Holiday Baking and Family Time

With each year that passes, I become more and more appreciative of times when the whole family is able to get together.  I've consciously reminded myself to not take for granted the moments when everyone is under one roof.  Two kids in college means that those times are rare and fleeting.  I've tried to maximize the enjoyment of those times and realize that the dividends those family times pay in terms of memories and joy are unparalleled with any material thing.

We have very simple family times in which we'll play games and just enjoy each other's company. Nothing extravagant and certainly not expensive.  With stiff competition from electronics, phones, Internet and TV for our family's attention (that many times we lose), I treasure one on one family engagements.

One of those things is holiday baking.  We gathered in the kitchen and decided to bake some family favorites like pecan crescents (growing up we called them cocoons because we rolled them into little cocoon-shaped objects), gingerbread men, baklava, empanadas, and a few others.  Here are some pecan crescents straight from the oven that we'll let cool.

Fresh from the oven

We allowed them to cool fully and then rolled them around in some powdered sugar.

Adding a little sweetness

Then we loaded them into a container and put them in the 'snack drawer.'  Other goodies will be placed in those familiar metal tins that we've saved over the years that fruit cakes come in.  Countless times since then I've heard the familiar rumble of the snack drawer opening and the lids to the circular metal tins being popped off so that family members may enjoy some of the holiday treats. The Tupperware container that the pecan crescents are packed in lends itself quite nicely to what I call "stealth snacking."

Pecan crescents - yum!

Then we got started on gingerbread men.  We got the ingredients all mixed in a bowl.  The easiest way to mix this stiff dough is to just roll up your sleeves and work it with your hands.  Messy? You bet! Now that I think of it, that's a good analogy to family time.  Family gatherings and interactions can be quite messy at times if we're going to be honest, but if we keep working together, our labor of love will produce results we're proud of and things we enjoy and value greatly.   

Getting a little messy

We roll out the dough flat and use the gingerbread cookie cutters to fashion beautiful little people.

Gingerbread men are born

Then we peel the dough away from the gingerbread family.  Once you peel away all the clutter, you're left with five people fashioned from what was once a mess and then was smashed flat!  Do you ever feel like you're smashed flat?  There's five - just like our family.

From a messy bowl to 

Then we arrange them on a cookie sheet and get ready to put them in a hot oven.

Everyone working together (Tricia is taking the photo)

We continue rolling out the dough and making new gingerbread people until there's hardly any dough left.  Heck, when there's not enough dough to make another person, we'll often make goofy things, like our Jersey cow below:

If you use your imagination, it looks like a cow

The kids used their creativity to make bow ties and buttons and eyes and smiley faces on them and then we put them in the oven.  Oh, the smell of gingerbread baking!!  Out they come...

Right out of the oven

Once they've fully cooled, we'll decorate them.  The kids use their originality to personalize them. Some have our names, some with all sorts of designs on them. Every one is different, but all are good and greatly valued.

Decorating the gingerbread men and women

I have fond memories of doing this exact thing as a kid and hopefully our kids will have the same remembrances to pass along to the next generation.  People spend lots of money purchasing material goods that will be in a landfill at this time next year.  Making memories that endure over time are more meaningful to me.

I should have taken this picture and allowed my beautiful wife to be in this one

I must report at the time I'm writing this, ALL of the pecan crescents are gone and there was only 1 tin left of the gingerbread men.  I'm hoping that there will be some remaining by the time I get home from work, but I'm thinking the chances of that happening is somewhere between slim and none. Even if the sweet goodies are long gone, good memories will remain to remind us of sweet family times.  Cherish your family today!