Christmas Cookies 2013

One of our longest standing Christmas traditions is to decorate Christmas cookies with our cousins. Nobody could remember for sure what year was the first one, but it was agreed that this year was at least the 13th, maybe the 14th.

The first year we did it, there were two of us (plus another cousin who doesn't come anymore), ages 1 and 2. This year, there were four of us (my sister and other cousin weren't born yet that first year), ages 16, 15, 13, and 12. As we've gotten older, our enthusiasm hasn't gone away, but our cookies have gotten much more creative.
 
I don't have pictures of some of the best cookies, but there were some really great ones.


We've also gotten more competitive over the years. For the past fourteen years, we have always had four colors of icing: blue, green, yellow, and red (which is almost always more pink than red). This year, someone had the revolutionary idea to introduce a 5th color: white. As you might imagine, this changed everything. :)

Now, the race was on to make the first REAL candy cane, with both white and red icing.


 
Of the three here, two of them were both almost first, though the one on top won. Mine (in the middle) was almost first, but I sacrificed that title for higher quality. The bottom is my sister's, which is better than either of ours, but was made a while later, so I don't think it really gets to compete. This led to a long discussion over which is more important: being best (that was me), or being first (that was him). What do you think?

Here's another picture of my sister and I. We were at the Lights of Christmas, which is a beautiful and large display of Christmas lights near us. We go every year. 

I hope you're all having a great holiday season!