One of my absolute favorite things to do during Christmas time is bake special treats for our friends and neighbors. Of course, we get to eat some as well. I collect recipes constantly and store them in a special plastic file. Then, sometime in November, I go through them all and pick out the ones I feel like making for that year. There are a few standards that I make almost every year, but I like to choose mostly different things so that it doesn’t get boring. For me, or the recipients.
One of the treats the children have requested I make every year are buckeyes.
They are pretty easy and relatively quick to make, but boy are they delicious. I actually prefer them now to Reese’s Peanut Butter cups. Which is why I only make them once a year. 🙂
I also made Mounds bars this year. Almond Joys were too labor intensive for me, I just didn’t have the time. But I bought the coconut way back in the summer while we were in the States, and kept it in the freezer all this time, with the express purpose of making these this year. They are so good! 
I remember the first time I made them, I got so fed up dipping the individual pieces in the melted chocolate. Finally I just left them in the pan and poured the chocolate on top. They were good, but having the chocolate coating all the way around is better.
I totally overestimated how much chocolate to melt, so I dipped the marzipan balls we bought in Germany into it, as well. The kids gave this the thumbs up!
I tried this recipe for the first time about 9 years ago. It was a complete flop. So I set it aside and every time I saw the recipe card, I would remember the horror of those mints that refused to set up, and then have an inner debate about throwing the card away or not. But the taste was so good, even though the texture was wrong, so I would stick it back in the collection for another time. This year, after a bit of investigation on the internet, I decided to try again. They worked perfectly! They still don’t taste exactly like the mints you get at all weddings I have ever attended in the States, but they were close. And I think its worth some more experimentation to achieve that perfect clone. Noah LOVED these, as well, and hopes they become a part of the permanent rotation.
I made lots of other treats as well, but these are the ones I could make ahead of time, because sitting around for a bit actually improves their flavor, rather than detracting from it. Making Christmas treats for loved ones, while listening to beautiful Christmas music, what a great tradition!
Another favorite tradition that I inherited from my mom, is always having a Christmas puzzle set up somewhere in the house to be worked on whenever anyone feels like it. Some of my most vivid and treasured memories of Christmas time are coming home from school and finding my mom sitting at my dad’s drafting table they had set up in the living room, working on “the puzzle”. It was a 1000 piece-r and I remember loving to work on the lady in the purple dress who was decorating the gigantic Christmas tree. There was also a scene of Santa Claus climbing down into a chimney top. After several years, we got to where we could put the puzzle together in just a couple of days, we knew it so well. So then my brother, I think, gave her a new one. And then the collecting of awesome Christmas puzzles began. The only requirements were that they had to be 1000 piece-rs.
So guess what we do at our house?
This is one of 3 Christmas puzzles I have collected so far. The fun thing is that it was truly a family affair. Sophie worked on certain sections of the puzzle all by herself, Noah worked on another section, and he, Sarah and Alexandra helped us search for certain pieces. Noah is really, really good at picking out just the right piece we need from the whole box of jumbled up pieces.
And you know what I discovered this year? When all the preparations and festivities of Christmas are beginning to feel like nothing more than a bunch of stressful obligations, sitting down for a few minutes to work on a puzzle is the best therapy there is. It relaxed me, gave my mind a distraction from the lists of things to do constantly swarming around inside my head, and forced me to slow down just a bit and just enjoy the moment, the season, with my family. The way its meant to be enjoyed. Thank you, Mom, for this awesome tradition.
We always get the kids fun Advent calendars, filled with little toys and treats to help the long wait until Christmas be a bit more bearable. But this is the calendar they talk about the most. Every day the kids take turns moving Mary and Joseph one small step closer to Bethlehem. There is constant counting of how many days are left, how far they’ve already come, etc. And then, finally, on Christmas eve, they set up the whole scene in the manager. There are wise men, shepherds, angels, a giant star, and of course, baby Jesus in a manger. I bought it from www.funfelt.com at a home party back when we lived in the States and only had one teeny tiny baby. Excellent investment.
In looking back over past blog entries, some things I thought were traditions, faded over time. And that’s okay. But these are the traditions that return every year. The things that make it feel like Christmas in our home. Without them, something would just feel “off”. I hope they bring my children as many happy memories in later years as they do to me now.