Free Friday- I sure do like them Christmas Cookies...

So I made these cookies for the kids to decorate at our Operation Christmas Child party. These are my favorite (and my family's favorite) sugar cookies. They are so easy to make, there is NO mess, no flour all over if you roll them like I do. I posted the recipe and my method (Sugga Cookies) HERE. For these trees, I didn't use a cookie cutter. I didn't want to bring them out of storage. So I just rolled the dough (while soft) into disks between wax paper or use parchment. Not adding flour keeps the cookies tender too. Chilled each disk very well. Then cut it like a pizza with a sharp knife. So they don't like like trees really, but the kids didn't seem to care.

Operation Christmas Child Party

Well, we finally did it. After years of putting it off and making excuses. The house is too small, husband deployed, don't really know anyone here... We had our Operation Christmas Child shoebox packing party. It was so fun! We ended up with 8 boxes as a family, and three other families also packed boxes! Hopefully at next year's party there will be even more! I did mention HERE, that this would be an annual party right? Don't let me think up an excuse next year!
First off I must say, I'm so blessed that my husband and girls helped me get ready. Cleaning and making sure the playroom was ready. The food table, I didn't get a picture of. Sigh. I wanted to. It just had crackers, cheese, apples, Salted Caramel sauce- which didn't set fully and cool fully until after the party. We also had Wassail that a friend bought over, so good. We also had a hot chocolate bar with sprinkles, cinnamon sticks, peppermint marshmallows, sprinkles, whipped cream, toffee bits, Hiwa Kai black salt, caramels and more. We had a mock/what was in this again?  Love Abounds Sipping Chocolat. Oh goodness. Honestly I haven't made a huge batch of Sipping Chocolat. Not to serve anyway. That and I haven't seen my recipes for a while now so I poured in a little bit of this, and a little bit of that. It was definitely like drinking a chocolate bar. So thick. I had to leave milk out for people to thin theirs out. EEK. Sorry for the sugar rush! It's a good thing people didn't come for the cocoa. Here's one cup for you to see though

So, when everyone got here we had the children fill out an "All About Me" form. I had my girls do more after the party for boxes. But these forms can be printed off of the Operation Christmas Child site, or ordered on there also. See? Small space!

November Days of Gratitude- Day 3

Day 3- Thankful that we're so fortunate have all we need, and more. I'm also thankful that we have friends coming over to pack shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child.
(More party pictures coming soon!) 
My other November Gratitude posts can be found here. 
Read more Operation Christmas Child posts HERE.

Operation Christmas Child Packing Party

Our invitation, and information we passed out for our party

Have you heard of Operation Christmas Child? I've been packing boxes since I came to know Christ as my Savior. (Which wasn't that long ago, 14 years ish- I'm still a teenager!) Operation Christmas Child is a part of Samaritan's Purse. Every year shoe boxes are packed with toys and gifts for a needy child around the world. Anyone can pack a shoe box! The shoe boxes are sent to a sorting facility- items like war toys/guns are removed- and volunteers make sure boxes meet each country's customs requirements. Then the boxes are delivered to the children through local churches and ministries in the area. Read more about the journey of a shoe box HERE.

This year, I'm finally having a shoe box packing party. I've wanted to for so long. It just seems silly, there were always reasons I didn't, there were years DH was deployed, something "came up", our house is too small- it still is! But we're going to squeeze people in. So I'm praying that God will let this be an annual party, that He will use us to bless the children receiving the boxes, and use us to bless our friends that can attend the party. We're going to pack boxes, fill out "All About Me" forms,  we're going to have snacks and play, then we'll send everyone home with a reminder to pray for whoever receives their box/es, . This year's goal is to surpass 100 million shoe boxes delivered to children around the world. We're praying our little party can help that goal be met. I'll post more party pictures when I get a chance, our party isn't for a couple of weeks! But keep reading!