I'm baking all the things too! Don't have the recipes handy (too lazy to go downstairs) but here are the things I do for the family:

1. Linzer cookies with a layer of chocolate as well the raspberry jam...my holiday specialty. They are a big pain to make so I'm glad it's only once a year; and they remain very special that way. The first bite is always knee-buckling!

The rest are candies that my grandmother used to make. Now that she's no longer with us, I'm trying to pick up the torch and have managed to do so for the last few years. She used to make, like, 10 candy varieties every year. It was insane. I don't have that kind of focus (or need the calories) so I just pick 3 or 4 favorites and do those, varying the selection a little each year. This year it's:

2. Butterscotch haystacks (The things where you melt butterscotch chips and stir in peanuts, pretzels, and potato sticks. Decadent and trashy but OMG).

3. Pecan turtles

4. Pecan pralines

5. Bourbon balls

My mom also makes cinnamon bread each year, with a sweet glaze. It's heavenly, yum.

My mom always makes an assortment of things I would never otherwise eat, but that I look forward to this time of year. Toffee, Chex mix (my brother's favorite), pecan sandies, those peanut butter cookies with Hershey's kisses, fudge, and some kind of peanut butter/butterscotch things with rice crispies folded in (my guilty favorite).

There's usually something new and appalling every year. I wish I could remember some of them. I generally hear about how tasty this new treat is on the way home from the airport. And sure enough, it's foisted upon me within three minutes of entering the house. And for the past few years, the confection has been absolutely horrible to my palate.

Can't wait to see what it will be this year! (And I say that with all sincerity.)

I don't miss my dad's family, but I do miss his sister's delicate fried pastries. Basically you dip a branding iron into some batter and then deep fry it. You get these really fragile designs that are full of fat and carbs and powdered sugar.

What I really like about the holidays are the abundance of NUTS! Nuts everywhere: hazelnut, macadamia, pecan, and my favorite - Brazil nuts. Yummmmm

Pumpkin piiiiiiieeeeeeee

for breakfast

There's usually something new and appalling every year.

We've got some family members like this, too. the most oddball thing so far has been a candy that was Ritz Crackers with peanut butter sandwiched in between, and the whole thing dipped in chocolate.

What I really like about the holidays are the abundance of NUTS

Me toooooo. Nuts are the bomb.

And clementines.

Huh, I guess my family doesn't have a traditional sweet or baked good for Christmas. That's both surprising and kinda sad. I do always bake up a storm, but I'm usually tinkering with new recipes, trying to change things up.

The one holiday baking tradition I had, and which I really miss, is making something special for Dad. It used to be cheesecake, his favorite dessert hands-down. I'd make him one big cheesecake to share and a big bunch of mini cheesecakes so he could keep a stash in the freezer and have one whenever the mood struck him.

Once in a while, I'd make him some other special sweet that he couldn't easily find locally. He loved hermits, so those were a regular thing. And when local stores stopped carrying fly cookies, I tried to replicate them for him. They weren't exactly right, but he was so happy!

My dad died in early December several years ago, and until now I hadn't realized how much I missed doing my usual Dad's-favorite-thing Christmas baking project.

I think I'll have to start a new tradition this year! First project: the cranberry-orange biscotti that The Fella's mom always asks for. I think I'll make Chex Mix too, the old-fashioned recipe without new-fangled additions like bagel chips and with TONS of butter, so much butter that a scant few chunks of Chex from the bottom of the pan are all but translucent with it.

Springerle is the cookie that we traditionally make. My mom gave me her rolling pin, but then needed to borrow it back, so I'm currently without one. :-(

Cinnamon bread and cranberry-orange bread for breakfast. Assorted cookies, but always shortbread, linzer tarts, and candy cane cookies...a butter cookie dyed and braided to look like a candy cane. They were originally mint flavored, but someone (my brother?) didn't like them so now they're just butter cookies.

I made snickerdoodle bars for the office party and they were FAIL, so I will keep an eye on this thread for something impressive for next year.

Stew, I'm also without a springerle roller. I'm hoping my mom comes well-provisioned with delicious anise cookies when she comes for the birth.

Also: fudge is done! And raspberry walnut shortcake bars!