This year is a milestone Christmas for us—our first one as grandparents.
We know our sweet little baby granddaughter won’t remember this Christmas, but we hope to have many more where we’ll make memories she can remember.
Christmas already feels so exciting again just having this perfect little girl in the world.
Merry Christmas 🎄
XOXO
Mary
I’m not sure when cookies with pieces of candy in them were invented, but I feel like they got very popular when I was a kid in the 70s. In fact, I’m just going to go ahead and claim them for GenX. We may not have invented candy cookies, but we sure made them very popular.
I fondly remember my first “hidden treasure” cookie—a powdered sugar-covered cookie ball with a Hershey’s Kiss in the center. My mom made those every Christmas. And remember those first M&M cookies? Those were my second favorite type of Mrs. Fields cookies to get warm at the mall.
As every American who has ever trick-or-treated knows, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are the best mass-produced candy in the US, which of course leads to numerous recipes which incorporate them.
These Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cookies (recipe from Sally’sBakingAddiction.com) are perfect because you sink the candies into the hot cookies and then put them in the freezer for about 10 minutes to prevent too much of the chocolate melting. This results in the perfect integration of candy and cookie. The cookie dough itself has peanut butter in it and is rolled in granulated sugar before baking. It elevates the already perfect peanut butter cup to a whole new level.
This batch of cookies officially concludes my 2024 Christmas Baking Extravaganza, which may or may not have been partially motivated by election-related escapism. I hope you’ve enjoyed it!
Related posts:
I was recently complaining that I’m no longer able to answer the WordPress “Daily Prompt” because I’ve completed a full year of them and apparently, that’s all you get! Several smart people (including my daughter) said why don’t you just write your own prompts. Good idea.
Even easier, why don’t I choose one of the many daily prompts readily available to me through the Apple iPhone Journal feature, in which I’ve been dutifully logging my yoga workouts, manicures, and doctors appointments for almost a full year.
This is Elfie.
He was given to me in the mid 1960s by a babysitter. I was a tiny toddler at the time and apparently I really loved Elfie. He’s not only cute, but he has a gentle bell in his tummy that makes a pleasant kerplunkety sound when you rock him. My parents made sure he never got lost and eventually passed him on to me when I was settled in my first home.
Each year, I take him out of the attic, where he lives with my other Christmas decorations, and sit him on the piano. Don’t you just love his little red nose and skinny legs?
At this point, I think I cherish him because he’s SO old. He’s old enough now to move to a 55+ living community. Maybe I’ll bring him with me if I ever move to one of those places. Also, Elfie reminds me of the pure magic of Christmas I felt as a little child…that gasp of delight when I descended the stairs on Christmas morning.
More and more churches are offering a “Blue Christmas” service for people struggling during the holiday season. The holidays aren’t the easiest time for everyone, and there are many possible reasons why people might be feeling “blue” during the holidays. Grief is a big one.
My Unitarian Universalist church offered a Blue Christmas service on Tuesday. It was offered both in-person and on Zoom, which is so nice for our elderly and/or homebound members.
I’m not feeling particularly blue this year, so I didn’t go, but it’s good to know that these mixed feelings about the holidays are acknowledged and supported by my community. I’m sure some year I will want to go. The blues come for everyone.
My thoughts are with one particular friend who is missing her late, loving husband so terribly this season. 💙
I’m reblogging Dan’s review of Conclave. If you like movies and you’re not familiar with Dan’s blog, you’re missing out! He’s the real deal: a professional-level film critic with expansive knowledge of film history and the film industry. I think he’s about 30 years younger than me so occasionally I know that a film he liked is just not for me (because I’m too damn old), but I concur 100% with his opinion of Conclave. As I said in the comments, even my longstanding contempt for the Catholic Church could not keep me from this one.
And another good thing about Dan: he doesn’t spoil an ending. It’s safe to read his reviews, even if you haven’t seen the film yet.
★★★★1/2
![A logo for "50 Happens," [a site dedicated to Gen X women with children and grandchildren] [who embrace life's challenges with humor and resilience], [featuring a modern and uplifting design] [that embodies strength and positivity] [with an elegant and playful style] [and a harmonious blend of colors like pink, fuchsia, purple, and blue].](https://50happens.blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/img-5uorrxvwartomopcpuhjfjd0.png?w=656&h=300&crop=1)
Thank you Stephanie for nominating me to participate in this fun blogging challenge.
How did you come up with your blog name?
I turned 50 (as one does, if one is fortunate) and felt the urge to do something new, like start a blog. Fifty just sort of “happens” — it sneaks up on you and seems a bit more dramatic than either 30 or 40. Whereas there’s a good chance you’ll live to 60 or 80, there’s only a very slim chance (0.0173%) that you’ll live to 100. You can be pretty sure your life is more than half over at 50.
If your blog was a person (fiction or real), who would it be?
Hmmm…this one is hard. I’m obviously no Anne Lamott, but if she had a blog, I have no doubt I’d read every post.
What helps you create new content if you feel like you need some inspiration?
I like a writing prompt like this one (thanks Stephanie) or the WP Daily Prompt.
Do you have a specific style of blogging?
Gosh, I don’t know. Let’s ask ChatGPT.
“Her writing style is confessional, characterized by personal reflections and candid expressions of her thoughts and feelings. She discusses topics ranging from family traditions, such as holiday baking, to her reactions to current events, often conveying a sense of humor and resilience. This confessional style is popular among bloggers, as it allows for a personal connection with readers through the sharing of intimate experiences and emotions.”
Is there anyone you would like to collaborate with?
I do love 80s memories, music, and trivia. Maybe a bunch of GenX bloggers could all tackle a shared topic like “where were you when…(the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up)” or something like that.
Is there anything more you wish you had or would like to learn as a blogger?
Honestly, no. I like my blog, I love my regular readers (I like reading their blogs too) and I really have no desire to write fiction or get published.
I would appreciate it if WordPress would come up with some new Daily Prompts. After responding to them for a full year, it says I’ve already “answered” each one daily and doesn’t offer a new one.
My nominees:
Anyone else who wants to join in the fun!
I am baking up a storm over here in the land of incredulous liberals who are (to a person, I believe) avoiding the news. (I did take a quick peek at Facebook earlier and saw that the incredible Randy Rainbow has just dropped a new video, which basically says it ALL.)
Back to baking…the holiday spritz is a tradition for my family. I received a fine Italian-made cookie press from my childhood friend Bethanne at my bridal shower 30+ years ago and have been making these cookies pretty much every year since. (My mother had a cookie press and she made them for years too.) They are strictly a holiday cookie. I’ve never made them at any other time of year.
I also received a cookie cookbook from Bethanne at my bridal shower (we had baked many batches of cookies together as girls), and I still use the recipe from that very same cookbook:
If you’re not familiar with how a cookie press works, you stuff a pump/barrel full of cookie dough and then squeeze it out through little silver discs, which form various decorative shapes. (There are about 12 shapes to choose from.)
We hadn’t lit a fire in our fireplace for at least five years, until this winter. I don’t know why. Maybe it was the election and my strong urge to circle the wagons, protect hearth & home, and generally ignore the outside world that led me to open up the ole flue and insist on a firemaking lesson from my husband. In the past, he always made the fires, but now I really wanted to know how to do it myself.
After the first fire, I reverted right back to Fireplace Princess and he does most of the work—quite willingly—including lugging in the heavy firewood from the garage. (It’s such a great, practical application for all that powerlifting he does in the gym. The guy can deadlift over 500 pounds, why would I get the firewood?)
It’s funny that we went for such a long stretch of years without ever lighting a fire. A fireplace was one feature we both really wanted when we were house hunting. (Our first house didn’t have one.)
So as I’m staring into the pretty flames and toasting my toes, with a glass of wine and/or a weed gummy, the question becomes what is the best music to enhance the experience?
One night, I told Alexa to play Leonard Cohen’s “Who by Fire?” which I absolutely love as the theme song for Apple TV’s brilliant “Bad Sisters.” This led us to watch the newish Leonard Cohen documentary on Netflix, which is largely focused on his most famous song – Hallelujah. It was a wonderful pairing of fire and music. (And by the way, after watching the entire documentary, I decided that my favorite version of Hallelujah is John Cale’s. His voice has the perfect quality for the lyrics. The more angelic versions just don’t hit the same.)
Another great pairing was “December” by George Winston, which might just be the most perfect solo instrumental album ever made.
December was first released in 1982 and I’m sure many of my fellow GenXers know it well. It’s impossible to have a favorite track on this album, because they all run together so beautifully, with familiar holiday and classical melodies interwoven throughout. The piano is the star.
I’m sensing a theme. I like piano music with fires.
If anyone has any other great piano songs or album suggestions for me, I’d love to hear them!
All in all, a fun outing, but the lights were not quite as impressive as I’d hoped.
For some truly impressive winterlights, check out Brian’s post from Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania.
I know that nobody really cares about my baking besides me. But hey… it’s my blog and I like to have a record of stuff I’ve made, with a link to the recipe and photos.
In case you’ve been lying awake at night wondering what I did with the rest of those white chocolate chips after I made Sally’s White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies, rest assured. I used them up in yet another holiday cookie recipe from Sally: Snickerdoodle Blondies.
Studded with white chocolate chips and ribboned with sweet cinnamon-sugar, they’re a bit like thick and chewy cinnamon-vanilla brownies. No dough chilling or individual cookie making required.
I didn’t have a 9×9 pan, so I used an 8×8 pan and baked them at a lower temperature (325 degrees) for about 6 minutes longer than the recipe said – about 41 minutes.
Yum. Especially good with a glass of milk. I’m going to bed now and I’ve only had one. My self-control is off the charts tonight…but I’m pretty sure they’re going to make a delicious breakfast cookie.
![A logo for "50 Happens," [a site dedicated to Gen X women with children and grandchildren] [who embrace life's challenges with humor and resilience], [featuring a modern and uplifting design] [that embodies strength and positivity] [with an elegant and playful style] [and a harmonious blend of colors like pink, fuchsia, purple, and blue].](https://50happens.blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/img-5uorrxvwartomopcpuhjfjd0.png?w=300)
50 Happens 