Serious Christmas Mode

Misa and I have been in Christmas mode all week. And by Christmas mode I mean we've been baking cookies for the past 4 days for various reasons in addition to preparing to head to Cali to spend XMas with The Girls.

We started our mad cookie baking for Kiwi's cookie swap last week. I made what Misa calls rice crispy treats on steroids, actual name Deluxe Marshmellow Squares, and Misa made her Apple Cream Pennies. <-- YUM! YUM! YUM!

Kiwi's cookie swap was a lot of fun. We played some games, ate lots of yummy food and went home with TONS of different kinds of cookies. Which is after all, the BEST part of a cookie swap. :)

Then we made cookies for Queen of the Universe's cookie swap. We stuck with the crowd pleasers, mentioned above, and got the house ready for Q of the U's friends. We played games, which we stole from Kiwi's party (hehe) and again made out like bandits in the cookie variety department.

Mmmmm.... cookies!!

For anyone who isn't sure what a cookie swap is, I'll explain:

Everyone invited is asked to make at least 5 dozen of their cookie of choice. Each person then sends the hostess a copy of their complete recipe so that two people do not show up with the same type of cookie. We printed out a copies of each recipe and created a recipe book for each person who attended the cookie swap. (Some hostesses ask each person to bring X copies of their recipe to share with other cookie swap goers, its all up to the hostess).

We played games including holiday Bingo and Name That Song. Usually Misa creates her own questions or takes quotes of her choice from various holiday songs for the Name That Song game but this year we used Kiwi's game because it was Awesome. There were 18 songs to name and all that was given were hints, from those hints each person was to figure out what Christmas song it was referring to. For example, one of my favorites was 'The Apartment of Two Psychiatrists' and the answer is 'The Nutcracker Suite'.

I laughed for a while on that one too. Actually it still cracks me up!!

Then we had a cookie decorating contest and then a taste testing of each cookie. There were 4 categories for people to vote on for the cookies: Yummiest, Most Festive, Most Unique Ingredient, and Best Overall.

After the votes were in and the prizes given out is when we divided up cookies for each person to take home. We divided out the cookies equally but again, its up to the hostess how this is done.

Cookie swaps are definitely a lot of fun and great for this time of year. Not only does it provide everyone the chance to relax with friends and enjoy each others company but you make 1 kind of cookie and come home with 10 different kinds. Perfect for anyone in charge of Christmas dinner dessert. :)

Yesterday and today we baked cookies to ship to friends. Let me tell you, its tough to bake so much and then not have any left to enjoy. Although I don't need to eat anymore cookies, but still. LOL.

I hope everyone enjoys their cookies and has a wonderful Christmas!!