Best Present Ever; 5 weeks to Christmas
Well, clearly I’m no Neilochka. And that’s OK. For those of you hoping for a link-fest, check out this post about “spiritual” gift suggestions. There are definately a couple things in there worth considering, although I guess “non-commercial” or “non-consumerist” would be my heading over and above “spiritual”. But maybe that’s splitting hairs.
For me, I think the most significant gift…or one that impacted the rest of my life anyway!… was the Christmas I was 5 years old. Santa Claus brought me a little red accordion. It was a toy accordion, true, but a better quality one than you can get nowadays. It came with a little book that I studied with a little help from my mom. I played with that accordion on and off for the next several years. Sometimes even playing a song for friends at the local park talent show. The fall I turned 8 years old, my parents found me a teacher. And it was all over but the shouting at that point. Music has been a central pivot point for me for the rest of my life.
On to this week’s goal for getting ready for Christmas:
Finish the list; start baking and start on-line shopping.
No, I will not be joining the rest of you and your cousin’s at the maul on Friday. I did that once about 25 years ago and never need to do it again, thankyouverymuch.
I will be staying home with the boys on Friday and baking Christmas cookies. We used to do that when I was a kid. My grandparents would come over and we would start baking around 8 or 9 in the morning and make probably between 10 and 12 different types of cookies. From “standard” Spritz cookies to ethnic favorites of Krumkakka, Fattigman, and Sandbakkels.
The boys and I won’t make that many. Who needs that much sugar and butter, afterall? But DS2 wants to make chocolate chip (not exactly a Christmas cookie, but if he wants to make it…) and DS1 wants to make rolled cookies. That one will be a challenge. The boys usually have gone over to M&N’s house to do the cut-out cookies. M&N have that rolling out thing down. I’m a little more of a rube when it comes to cut-out cookies…getting them too tough because the dough gets worked too much. But we’ll give it a go. The important thing is to spend the time together…not whether the product would win an award.
X’s favorite Christmas cookies were Archway trees. Just saying.
So, what are your favorite Christmas treats?
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A year ago (or longer) on This Journey…
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And this concludes today’s broadcast 2009
Ciao, baby! 2008
Bill the trainer 2006
November 20th, 2007 at 7:27 am
My favorite cookies are Spritz cookies. Yummy. They remind me of my youth. I really like anything. Not a big fan of mint though.
November 20th, 2007 at 11:32 am
My fav treats were ALL of the cakes and pies my father used to spend hours in the kitchen cooking. I used to love watching him bake and the smells coming from that oven were WONDERFUL!!! Oh how I miss that.
November 20th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
My favorite are frosted sugar cookies. There’s nothing better as far as I’m concerned.
November 20th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
Krumkakka, Fattigman, and Sandbakkels — even the names sound delicious!
November 23rd, 2007 at 1:43 pm
There are a few cookies I ONLY make at Christmas, and refuse to make any other time of year. It may mean I make two batches between now and New Year’s, but that’s OK.
Let’s see…. Brownie Mounds, Pecan Balls (those are the “Christmas only” cookies), Spritz. Then the Gumdrop Cookies from the BH&G cookbook, except made with fruitcake fruit instead of gumdrops. And something that’s kind of like Kringla with candied orange and chopped cranberries. Then to fill in the gaps we try out a new recipe or four. Why yes, I love Christmastime, why do you ask?
And rolling out cookies? Wax Paper Is Your Friend (keep the dough between two sheets).