Christmas cookies | Fitness is Sweet

I had a more informational post planned for today, but I just don’t have it in me, so it will have to wait until after Blogmas. I’m so freaking tired, but for lots of festive reasons!

The first of which being my annual Christmas cookie baking night, which I’ll share today! Nothing like some cookies to get into the holiday spirit, right?

This tradition started in my freshman year of high school (eek).

And we’ve done it every year since. We usually use this recipe for sugar cookies, and then make frosting from the recipe on the powdered sugar.

Let’s see if I can dig up throwbacks from the years past, shall we?

^This is freshman year. The VERY first time we made cookies actually wasn’t for Christmas!

^Also freshman…?

^Sophomore. We made a gingerbread house murder scene and gingerbread cookies.

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^Junior

^Senior. No cookie pictures but I KNOW based on these pictures we must have done it.

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^College freshman

^College sophomores

^College Juniors

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^College Seniors

And now, somehow, we’re college grads, but we still managed to squeeze it in.

We started the evening with dinner at a Japanese restaurant. I had miso soup and salad with grilled chicken.

And of course, everyone was decked out in their Christmas sweaters.

We poured a little champagne as we rolled out the dough.

Once everything came out, it was decorating time! I had some help from Chloe, of course. Once she got over how excited she was to see everyone, she was much calmer thankfully!

And here are the results!

I actually used half gluten free, half regular flour for the dough. I thought that I would be able to eat a few bites then without dying, and without harming the texture too much!

Delicious. No death, but I think I was way sleepier than I should have been when everyone left just before midnight!

Such a great night with friends, and I love this tradition that we’ve maintained year after year. I hope it’s something I continue to look forward to as our lives change and we move away!

This morning, I participated in another Christmas tradition. At 6am. But come on, worth it for 12 days of Christmas!

This is always a fun one. The workout goes like the song…1 push up, 2 burpees 1 push up, 3 PU 2 burpees 1 push up….etc.

I used 75# for the barbell movements and finished in 36:55. It was surprisingly festive for 6am, and definitely a fun way to start the day! That being said, I think a nap may be in my future….

One a final note, I achieved one of my life goals of getting a snapchat filter on my cat. Merry Christmas.

Hey everyone!

I’m finally home for the holidays! I want to take this time off to make some serious progress on this blog. And enjoy time with my little helper….

I’m so excited to be home with my pets again (and family). I’m hoping to really figure out blogging over my break. I’m also enjoying a lot of down time after a busy quarter.

One thing I missed when I was at school was food freedom. There were certain things I couldn’t really have at school, since I had no way to make them for myself. It’s so nice to see some type of food on another blog and just make it! It’s definitely something I took for granted before I left.

Breakfast this morning was an egg and veggie scramble with mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, bruschetta, and cheddar, topped with avocado. Sadly, I did not get a picture. I am getting a little better about taking pictures of my food, but it is going to take some getting used to. Just to keep this fun I’ll share a couple of shots from the past week.

Asparagus soup with homemade whole wheat bread in the bread maker. Topped with Smart Balance. SO good.

Christmas cookies! (Sorry for the poor picture quality.) Have you ever made Spritz cookies? My family makes them every year. They are made with a cookie press, and they have a slightly almondy flavor. Plus, they’re so much fun to decorate! We tried the chocolate variation for the first time this year. They were good, but not really that different than the regular kind. My favorite ones are the green cookies though.

Ok, when getting out the toppings for our cookies, I came across these in the pantry.

When I tried them, I knew I had to share them with you guys! They are basically broken bits of Trader Joe’s regular peppermint bark and they are so good! It’s a great way to satisfy ones sweet tooth with something small.

As far as workouts go, I haven’t posted much about them in the past. Yesterday was 80 minutes on the rowing machine, my longest row yet! I’m trying to work my way up to be ready for the season. I followed that my 20 minutes of abs. This morning I lifted weights with a trainer at my gym. I love coming back to my gym at home. Everything is so familiar and comfortable, and much less crowded than the gym at school. I also miss all my classes and instructors at the gym! I’m pumped to return to a spin class tonight!

Hope all is well for everyone!

Do you have a favorite type of Christmas cookie?

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Blogmas Day 23: Christmas Cookies

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