Christmas Traditions

I've decided to take the rest of this week to catch up on Christmas posts. It takes a month to prepare for Christmas at our house, so I'm going to give it a week to wrap up thoughts and pictures. A tradition my Grammie Crabtree started one year while visiting from Maine was making braided Christmas wreath bread. It is a yummy yeast bread she found a recipe for that combines cardamon, candied cherries, almond extract, and almonds. My favorite holiday flavor is almond. Probably because my favorite holiday cookie is a spritz cookie with almond extract in it. Yum! Anyhoo...this year I asked Amanda if she wanted to help make it. She just turned 9, and really wants to learn her way around the kitchen. I've always been a bit stand offish when it comes to helping in the kitchen. Don't get me wrong, I do let my kids help. I just have a hard time with the mess they make when they do help. They start playing with the flour, spilling the egg everywhere, losing their focus, you get the idea. So, this year I plan to be more patient, more inviting, and let them help me more.

I just realized I posted these pictures in the wrong order but don't feel like redoing it. So, here is the roll right before cutting and twisting it. Amanda learned how to seal the bread and loved the twisting part. It really looks neat.

The filling is so yummy! I could eat it plain. Amanda listened very intently to directions and did a great job spreading it almost up to the edge.

She got tired of rolling and decided she'd rather work on the filling. Although I love my rolling pin, it weighs about 15 pounds and is rather heavy for a kid. Chris got it for me a couple of years ago. Solid maple and just the right size to whack anyone that gets out of line. Some like a frying pan, I'll take my rolling pin!

I completely forgot to take a picture of the bread when it was nice a brown, sitting there waiting for it's glaze. I really enjoyed Amanda helping me with it. It reminded me of spending time with my mom in the kitchen during the holidays. This type of event really made the holidays what they should be...spending time with the ones we love. Mommy's little girl is growing up!