Baking the Holidays Jolly!

I spent the better portion of yesterday carrying on a tradition that was started when I was just a little girl. My mom and I have decided this is where my love of all things in the kitchen most likely started. Every year, my family would make a variety of Christmas cookies together, we'd place them all in tins, and pass them out to family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors.

A few years ago, in an effort to save some money but still make a meaningful gift, I continued this tradition with my only family. Not sure how much money it really saves because I like to get elaborate and those ingredients can add up. However, I still like to think that I'm saving some money.

Here are all of my ingredients laid out.

After 6 hours of baking, a slight sugar coma, and a very sore back (I sound old), this is what I got as a result:

These are probably my favorite. Turtle Pretzels!

It's a Rolo melted on a pretzel with a pecan on top. Yum! I could pop these all day!

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peanut Butter Blossoms

(My only GF endeavor, although they are probably way too cross contaminated at that point to be considered GF)

Russian Tea Cakes

Candy Cane Cookies

These cookies were one of my favorites as a kid. They actually take a very delicate hand.

Eggnog Snickerdoodles

Filled up all of my tins so they will be ready to pass out. I got two sizes of tins. These are the smaller ones, but they still held quite a bit.

Finished product!

I don't know how my mom got a lot of her tins back, but I'd love to know the secret. My neighbors always give them back though!

I absolutely love our little family of 3 (counting Guinness), but during the holidays, I always look forward to the excitement that comes with having kids during the holidays. I cannot wait for the day when we grow our family so that they can help make cookies with me at Christmas time and hopefully enjoy this tradition of the holidays as much as I do.

What kinds of traditions are you carrying on with your own family?

Let's Say Thanks

A wonderful way to say thank you to the troops and to let them know that you are thinking of them during the holidays.

Xerox prints them off for you and sends them to a soldier. You don't get to pick the soldier, but you can know that it's going to mean a lot to someone this year.