Cookies & Santa & Trains, Oh MY!

We couldn't let our super busy & super fun week end flat, so we decided to kick things up a notch on the weekend...hardly seems possible after all of the parties & programs & parades, but we tried...and I think we more than achieved our goal!
To get the weekend started off on a sweet note, on Friday evening I hosted the 6th Annual Christmas Cookie Exchange for our Sunday school class.

This tradition was started my dear friend Katie, who has since moved away, and I have had the joy of keeping the tradition going for the last 3 years! It is always a delightful evening of food, fellowship, friends & cookies! I am amazed every year with the creativity of the ladies in our class...everyone takes great pride in finding the perfect recipe to bring & as a result we always end up with a fantastic array of cookies, and hardly any duplicates! Due to some illnesses that have been going around, we had a smaller crowd this year, (and we missed all the gals who couldn't come!) but we managed to enjoy a wonderful evening none-the-less! Here's a little look at some of the wonderful treats we got to sample & share...I must admit I think I have eaten cookies for breakfast every day this week, sssshhhhh, don't tell my kids!

 Table set with lots of COOKIES!

 Just so no one goes into a sugar-coma, I do like to serve appetizers & punch before we dive into the cookies!

 A pitcher of my all-time favorite Festive Punch, I can't have a Cookie Exchange without it!

Mmmmm, do you remember these wonderful stove-top chocolate cookies from your childhood, I do! 

 Chocolate-chip Hershey Kiss coconut cookies

 Yummy Orange Balls

 Peanut Butter Scotchies

 Pecan Sandies...I'm told this recipe requires FOUR sticks of butter, so you know these tasted good!

Jenny's Mint Chocolate Chip cookies, YUMMO!!! 

 Rebecca's delicious Italian Pizzelles

My cookies, Snowflake Cookies, a recipe shared by my friend from way back, thank you Erin!

I was at a loss for what to make this year & my week was crazy hectic, so I queried my Facebook friends for a new cookie recipe & Erin sent this one over right away...she said she modified the recipe herself to take to some cookie exchanges, and the cookies are always a hit! And she didn't mind if I shared the recipe with you...so here it is!

Snowflake Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup real butter                      1 cup sugar                               

1/2 teaspoon salt                         1 egg                                      
1 cup quick oats                           1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 Tbsp all purpose flour             1 teaspoon vanilla       

1/4 cup flaked coconut               

Powdered sugar

♦ Heat oven to 375 degrees

♦ Melt butter in saucepan, then remove from heat

♦ Stir in sugar, salt, oats, egg, baking powder, flour, vanilla, and coconut

♦ Drop batter in 1 tsp. blobs onto parchment lined baking sheets, leave plenty of space because cookies will spread out a lot!

♦ Bake 6-8 minutes just until edges start to brown. Watch closely, they will burn very easily!

♦ While cooling, dust generously with powdered sugar to give the snowflake appearance
Yield: 2 dozen snowflakes!
**Note: I doubled the recipe to yield just over 4 dozen cookies.

I just had to share this sweet photo of Darcy with my dear friend, Aja! Darcy had taken a tumble right before the cookie exchange started & Aja sure mended her spirits by scooping her up to read a Christmas book...even with cookies all around, nothing beats a little TLC!

******

But the cookie exchange was just the tip of the iceberg of weekend fun...we did get to enjoy a relaxing Saturday morning before loading everyone up in the van for a little trip to Spencer, NC to visit the NC Transportation Museum...now, you may be asking, "Why in the world would we head to a transportation museum on a cold, dreary Saturday in December?" And, there is only one reasonable answer...to ride the Santa Train, of course! And even better than Santa himself, we got to spend the day with our dear friends the Bruces! 

Everyone but the Dads..aka Jeff & Shane

With 8 (& a half!) kids between us, fun was guaranteed...and I did notice more than one passer-by mentally tallying up the kid to adult ratio when they walked by our group, LOL!

 After an hour plus drive to get to the museum, everyone was ready to get out of the car & stretch their legs a bit...

 It rained, sleeted & even snowed a bit on our drive up, but thankfully all precipitation stopped when we arrived!

 But it was still cold, so we all bundled up as we waited to board the train...

 Drew is just pondering what kind of mischief he can get into at this moment...

 Pausing for a very quick photo!

 The big boys waiting for the train!

 Sophie waiting for the train

 And the train pulled into the station, whoo-whoooo!

 Boarding the train...

 ...and finding the perfect seat!

It was nice & warm on the train, so immediately coats, hats, gloves & scarves were shed...okay, maybe not the hat!

 Darcy is always a ham!

 Jack & Corban 

 Watching for Santa to board the train!

 Look!

 And we're off!

 Tickets, please!

 Hey, it's all of us in one picture, and everyone is looking...amazing!

 Watching the scenery go by...I would say "speed" by, but we were going really slow!

 And then the big man in the red suit himself came down the aisle...

 ...asking who's been naughty & who's been nice?

 Thankfully he checked his list & we've all been nice!

 Sophie watches another steam engine puffing away.

Boys being boys

 Me & the girls!

 Jack making his picture face

 Little buddies!

 Sweethearts!

 The train ride lasted at least 30 minutes, so we had lots of snuggle time!

 And plenty of tickle time!

And time for games like "Find the darkest orange spot on your orange." I think Mr. Shane came up with that one, but it seemed to keep the boys' attention! (Santa's helpers had passed out an orange & a candy cane to each person...a old Southern Railway tradition!)

Drew spent as much time as possible running up & down the aisles...

 ...and ducking in-between the seats because the opening was just his size! Most of my photos of Drew are blurry like this one because he was in constant motion!

 Sharing a few laughs!

 

 Just being silly!

 Smiling for the camera...and making lots of great memories!

 After the train ride, snow flurries were starting to fall. We were not quite ready to hop back in our cars...

...so we all bundled up once again to explore a bit of the museum. 

 We headed off, hand-in-hand...

 The girls found a cute photo-op...

And we saw a sign for Hudson's gas station...

and looked at some old cars...

and then we decided it was getting colder & darker & snowier...and everyone was getting hungrier, so we decided to load up & find a place to grab a bite to eat!

And in the process of getting everyone loaded into the cars, Jeff thought he had turned our van on to get the heat going...but, alas, he had not fully cranked the car...so after 5 minutes of the heat going full blast & movie playing...guess what, our car battery was DEAD! No problem, since we carry jumper cables...oooops, except that they got taken out of the car for some reason & weren't put back...No problem, someone else had cables we could borrow, so we tried getting a jump from Shane & Jenny's car...once, twice...four times...and still our van would not crank! (Okay, beginning to think we could have a problem...feverently praying that the car would start!) The kind man who lent us his cables pulled his SUV over & we tried it again, and thankfully, it worked! Crisis averted, whew, & thank you Lord for answering my prayers! SO, after a little delay, we were back to the original plan of finding a place to eat! A Google search on my iPhone quickly returned a local pizza place with good reviews about 5 minutes away, so we headed over there...to find out that the place had a 45 minute wait to be seated...at 5:30! Plan B, we found a Pizza Hut about 2 minutes away, and it was perfect! It was practically empty & better yet, they seated us in a room by ourselves with a TV, toys & coloring books!

Darcy found a baby to care for while we waited for our food!

There were even little booths for the kids & the grown-ups were able to actually enjoy somewhat a meal with bits of conversation in between feeding the little ones!
After eating our fill of pizza & our families parted ways to head back home...and I think we are all already looking forward to next year's adventure on the Santa Train!

******

And to bring our weekend to a very sweet close, after church on Sunday, the girls & I were invited to a girly Christmas Tea Party at the Davises! 

 Have you seen a cuter treat?

 A delightful candy cane heart with white chocolate center cheerfully greeted each guest at the tea table!

 My girls immediately found the toys!

 Time for TEA! (Or rather, most girls chose to enjoy hot cocoa!)

 My sweet Darcy!

 My dainty Sophie!

 Our very lady-like hostess, Miss Calla! (Notice her pinkie, :-)

 After tea, a fun craft for all the girls to decorate...

And little Micah, one of Stephanie's boys couldn't resist joining in, too!

Whew, it was truly a wonderful weekend! I am quite happy to report that this week has gotten off to a decidedly slower start...with lazy days at home, breakfast for dinner, hot chocolate by the fire...now I've just got to finish up a bit of last-minute Christmas shopping & wrap a mound of Christmas presents! So you may not be hearing from me for a few days...Merry Christmas, praying the joy of this season is made full in your hearts!