For those who live in actual cold places

How about a warm, fuzzy post? Not a ‘feel good moment’ type of warm fuzzies, but honest to goodness warmth and fuzzies? Like this:

Don’t you wish you were little enough to snuggle a stuffed toy like this?
How about sharing a couch with your sibling while watching tv?

Let’s see… what else can I do? How about some freshly baked cookies?

Thank you to Expat Mom – who posted some adorable photos of her boys making these cookies - for sharing the recipe (which is located on her cooking blog). These are very tasty and we had a great time decorating too!
I am not a very experienced cookie maker. I am only barely teaching myself how to bake desserts. (although I am trying! btw, I finally posted a photo on my Ishta Cashew cookie recipe if you are curious what the fruit looks like cut up.)  I did pretty good with these sugar cookies, but as anyone who knows me could tell you… I can’t follow a recipe to save my life, and I altered this one too, unintentionally (mostly). When I mixed all the ingredients, the mix was too crumbly, and dry, and did not look like it would roll out properly. I added a bit of milk. Then, worrying that it might be too liquid-y, I added the egg yolks that I had separated from the whites that I needed for the frosting. I also added a bit of vanilla to the frosting – I wanted lemon or orange, but didn’t have juice or flavoring, so vanilla it was, with no effect on color or consistency. My dough was a bit sticky, and I had to roll it out on wax paper. I didn’t have cookie cutters available either, and rather than tracing cardboard cut-outs as was suggested (great idea!), I just free-handed with a knife to make diamonds and triangles, and used a measuring cup to make circles.I didn't do the piping for the frosting as shown (in detail!) with the recipe - I was running out of time - but we did just fine with spoons, fingers, and toothpicks.
Anyway, picture yourself with a cup of cocoa, a couple of these delicious cookies, and a cuddly kitten. Warming up yet?
No? Hmm… how about warm hats and scarves? Brian asked for a red scarf – home-made – for Christmas. I thought that was a great idea, and expanded on it:



I got yarn to make a set for me too – I just did not have enough time before Christmas to get it done!  I started with this pattern for the hats, but I wasn’t happy with the results, so I altered as I went. I also made the ribbing at the bottom a bit different by alternating hdc and fpdc around. Sorry, no notes. I think I’d have liked the pattern as is if my yarn were thicker - this pattern was a great foundation for me to work off and easily alter... but like any 'recipe', I can't leave well enough alone!
The scarves are pretty basic crochet – Honor's and Brad’s are 25dc across, each row, until I thought it looked long enough, and Brian’s scarf, because it was a solid color and I wanted it to have a bit of a pattern, was: *3 rows dc (25 stitches per row), 1 row hdc, 1 row sc, 1 row hdc* – repeated until it looked long enough. Both ends of each scarf had a couple rows of sc as a good foundation for the fringe.
By now, I hope you are feeling cozy and comfy… and in case you need a little bit extra, I’ll sign off with a little bit more of this - Snuggle Ninja!

(btw – kitten photos are by Honor)