Christmas Eve

It may be June in the real world...but in my picture archives it is still Christmastime.

We were a little later getting all our Christmas cheer up this season, but better late than never, right?

And when I say we were a little later than usual, I mean we baked our Christmas cookies on Christmas Eve.

And when I say "we," I really mean the kids.

With a little supervision from Daddy of course.

Mostly just to make sure that beaters didn't get licked while still on the mixer.

While the dough was chilling, we went out for our long anticipated "fancy dinner."   At our favorite Indian restaurant.  Because that's what everyone does, right?  Or maybe not.  Nonetheless, ever since one of Ian's co-workers made us some chicken biryani and goat curry, our crew had been begging us to take them to our favorite date night spot.   They gobbled up biryani, korma, and paneer like nobody's business.

Thankfully they left room for cookies.

Thankfully they also saved some patience to create Santa's cookies.

It was a decorating extravaganza.

Some were hit heavier with the sprinkle truck than others.

Of course each child wanted to show off their favorite creation.  And because I totally get that, we let them pose with the one that best reflected their personalities.

Anticipation was high.  Maybe the sugar rush of sprinkles, cookie dough and at least one warm cookie out of the oven added to that.

Finally we managed to get them off to bed.

Not before, of course, a few messages were written for Santa.

But before "not a creature was stirring," could be said, there was a little mess in the kitchen that needed to be tackled.