Keep in mind, there are shortcuts for this as well... Growing up my mom and I made all the sugar cookie dough from scratch, which was great. We also make homemade frosting (with powdered sugar) which I still stand by. But of course if you're in a hurry, you can use packaged cookie dough (with some green food coloring) and even packaged frosting if you need to (though the powdered sugar, mixed with a tiny dollop of milk, and couple drops of vanilla works brillantly if you can spare the extra 2 minutes...)
Cookie prep:
Decorating: we use Skittles every year, but that's the fun part - anything goes. Use M&Ms instead if you like chocolate (if you're human) or you can even use sprinkles to decorate the tree for a different look. You can even use broken up candy canes to decorate with if you want peppermint flavored cookies! Frost them, stack them on top of each other in an alternating pattern, and they essentially 'glue' themselves to each other (though make sure your tree stack is straight while you build it!) and top it with some yellow for a star!
Then... EAT IT! We like to use these as centerpieces for cookie trays that we pass out to friends/neighbors, and of course the kiddos like to make them for their grandparents, etc. It's a fun, edible project perfect for the holidays! (And less work/mess than a gingerbread house, plus these taste better! :)
So here's to a weekend of eating more cookie dough than one human stomach should - then recycling those baked cookies for a Girls Night In cookie exchange on Monday (<-- you know I'm posting about that afterwards!)
Happy holiday baking season!!! (And hello New Years resolution next month to work all off!!! :)