Christmas Sugar Cookies

I'm late getting at my blogging today, because I've been fast asleep in my favorite chair for the past couple of hours. Our #3 and #4 sons arrived home at about 5:00 this morning, after making a twelve-hour car trip from VA--driving straight through the night...with their two doggies in tow! My internal alarm clock woke me up before they got here, and at about 4:30, I went around plugging in the tree lights, the garland lights, the candles in the windows, and my little lighted Christmas village (basically, lighting up everything that needs to be lit) so that it would look like a real Christmas wonderland when my boys walked in the door.

It's so good to have them home--all four of them!

Soon after their dogs settled down and we'd visited for awhile, the weary travelers (and my sensible husband) hit the sack; but I was feeling wide awake and too excited to sleep, so I had my morning coffee and baked a pumpkin pie. It was early yet, so while the pie was cooling, I decided to read for a little bit before I sat down at my computer. I opened my book, read a few pages...and woke up a little while ago to find that in spite of myself, I'd gotten a little cat nap in.

Now that I'm up again, I want to get started on making some sugar cookies shaped like trees and bells and angels, which I plan to have the boys ice and decorate later. I'm also going to make some gingerbread men. (Nobody around here really cares for gingerbread men, so I may be eating most of those myself--which I am willing to do, if necessary.)

Before I go, I thought I'd share a great sugar cookie recipe--one given to me by a fellow Navy wife in the early days of my marriage--that I've been using for many years. My only advice would be to watch the first batch carefully to make sure your cookies don't burn. My oven tends to cook things more quickly than some, so I often have to reduce either the oven temp or the cooking time.

Enjoy!