Here's some Holiday Cheer!

So I guess I'm not really all that far behind.  I had to take the camera around a little this morning to remind me what fun we are having as we prepare for Christmas.

Here is my spruced up garland.  I don't get too artsy-crafty, so I'm pretty proud of this one ;).  You can see Ben's blurry running body in the background, and Bryan's crawling head going for the plug.  

We made cinnamon dough ornaments today!  I've been wanting to do this for a long time.  I can't wait until they are dry so we can hang them on the tree.  They smell so good!  I found an old jar of applesauce in my cupboard that was best by 2009...yeah, put it to good use here!

Ben loved helping me cut out the cookies.  I think he was a little bummed that we weren't going to be eating them, but he had a blast with the cookie cutters anyway.  Poor kid gets a little gypped because I almost never make cookies (the old gluten-intolerance...).

We also made peppermint bark.  We did this last year and loved it.  It's always been on of my favorite holiday candies, and it is super easy.  Ben's favorite part was smashing the candy canes and scooping the chocolate chips in and out of the container.  Here it is cooling - I'll break it into pieces and share with neighbors soon.

Another first for the season was caramel cracker-jack style popcorn.  I think it turned out pretty well!  I'm not usually patient enough to bake it for an hour, but I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it turned out to be.  I did it on a day that I had to be home anyway and it was no big deal!

Ben is totally in love with popcorn.  Must take after his momma.  We've been using popcorn as a potty treat.  When he does his business in the toilet we get to make popcorn.  We've made popcorn every day this week!! (part of what inspired me to try the caramel).

And here is what is going on behind the camera.  One busy baby!