football so he decided to focus on the decorating.

Similarly with the cookies-I prepped the dough the previous night and chilled it- big brother rolled dough and cut out cookies since it's a little hard for his brother to do that with one arm in a cast. These are their favorites, the "stained glass cookies".

After an hour or more of cookie dough we needed something less sweet, Costco pepperoni pizza for lunch.

As the years pass and the boys are older, the cookies get more and more "decorated" until now they are loaded with decorations!

So here they are on the way home with the cookie lode! See that huge platter stacked with cookies and a few extra special on a separate plate.

One more pic with Grandmother who is all cookie'd out for the moment! In case you are wondering, the boys are 12 and 14 and the oldest is 5 ft. 11".

After I stacked up all that I could onto that platter for the kids this is what was left for us!

Talk about your uber- decorated cookies!

This week DH drew comment number seven for the vintage apron give-away, that's Jane from "Mamie Jane's" blog so I have sent her an email to see if she would like to have an apron.