26F this am at my house – I didn’t expect that – time to shift gears, I guess
Do you ever walk around your house in the early light at this time of year and think that you smell fresh pine – when there isn’t any in the house yet? I do. Call me crazy. I was at the Farmer’s Market at Union Square on Saturday and the smell of fresh pine was so lovely………
Time to prepare, right? Last night I was discussing cookie recipes with a friend. I guess this stuck in my head overnight.
This year, I’m suggesting a gift for you to give to your kids or grandkids! This is not an original idea. I’m just bringing it up in time to begin and allow for setting aside a few minutes each day – don’t want to add any stress in the next few weeks!
Rather than running out to the mall or combing the internet for something original, why not just pick up a small empty book? They have tons of them at Barnes and Noble for less than $10. You can do this in three days, right?
If you’re not inclined to write them down with an old fashioned pen and paper, do it online. But, I like the pen and paper version – you can wrap it up in a pretty piece of paper and tie it with a big red bow. It can be lots of fun and it really won’t take you much time each day – maybe a few minutes. It might just give you a chance to sit down with a cup of tea or a glass of wine and reflect on how blessed you are to have your kids this season. Get as “crafty” as you want to – you can even make your own “spiral-bound” book with red ribbon. If you don’t like the cover of the blank book you purchased, just paper it over with some festive wrapping paper. At Barnes and Noble they often have these books with a plain brown paper cover – you can draw whatever you’d like on here or do cut and paste!
The gift is a book of recipes. You can add any comments, photos and stories that go along with them that you’d like.
There are tons of options here – you can do holiday recipes, just cookies, their favorite meals or treats that they’d like to cook themselves but don’t know how (for those who are of cooking and baking age like mine) or, even for the littler ones, make them a keepsake for later on. For all of you grandparents out there, paste in photos of you and your grandkids together!
Beginning on 12/1, I’m going to post a recipe a day into a book for my kids (well, you can begin on 11/30 or do 2 on 12/24 so it’s ready for Christmas morning. Feel free to copy mine if you’d like. Always remember to give credit to the recipes of others.
Give it some thought. It could be great fun!
