Run, run as fast as you can!

Happy Christmas Eve! Well, it isn't officially Christmas Eve for us since we will be waiting for Nathan, but it is Christmas Eve nonetheless! We will be heading over to a friends house this afternoon for dinner and pre-Christmas gifts and then tomorrow we will be going back over there for Christmas day.

I'm pretty sure that most are done with their Christmas baking or at least are done adding things to their lists! But, just in case you aren't, here is a WONDERFUL gingerbread recipe. It requires no chill time, which is great for these busy December days! I got the recipe from Prudy of Prudence Pennywise and I love it! We are actually making another batch for Santa today!

I baked them for only about 7 minutes because I prefer softer cookies and, I'm telling you, these are ADDICTING!

Anya loved decorating the gingerbread boy and girl with chocolate chips and I think she did a great job! She gave some of them 3 eyes so that they could see better and the gingerbread girl with all the chips on her dress Anya made for her best friend, Alexis. I love my little sous chef!

Hope everyone is able to take some time today to relax and enjoy time with family and friends. Lots of love and well wishes being sent your way for a very merry holiday season!

This little girl LOVES baking! (Or is it eating? HEE HEE!)

Eric wants to make sure you can see him, too!

Gingerbread Boy and Girl

Anya's beautiful creations!

Gingerbread Dough for Houses or Cookies

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup molasses
4 and 1/2 cups flour, plus more for rolling
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over meidum heat. Stir in sugar and molasses over low heat, stirring until dissolved. Remove from heat.

Add remaining ingredients, stirring until smooth. Add another 1/2 cup flour and remove ball of dough to counter. Knead a few times until smooth. At this point you can refrigerate the dough, or flour your surface and begin to cut out.

Bake at 350. Cookies will take as few as 8-10 minutes, while house pieces may need up to 15 minutes. Remove warm finished cookies or house pieces from cookie sheets after a few minutes.