‘Twas (almost) the night before Christmas
Filed Under Tips & Tricks | December 21, 2007
For our last update before the holidays we have a few easy ideas* for making Christmas Eve a little more magical:
Does Santa really come down your chimney? Put the theory to the test by helping your kids sprinkle some flour in front of your fireplace (or on a towel if you don’t have hardwood floors) and see if you can catch Kris Kringle’s footprints during the night. Once the kids are asleep, use a pair of big boots or shoes to make two footprints and draw around the edge of them with your finger to highlight them. Await the morning excitement.
Reindeer need a little fuel to keep them going on their whirlwind world tour. Make them some glistening treats by combining oatmeal with coloured sugar. Make coloured sugar by adding a few drops of food colouring to white sugar and shake. Help your kids sprinkle it outside before they go to bed. Make sure to sweep up whatever doesn’t get eaten before your little ones get up.
That bowl full of jelly that’s Santa’s tummy must need some sustenance during the long winter’s night as well. Make our favourite ginger cookies and leave them out before bed with some milk for Mr. Claus. Note: they do need to spend some time in the fridge, so you might want to start them earlier in the day and then bake them before bed:
Ginger Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup shortening (or butter)
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup molasses
- 2 cups flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp cloves
- ½ tsp ginger
- ½ tsp salt
Preparation
- In a large bowl cream together shortening and sugar.
- Add egg and molasses and blend well.
- In a smaller bowel sift (or mix) together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and salt.
- Add the flour mixture to the molasses mixture and blend well.
- Chill for at least one hour.
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- Grease Baking Sheet.
- Roll into 1″ balls and roll in granulated sugar (optional).
- Place on baking sheet about 2″ apart (they’ll spread) and bake for 8 -10 minutes.
- Be sure to try a few to make sure they’ll meet with Santa’s approval.
Starting on the 27th we’ll be looking back at your favourite topics from 2007. And we’ll be back in 2008 and raring to go!
Season’s Greetings and best wishes for safe and happy holidays!
* Thanks to Sharon and Keri for the fun ideas
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[...] Things are wrapping up for the year around here, and just in case you have time to spare we wanted to leave you with a list of ongoing, seasonal events to help you see out 2008. We’ve been looking back at your favourite stories from 2008 and we’ll be bringing them to you for the rest of this week and next. And speaking of looking back, last year’s list of ideas for making Christmas Eve a little more magical is timely for a revisit. [...]
We may try the Santa Boots idea. Very sweet.