It doesn’t matter which holiday, if any, you celebrate this time of year. There is something about the snow, the chill in the air and a warm home to really make you appreciate all that you have and all that you can give to the world.

My mom’s birthday is right around Christmas and every year we spend a day, experimenting with cookie recipes, decorating our houses together and enjoying being with one another.

Sometimes our cookies are delicious while other times, well, not so much. This year was fifty fifty in the cookie success department.

Mom’s Recipe: Chocolate Crinkle Cookies (very delicious and perfectly made, obviously this was her recipe and not mine.)

Directions:

Cream ½ cup of shortening, 1 2/3 cups granulated sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. After this, beat in two eggs, two one ounce squares of melted unsweetened chocolate.

Combine 2 cups of all purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder and ½ teaspoon salt. Sift together. Add the mixture alternating with 1/3 cup of milk.

Chill the dough for three hours. When ready make 1 inch round balls, roll in powdered sugar and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degree for fifteen minutes.

These cookies look so festive on a holiday cookie platter!

Sara’s Recipe: Salted Caramel Cookies (very delicious, but made quite the mess! These may not make it on the cookie platter, but my husband will enjoy them.)

Directions:

I used the chocolate chip cookie recipe from the Tollhouse cookie package, but substituted caramel bits for the chocolate chips.

The caramel bits stuck to the bottom of the pan, despite greasing it, and were nearly impossible to remove. Next time I would try a drop cookie with a salted caramel center. The cookies we were able to save were so good, maybe it’s a good thing they didn’t all make it!

 

Share with some of your favorite holiday cookie and treat recipes with us on Facebook!

Now that Thanksgiving is over and we are left with tons of snow, you can start pulling out seasonal decorations and starting up on family traditions.

Does your family have an elf that visits around the holiday season to help children stay on their best behavior? We have heard that Santa sends these scout elves to keep his eyes and ears on the children.

Your adopted scout elf will watch over the house and at the end of the day they’ll report back to Santa and tell him all that he/she has seen. When morning comes families have a fun time looking around the house to see where the elf has moved to.

Sometimes the scout elves cause a little mischief around the house. Here are a few of the things  that the elves have been caught doing!

 

Although it is such a fun tradition to have as part of your family, the choice to adopt an elf is not for everyone. It’s nice to enhance gratitude, forgiveness, and generosity in not only the holiday season, but also year round. When it’s time for the elf to go, have a fun talk with your family about what it means to be kind all the time.

 

Please share with us what some of your families seasonal traditions are. If you have an elf and you capture them doing anything fun in your house, take a picture and post it on our Facebook page!