Family Holiday Traditions

At the bottom of this entry is a recipe for Easy Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Today on our local news at noon, they interviewed the CEO of a non-profit credit counseling service. Her discussion dealt with the fact that we are in a recession and while many American families will feel the crunch this season, there is more that they can do to make the holiday season memorable for their families. Her stress was on Family Holiday Traditions.

This made me stop and think about all the Christmas Traditions that my parents created for us growing up. I wanted to share just a few with all of you.

The Christmas Tree Farm--Every year we would drive to a Christmas Tree Farm to pick out and cut down our own tree. I remember when I was in second grade, that I even got to pick out a tree for my classroom at school.

Christmas Cookies--Even though my mom hated rolling out the sugar cookie dough every year, we would bake and decorate Christmas Cookies. These were elaborately done with icing and sprinkles.

Looking At Christmas Lights--Every Christmas Eve we would drive and look at the Christmas lights around town. This was very planned out and we always hit the best neighborhoods that were "all decked out" for the season.

Baskin Robbins Santa Cake--This is one of my all time favorites. After we would go look at Christmas lights, we would always come home and have ice cream cake before getting to bed.

Adopting a Family--My parents always taught us that it is better to give than to receive. My favorite tradition of all was going shopping for a mystery family every year. It was so much fun to pick out things to be dropped off on the front door of some one's house.

I hope this holiday season, we all remember that the time and love we share with our family is truly what makes the season complete.

Easy Chocolate Covered Pretzels--A Brown Holiday Tradition

Ingredients

• Pretzel Sticks (the larger ones are easy to decorate)
• Semi Sweet and White Chocolate for melting
• Treats to decorate pretzels ex. nuts, coconut, sprinkles, mini m&ms, mini marshmallows, etc.

Directions

• Melt the semi sweet and white chocolate in two separate bowls. (i do this in the microwave stirring about every 30 seconds)
• Dip about 1/3 of the pretzel stick into the melted chocolate, immediately let it drip off back into the bowl.
• Over a paper towel sprinkle your topping choice on the pretzel.
• Let dry. If you can find a piece of Styrofoam the pretzel are easy for kids to stick into that so they can dry. (If you lay them flat they will stick to that surface)

Once the pretzels are dry and have harden you can wrap them up and to deliver to family or just enjoy them with your kids.