Each year around Christmas I begin what my family affectionately calls "The Extravaganza" which is my favorite holiday tradition. I spend weeks going over cookbooks and recipe sites to pick out the cakes and cookies that I will be preparing. Most of the things I bake will be given away as gifts or taken for co-workers to enjoy. My husband enjoys eating it but since he isn't supposed to have sugar I have to closely monitor him. This year I am preparing rum cake, pumpkin pecan cookies, peanut butter blossoms, chocolate caramel dreams, cowboy cookies, cheese biscuits, chocolate rum balls, almond crunch, seven layer cookies and a few others that escape me at the moment. I started last weekend and will continue throughout this week until I finish just in time for my Mom to arrive on the 21st. I am beyond myself with excitement about her visit and am counting the days until she arrives. I just love Christmas! The smells, the emotions, the joy, the happiness and the meaning of the day. What an awsome God we serve! He gave us our Savior and allows us to celebrate His birth each year. I wish everyone the most amazing, joyful and loving Christmas ever and may your traditions bring you as much happiness as mine do.
