Saturday has come and gone and Sunday is just about to vanish as well. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. I sit here thinking about all the events that took place this December and wonder where the last 22 days have gone. It has been a busy season filled with friends and family but it still feels a little empty. I started this blog about a week ago and fantasized about the page “Saturday Sweets”…it was perfect timing as our families tradition is to bake just a few days before Christmas. Yesterday we all set aside time to meet in the kitchen to make those favored treats. We talked, we laughed and we remembered where each recipe came from, most of them were my mom’s. We lost my mom in May and this is our first Christmas with out her. With every sugar cookie I make I miss her more. She taught me how to make the dough, roll it out , cut it into each Holidays shape and to ice them with love. She used to get so aggravated at us when she spent all day baking and within a matter a minutes from being home from school the dish that once held the delectable desserts was empty. We couldn’t help ourselves though she was an excellent baker. She was a perfectionist and it was revealed in the taste of her cookies. Presentation was everything. I learned my love of baking from her. I find the task very comforting for it is the one thing that I can do that I know what the end result will be. No matter how inadequate I feel in life a perfect cookie makes me feel a little more accomplished. To see the smiles on my kids faces when the house is filled with an aroma of fresh baked cookies makes me wonder if it is exactly how my mom felt when she saw our reactions to her baking. I miss her but I am so thankful to be able to pass on to my two the love that she had for not just baking but for life. She would love that we were all spending time together this Christmas. My favorite gift I ever received from my mom was a small recipe book with her handwritten recipes tucked inside. Its not just a recipe book, its a small part of her. I love to see her handwritten words as I follow each step. I often wonder if I don’t memorize the recipes on purpose just so I can have that part of her with me each time.

I did however tell you that you would learn the do’s and don’ts from Jennie’s Corner and I have a huge don’t for you!!! We made chocolate dipped peanut butter crackers and Oreo’s. I wanted to keep the two separate but once you dip them in chocolate they look very much alike. I decided to decorate the Oreo’s with chocolate sprinkles and keep the PB Crackers plain. It was the perfect idea and I felt so organized. I had a system! Each treat had its own section on the wax paper. I started to get tired and tried to simplify the task by using both hands simultaneously. I dipped the Oreo with my right hand and had sprinkles in the left so I could quickly add them before the chocolate dried. It was going great UNTIL I knocked the open bottle of sprinkles with my arm and they rolled out everywhere. You would have thought they were magnetic!! My plain PB Crackers were the pulling force. All the sudden I had no clue which ones were which. After my loud gasp and my son running to the kitchen I decided to call them “Surprise Treats”… they will taste the same but you just won’t know what you are getting until you take that first bite.

To my family from your’s Merry Christmas and Happy Baking!!!!