Sharing Christmas

My friend Megan is hosting a "tour of homes" on her blog. Basically she has asked all of her blogging friends to give others a peak into their holidays. Decorations, traditions, favorite recipe etc. So, here is my attempt to share what we do for Christmas...

Decorations - we don't do too much besides our tree. But each year we get a real tree from a tree farm - that's a must for us!

Our tree is pretty traditional - decorated with ornaments that have special meaning to us - many of them given to us by family and friends. I also love to get an ornament anytime we travel somewhere special. Here is my current favorite ornament, purchased during our Christmas in NYC weekend.

3 years ago, I got these great little Christmas trees for Sophia & Anthony. They love to decorate them each year and put them in their rooms. There are so many great little ornaments out there and I get them some each year. Sophia's tree is filled with Disney princesses, Hello Kitty, Strawberry Shortcake, Dora etc. and Anthony's tree is filled with basketballs, footballs, soccer balls, Scooby Doo etc.

Two other special decorations are our Nativity set and our stockings, both given to us by Jon's mom (she knit the stockings which makes them really special).

Traditions - usually we split our Christmas holiday between home and Wisconsin, where my family is. This year we will not be going to WI - we are sad to not see my family, but just needed a break from traveling this year. We are a pretty young family, so we are still developing some of our own traditions. Going to a tree farm to get our tree the weekend of Thanksgiving is becoming one of those. If we are home on Christmas Eve, that is the time we celebrate with Jon's family. Most years we have attended our Christmas Eve service but have missed a couple due to babies or being in WI. If we are home on Christmas Eve/Day, Santa comes Christmas Eve and we open gifts in the a.m. If we are in WI, we have to get creative and celebrate before or after - which hasn't been too hard yet since our kids haven't known dates - but they are starting to track things like that, so the next few years will be tricky! Oh, one more thing about Santa - our kids are only allowed to ask him for one thing each - we decided that we don't want Santa getting all the credit! :-) and we don't want to place too much emphasis on Santa - it is something fun to do, but we don't want that to detract from the real meaning of Christmas.

Well, sitting down and trying to write out our traditions is making me realize that we don't really have that many - we'll have to work on that over the next few years!

Recipes - Those of you that know us well, know that we love good food! Jon always makes a trip down to the Italian Market on Christmas eve to get some great Italian cheeses, sausage, pepper shooters etc. Pappy (Jon's dad) makes homemade ravioli for Christmas. When we are in WI, we all take turns making special meals for each other so that my sister Deann, who hosts, doesn't have to do all the cooking - Jon and I usually make our current favorite recipe for them. I always try to make Christmas cookies to share with co-workers, neighbors and family. I will post my all-time favorite Christmas cookie recipe - Ricotta cookies. I guess they are not officially a Christmas cookie, but this is the only time of year I make them, so that's what they are to me. Oh, and it's not "my" recipe, I got it out of a Better Homes and Garden cookbook (just want to give credit where credit is due!) Here it is:

Ricotta Cookies:

• 2 c. sugar
• 1 c. butter, softened
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 4 c. flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 15-ounce carton ricotta cheese

Beat the sugar and butter with an electric mixer on med. to high speed until combined. Add the eggs and vanilla; beat until creamy. Add half of the flour, the baking soda and salt; beat until well blended. Stir in the remaining flour and the ricotta cheese. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for about 12 min. or until the bottoms of the cookies are browned. The cookie tops should not brown. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

Frosting:

• 3-ounce package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 c. butter, softened
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 c. powdered sugar
• Ground nutmeg (optional, but recommended!)

Beat together the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually add the powdered sugar; mix well. Spread the frosting on the cooled cookies. If desired, sprinkle with ground nutmeg. Store the frosted cookies, covered, in the refrigerator.

Well, there you have it - a peak into our Christmas. I hope you enjoyed it and for those of you in Megan's "tour", I'm looking forward to checking out your homes and traditions!