Family traditions come in many forms--one of my favorite holiday activities involves baking fruitcake, cookies and candy. Since I was 8 years old, I have been cooking and baking for my family. My first forays into the kitchen took most of a Saturday to clean up, but by age 10, I was making desserts and coffee for my parent's guests for after-church social events at our home. By 12 years of age, I was making most of the dinners and learning to coordinate the timing of each dish so the meal would all come together at the scheduled time.
After Thanksgiving each year, I buy all of the fruit and nuts and other ingredients needed to make fruitcake, sugar cookies and fudge. I often get together with girlfriends for a small cookie exchange, and we share a dozen or so of what we have made. By Christmas, most of us usually have a dozen of four or five types of homemade items to share for our holiday dinner.
This year, I sent away to Vermont for two fruitcake mixes. A large box arrived a few weeks ago with boxes of cake mix, and packages of candied fruit and candied cherries. I had my Mom over, and we mixed all of the ingredients together and baked 8 fruitcakes that day. They had a wonderful maple flavor, and they were unlike any fruitcake we have had in the past.
The tray of dessert offerings after Christmas dinner went well with Starbucks Christmas Blend coffee, and we lingered over our treats late in the day as we sat in front of the Christmas tree, glad that all of the elements of our cooking and baking came together in a perfect ending.
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