Showing posts sorted by date for query Christmas cookies. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query Christmas cookies. Sort by relevance Show all posts

Sunday, January 4, 2026

Happy 2026!


I hope everyone who celebrates had a very Merry Christmas! 
We were excited to see a bit of snow in December, after an unusually dry and warm fall along the Colorado Front Range.


Unfortunately, the weather soon returned to a "La Nina" weather pattern of warmer than average temperatures and lower than average precipitation, which melted all the snow. 
Snowpack levels across the state are currently 53% of normal, which means we will need many snowstorms to catch up
We also had a few days of extreme wind in December--a Chinook wind pattern. The winds blew many leaves into our gardens, but the deer that frequent our property enjoyed dining on them.


Despite all the weather concerns, the Christmas Season looked beautiful in Denver! 


I was busy making our traditional Christmas cookies...


...our house was all decked out for Christmas Celebrations...



...and I prepared many fish dishes for our traditional Italian-American "Feast of the Seven (plus) Fishes" Christmas Eve dinner...



...including a tray of chicken cutlets for our grandchildren who do not like to eat too much fish!



I also follow the Italian tradition of making lentil soup for New Year's Day for 'Buona Fortuna," which means "Good Fortune." Some families actually make a bowl of lentils to eat a few moments after the hour turns to midnight, but I wait until dinner the next day to make sure we can really enjoy the soup as dinner. There are many recipes for lentil soup, and it is easy to make as lentils do not require pre-soaking and cook fairly quickly. It can be made vegetarian or with sweet Italian sausage, which is the way we like it. Here is a link for a Lentil Sausage and Escarole Soup I shared many years ago.


I took a couple of weeks away from blogging to enjoy the Christmas season, and now feel ready to rejoin with a fresh new year's perspective.

Wishing all my readers a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous 2026!


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Monday, December 8, 2025

Early December Holiday Happenings!


I don't decorate for Christmas until after Thanksgiving, so I decorated our Christmas tree on the first few days of December. It is full of sentimental ornaments that bring back many memories as I place them on our tree.


We were happy to have decorated the outside of our home the day after Thanksgiving, as the cold and snow finally arrived! Colorado experienced significant snowfall over several days following a prolonged drought.



We usually leave some leaves on our lawns in late fall, as we have seen the deer dig under the snow to eat them all winter.  They are good foragers, and they survive on what they can find in the wild.


Santa Claus visits our community in early December, and although our oldest granddaughter is a few months away from becoming a teenager, she agreed to take photos with him again. 
My husband and I joined in, as this might be the last year we see him!



We even get to take a ride in a horse-drawn carriage after seeing Santa Claus!




Our community is about 25 miles west of Denver, located in a valley of the foothills, and on our way back home after seeing Santa Claus, we had this view of dramatic, stormy snow clouds over the city!
 



This past week, we enjoyed listening to our oldest grandson and oldest granddaughter play the viola in a holiday orchestra production at their schools. They both enjoy music very much!


Our youngest granddaughter enjoys ballet, and her ballet school put on a fabulous production of "The Nutcracker" this week.



Our granddaughter had some solo parts in the dance of the "Russian Candy Canes" segment of the ballet, as seen in the short video above.


She was so excited!


As these assorted decorations proclaim ..."It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas"...and more busy times are ahead! 
I'll be writing my Christmas cards, baking some traditional cookies, and making savory zeppole that we serve as appetizers.

I'm sure you are all busy too! Enjoy all the fun!


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Sunday, December 8, 2024

Merry Christmas 2024!




  •  My 2024 Christmas tree!

A few holiday vignettes are displayed throughout my home.



I participated in a fun Christmas wreath-making class, and my wreath is now hanging on my front door.



The Grinch and Santa Claus made a surprise appearance on horseback in my neighborhood!



Santa Claus returned a week later for photos at a community holiday party. The event featured music, hot chocolate, cookies, crafts, games, and a horse-drawn sleigh ride!


Our grandchildren kept us busy with fun holiday events--an elementary choir performance, a Middle School Seussical Jr. Musical performance, a basketball game, and a high school "Holiday Collage" program with choir, band, and orchestra entertaining us with beautiful music for over two hours!


Remembering the true "Reason for the Season" is the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus.
Alleluia!



I'm going to take a break from blogging for a while. I'm not sure when I'll be back because my husband is going to be scheduled for surgery soon, and I want to focus on caring for him completely. 

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers!


Wishing all my blog readers a Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2025!


I can also be found on


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Sunday, December 11, 2022

A Merry Christmas Season!



I hope all who celebrate are enjoying a very Merry Christmas Season!  This is our Christmas tree for 2022. It is a true labor of love to decorate it every year as most of my ornaments are keepsakes that bring back memories from our children and vacations and other events.  I also have another small tree in my kitchen/family room that is full of ornaments made by my grandchildren. Each year it takes a little more effort for us to decorate for Christmas--the bins holding it all are not getting any lighter--but once it is finished we are so happy to have it completed and to be able to enjoy it all.  I'm sure you feel the same.



For the Thanksgiving holiday this year, we traveled north to Steamboat Springs where we rented a house for a few days. The scenery we pass as we drive up into the Rocky Mountains is always breathtakingly beautiful! I will have more photos to share of our drive in a future post.  We've always visited Steamboat in early autumn and this was the first time in late autumn when it was snowing on Rabbit Ears Pass, which made it interesting.



I cooked our traditional Thanksgiving dinner ahead of time and we brought it with us in coolers. It worked out well and we had a relaxed and casual dinner.  The house was cozy and had beautiful views as well as a hot tub that we all enjoyed.  We even enjoyed Strawberry Park Hot Springs on a mountaintop one day--a fun experience with snow all around.

As soon as we returned home many Christmas activities began! Our community always hosts a wonderful "Holiday Happenings" event with horse-drawn carriage rides and a visit from Santa Claus and hot chocolate and cookies. Our oldest granddaughter is in her school choir and we joined the choir on a chilly evening to go Christmas caroling. 



Our oldest grandson plays the viola and his Middle School orchestra performed a very harmonic performance for Christmas, which we all enjoyed very much.



Another exciting event for us every year for us is the delivery of our traditional Baccala--salted cod fish--which I prepare two ways as one of our traditional Christmas Eve Italian-American "Feast of the Seven Fishes" dinners. It has been my husband's favorite fish since childhood.  If you'd like to see a recipe for one way I prepare it called Baccala Fiorentina you can see it here in an older blog post.  We order it from Frank and Sal Italian Market on Staten Island, New York, as it is difficult to find it in the Denver area.



There are many lights and decorations everywhere to enjoy in all of Denver's botanic gardens, zoo, and Denver Civic Center.  It is a beautiful Christmas Season here and I hope you are also enjoying all the beauty where you live.

I have lots of baking ahead this week as I make treats for family, neighbors, and friends, and we have some more grandchildren events ahead and parties to attend to look forward to--will show all in my next blog post!

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Sunday, January 9, 2022

A Surprise Visit!



Views from our Colorado neighborhood.


It is hard to believe that 2022 is already a week old! We have been thankful for some snowfall this month after a long period of warmer than normal days and severe drought in our area. I do not think I will ever take snow for granted ever again!  

Thanks to all who read and commented on my last post about the devastating wildfire that occurred on December 30th, 2021, in Boulder County, Colorado.  Report damage from the Marshall Fire is estimated to be at $513 million with 1,084 residential structures destroyed. Two people were reported missing and sadly, one so far, a 69-year-old man's remains were identified, while a 91-year-old woman who lived in the area is still missing and also feared dead. President Biden and his wife toured areas of the fire destruction last week and said the federal government would give much assistance to the area. Please keep all the victims of this destructive wildfire in your prayers!


A herd of deer in my yard


On a happier note, we have enjoyed many visits lately to our backyard by the local wildlife.



So many mule deer!


It is fun to observe the deer that are right outside our windows.




Early one morning last week we were surprised to see two young bobcats prowling in our yard!




A neighbor told us that she saw them once before in our yard and we've read posts on our neighborhood Facebook page of many others seeing them, but this was the first time getting such a good view of them ourselves! They were very fast and were definitely hunting for a small mammal to eat as they were sniffing for a scent all around. The bobcat, also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. Their major meals are squirrels, rabbits, rodents, and birds.  We have many "resident" wild rabbits and squirrels that we see almost daily, so I was sure that there were scents of both in my yard.




Happily, when I opened my shades the next morning I saw that this bunny survived the bobcat's visit and it was content eating the dried flowers remaining in a flower pot on my patio.

Many people saw these photos of my personal Facebook page and asked me if I was afraid of the bobcats?   I have a feeling they would be more frightened of me if I had opened my door and made noise. Since I was safely inside I was not worried. If I ever adopt another cat it would be an "indoor only" cat, as all my other past cats were. A very small dog might be in danger, but I think the bobcat would prefer to hunt a smaller animal and run away from a dog unless it was cornered. 




Besides enjoying the wildlife visits we have spent most of the first week of January putting away Christmas decorations, doing snow removal, enjoying some cozy time near our fireplace enjoying a movie on TV, or reading a good book, along with enjoying a cup of herbal tea and the last Christmas cookies. The little joys of life seem all the dearer these days.  I hope your New Year has also begun on a good note! Please stay safe and healthy.

In the meantime, you can also find me on

I'm linking this post to some of the following blog events:

 Mosaic Monday, Blue Monday, Through My Lens Monday, Hearth, and Soul Link Party, You Are the Star Blog Hop, Inspire Me Monday, Home Matters Linky Party,  Good Random Fun, Nature Notes, Grand Social, Travel Photos, Travel Tuesday, Happiness Is Homemade, Our World Tuesday, Ruby Tuesday, Tuesday's Treasures, Tuesdays With A Twist, Wordless Wednesday on a Tuesday,  Party in Your PJ's, Wordless Wednesday, Oh My Heartsie Girl's Wonderful Wednesday, Wednesday My Corner of the World, Wonderful Wednesday, Signs2,  Little Things Thursday, Thankful Thursday,  Thursday Encouraging Hearts and Home,  Thursday Thinking Out Loud, Thursday Favorite Things, Friendship Fridays, A Morning Cup of Joe, Friday Features Linky Party, Skywatch Friday, Weekend Roundup,  Pink Saturday, Saturday Sparks, Saturday Critters, Sunday on Silverado


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Sunday, January 3, 2021

Happy, Hopeful and Healthy 2021!


 Happy New Year!

I hope that 2021 will be a happy and healthy year for us all!

I am hopeful that as people become vaccinated against the novel coronavirus this year the risk of contracting the virus will be diminished. I am realistic that this will not happen quickly, and that mask-wearing and social distancing will still be the advised protocols for most of this year, but at least we have hope for an eventual return to normalcy.  I know I will continue to live cautiously this year, but as long as my family stays healthy I will be happy.



Our community was full of holiday cheer in December, and we were excited to have clear skies to see the historic conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter event occur far above our house.  One neighbor dressed up as Santa Claus and gave out candy canes on certain nights, and another neighbor lit their home with a very creative light and music show.  I enjoyed watching religious services streamed online during this Christmas season, all from different churches that have been special to me during my life. Online live streaming has been one of the unexpected bonuses of the past year. We also had fun zoom conferences with friends in lieu of get-togethers and parties.  Life is different, but we certainly learned how to enjoy it as much as possible in its revised way.



This year I baked Gingerbread House Pumpkin Cakes for our children and grandchildren, using the Pumpkin Buttermilk Pound Cake recipe I posted here, and Gingerbread Men Pumpkin Bread Cakes for our friends, using this recipe I posted quite a few years ago which is still a favorite.


I love using my Nordic Ware pans to make both shape cakes.  We wrapped them up and delivered them to my family along with some tins of favorite Christmas cookies I bake every year.  

To remain safe, as they are not all practicing a strict quarantine, our children and grandchildren celebrated in their own homes this year.  We were able to deliver some favorite seafood dishes that I made for them to enjoy along with our gifts on Christmas Eve. We wore our more protective N95 masks when doing so, and it was fun to be able to spend even a short time together!  



New Year's Eve was a quiet celebration at home, but New Year's Day brought some visitors to our backyard! They enjoyed searching for dead leaves to munch on under the snow.  

It is always fun to watch them, and...



...I have a feeling that they also enjoy watching us!

I'm glad to be back after my little holiday break and hope to visit your blogs soon.  Stay happy, safe, and healthy!


You can also find me on

 I'm linking this post to some of the following blog events:

 Mosaic Monday, All Seasons, Blue Monday, Through My Lens Monday, Little Cottage Link Party, Hearth, and Soul Link Party, You Are the Star Blog Hop, Inspire Me Monday, Home Matters Linky Party,  Good Random Fun, Nature Notes, Grand Social, Travel Photos, Happiness Is Homemade, Over the Moon, Create, Bake, Make,  Our World Tuesday, Ruby Tuesday, Tuesday Turn About. Tuesdays With A Twist, Let's Keep In Touch, Wordless Wednesday on a Tuesday,  Party in Your PJ's, Wordless Wednesday, Nanahood WW, Oh My Heartsie Girl's Wonderful Wednesday, Your Whims Wednesday, Wednesday My Corner of the World, Wonderful Wednesday,  Little Things Thursday, Thankful Thursday, Thursday Encouraging Hearts and Home,  Thursday Thinking Out Loud, Friendship Fridays, Friday Features Linky Party, Skywatch Friday, Pink Saturday, Sunday on Silverado


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