Tis the Season.

I love the Holiday Season.  No I mean I reallyfreakinglove the Holiday Season.  I love everything that goes into it, cooking, baking, gift-giving, snow, shopping, decorating.  Most importantly I love getting to spend the time with my family. 

As a little girl, we celebrated in mass amounts.  I.E. ALL of my family would gather at Grandma's for a huge dinner followed by dishes and presents and sleepy little ones waiting for Santa.  As the years have passed and family has moved, children have grown, we have begun our own traditions.  It makes me sad and happy all at the same time to think back to the days that dinners consisted of 20+ people and my cousins and I would fight over who actually had to help Grandma dry the dishes (ewwww ish)....Grandpa would fall asleep on the chair and before long we were swimming in a sea of wrapping paper in front of the fire. 

This year will mark the 3rd year of new family traditions at my mama's house.  Although there are no grandbabies (yet) we still manage to fill the floor with wrapping paper and fight over who does dishes (for some reason each year I get stuck with the final dish duties).  The meal is prepared (by me) with much well maybe just a little supervision from my mama (usually consisting of "mooooommmmmmmm how much more does the turkey really need to stay in the oven for" or "ohhhhhh my goodness I freakinglovemycookingskills aren't you so glad your daughter can cook").  I am such a sucker for traditions and always end up on the phone with my Grandmother asking, like I did the year before, how many white onions she puts in the stuffing if the bird is X pounds and is it okay to use a certain brand of cream corn for the casserole and "but Grandma what if it gets too brown on top?". 

The house will be filled to the brim this year with 15+ guests and guess what....this young lady could not be more pleased!  I spend the entire month of December planning out the meal.  Obsessive? Nawwww.  I'm just a girl who loves getting lost in the sheer joy of cooking and entertaining.  I love the simple elegance of putting so much work into something and knowing that for just a moment, one night of the year, I can sit back and watch as what I did is thoroughly enjoyed. 

Someday, when I have a big home of my own, these traditions will carry themselves out there.  I thank God every day that I have been so blessed with the ability to appreciate what it is my Great-Grandma, Grandma, Mama and Aunts have passed down.  I am absolutely a woman that loves the kitchen.....

XOXO (all the way from Minnesota),
Danika