snow day and gingerbread

today i wanted to pretend that i was at work. not because i'm missing it terribly or anything, but because it was a snow day. remember as a kid how you would wake up with sheer elation because school had been canceled? well, when you're a teacher, you experience that feeling each time you get a snow day! so today, i wanted to be back at work to have that absolution of any obligation and the only must is to enjoy the day.

this is our backyard about 20 minutes ago:

and these are the gingerbread cookies i made in celebration of chris getting a half day off of work:

here's the recipe if you want to make some yourself:

2 1/2 cups of flour
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup softened butter
1/4 cup hot water

mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. add molasses, butter and hot water. mix with electric mixer until smooth. refrigerate.

cut dough into thirds and work with one third while keeping the rest of the dough chilled. roll into 1/4" thickness on floured surface. cut with cookie cutters.

bake on ungreased cookie sheets for about 9 minutes at 375 degrees. cool 2 minutes on cookie sheet before transferring to rack to finish cooking.