Sounds and Smells of Christmas

I love Christmas: the music, presents, decorations, parties, cookies, and most important, the memories. As my girls grow, I get even more excited about Christmas. I look forward to sharing Christmas experiences and creating  memories. Each year that passes provides new opportunities for me to give to them. This year I am loving the ability to bake with my oldest, Jessie.

Last night I was able to bake cookies with Jessie. We made peanut butter blossoms. It is so fun to have her help stir, pour in ingredients, lick the beaters, and squish the chocolate kisses into the cookies. It warms my heart to make memories together, just like my dad and I did.

My dad knows how to make 4 things: german pancakes, french toast, any type of grilled/bbq meat, and sandbakkels. Every Christmas, from the time I can remember, my dad would make sandbakkelswith us. Sandbakkels are Norwegian sugar cookies. It's a basic recipe of sugar, butter, flour, and an egg. You know, the good stuff! You take a quarter size ball of dough and squish it evenly up the sides of special Sandbakkel tins.

The cookies are baked for 9 minutes and make the house smell amazing! Once cooled they are crisp, sugary deliciousness! I love them!

Every year my dad takes out the tins, and I know it's Christmas. Once I was big enough I would help him squish the dough. Sometimes we would watch a movie while we made cookies. Sometimes we would just talk. It didn't really matter. We were making memories.

My siblings would help as well. Leah always tries to eat the dough. John can eat several cookies at a time. Normally a batch of sandbakkels don't last more than a day or two. We started doubling the recipe. I get requests from friends for these things all the time. We even served these cookies at our wedding! It's a part of our family history.

Sandbakkels will be passed down to my girls, and hopefully their children. When I moved out, my parents gave me my own set of tins. My dad has my great-grandmother's tins. It's a tradition that continues because it has meaning. The cookies are delicious but it's the memory of being with my dad, watching "It's a Wonderful Life" and knowing that I was making the same cookies as my grandma, and her grandma, and her grandma once made, that make Sandbakkels so special.

The memories of time spent together are the real treasures in life. I can't wait to continue to make more memories with my little ones.