In the bible, the wise men brought the baby Jesus gifts of Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh. In the carol, Little Drummer Boy, the namesake tot used his skills of rhythm to honor the child. In our tiny culinary circle we attempted to pay tribute to the rituals that help us experience the joy and expectation of Christmas by bringing the best of what we have to offer the community. In this case, four pounds of sanding sugar, three bowls of frosting, two decorative cookie trees, one giant heap of cookies, and a partridge in a pear tree. (OK, no partridge and maybe one too many metaphors. I got excited.) 

There was plenty of time to ponder Christmas tradition while my cookie team (shout-out to Janice*, Chris, Paul, and Lindsay!) prepped up 27 dozen sugar cookies  for Fairfax Community Church. The young adults of FCC gathered to recreate some favorite holiday rituals like carols, family photos, cookie decorating and the fine art of  Christmas morning breakfast. We are talking orange french toast, egg casseroles, gooey warm sticky buns, a full on hot chocolate bar… a-mazing. And the fellowship of friends sharing advent together? Even sweeter!

(* We were lucky to steal Janice away from Free for All Cupcakes where they bake up amazing gluten-free, allergen-free, organic, and assorted dietary-sensitive cupcakes. Check them out.)

 Here is a peek at the event. The photos were taken by the very talented Katelyn McCullum and Kyle Schmitz.

The snowy tree is made using the Wilton Christmas Cookie Tree Kit, although we made our own cookies and the kit this year seems to include pre-baked stars for each layer. Pre-baked cookies seems to be an evil kind of cheating… The snow is royal icing piped onto the tips of the stars and sprinkled with candy dragees and tiny peppermint candycane sprinkles.

The evergreen tree is lit by a tiny strand of LED lights that I scored at Target on Black Friday. Seriously, go get some of these. They are SO FUN. The lights shine through stained glass cookies made by placing crushed jolly ranchers in the center of the cookies. They take on a great sparkle and were super easy to make. The recipe linked above is from  Martha, but you could also do it with salt dough if you were going to hang them for the whole month of December.

I hope everyone is enjoying their own cookie baking and the joyful anticipation of the advent season!