Annual Christmas Cookie Exchange

Well, last night was a fun evening in our house...I hosted the Annual Christmas Cookie Exchange started several years ago by my dear friend Katie, who has now moved out of state :-(

Back in November I was reminded of the fun event by another dear friend Jen...so we began planning and anticipating. It seemed so far away at the time, but in true "Holiday Time" fashion, the night was upon us before I could blink!

I have to say it was a lovely evening with about 20 gals getting out their oven mitts to bake up some delicious treats! Everyone had such a nice time eating, socializing & of course sharing cookies! Here are a few pictures of the wonderful treats...and even more arrived after I took the pictures!

The Dining Room Table....laden with treats!

And the buffet table with a 4-tiered display...and there ended up being more cookies on other tables in the room!

Let the Cookie Exchanging Commence!

And of course my kiddoes were having a ball sampling a few of the delectable sweets before bedtime...I didn't get a photo of Sophie, she was too busy running around the house from her sugar high!

Darcy saying MOOORRRREEEEE!

Darcy's grin & punch moustache! I tried to get a picture of the cute little shimmy dance she did after every bite of a cookie...let me tell you, the girl enjoys her treats all the way down to her toes!

Jack enjoying his favorite...my very own White Chocolate Cranberry Almond Bark!

Oh, and I should have taken a picture of my Festive Punch! (I'll work on being more blog-minded next time!) Anyway, I make this punch it for parties all the time & it ALWAYS disappears quickly...I usually end up making at least 3 or 4 batches. It is a beautiful bright red & looks so pretty in a glass pitcher or a punch bowl. So here is the recipe...and the great thing is you don't really have to measure the ingredients...you CAN NOT mess this one up.

Festive Punch

Ingredients

Frozen strawberries

Chilled Pineapple Juice

Chilled Soda (Sprite, Ginger Ale, choose your favorite...I especially like to use the Cranberry Ginger Ale that is available around the holidays)

You just dump the bag of frozen strawberries into your blender (do NOT thaw). Top it off with about 1/2 of the can of Chilled Pineapple Juice and blend it all up!

Pour that into your serving dish or pitcher (only fill your pitcher about 1/2 way). Then top that off with the Chilled Soda and stir....Yum-yum!

The best thing is you can mix it up with different frozen fruits & a variety of sodas for different flavors. Enjoy!