Decorating the Kitchen for Christmas

Upon arriving home from church on Sunday, I quickly changed clothes and got to work dragging out my Christmas decorations for the kitchen. I turned my little television on the Hallmark channel and the commercials and the Christmas movie that was playing, got me in the mood to bake cookies. So, I quickly switched tracks and made a batch of Chocolate Chip - Coffee Cookies while my box of decorations lay on the floor with my cat Bailey nibbling on the evergreen. She will most likely leave me an undesirable result on the floor later.
"Chocolate Chip - Coffee Cookies"

I like lots of cookies, so I double this recipe:

1/2 Cup (1 stick) softened butter

1 Cup Brown Sugar

1/4 Cup granulated sugar

1 egg

2 Teaspoons vanilla

1 3/4 Cups flour

1/2 Teaspoon baking soda

1/2 Teaspoon baking powder
1/2 Teaspoon salt

1 1/2 Teaspoons instant coffee

One 6 oz. bag chocolate chips

1/2 Cup chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. I like to bake these on a stone cookie sheet and use a small scoop to dip them onto the stone. They come out nice and thick.

2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture and mix with hands. Add instant coffee, chocolate chips, and pecans.

3. Use your scoop to drop cookies on stone. Bake for 11 minutes.

Now back to decorating the kitchen. I drape evergreen, with a few pieces missing that the cat ate, on top of all my cabinets and then hang the old fashioned cheap ornaments from the branches. I tuck in evergreen among the shelves and add some snowmen here and there. Notice the empty jar on the shelf.

Here I've added my tree for the kitchen and filled it with tiny fabric bows and ornaments that I painted on watercolor paper and cut out.

Christmas Magic! The jar is now filled with delicious cookies. I'm such a cheapskate. My dear friend Winnie gave me one of these jars a while back and now I've eaten more pickles than I can imagine just for the jars. Wal-mart sells Vlasic Pickles in these jars and they make such good cannisters!
This is my tiny bathroom off the kitchen where I've added a tree in the corner of the sink. The little antique cheese grater has a tiny night light attached to the back with wire and plugs directly into the outlet. It looks nice with the light glowing through the tiny holes.