Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Holiday Bite #8: ... and checking it twice

This is really part 2 of yesterday's post. With one sick child at home and then last night I started coming down with something (sore throat, runny nose, etc) I am not up to long complicated posts .... or for labor intensive bites in the Holiday planning either. But that doesn't mean I have to do nothing either. Today I took advantage of the half hour subway ride to my chiropractor's appointment to pull out my holiday planner folder and start some of my lists. I began to write in the names of extended family members, friends and neighbors that we will give some kind of gift to. I started a list of people who will receive cookie trays if I do them this year, which I fully intend to do unless, like last year, I am sidelined by illness for the entire Christmas/New Year's/ 3 King's Day season. And finally, I started my list of "must have" Christmas cookies and sweets. I jotted a T next to the ones I would want for the cookie trays and the rest are just the family favorites that came to mind. I will whittle the list down but it was fun to start thinking about goodies to come.
Most are family favorites that we make (nearly) every year. One recipe is a new one. My niece did a trial run last night on this recipe and all but one person in the house is loving this easy candy that tastes like Heath Bar toffee. We left out the nuts because of allergies in the house and substituted 2 large chocolate bars from our local supermarket for the chocolate chips. They worked wonderfully and had a great flavor.
Do you make cookie trays to hand out to friends or neighbors? What is going on yours this year? If you don't know, take a couple of minutes and sit down with a cup of tea and start your list. What about other homemade gifts .... does anybody still give those "gifts in a jar"? If you need special ingredients or supplies, now is the time to get those things written down and gathered up. I don't know about you, but I think a stress-free ( or at least stress-reduced) Holiday season sounds as sweet as a bite of my holiday cookies.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi sis. I've been fighting a head cold, too. We're having a nice vacation. I can hardly believe that the holidays will be so close when we get home! We'll probably do cookie plates again for the neighbors, which means definately making choc. bonbons. p. butter cookies with choc. kisses, and the choc. mint bars. YUM!
Wish we could bake together. Love, amy