Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Holiday Treats

As we are still in the early stages of married life, Jerry and I keep musing over what traditions to create for our family. We have a goal that our children will see Christmas as a time of GIVING rather than receiving, so one way to teach that is through giving often during this season. We hope to have goodies to deliver to myriad friends, neighbors, and acquaintences each year. To kick off the tradition, this year we brought treats to 14 friends/neighbors. Some of the treats were plates of mostly candy (as shown above), which it makes sense to do for when giving to people we don't know as well. Sometimes people get nervous eating baked goods unless they know the people who made the treat. Or am I the only one who thinks that way.

Other lucky recipients got to experience my first attempts at creating Christmas candies. Shown above is a peppermint truffle. They turned out great and will likely become a staple for years to come.


But my favorite thing to bake was the sugar cookies. I feel so entertained decorating them with sprinkles, licorice, M&M's, sugar crystals, etc. Jerry wasn't too keen on it at first when I told him we were decorating cookies for our Family Home Evening activity. "Can I just go to bed?" he suggested. To which I replied/commanded: "Just decorate ONE cookie!" Two batches of cookies later, Jerry was begging me to keep baking more so that he could decorate all the ideas in his head.



And it was so much fun, I found myself decorating a plate to take to a Twilight Party thrown by my friend Kristen. I realize their artistic merit leaves something to be desired, but hey--I had fun. And even though I'm not the biggest fan of the Twilight books, our girl's night watching Eclipse was so good for me! I felt like I was back in my freshman year of college again, lounging around with a bunch of buddies, talking and laughing, so carefree. Thanks to my sweet husband for being willing to stay home all alone (er, I guess Lo was with him, but slept the whole time).

3 comments:

Valerie said...

Did you, perchance, take those Hallmark cookie cutters that were sitting on the kitchen counter. I hope you did; I would be sad if they got thrown away!

Eric Rogers said...

Wow! Great work. Your truffle is beautiful too.

TheTamFam said...

Thanks for the compliments, Sarita. Yes, Mom, I did steal your cookie cutters. I thought I told you--but glad you are happy with it. =) I'm excited to put them to use. This is why I cannot ever really quit sugar in my life; it is just too fun.