Cooking with Moma

It’s been an odd Christmas over at the Barksdales.

Normally, Christmas music blares from November 1st – the end of the year, and decorations start going up about the same time, but the tree decorations happen whenever Kyndal comes home before Thanksgiving. Typically, we watch all the Hallmark movies and do countless other Christmas-related activities. However, this year, I just wasn’t feeling it. The last few Christmases I’ve worn myself out trying to make them super special for everyone, as I felt the weight of my family dynamic changing. 2020, I felt confident it was our last Christmas with Mary, plus the extra changes that happened with having them living with us. 2021, was 3 months after Mary’s passing, so I wanted it to not be focused on the sad. 2022, was exciting with new traditions as we welcomed Clara to the family, officially. In 2023, I just never got there. I decorated “late”, and let’s be honest, it’s too much work to just have for a few weeks. We had a lot of travel in November; 2 trips for work, the Iron Bowl, and a family Thanksgiving. It just seemed that it kept getting pushed back, and if you add on the stomach bug/food bacteria or whatever I had that took me down for several days the next thing I knew, Christmas was less than 20 days away, which led us right to Kyndal’s graduation from Auburn. It seems that our last 2 months of 2023, were more about celebrating so many other things than Christmas, and that’s okay too!

It didn’t take me long to realize that one thing I wanted was to have a baking day with my Moma. So, once we got Kyndal moved back home, we scheduled some time and the 3 generations took to the kitchen. We decided on some classic recipes that reminded me of all the baking we did when I was little. It was fun to share these moments with Kyndal, but also the conversations of the memories from my childhood. As I look forward to being Gransie, I know that making memories with my grandchildren will be at the very top of my priority list. Moma has always been great at that, and I truly want to model my Gransie Era after her example.

Peep the matching Laurel Christmas shirts we bought on our “Birthday/Mother’s Day Celebration Trip”, because, let’s be honest, a Christmas T-shirt is about all we ever need around here.

Menu with Recipes

Martha Washington Candy

Haystacks

Peanut Butter Balls (with graham crackers and Gluten Free without)

Orange Balls

I linked the recipes most like the ones of Moma’s because it’s easier to link to someone else than to retype everything. Plus, someone else will get the credit they deserve for their hard work on their blog posts. A few additional notes; you can make the PB balls with graham crackers GF by using the GF graham crackers, and the same with the orange balls with GF vanilla wafers. Also, I don’t love coconut, so we chose an orange ball recipe that rolls in just powdered sugar, not coconut AND powdered sugar. The fun thing about recipes is you can tweak them to customize them for your exact likes and dislikes.

My hope is that this is now a yearly tradition, but maybe one we will do earlier in December, however, I’m thankful I didn’t have a whole month of goodies in my house. My sweet tooth wouldn’t have survived. I’m so thankful to have my Moma living 3 minutes from my house, in good health (minus her knee), and always willing to make any memory I can come up with. I think as we age, we understand the meaning of “it’s not the presents under the tree that matter, but the people around the tree”.

I would love for you to share your favorite traditional baking recipes. It was funny to make a list of all the ones we call favorites, but just didn’t have the time to bake them all!

Kitchen Baking Essentials

Seriously, things I can’t live without in my kitchen. Plus, the pop-up parchment paper has been a game-changer for me! I wished I had it in aluminum foil too!

If you don’t have a “Happy Everything” Tray, go ahead and put it on your wish list. I’ve waited on it for years, never wanting to spend the money for the tray, but last year, Jonathan got it for me for Christmas and I have loved having it to decorate/serve with for all of the holidays. I gave Jensen one when she got married, and she’s loving it too. Now, it’s going to be my #1 suggestion for brides to add to their registry. Locally, Trinity’s in Athens has a great selection of trays and attachments!