Apparently I have issues

Happy Wednesday! Are you enduring or embracing these wonderful days leading up to Christmas? Are you making time to be quiet? To enjoy your loved ones?

I made Christmas cookies with my daughter the other day - I was scooping and she was plopping the balls of dough onto the cookie sheet. When I asked her to flatten them, she took the tips of her fingers and squished them down, leaving dents the size of lunar craters in the tops of the cookies that were supposed to look like perfectly round disks (the operative word being 'perfect'). Aaachh! I screeched mildly and her eyes widened with a look that said, 'Mother, chill! It's cookie dough.' (She may have even laughed at me for being so freaked out.)

Lindsey says she doesn't remember but I've always been terrible about cooking with my kids. The mess! The fingers in the mouth! The not-doing-it-my-way. Ugh - it's embarrassing even putting that fact in writing for all three of you to read. I'd much rather you think of me as one of those mothers who loves having their kids sit on the counter while they bake, chuckling warmly at the way they lick the beaters and smear frosting in cute, unrecognizable patterns on sugar cookies. What is wrong with me??

So Lindsey and I had a talk about ways we're alike and different. About strengths and weaknesses. About my tendancy to be a wee bit controlling. About how I want to change. So I let her finish squishing the cookie dough however she wanted. She is 18, after all. As it turned out, it didn't matter one bit because when they baked, the cookies spread and flattened to 1/16" thick chocolate shortbread wafers. Ah well. Que sera sera, I always say.

So I'm trying to take a deep breath and lighten up. I thought I'd share a few of the Christmas pics I've found in Blogland this month...

The dreaded family Christmas photo session... Fly Through Our Window

A flowerpot Nativity set that just seems to get it right when it comes to illustrating "God With Us" - especially the 'us' people there with baby Jesus... Big Mama



A racetrack Christmas tree... Not So Random Stuff



Chocolate Nutella Turnovers. Well, YUM!... Bake at 350

And finally, you need to stare at this one for a minute to catch all that's going on. The four year old knew she only had a very limited amount of time to get all of her requests in so she wasn't wasting a second. The two year old, poor thing, never got a word in. Just look at his sweet face.




And then there's Santa.


It's not Christmas unless...