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An ode to holiday treats

Adri's Adventures

Christmas is my favorite time of year. The sights. The sounds. The people. And most importantly, the food.

Okay, okay, the people rank number one in my book, but what do people do when they socialize? They eat!

Most of my holiday memories center around family gatherings with special dishes and treats for everyone.

Some of my earliest Christmas baking memories go way back to the late 1990s. My two aunts would fly in from California and South Carolina for Christmas and spend part of their trips home baking and cooking with me and my sisters. We would make chex-mix, special Santa cookies, and other mouth watering goodies and bring them to our big family get-togethers.

I must admit my sisters did a lot more of the baking and cooking throughout the years though. Each time a new recipe was tried out or traditional treat was made I would quickly run out of patience in the kitchen.

Growing up, I often wondered why my mom didn’t make Christmas cutout cookies very often. I figured out why last Christmas when my younger sister and I attempted the daunting task ourselves.

The amount of effort it takes to mix, chill, bake, let cool, and decorate your typical cutout sugar cookie is insane!

We spent hours in the kitchen. We gave up after the first batch and threw the rest of the dough into an old cake pan to cook the unused mix.

We ended up with two absolutely adorable and enormous “sugar bear” cookies (which were much easier to decorate than the smaller, individual cookies we attempted during the first batch).

The worst part of our baking disaster was having to clean up the huge mess we made in the kitchen. For a girl with OCD, I sure wasn’t a happy camper cleaning up after failing at cookie baking.

Now, unless I head back to Northwest Iowa, the closest I come to home made holiday treats is the grocery store (which I am strangely okay with).

Maybe one day I will summon up the gumption and patience to try my hand at more holiday goodies, but, that day is not today.

I commend everyone with the patience to endure hours and days of baking during Christmas time.

If you are like me and are not a fan of going Betty Crocker during the holidays, there are some awesome community activities happening in the next couple of weeks with treats for all ages.

Kids and families can attend Santa’s Workshop at Kendall Young Library this Saturday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The free event gives children and families the opportunity to give Santa their wish lists, make a craft, and decorate their own cookie.

The Grid Iron will be holding Supper with Santa Monday, Dec. 12 and Monday, Dec. 19 from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Kids will get to see Santa and will even receive a free gift from Jolly Old Saint Nick.

These are just a couple of the fun holiday festivities coming up in Webster City. This is a great time to take the kids out and help get in the Christmas spirit. Christmas, no matter the food involved, is always an adventure.

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