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Decorating cookies at Shannon's is serious business. Sprinkles, seven
frosting colors, mini-marshmallows, red hots, spice drops, coconut,
colored sugar (my fav!), M&Ms and mini-chocolate chips serious. |
Although I'm admittedly enamored with the glitter and twinkle of Christmas decor (see "Decking the Halls" evidence
here), one of my very favorite things about Christmas is continuing tradition. When I was little that meant chocolate covered cherries from my dad, calendars and PJs from my mom, watching my grandma bake up a storm, and eagerly awaiting what Santa would bring. In my grown-up-ness, I've enjoyed creating and taking part in new traditions... Christmas waffles at our house (a to-die-for recipe
here), Christmas eve-eve celebrations at the Pogacar's, White Elephant extravaganzas, baking pumpkin-pear and pineapple-banana-nut bread (recipes
here and
here), and decorating Christmas cookies with three generations of Ledford family and friends.
What makes these traditions meaningful to me is sharing joy, swapping stories and remembering that beyond the tinsel and the presents and the twinkle lights, Christmas is about love. (And cookies.) Ha!
What are your favorite holiday traditions?
xoxo!
shawna
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| My best friend Shannon crafts sugar cookies every Christmas and then invites friends and family over to decorate. This year, I got to help with the baking part. We made 9 batches total with one dud. |
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| The "dud" batch turned out to be a blessing because it gave Danielle (Shan's sister) ugly cookies to eat so she wouldn't "accidentally" break the good ones so she could eat them. |
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| I used Shannon's "secret" family recipes for cookies and frosting as favors for our wedding along with airplane and helicopter cookie cutters. (Sadly, no helicopters made it in this year's baking.) |
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| Glorious! Shan is a bit of a task-master about cookie decorating and has a reputation for giving people the what-for if they produce ugly cookies. This includes children, by the way. (And yes, I understand that by disclosing this fact, I may be dis-invited next year.) |
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| In light of the prettiness pressure, our decorators really stepped up their games this year. I nominated Jasmine's jalapeno as the cutest cookie of the day. |
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| Shannon and I favor the Red Hots like all people with good taste. |
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| The giant snow flake was my contribution to the baking this year. Beautiful but a pain to frost! |
My tradition is to carry on one of my old neighbor's traditions. I call it Mrs. Farrell's Flammable Punch. The original recipe has been altered to work without raw eggs.
ReplyDeleteONE PINT EACH: heavy cream, milk, 100 proof Old Grandad bourbon.
1 Oz. Meyer's dark Rum, 3/4 cup sugar and nutmeg to taste.
You must use the above name brand booze for quality's sake but you are allowed to use 86 proof bourbon. It has to sit chilled overnight to blend and mellow the flavors. And for God's sake use real whipped cream to top it with freshly grated nutmeg! Don't insult the memory of Mrs. Farrell! Her Irish ghost will haunt you forever!
Wow you guys are so much more ambitious (and creative!) than I am. After just an hour or so of making super easy treats, my husband and I were mentally done. Of course we did better than last year when we didn't give out ANYTHING. :D
ReplyDeleteSo far we only have one tradition... sushi on Christmas! It started by accident a few years ago when other family activities were cancelled because of bad weather and we couldn't find any stores open to make our own Christmas meal. The only place open in the whole town was our favorite sushi restaurant. So now we go there every year!
Nancy, that sounds like quite the merry-making libation! I will do my best not to invoke the wrath of Mrs. Farrell's ghost, of course. ;)
ReplyDeleteKaren, if it weren't for Shannon, I wouldn't decorate cookies. Too much work! But it's fun with a crowd. And Christmas sushi? That might be the best thing I've ever heard of! We don't have dinner plans yet, so perhaps we'll copy you guys! :)
I don't think my cookies would pass muster at your friend Shannon's. This year was my first foray into Christmas cookie baking. The shapes were good, the icing slightly messy, but the sprinkles made everything look cute. I tried gingerbread people too but they look somewhat deranged due to the icing being too free flowing. Your cookies are beautiful. They look like tv cookies. I wish I could pull eat them from the screen. ;)
ReplyDeleteLove your cookies! You are dedicated. Christmas cookies are one of my favorite things. Unfortunately, it only takes about 24 hours to eat them ALL.
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