Baby, it's cold outside...

Cold is relative, of course. This is California, and we'll take our winter however we can get it. Even if our snow has to come in the form of sugar cookies.

Yesterday we headed to the park with a bunch of our homeschooling friends, and the kids were so cold their fingers and noses were aching in the first 10 minutes. After running around for half an hour trying to warm up, those without coats took a break from climbing up the slides to huddle under a fleece blanket together.

Unless you're planning a trip to the nearby snowy mountains, most people don't even own real coats around here. I only remembered gloves for one of my boys, the other two had to hide their hands in their sleeves.

Of course, after a while, they were having so much fun (and their digits were so numb) that only the parents noticed the sun still hadn't shown up, and it seemed like it was getting colder, not warmer. Eventually, we had to drag them away, crying, "But it's NOT cold!"

Back home we made hot chocolate first thing, and settled into our cozy, warm, 64-degree house.

It's been a lovely week. The day before, we spent all day with friends turning paper into snowflakes, making snowflake crystals, and eating snowflake cookies -- of course.

In case you don't have real snow outside either -- or maybe you do and the cold is truly foreboding...

I used our snowflake cookie cutter and this recipe to make vegan sugar cookies and frosting. Because of the soymilk, the frosting isn't truly white, so you might try rice or cow's milk instead.

We used white coffee filters for easy cut-out snowflakes. Just fold them in half, then in thirds to get six sides.

Crystal Snowflakes (courtesy of Hogwarts Homeschool, Mugglefied by me)

3 cups boiling water
9 Tbs borax
Heat-proof glass or jar (wide-mouthed canning jars work great)
White chenille stem ("pipe cleaner"), cut into thirds
Fishing line or string
Pencil

1) Twist the cut stems together, and spread into a snowflake shape.
2) Tie one end of the string to the shape, the other to the pencil, with just a few inches between so the wire snowflake doesn't sit on the bottom of the jar.
3) Fill the jar with boiling water, add the Borax one Tbs at a time, stirring each time.
4) Lower shape into the mix, set the pencil across the opening of the jar.
5) Let it sit overnight undisturbed.