Next to Thanksgiving Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year. The sights, sounds and feeling of excitement that seems to hang in the air fills me with happiness. I’ve never been one to get caught up in all of the holiday spending that seems to go on during the holidays though. Some years it was because of necessity and other years was because I just didn’t believe that spending a lot of money on gifts captured the real meaning of the season, which is of course Jesus birth.

Giving gifts from the heart is far more meaningful for me, which is where one of my main holiday traditions started, giving homemade foods as Christmas gifts. Usually my favorite thing to make is cookies and candies, there’s just something so comforting in opening a tin or bag filled with those treats. How much more enjoyable it is to receive a gift that can be eaten and shared with your loved ones, then to open up yet another pack of socks, or a Christmas sweater that we would never think of buying or wearing. Continue reading →