Lulu the Baker: 12 Bloggers of Christmas

On the third day of Blogger Christmas, my true love sent to me all of Lulu's sweet and savory goodies! Welcome to the annual tradition on Pars Caeli where we celebrate twelve incredible bloggers and show off snippets of their creations. Unflappable in their tenacity, determination, and imagination, these artists return again and again with posts that amaze all around.

Grab your coffee and get your Pin It button ready. Melissa of Lulu the Baker has dozens and dozens of incredible recipes for every occasion. She also has a plethora of holiday projects. I've been so lucky to collaborate with her on a number of projects, and I'm so excited for some of the big happenings for her in 2015 - not to mention the new baby she delivered and new house she built in 2014!

I love making cookies for Santa. I feel like at this point in my life, I should pick something more mature than that, but I just love Christmas cookies. My family always makes the same 4 or 5 kinds of cookies, and it just wouldn't be Christmas without them!

I have some big projects I want to blog about in 2015, mostly stuff around the new house (the basement! the garden! the mudroom! my office!). And I've been working and working and working on a book proposal, and even though I've said this in past years, 2015 is the year I'm gonna make it happen! I've actually made lots of progress on it, and I'm right on the brink of making big things happen--hooray!

Chewy Gingerbread Cookies with Double Chocolate Chunks--I took everyone in my family's favorite Christmas cookie, the Molasses Crinkle, and added two kinds of chocolate chunks. And wow!! It's almost sacrilegious to say this, but they're even better than before!

There are so very many bloggers that I admire. Everybody is so hardworking and generous and just lovely. Right now, I'm particularly enamored of Melanie Blodgett from You Are My Fave because she decided to take time away from blogging.

I think every blogger considers stepping away from blogging when life gets overwhelming, but it is so hard to actually do it! We all worry about losing readers and losing opportunities and back-sliding, and we think that if we take a break, even if it's for a great reason like moving or having a baby or to maintain your sanity, that we'll miss out. So I'm always crazy impressed when a successful blogger takes a big, legitimate break. And Melanie is just so talented, you can't help but love her!

Congratulations Melissa! Can't wait to follow along with all of the house updates over on Better Homes and Gardens, too.

Tomorrow's blogger is my mochi hero. Can you guess?

xoxo, MJ