CHRISTmased Cookies.

Our sugar cookie decorating day

FINALLY arrived. Santa has been

just a wee bit busy putting the

final touches on the Naughty and

Nice List!!

The men in our home l.o.v.e. sugar

cookies . . . and cannot wait for

the big day.

Most of them frost and sprinkle a

couple and then somehow find

their way elsewhere.

Not Luke, he hangs in there until

the last drop of frosting has

been spread and until the last

sprinkle has landed on the last cookie.

We have really had a wonderful

CHRISTmas season this year

and are so excited for Grandy to

be arriving on Thursday!!!

We have a new little "secret" that

we added to our homemade

frosting this year to keep the

frosting shiny and sparkly!

The boys are counting the minutes

until the BIG DAY . . . We

are so incredibly thankful for our

many, many, many blessings.

Having so much fun as we

celebrate Jesus!

Latest Obsession.

S'mores . . . we.are.hooked.

Something gave us the idea that we

could roast our marshmellows

over the gas stove in the kitchen.

Late at night, our little feet pitter

patter down the stairs to make

these puppies. We even use

the microwave to melt the

chocolate just a little bit.

'Tis the season!

Baby, It's Cold Outside.

How CHRISTmasy is this?!?

Reno has gotten six inches of the

beauuuuuitful white stuff late last

night and all day today.

This is why we moved here!

We are love, love, loving every moment

of it and so excited for the season.

North Star, Truckee California!

CHRISTmasy!! We had so much fun

driving up to cold, cold, cold North Star

ski resort today.

It is absolutely gorgeous up there.

There is no doubt about it . . . It was

C.O.L.D.

We had so much fun toasting s'mores,

ice skating, eating pizza, and sitting

around a roaring bon fire.

We all had so much fun listening to

the carolers as they came by to

sing CHRISTmas caroles, watching

Santa make an appearance in a

one horse open sleigh, and eating more

s'mores.

This is definitely a new Tietjen CHRISTmas

tradition!! We did pretty darn great up

there for desert rats. I was pretty impressed

with the boys . . . they held up great and

had so much fun ice skating.

CHRISTmas Sugar Cookie Baking Day.

Every year we are so excited to

get out the same CHRISTmas cookie

cutters that we have been using for

a bazillion years! We even have two

of Gram's cookie cutters, which, are

our very favorites . . . a bell and a

CHRISTmas tree.

Luke is always excited to punch out

a gingerbread man first . . . it

never fails.

I.heart.my.cookie.cutters.

We used Alton Brown's sugar cookie

recipe this year . . . they are yummy,

but some are a little cracked on top.

It is because he uses powdered sugar

to roll out in rather than flour, just

as Martha suggests.

But the result is cookies that are

a little cracked looking on the top.

However, once these babies get

homemade frosting and sprinkles

on them tomorrow . . .

The Nativity.

Our advent activity calendar

today was to read the book

of Luke containing the story

of Jesus' birth. Reading this

story during the CHRISTmas

season is something that our

family does multiple times

during the busy rush, rush

that this season can bring.

Reading the wonderful

story also brings to mind

some of the most fun

nativity scenes that we

love to collect.

I truly feel that each

one has a special

story to tell relating

the birth of our Savior.

Nativity scenes are great

to collect and display all

year long to remind us of

this awesome CHRISTmas

miracle.

Over the years the nativity

has brought many wonderful

memories as the boys were

little . . .

Tim told of Mary and her

special birth when he was

five years old in his Sunday

School class . . . Luckily,

we were able to come back!?!

One of the boys referred to

the Baby "Cheese Its" . . .

Memories . . . gotta.love.it.

Mistletoe and Holly.

Oh, my goodness!

Our advent calendar activity

today was to purchase

mistletoe.

SIX HOURS later . . .

we have mistletoe!

Celebrating.Jesus!