Sugar Overload!

I believe I may have eaten too many cookies and cookie toppings today.  It's a distinct possibility.

The day started off innocently enough with blueberry-pumpkin pancakes (the blueberries obscure the Christmas designs):

 

and blueberry muffins (they're supposed to be shaped like snowmen and stockings but the pan works better for cakes):

 

Somewhere after that, it all fell apart:

We had friends come over for a little decorating party and we went to town on some gingerbread cookies and brown-sugar cutouts.  The two little boys had a fantastic time (and I wasn't the only person who overdid it on cookies and candies this afternoon!):

These plates were some of Cameron's handiwork:

These were done by J's little boy:

Here are the cookies that Cam has designated for Santa so we wrapped them and put them in the freezer for safe keeping until Christmas Eve:

When the day was done and our guests left with their cookies, this is what remained (the "squiggle" cookies were the ones I did just to get rid of frosting and be done with it):

We have a LOT of cookies to deal with!  Plus I have some more dough in the fridge to roll out and bake (I think those will probably find their way to the office):

Yesterday, I tried out a new sugar cookie and I love it!  (Click on the link to see the recipe.  I subbed maple extract for the lemon extract since I didn't have any lemon.)  It's a crisp sugar cookie and the dough doesn't spread a lot so the cookies retained the cookie cutter shaped.  I baked most of them with coloured sugar sprinkled on top and baked a dozen plain for us to decorate:

I love this red and white sugar and my new present cookie cutter:

So, other than my pilates class yesterday morning, my weekend can really be summed up with one word "cookies".  Other than that, some other cooking went on and we watched a few more Christmas specials.  Perfect weekend!!

I also baked a gingerbread boy brownie-cake to take to the office (no picture and it's already in the van) and I attempted a new slow-cooker recipe to use up some parsnips and potatoes from our farm box.  We have a few veggies to get through before this week's delivery since we subsisted on potlock leftovers all of last week.

After Cam goes to bed, I think I'll venture downstairs and hop on the bike to try to rid myself of a few of today's sugar calories... maybe...

This week, I really should start wrapping gifts and I think I need to get a few cards in the mail.  There was a bit of a screw-up with the cards I purchased this year and the envelopes are not large enough for our pictures.  So, I'm actually debating whether or not I'll send any.   If I can find our leftover cards from previous years, I'll probably bite the bullet and start addressing them.  If I can't find them, I think the cards will be skipped this year.