Maple & Brown Sugar

Holiday season means baking galore! And this year I decided to slave over a hot stove for hours to make tasty treats for my friends. So, spread over a few nights, and with Nolan's help cutting out endless amounts of christmas shapes from springerle dough, I came up with many delicious recipes that I'll definitely be using next year, including a double-layer peppermint bark one, that tastes just like the Ghirardelli's stuff - not too minty. I also enlisted the help of trusty Ash U, who mixed up some spritz dough like a pro and didn't even whine about it:

Of course we broke out the aprons, because if cookies aren't an apt occasion, I don't know what is.

This year, we forgot how we decorated with our strands of lights and actually made it reach around the whole floor while staying plugged in, so we decided to use less space, and get a little creative. So we took a box of t-pins, and started outlining, and here's what we came up with. I'm most proud of the tree:

And my attempt at a snowflake, which could also be a very loppy star of david outline...


Of course I have to follow those extremely pathetic pictures with pics of one of the departments here, that got super fancy and decorated every side of their floor with a different theme. The one I voted for? Winter Wonderland. You can't tell how awesome it is from this picture, but trust me. Even the wall behind the cubicles has icicles hanging on it. The whole thing was COVERED and it looked all icy and fabulous (click on it to enlarge):

Though I have to be very impressed with the actual tree and rocking chair and trainset, ETC. that this side brought in:

Let me tell you, it was depressing to come back downstairs to our grinchy little strings of lights.

All this makes me realize that I should beg for my own Christmas budget next year, or our floor will be stuck with t-pin christmas trees and loppy stars.