Holiday Treats

Yesterday we finally squeezed in our tradition of making treats for the holidays. Our "baking" tradition used to be pretty darn involved, but I've pared it down and these are basically the only treats we make anymore because they're super yummy, super easy, and super quick.

Place Rolos or Hugs on top of pretzels and heat for 8 minutes at 200 degrees, then top with M&M's or pecans. Can't get much easier than that. And those babies are delish I tell ya.

When I announced that it was time to make our treats, I didn't get quite the same reaction from the girls as in years past.

Meg was busy playing Cinderella.

Brita opted out in favor of reading a book. The kitchen doesn't hold the same magic for her as when she was little.

Leah was first to jump on board, which was no surprise really. The kitchen is one of her favorite places to hang out and create cool stuff.

Even unwrapping Rolos turned into a creative project.

Meg took a break from Cinderella just in time to top the last batch as they came out of the oven.

Then Grandpa saw what was going on and he thought it looked like fun, so he pulled up a chair next to Meg and got to work.

Then Meg got all smug because Grandpa couldn't steady his hands enough to center the M&M's on top of the Hugs.

She started making comments like, "I'm much better at this than Grandpa, am I Mom." To which Granny, Grandpa and I all had to assure her that she was the best. Then she decided she could take on the role of teaching for a couple minutes.

Which must have been just what Grandpa needed, because he finally managed to get one just right.

Meg decided she'd better finish them up, you know, to make sure most of them looked good. She was very serious about the whole thing.

In the end, she did a great job and by darn, she knew it.

I told the girls they had to wait to sample the goodies until they had time to firm up and cool down a little bit, but I couldn't deny granny and grandpa the opportunity to try them fresh out of the oven...even if they did sample them before I could get a pic.

I always forget how much candy these puppies require. Seems like I never buy enough Rolos, so this year I bought a couple bags every time I went to the store for a few weeks.

This batch of three cookie sheets required one full bag of pretzels (I even had to slip in a couple that had crumbled a little bit), 4 bags of Rolos, and 2 bags of Hugs. Not bad for the only batch of Christmas treats we'll be whipping up this year.

At first I was disappointed that we weren't all in the kitchen together making our treats. This is our tradition after all. I missed Brita's presence altogether, but how much fun is it to force somebody to do something they don't want to do in the name of tradition?

Even though it didn't work out the way I had envisioned, our activity worked out in other ways I couldn't have planned. I loved spending time with Leah while she unwrapped tons of Rolos, using some them to form her name on the counter and some to pop into her mouth. She is so typically a middle child and she and I rarely get enough one-on-one time. Sometimes I forget how much I enjoy being with her. Last night we had some time to connect and just be together.

And it couldn't have been more fun to have Grandpa roll up his sleeves and slip into a chair next to little Meg. The oldest and youngest members of the Moon family, separated by seventy years, working side by side. That's not the kind of thing you get to see every day.

Sometimes traditions stay the same from year to year. Sometimes they aren't worth doing anymore. And sometimes they evolve into other things. I couldn't be more pleased with the way our tradition evolved this year. At least for now, this is a tradition worth keeping.