Our big annual Christmas cookie party was a big success this year! The theme we've been working on since July was "Joy to the World- Holiday traditions around the globe"! We had 11 families come to the party, and each of us signed up to represent a country of our choice with authentic food, activities & even powerpoint presentations! Everyone had such a blast, and it's going to be hard to top this one next year!
I found some wonderful supplies to decorate with from Dorcas this year!
Cookie decorating went great this year! I made 160 traditional Christmas shapes and rectangles to make flags from different countries!
There were some very impressive cookies this year!
Our feast was one of the highlights of the night, with parts of traditional holiday meals around the world...
We represented Sweden with Swedish meatballs & lingonberry sauce:
Abby picked France and made macarons and mulled wine:
England- Mince "no meat" pastry:
Germany- Soft pretzels with mustard dipping sauces:
Australia- Shrimp on the Barbie:
Spain- Spanish tapas board, traditional log cake, and Horchata drink:
Thailand- Thai red curry and rice:
Ukraine- Kutia (sweet wheatberry pudding):
Japan- Traditional KFC dinner (who knew?!?!?!):
Costa Rica- Arroz con pollo (Chicken with rice):
Italy- Baked ziti:
The next exciting part of the night was learning about everyone's holiday traditions with presentations!
We learned about England's Boxing Day & celebrated with Christmas crackers filled with prizes!
Apparently, Japan celebrates with a Christmas KFC dinner!
Spain might have been the most interesting tradition, called, "Tio De Nadal"... They find a log, give it a face, and wrap it in a blanket. The family takes care of it, feeding it and keeping it warm until Christmas Eve. Then, they sing a song, and then beat the log with a stick, revealing candy and treats underneath the blanket. We had so many questions about this one...
I presented Sweden, explaining Santa Lucia Day, traditional Christmas smorgesboards, the tradition of watching Kalle Anka on Christmas Eve, and breaking pepperkaker cookies to see if your wish came true!
We had a few wishes come true in the group!
Christmas in Costa Rica sounds amazing, with a lot of time spent on the beach! We may have to do that some year soon...
Abby had some help with her presentation by talking to her French family (she still stays in touch with them on a regular basis)!
Some of the kids made awesome presentations!
We learned to speak some Ukrainian and lit the candle in the challah bread ring!
We wrapped up our presentations with show and tell of the stinky durian fruit from Thailand...
After presentations, the kids shared their secret Santa gifts, and the adults had a white elephant exchange...
We also played some Kahoots together to see who knew the most flags & countries around the world...
Adults had a chance to decorate some cookies too as we wrapped up an awesome celebration together!
Wrapping up at midnight... some very stuffed & sleepy children headed home. Merry Christmas to our neighborhood family!
