Christmas Baking Extravaganza '08

Better late than never; right?

Every year, my mom and her daughters get together for a Christmas cookie baking day. This tradition stems back to when my grandmother and her daughters and daughter-in-laws would bake together. Sometimes, their baking day turned into a baking weekend in which they would make cookies and candy several days in a row!

We kicked off our baking day with a toast to kick off our fun day together. (It was early in the morning, so forgive us! Left to right: Julie, Mom, Rebecca, Brittain)


This year, Nolan and Keith enjoyed helping quite a bit. They had their own aprons, baking dishes, and utensils. They were big helpers! (And, of course, we kept their cookies to the side, designated as "the kids' cookies."


My mom has learned how to make Swedish coffee bread, which is a tradition on my dad's side. His mom always made this special bread for every holiday. It's a fond memory of mine, and I'm proud that my mom has chosen to carry on that tradition. (It's very time consuming and tedious to make!) In fact, since the recent passing of my grandmother, I'm even more grateful that we will still have Swedish coffee bread to enjoy and fondly remember Grandma Kling.


John, Britt, and Ella. Even Miss Ella got to help this year. Although, most of her "helping" was just watching. I know she'll be right in the middle of it next year!


Rebecca, Bryan, and Keith. As you could see in the previous picture and this one, the guys participated, too. Although they weren't baking all day, they joined in on occasion.


Nolan had such a great time! He loved the gingerbread cookies this year!


After all was said and done, we spent about 10 hours baking that day. We had a ton of cookies to share, and each family had more than Santa could possibly eat during his brief stop at their house.




What a great time together. I'm grateful for traditions that create wonderful memories. As I have memories of participating in baking days with my mom, grandmother, aunts and cousins, I hope Ella will look forward to this tradition and choose to continue it with her future family.