Timothy loves to decorate the Christmas tree. I was lucky that in my brother's family, tradition is to decorate the tree very close to Christmas, generally only a day or two before the big day. (As opposed to the day after Thanksgiving, which is a big day in the States for folks to get and decorate trees.) This all means that I got to be there and help with the job. I have wonderfully fond memories of decorating the tree as a family, and since D and I didn't have the option of doing a tree in Belgium, it was a joy for me to get to share with Timothy this fun task. I know that I am prejudice, since he is my nephew and all, but I LOVE this picture because he is just to cute! Look at that face, that infectious smile. Who wouldn't want to hang out with this loveable bundle of joy? (I am a smitten Aunty.)
As is the case all throughout my family, we had more than enough ornaments in which to choose from, so my job was to help Timothy (clearly the most excited to decorate) get ornaments on the tree and make sure that the tree was balanced (that was more for the rest of us, Timothy didn't really care about that bit). I liked the slightly smaller tree (than what I am used to in the States)- it made the job fun but not so long that you are ready to be done long before the tree looks ready.
Now, Timothy loves the Christmas tree, but my favorite FAVORITE memory from Christmas time as a child was making, decorating and eating my mom's sugar cookies. There are many wonderful cookies that both D's and my family make around this time of year, but for me, this is the one that I have to have in order for it to "feel" like Christmas. I cared enough about it that I mixed the dry ingredients in the US before our trip over and saved it until we made our way over to Frankfurt. (I was worried that I wouldn't be able to find Cream of Tartar or Baking Powder or something crucial. I am a planner, and if it is important enough for me, I will jump through some silly hoops to make what I want to happen, happen.) Thankfully, since I have a fabulous sister-in-law, Dany let me use her kitchen to bake the cookies the day before (we used a wine glass as the cookie cutter, and I was really amazed how much the cookies differed in size. Weird.) So, on Christmas Eve, we were able to spend the day decorating the tree, and then decorating -and eating - the cookies.
And, of course, you CANNOT make cookies without sampling them to make sure that they are up to par for all others to taste. Timothy was an excellent frosting spreader (he actually preferred that job over putting the sprinkles on - that surprised me) and D did quite a good job of applying the sprinkles - and an even better job of helping make the cookies disappear. Funny, once the cookies are available, only the children are good about asking for permission to eat them, and then are good at restraining at just one or two. We adults were sneaking them right and left and looking like guilty children when caught. Funny. The taste of home and happy memories, hard not to gorge on that.
3 comments:
Looks like fun! Your sugar cookies are yummy! I miss our cookie exchanges. They seem like a long, long time ago.
We have that same Tripp Trapp chair as Timothy, except ours is black.
What fun Jenny! I'm so happy for you that you got to spend that precious time with your brother and his family. I can relate to the packing of dry cookie ingredients and the planning ahead. I do that sort of thing when I travel home (CA) for the holidays. They don't have Whole Foods near my parents, you know.
What delightful celebrations! I miss our cookie exchanges, too. xox
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