Anyone who is a parent and grandparent knows both the joy of spending time with family and the challenges of balancing the demands of work, volunteering, and family life! As the holidays get closer and we are gathering Christmas wish lists and trying to coordinate calendars, I often feel a bit wistful as I reflect on what truly matters to me: those quiet talks with our adult kids, time to play Barbies or watch the latest adventures in video games I don’t understand, or (my all-time favorite) baking with my grandchildren.
Am I alone in saying kids are literally involved in EVERYTHING these days??? Although it’s important to be part of the cheering section in the bleachers, it’s even more important to do things WITH them in order to create those precious memories that will last a lifetime. Parents, my challenge to you is to allow your kids to have downtime with nothing on the calendar. When our kids have whirlwind schedules as children and teenagers, they don’t learn how to unwind, relax, and embrace the quiet. They have their entire lives to work full time, have families, and be busy. We need to make sure we are carving out time in their schedules on a regular basis for just family time. It’s sound advice for parents as well as kids! We all need time to just relax and breathe and be together.
As a child, I loved baking with both of my grandmothers, who were amazing bakers and taught me everything I know! I love even more the opportunity to create memories with my own grandchildren today. Our favorites are usually chocolate chip cookies and cut-out sugar cookies, but we have ventured into candy molds more recently, too!
Ideas to ponder:
• Schedule a day for baking and ask the kids for suggestions so you can have everything ready.
• If you plan to do a bunch of different cookies, consider some pre-measuring to make it go a little easier.
• Plan for breaks, snacks, and meals depending on how long you plan to bake.
• Be patient and be okay with the huge mess that will engulf your kitchen! Remember, you are making memories!
• Buy small cookie boxes to allow you to share your treats with family members, neighbors, and teachers (it’s a great way to teach our kids the value of giving back and sharing!)
Some of our favorites:
• Chocolate chip cookies
• Cut out sugar cookies
• Peanut butter blossom cookies (so easy for younger kids!)
• Oatmeal raisin cookies (although my husband prefers we skip the raisins!)
• Homemade brownies (skip the store boxes; homemade is easy and way better!)
• Candy melts (you have to get the edible glitter – they love that!)
Here is our family recipe for homemade brownies. I hope you and your family love it as much as we have over the years!
BROWNIES
½ cup margarine
¼ teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 ½ cups flour 2 teaspoons vanilla
½ cup cocoa
Melt butter in microwave. Add eggs and vanilla and whisk. Mix all dry ingredients together and blend together well. Stir together the butter mixture and dry mixture and put in a greased 9 x 13 pan.
Bake at 350° for 25 minutes
Enjoy!!
Submitted By Annette Heinecke
