At last we are getting this party started with the first of 4 days of fun! I’ve been looking forward to this hop, filled with eye candy and sweet treats for our holiday season.Will you be following the amazing posts from the team on the Virtual Cookie Exchange &Christmas Blog Hop-being hosted by Carol from Just Let Me Quilt?
Every time I join in or follow one of these hops I find new to me bloggers and because I enjoy reading their post have to start following them. 😉. Do follow them when you enjoy their posts or leave a comment to show how much you appreciate their time spent for your enjoyment.
Here is the list for today’s posts:
December 1
Doreen – Just Let Me Quilt Guest
For most of us Christmas is a time to share with family and friends, perhaps do some extra charity work and best of all, enjoy treasured family goodies.
My family is a mixed bag; Canadian, American and further back English, Irish, Scots and Welsh. As a child I remember the Christmas baking would start usually on my birthday, October 15th. That would be the day my Mom would gather the four of us kids around and the slicing, dicing, chopping, measuring and mixing would commence. Once everything was ready my Mom would prepare the right order to assemble the ingredients and we would make our fruitcakes. Each child made a wish as we took turns stirring while my Mom enjoyed a wee tot of the rum we used in the cake! Once the cakes were baked they got wrapped in cheesecloth and then drizzled with brandy and wrapped again and stored in the tins. My mom would check them often to make sure they were kept just moist enough. Then just before Christmas they would be gifted to family and friends. To this day I think I am the only one of us that likes fruitcake.
From that day on, when my Mom had time we made all of the traditional favourites; shortbread, ginger snaps, coconut crumbles, thumbprint cookies, icebox cookies, pies and so much more.
Once I left home and started having children some of those traditions were maintained. I did discover that I could not make the shortbread until just before Christmas. I always made Almond Shortbread, Lemon Shortbread (just add grated peel and a few drops of lemon juice to your shortbread recipe). Both of my sons preferred to eat it while frozen and my cookie containers would be empty on Christmas Eve Day. I also had a daughter that did not care for sweets! (How is that possible?)
The one treat my daughter enjoyed was my modified version of Nanaimo Bars. I substituted cream cheese for the middle layer and cut back on the sugar I use. Because the kids liked to bake with me but had difficulty cutting the squares, I started making them in mini muffin pans or cutting them before I put the top layer of chocolate on them. Then the cut squares could be put on racks or parchment paper and the warm chocolate drizzled on top.
That same daughter (I only have one!) always insisted that Christmas Eve was a night for a snacking dinner. I usually made a pot of onion soup and the kids would fill platters with sliced meats, veggies, dips, cheese, crackers and pickles. We would sit around the coffee table in front of the fireplace with goodies, mugs of soup and play board games until I could get them to bed. My daughter’s favourite dip had to be made every year. This Artichoke Dip is a quick fix and my daughter would stand in front of the oven watching it to see when it was cooked “just right”! Somehow the warm dip always wound up being in front of her and she managed to put a bit away for her Christmas Day lunch! That recipes can be found Here if you want a warm, savoury snack that my daughter still makes every year and has her grandchildren addicted to.
Another tradition I used to have when I was married to my first husband was for him to dress up as Santa Claus and we would go to a nursing home in the Okanagan Valley where his parents lived after his mom has a stroke and his dad was diagnosed with dementia. The home didn’t have a lot of money in the budget for a big Christmas celebration so Santa appeared at the grocery store and the store donated oranges, veggie, meat and cheese platters, and chocolates for the celebration. The bakery donated baked goods and a cheese platter. The businesses in town donated little stocking stuffers. My SIL, BIL and I got together in October and November and made gifts for all of the residents since some of them had no family to share the holiday with. The gifts we made were hand painted boxes, Christmas ornaments and other small treasures (there were 120 residents our last year doing it) and just made sure Santa could bring some little treasures to each resident when he visited.
Sadly his parents passed away and we moved up north to the town of Wells, BC which is the bedroom community which services Barkerville. There we found we could still give back to our community. My husband was Santa in Wells for the kids Christmas Parties and Father Christmas in Barkerville during the Victorian festivities there. We had fun decorating the park next to our little store and had the tree light up there each year.
Sadly he passed away in November but the costumes I had made are still being used. I left them with his daughter when I moved away and she manages to find a volunteer every year to continue the tradition her father and I started.
Now that I live here in the Kootenay region of British Columbia and my children, grandchildren and great grandchildren live in Alberta and Mexico it is more difficult to get everyone together without there being a Pandemic so I make my gifts early and get them in the mail. All of their households are filled with quilts, stockings, placemats and such and they have asked that I not gift them any more for a few more years!
I took part in Carol’s Christmas in July blog hop and had fun creating some table toppers, tree skirts and mug rugs. You can read about it HERE.
Then in October it was time for the From The Heart Blog Hop hosted by Carol and I started my Christmas Project. The local organization which does the annual Christmas Dinner And Hampers usually has a back room at their dinner. The kids can go with a volunteer to pick out gifts for their parents which volunteers help them wrap. Due to Covid the Dinner and Party are cancelled and the number of recipients needed baskets has drastically increased. So many crafters in our valley are creating gifts to tuck in the hampers; knitted and crocheted mitts, hats and scarfs and sewn and quilted goods. I started making scrappy snappy bags which you can read about HERE and added a few runners to the pile.
Then I decided I needed to start a new project using some hoarded treasured Christmas fabrics.
I had fun getting out my Accuquilt cutter and dies and preparing my fabric with some two sided interfacing.
These two little runners and the table topper were inspired by two blogs I really enjoy Home Sewn By Us and Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting.
I had fun doing some appliqué and calculating (math sure is hard right now!) and ended up with these two runners being finished last week, except I just realized I forgot to embroider the snowpeople’s mouths! I’ll get right on that!
I also started on this fun little table topper (using Vicki’s Snowman topper as a starting point) but have not yet finished it.
My DH is the world’s biggest Grinch so I no longer decorate. Instead I make treasures and find new homes for them. These runners and the table topper will be the start of a box of donations for the Christmas Hampers next year.
I’d like to thank you for spending time with me as I share my love of all things Christmas! I hope you visit all of the other blogs that are stops on this Hop. Please remember to show some love to these amazing designers by commenting on their posts and follow their blogs if you enjoy them as much as I do! Now I’m off to see more quilty goodness and collect some fun recipes for more treats. I’m hoping someone will post my Mom’s shortbread recipe which someone borrowed out of my recipe box 😉 Carol
Linking with Pretty Piney TGIFF
Quilt Schmilt 
I don’t have your mother’s shortbread recipe, but my mom’s best friend was Canadian and she gave me her shortbread recipe. It was always delicious–it bore no resemblance to what I’d always thought of as shortbread, the dry, hard stuff that came in tins around the holidays. This was rich and amazingly good. I never thought of adding almond flavoring to it but that might make it nearly illegally delicious. Anyway, I’ll look for the recipe and share it with you, just in case my mom’s friend and your mom were baking soul sisters.
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Hi Beth. It does sound as if they were baking soul sisters! It was light and rich shortbread. The almond is great but to me it’s the addiction of lemon juice and grated peel that made it sinful! I haven’t made it for a decade or more since the recipe was mislaid but I can remember that flavour! Too much fun if it came back to me via your American Mom’s Canadian friend! My Mom was American 😄
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Oh, this was grand fun to read. So many wonderful memories, yummy-looking recipes, and so many quilt projects! What a great way to kick off this Hop!
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Thank you Wendy 😊
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Your keep making and gifting girl. You are amazing and your family will treasure all those things you have made and probably wish they had more. I would send them more if I were you… *wink. I love shortbread and think it is the best at Christmas. Love your projects and thanks for sharing each one.
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Thanks for your sweet comment Carla. 😁
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You have been busy! And it is wonderful to hear how much you have helped in your communities–that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? Thank you for sharing about your Christmases and for sharing your projects!
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Thanks Carol. It is so much fun to give back to our communities, isn’t it?
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Hi Carol! What a fabulous post. I adore the fruitcake story. LOVE. I remember helping my mom make a fruitcake just one time. We checked on it often, and waited and waited for it to be done . . . and then . . . yuck. Good grief! All that effort for that end result. HAHA! Artichoke dip!! YUM. One of my very favorite things. What a wonderful tradition of Santa. Just THINK of all the lives you’ve touched and made so much better. {{Hugs}} I am 100% certain that all your peeps adore pulling out and receiving the gifts you’ve sent. More traditions are being made! LOVE, love, LOVE the hexagon topper and the runner. Aww, even the Grinch eventually came around – I hope DH does, too. He can’t damper your spirit, that’s for sure!! Thanks for sharing all of this with us and for the shout out. ~smile~ Roseanne
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Hi Roseanne. I think in my previous life I must have been Mrs Santa Claus. I just love the memories and traditions and the chance to share my bounty with others. As for DH, I haven’t managed to convert him yet so it might be a lost cause. I sneak in a Christmas movie while he is sleeping and will continue making and gifting my treasures. I’m good with it all AND I buy my fruitcake at the bakery 😉
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Such lovely memories, traditions and projects! Really gets me in the mood for Christmas! xx
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Thank you Joyce ☺️
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Happy Virtual Christmas Cookie Exchange, Carol!! Your quilt projects are so festive and sew very pretty! Your cookies look delicious. I do not have your shortbread recipe, but I hope you find it and share. I love shortbread. May you and yours have a safe and happy holiday season … ❤ Pat
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Thank you Pat for your lovely comment. Have a wonderful, healthy and happy holiday with family any way you can. ❤️
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So many sweet stories, thanks for sharing. And you sure have been busy and created some lovely projects.
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Thank you so much for your sweet comment Beatrice.
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Great projects and loved hearing about your traditions. Thanks for the recipe! What always bothered me about the Nanaimo Bars is they are so sweet. I look forward to trying your recipe!
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Thank you Karrin. I have also cut back on the sugar even more in the middle layer as a personal preference. Maybe just add half, taste and then add more if you want it sweeter. I hope you enjoy it! My family do 😉
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Thank you for sharing with us today! So many wonderful traditions, delicious cookies, and beautiful quilts. Merry Christmas!
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Your cookies look delicious, though I’ve never heard of Nanaimo Bars. Adding lemon to shortbread is a great idea, especially since I’ve got a lemon tree at my new house. Yay, another lemon recipe idea! I love those sweet runners that will definitely brighten up a table. I’m glad to see all is well in your world, though obviously my senior brain took a while to find you…sorry. LOL Thank you so much for sharing your Christmas love with us and a bit about yourself. I always love to read about my favorite people!
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Thank you so much for your wonderful comment! Sure made my day brighter 😉
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I really enjoyed hearing about all the Christmas traditions you’ve had and made through the years. It’s amazing how those memories from when we were children are still so vivid. You and yours are such generous and giving people with your celebrations; that is a practice that should be more a part of my celebrations. Thanks, Carol.
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Thank you very much for your sweet comment. Memories do give us comfort in years like this 😁
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I am at work and you made me 1. hungry for sweets 2. ready to sew something. I love all the projects your shared.
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Thank you Denise. I’m so glad you enjoyed my stop on the Hop and you can find some sweets to satisfy one of your needs ☺️
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I’m with your daughter, I love Snacking Dinner! For me, that falls on New Year’s Eve. Spinach Artichoke dip and baked brie are my two favorites, but we’ve done a variety over the years.
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I think I need to come to your house for New Year’s Eve Emily 😉 I’m sold on the dip and baked Brie.
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Once Covid restrictions are lifted I’d love to have you, Carol!
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Wouldn’t it be fun to plan trips again 😁
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Nanaimo bars with cream cheese sound absolutely fantastic!!!
Wow … that’s a lot of table toppers/runner’s you donate! 🙂 I’m sure many are very thankful to receive them! 🙂
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The cream cheese makes them even better than the original; not quite as sweet. The donations were so much fun this year. I was definitely on a roll not watching tv 😉
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Such a great post Carol, following you through memories of Christmas. I too love Christmas, and my husband, too, is a Grinch. I still decorate, though not much this year with renovations ongoing (he’s working on the living room). My mum made the BEST shortbread and funny, but a few days ago I was thinking about it, and thinking I should make some this year in her honour. Her recipe was an English one I believe. Vicki has done really well with her toppers and her Gnome runner went viral I just learned today. 🙂 Thanks for a terrific post.
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Hi Sandra. Isn’t it funny that often our spouses can be so opposite of us? Usually the extent of my decorating is a table runner and I satisfy my need to play with Christmas fabric by making/gifting others. Shortbread is still a favourite treat for me, but I don’t have my Mom’s recipe so I usually make lemon or almond shortbread instead. This year I tried bits of chopped caramel with some pecans since I didn’t have almonds. Hope your renovations are finished soon. So nice to have a handy husband. Won’t it be wonderful to be done and showing off the pretty pictures of a finished Reno project?
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