December! “Santa!!!!!!!!!! I know him” – name that movie!

I love December – but I hate winter. It’s a good thing December has plenty of things to distract me 🙂 First of all. I love the first real snow, as long as I don’t have to go anywhere, it can snow and snow, and snow!  Second, Santa comes! It’s so exciting, the smells, the cookies, the candies, the excitement, the presents! It takes us HOURS (there are 4 of us) to open presents. My sisters would call to wish my family a Merry Christmas and they would call around 10:30 am and ask what I got. I’d tell them, “we aren’t done yet, call back around 1:00 p.m. We should be done by then.” Now this statement is odd because, I have a 6 year old in the house. This arrangement boggles my sisters’ minds. They do not believe it is possible  to still be opening presents at 1:00 p.m. with a child in the home that most certainly is up by 6:00 a.m. But alas, it is true. NO, we do not have enough presents to fill Macy’s in NYC. The process of opening presents takes so much time because we do it, one by one and we enjoy EACH gift. If clothes are the gift, they are tried on, right then. If it’s a new toy, it is opened and played with BEFORE the next toy is opened. We all oooo, and aaahhh at each gift, each person opens. It is a very wonderful time fore us.

And last, it is Jesus’ birthday. HALLELUIAH! Rejoice. We have birthday cake on December 25th. A beautiful white cake decorated with green spearmint leaf candy and cinnamon hots to resemble holly and the “icing” is cool whip. We love this cake. It is tradition!

I found this photo on the web. I decorate the top with the candies to look like holly all over the top. But you get the picture!

After Christmas, I’m done with cold and snow. I think I will be a snow bird this year! 🙂 Blessings to all, and to all a good night.

Christmas sharing

Do you have a specific memory of Christmas that you still to this day keep as a tradition in your family? I do, I have several, but my mom’s Orange cookie recipe is my favorite. The cookies are actually too sweet for me, but I make them and eat them, because they remind me of Christmas and my mom. My mom passed away in 2004, she was a great lady. She left behind some fabulous recipes and I would like to share one with you. Her orange cookie recipe.

Orange cookies

2/3 c. Shortening (yep, it’s an old recipe)
3/4 C. sugar
1 egg
Mix these together, then stir in 1/2 c. Orange Juice

In another bowl mix together
2c. flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Then mix the wet and dry together. drop by rounded teaspoon onto ungreased baking sheet and Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes

ICING – the best part!
2 1/2 TBS of butter
1 1/2 c. of POWDERED sugar
1 1/2 TBS of orange juice…Once mixed split between two bowls and add green food coloring for one and red to the other. Ice as normal…DELICIOUS! Soft cookies.

Your cookies will look like the ones on the left, before being iced. And the once iced, the one on the right. I use dark green food coloring, and a nice bright red. The cookies look very festive.