CHRISTMAS BAKING & HOMEMADE CHOCOLATES .. it's a tradition

Well yesterday was my baking day for all of my traditional Christmas goodies. After my whirlwind week of travel and work, the last thing I wanted to do is spend a day cooking. But I did. I did it because Christmas is steeped in traditions and family and therefore I would not let my children down by not making my traditional selection of home made chocolates and cookies for Christmas Eve.

So off I went with my chocolate, my pecans and peanut butter... and out of those came my "home made turtles, millionaires fudge, buckeyes and almond toffee bark and more "-all the favourite sweets with my kids.

Every year, the kids dive into these treats and thoroughly enjoy them. And every year until I can cook no more, will I make them for them.

I thought of these traditions when I made my shortbread cookies. My Mom's recipe was used and I am so lucky to have received Mom's original cookie cutters. Mom gave these to me a few years ago when she passed the torch of shortbread cookies to me. She was getting to an age when she just didn't want to make one more batch of these cookies and so I was lucky enough to receive the cutters. When I was looking for my own set of cookie cutters I could never find ones that were perfect like Mom's. Mom's cutters were perfect in size and had all of the shapes that I wanted. So I was thrilled when Mom came to my house one day and gave these to me.

It is these small traditions that are important to me at Christmas. Regardless of where we are in life, I will keep these traditions alive and well. And I look forward to the new traditions that are created when I am baking cookies with my girls in their own homes with their own children.

I know that someday, I will be boxing up my chocolate molds and recipes and giving them to one of my daughters to carry on the tradition. But not yet..."I've got lots of cooking and baking left in me. "

So enjoy all the treats of Christmas.

And thanks Mom for the cookie cutters - they were used again this year.

Love
"the MOM"