Christmas Cookie Exchange

After all my partying, I had one more party to host: A church Christmas Cookie Exchange at you guessed it- my home.
Have you ever been to a Christmas Cookie Exchange? It's a fun way to celebrate the season...and here are a few pictures of the beautiful cookies that were exchanged.



Family Friendly Christmas Open House

When I was single, I had more than a few Christmas party invitations every year. The invites dwindled when I got married, and became even less once I had Mr. Wy.
This year I thought it would be fun to host a Christmas Open House at 4pm for my friends who have children. It was a little crazy toward the end, but I really enjoyed myself and I think everyone had a good time celebrating the season and sharing fellowship with each other.

I wanted to host a beautiful party to make my friends feel special. The party was our gift to these incredible parents. I did use paper cups, napkins, and plates but I also used my silver platters and picked some holly from outside to make things look festive.

Have you ever put cloves in oranges? I love the smell and look.

I made a kids tray for the kiddos.

And food for the adults:

Tim made these :)

And gluhwein. My favorite hot spiced red wine drink from Austria. I've made it numerous ways, but this recipe is now my favorite!

Merry Christmas to all my friends. I wish I could have celebrated with all of you!

Cookies, cookies, and more cookies!

So...the annual Holiday Open House in my office was last week.
Oh yes.
It was a big cookie event in the Capitol. I took off the day before to bake like crazy and the finished product was worth it. This year I tried 2 new cookies- both recipes found from the website pinterest. (I love this site, btw)

Here are the mint chocolate cake balls (my new favorite) and the best recipe for the Hershey Kiss Peanut Butter Cookies.

These were the 4 I baked!

And my new favorite ones...Chocolate Covered Ritz Peanut Butter Cookies.

Ok, so bear with me. It was a long week/weekend full of Christmas parties and baking. At my office and at my home. Today is the only day I have time to post so here I go...

Wink Family Christmas

Because I won't be with my parents this year for Christmas, we decided to celebrate early with my older sister and her family. I'ts always a bit active with 6 kids running around the house, but Mr. Wy seemed to enjoy the attention from his older cousins and we had a lot of fun!
Oh, and my mom did another amazing job with cooking both dairy free and gluten free- as well as decorate the house for us. Thanks mom.

Wink family ornament from the 1940ties missing the 'K'

Reading with Grandpa

Log home Christmas decor

Mr. Wy's favorite farm animals.

Teaching Wy about Santa :)

Frosting GF/DF white cookies!

Playing with cousins.

Opening gifts.

Beautiful table.

Family photo.

And late night Christmas show watching.

More pics to come...

Miss Amber

Miss Amber is a good friend, and our live in nanny. Wy adores her.
This southern girl is from Florida. Can you imagine spending your entire life in Florida and then finally braving the cold winter weather in DC?
Amber thought it would be fun to take some DC pics for her Christmas card this year. And I was happy to take the pics! Here's a few of my fav:

Thanks for letting me experiment, Amber!

Christmas Tradition: White Cookies

My Great Grandmother made these cookies. My Grandmother made these cookies. My Mom made these cookies. And now I have made these cookies.
White Cookies. A Raddatz, Wink, and now Schultz family tradition. And oh how I love them.
As far as family traditions go, these cookies were a favorite tradition of mine. I remember once a year during the month of December when my mom would pull out all her old Christmas cookie cutters and I'd frost and decorate cookies with both of my sisters.
A few months before I married Tim, my friends and family threw me a kitchen bridal shower. My mom surprised me with a tin of all the old Christmas cookie cutters. She found the exact ones I used as a child on-line. On Ebay to be exact. Of course, we both cried. It was a beautiful moment. A mother passing down a tradition to her daughter. I hope to do the same.
Here's to Wyatt's first taste of a White Christmas Cookie:

All done!