A few weeks ago, I played a little game with some girlfriends about holiday traditions. There were 3 questions:IF NOT FOR YOUR KIDS, which holiday traditions would you:
1. want to ditch?
2. want to begin?
3. want to keep forever & ever and make them feel guilty if they don't do it too when they grow up.
My answers:
1. DITCH: I would totally ditch the whole mess of making sugar cookies and decorating. It is SO messy. You find sprinkles in all the crevices of your kitchen for months afterwards. Not to mention the sugar high and crash that ensues. Plus red dye frosting stains your countertops. Fights break out over who gets to decorate THAT angel because THIS angel has a broken wing. Did I mention that I do not like making cookies with my kids? I feel so guilty admitting this! I mean, what kind of mother am I? I could get my motherhood license revoked for this confession.
2. BEGIN: go to a midnight mass or candlelight service and then sleep in the next day.
3. KEEP: reading Christmas story from Luke and a big breakfast on Christmas morning.
Well, glory be! I have had the honor of revising my "Ditch" answer because Nestle has come up with the best thing since sliced bread. "Christmas Shapes Sugar Cookies". It's a package that has the shapes already cut out. You just bake and decorate with the pack of icing already mixed and ready to stain, eh, I mean spread.
Oh yes, I'm sure you've seen it and given it a little snide glance as you strolled past this "kit" on your way to the baking aisle to pick up your granulated sugar, vanilla, eggs, and flour to make a Homemade Christmas.
But, I have no shame. My "Mom of Excellence" status has been redeemed and I am back in my kids' good graces because we bought this kit and did the sugar cookie baking/decorating thing on Saturday. And I stayed happy and joyful and loving through the whole experience.
Nestle has saved Christmas, once again.
If you want, post a comment and answer my questions: Had you no children to dictate how Christmas is run around your home: What would you ditch? What would you start? And lastly, what tradition do you hope to keep for all time?
2 comments:
We were just talking about cookies the other night. We make them on Christmas Eve. I think I am actually going to do these instead of the HUGE production we did last year. Last year I had 4 kids and 4 adults doing it,so I need a ton of cookies. This year it is just us, so one package of those will be plenty for Santa and us! Now, we started to put together our gingerbread house Sunday night and Brian dropped it and it broke. I think he did it on purpose!
Ditch: Cookies, too. I hate baking cookies! I always overcook them, and when I make sugar cookies I always roll the dough too thin...such a pain!
Begin: Decorating the house with beautiful/breakable Christmas decor that is currently hidden in the recesses of our basement and won't see the light if Christmas again for many years!
Keep: Going to a tree farm and searching for the perfect Christmas tree that you cut down yourself. Then decorating the tree listening to the Muppets/John Denver Christmas album. I've been doing this since I was a kid listening to the music on our record player.
Post a Comment