What's your Favorite Christmas Movie?

It's that time of the year again; carolers are singing, chestnuts are roasting on an open fire, and jack frost is nipping at your nose. It's that time of the year where sitting by a roaring fire with some eggnog is preferable to the chilling cold of winter. Which also makes it the perfect time to settle in and relax with the family and re-watch your favorite holiday classics. While we all know the animated classics, like Rudolph and Frosty, there are many movies that provide you with that same feeling of nostalgia while also providing some comic relief. So tell us: what's your favorite Christmas movie?

What is your favorite Christmas Movie?

Jingle All the Way

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Frosty

Rudolph

The Grinch

The Santa Clause

A Christmas Carol

It's a Wonderful Life

Elf

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How to Make Candy Cane Cookie

This Christmas twist on simple sugar cookies, bring the holidays to life. Make them for a holiday part or have the kids help you out in the kitchen for a little family time. These delicious cookies will definitely have everyone wanting more.

 

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups (325 grams) all purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup (120 grams) confectioners sugar (powdered or icing)
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
• 1/2 teaspoon red liquid food coloring (can use red paste food coloring)

Directions: 

1. In a bow whisk together the flour and salt.
2. Once evenly mixed, with a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until creamy. 
3. Then mix in egg yolks and vanilla and almond extracts. Beat until combined.
4. Scrape down the sides and then add the flour mixture, in three additions, and beat until a smooth dough forms. 
5. Remove half the dough from the mixing bowl and add the red food coloring to the remainder. Beat the food coloring into the dough on low speed until evenly blended.
6. Once red, take a walnut sized piece of the red and white dough and separately roll each color into a 4-inch long rope. 
7. Place the two ropes side by side and gently press the ends together. Twist the two colors until they form a spiral and then place the cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet. Keeping each cooking about 2 inches apart and shape each cookie into a can shape by bending one end into a hook. 
8. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and bake cookies for about 8-10 minutes or until edges are brown.
   

***Recipe Courtesy of the JoyofBaking.com

Where Christmas Stockings Came From

Back in the day, children in the United States and England, would hang stockings near a fireplace or on their bedpost on Christmas Eve, hoping that it will be filled with toys when they wake up. In Scandinavia, children leave their shoes on the hearth instead of hanging stockings on Christmas Eve. These traditions can be traced back to one story about St. Nicholas, who in order to save three poor sisters from being sold into slaver by their father, paid their dowry. St. Nick left each of the sisters cold coins. The legend goes, that one coin went down the chimney and landed in a pair of shoes left on the hearth. One went through a window into a pair of stockings left hanging to dry by the fire.