Santa's elf has been busy! Ho ho ho!

I've been baking lots of cookies lately. Some for DH and I, some to give away, plus we went to a "cookie-baking and football" party all day on Sunday. It was lots of fun - the guys pretty much sat and watched football all day and ate while the ladies baked hundreds and hundreds of cookies and then divided them up to go home. Hmm......seems like roles haven't changed all that much have they?! Here's a picture of some I made on my own - the cookies are purchased ones (Nutter Butters) and then you just do the decorating. I think they are so cute - I have seen these same cookies made into snowmen as well but I haven't tried those yet. The Santas are easy to do but time-consuming (click for closeups).

I also finished working on my mantle finally - I had splurged on some new decorations I fell in love with at a candle shop. I couldn't capture the candlelight with my photos but when they are all glowing it's really Christmas-y. The lanterns hold a mix of tealites and pillar candles - since my other half is "Mr. Fire Safety" I bought the battery-operated tealites and pillar candles they have out and they work out really well. I love the battery-operated tealites, you can use them in votives around the house and not have to worry about pets, kids, etc.

It's been rainy and chilly here lately but I'm not complaining as I see so much bad weather around the country.

P.S. 3 more days of work to go this year!! Then 15 glorious days away from the office. :)