Christmas cookies, a new tradition?

A week before Christmas, Cash saw something on a TV show about baking homemade Christmas cookies with cookie cutters. I'm not positive, but I think it might have been a Special Agent Oso episode. He was very interested in cookie cutters and asked me if we could make some cookies "with dos things." So on the next trip to Wal-Mart, I found a set of three kid-friendly cookie cutters (a star, a gingerbread man, and a tree) and some Christmas-y sprinkles. I had all the stuff to make the cookies and icing at home, so we were set for some fun!

We started early one morning, because I knew it would be a process, and with a messy kitchen, two sinks full of dishes, one dumped out sprinkle container, some really green icing, two dirty covered-in-flour boys and only one meltdown later, we had close-enough-to-perfect Christmas cookies.

Yes, both boys helped with the entire process. I sat them both on the island in the kitchen and put them to work. Cash mixed up the dry ingredients for me. Note the tongue -- that means concentration.

Then we worked on the wet ingredients. Cash worked the mixer while B handed me the different things to measure and put in. He's not a huge fan of the mixer.

Then we rolled out the dough...

and started cutting the cookies. They weren't really the greatest at trying to get as many cookies as possible out the of dough at a time. I had to roll it out lots of times. Oh, well. 

Yes, those are fingerprints. 

He was having a blast, and he was getting really good at "cutting, wiggling, and digging the cookie out."

After B saw how much fun the rolling pin was, that was his biggest interest, and yes, he's covered in flour, too, even on his face. Notice the sock-foot on the rolling pin. Good thing we kept most of these cookies for ourselves!

Here they are fresh out of the oven! They looked awesome! I was pretty impressed with our work, and with the mess the kitchen was in...

Two naps and a wardrobe change later (not sure why he wanted to wear his pirate costume, but he insisted), we made green icing (that was super green because I let both boys squirt some of the food coloring) and then added the sprinkles on top.

This part just about did me in. At one point, it was all going well, and the next thing I knew, B had dumped the entire sprinkle container out onto the cookie sheet. Good thing I had the cookie sheet there to catch all of them!

B had a meltdown because I had to set him down to clean up the sprinkles, but he soon recovered (as did I) and we continued with our cookie decorating.

They were beautiful (especially in Cash's eyes). Most had just the right amount of sprinkles.

Some, however, had a bunch of sprinkles. (They were Cash's favorites. "So pretty, mommy!")

We all thought they were delicious. It was a fun day of cookie-making with my boys, an event that we may have to turn into a tradition!