Centered in the Saddle

I love the tradition of the blogger gift exchange! I mailed out my gift this week, so…watch your mailboxes! 

I received a wonderful gift this year from Amy and Gwen. It was an adorable Christmas ornament that looks just like Duke. It’s sort of uncanny. It was especially sweet because I love having ornaments that represent something from the year – and I don’t have one of Duke. Plus my lease is coming to a close, so it was really touching to hang it on the tree.

I also received a Tiger’s Tongue Horse Groomer, which I REALLY wanted. I almost bought one for myself several times, so I was thrilled to open this gift! Duke gets absolutely filthy, and I can’t wait to give this a try on him. 

The Tiger’s Tongue comes in a shrink-wrapped package and my husband was really excited to open it up and watch it expand. It was slightly less dramatic than expected, but the texture of the groomer is interesting to feel and I imagine it will be a go-to tool around the barn.

Thank you so much! 

And because ’tis the season, I have to share these adorable cookies that M and I made over the weekend. 

Oh, and all of these, too. 

There are 8.5 different types of cookies there (9.5 with the horse cookies). I say 8.5 because the chocolate cookies with peppermint white chocolate and candy canes started out as chocolate cookies with plain dark chocolate and candy canes. Which taste great but aren’t NEARLY as cute and festive. So we changed it up halfway through decorating.Besides the horse sugar cookies, we made: 

• Rum balls (omgoodness so delish)
• Peppermint Chocolate Truffles
• Chocolate Peppermint Candy Cane Cookies
• Oreo Truffles
• Peanut Butter Balls
• Coconut Chocolate Truffles
• Peanut Butter Blossoms
• Ginger Snaps (kind of. I made the dough the previous weekend)

Pro tip: When making cookies, roll out the dough into balls and freeze them. Then you can bake them in small batches, and always have fresh cookies! I currently have in my freezer a gallon sized bag of peanut butter blossom dough and one of ginger snap dough. Warm cookies by the Christmas tree anyone?