I love holiday baking!

One of my favorite holiday activities is baking.  I love the smell of pumpkin bread baking in the oven.  I love the colors of the white chocolate with M&M’s bark and my mouth waters for the fudge and caramel corn.  I was very productive yesterday.  I had Noelle and Karly as my helpers.  Noelle and I had a blast in the kitchen.  We listened to Christmas music for awhile and then we turned on ELF and played it three different times.

We managed to make 3 batches (4 large and 4 small loaves) of pumpkin bread, 3 different kinds of bark, 2 kinds of fudge, peanut butter cookies, molasses cookies, and caramel popcorn. My kitchen table was covered with goodies.  Noelle and I talked, laughed, sang and made memories that will last a lifetime.  After we were done we packaged the goodies up and delivered them to the neighbors.  I live in a very old neighborhood which means I have old neighbors.  I love my neighbors.  They are retired which means they are home all day.  They watch over my house and as nosey as they are they always know what is going on around my house and the neighborhood.  My neighbor next door brings in my trash cans without fail every week.  He brings me fruit and vegetables from his garden weekly in the summer. He’s jut a very nice man.  He also doesn’t have any family and spends the holidays alone.  That makes me very sad.  So I went out and got him a gift card to Bass Pro Shop and put it in a Christmas card along with a whole bunch of goodies. Noelle, Karly and I walked them over yesterday afternoon.  Noelle hand her box of goodies to him and then asked him if had a cat and then ran off to play with his dog, Sophie, who ran out when the door opened.  Karly very graciously threw the pumpkin bread at him and then turned around and went after Noelle.  I handed him a plate full of cookies and fudge.  He was so grateful! He said he loves goodies and no one brings him goodies and how much he appreciated me thinking of him.  Yes, because I’m still hormonal I cried a little on the way back to my house.  I hate that anyone would spend the holidays alone! I’m grateful that I made someone's day and that they girls were able to learn compassion for others.  Then we headed to the people across the street.  They weren’t home but we left their goodies on the porch.  A few minutes later there was knock on the door.  The neighbor came to thank us for all of the wonderful goodies that we left.  It just so happened to be her birthday and again we made her day.  Noelle was happy to see her and of course had to talk to her about her dog.  We sent the majority of everything else with Kelly and Dave to take to the hospital to share with the rest of the nurses and doctors. 

I can’t leave all those goodies in the house or I would be as big as the house.  The fun is in doing the baking for me and I love to put a smile on someone else's face.  We had a hugely successful baking day.  I’m so grateful for these opportunities to make memories with Noelle and Karly.  How lucky am I? Very!!!!

I love these girls!!!