BREAKING NEWS!

Okay...so the Spartans won the Rose Bowl. I get it, that's big news. I mean...c'mon...that's BIG news. However, I have more big news to share...

I WON THE DECKER FAMILY CHRISTMAS COOKIE-DECORATING CONTEST!! Yes, I did! Let me try to briefly explain this contest to you. My family has this contest every year at Christmas and we take it VERY seriously. (Some would say TOO seriously...yes, there have been tears shed...) Anyway, we take it SO seriously that my mom has a plaque for the winner's names and gets it engraved each year...see, I told you...serious stuff...

And I have to tell you that I felt some pressure on how I was going to decorate my cookie this year because I knew (and had promised co-workers) that I was going to blog about it. So, after over-thinking the whole process, a few minutes before we started I looked at my parent's fireplace and came up with this gem!

Now, to be fair, I really didn't think it was that good. I should also mention that my mom didn't have any brown/chocolate frosting. She only had something in the pantry that was coconut-pecan something or rather and well...it sucked...

I should also mention that we only have a limited amount of time to decorate our cookie and a limited number of pre-cut cookies to choose from that we can decorate. So, there's a lot of pressure involved in this whole contest. The family members who won last year were this year's judges. (This year that was my brother, Scott who is extremely artisitic and my neice, McKenzie, his daughter, who is also very artisitic.) Are you getting all of this???!!

So, I got first place. My brother, the judge, said that it was the "flames that saved me." Who cares, I'll take the win. My oldest brother, Brian, got second place with this cookie.

I think he probably should've won. Again, who cares, I'll take the win. And finally, here's a photo of the winners with our plaque.

And now the pressure is off because next year I get to be a judge and don't have to make a cookie! Woo hoo!