Hi friends. I know it has been a while, but we had this whole pandemic-election-home school-impending doom thing going on for the last several months (years?), and I am not afraid to say my bandwidth was, well, gone. Maybe it is the proximity of the new year, or a glimmer of human optimism, but I am feeling a little more stretchy these past few days when it comes to my time. Accordingly, I thought I would write a few thoughts down about how I am determined to do the holidays a bit differently this year (and I mean apart from the obviously distant different!).

One thing I think we can agree on is that during the holidays, the expectation game can get a little wearying.  There are so many things to do, and so little time to get it all accomplished that by the time you get through all the gift purchasing, wrapping, decorating, and baking, it can be hard to focus on the actual memory making, aka, enjoying the present.   

Despite all of the joy I find in baking and making homemade gifts for the holidays, I also freely admit that I sometimes let it get the better of me.  In previous years, I have found myself on frenzied bake nights with dishes piled high and yuletide spirit low, or mapping out my time pockets until some imaginary finish line (or when I will see the recipient next), or even calculating yields of different recipes to maximize my time.  That is definitely not a joy, and not how I want to craft a gift, which to me is an expression of love and caring, not an expression of stress and a to do list.

Of all the things that 2020 has taught me, and boy is it a long ever-expanding list, perhaps the most important is letting go of expectations and living a bit more in the real here and now.  I think this is the year I struggled to accept the real vs the ideal the most–and that includes the first year after having a baby folks.  I probably wouldn’t have had this growth had not my hand been forced by present worldly circumstances, but I am trying not to devalue the lesson just because I didn’t choose it.  While the struggle has not always been pretty this year (ha!), I think it will yield amazing results if I just dare to embrace it.

So with my resolve to enjoy the very real present (over a perfected ideal) firmly intact, I am approaching gift-giving–specifically homemade treats–a bit different this year.  Instead of one or two perfectly crafted gifts that I make in larger batches to gift all at once and wear myself out, I am determined to do smaller batch, curated gifts that I enjoy making. I am aiming to actually pack a little joy into the creating and gifting.  Novel idea, no?

Yet, I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t have a bit of a plan on how to do that best that may also be helpful to others too.  So without further ado, here are my plans for the holiday (emphasis on the next word) season:

1. QUICK BREADS.  Lots of quick breads!  Listen, quick breads are a delight to make and a delight to receive.  They often can be stirred together in one bowl or two, all while belting out Christmas tunes and sipping a holiday beverage of your choosing.  You can make a recipe a night (all of my recipes below make two loaves) without breaking a sweat, and there are endless varieties to match to your recipient.  There are even fantastic savory quick breads in case your giftee has less of a sweet tooth.  Finally, quick breads look lovely wrapped in a simple dish towel and twine, which is my favorite wrapping.  

Here are some of my absolute favorite quick breads for gifting: Persimmon Bread, Cake Salé (savory), Zucchini Bread, Pumpkin Bread, Chocolate Zucchini Bread, and Christmas Cranberry Orange Bread (new on the site). If you are feeling extra generous, a two-loaf-pan recipe will also make a single bundt cake, in case you have a larger family to gift to.

2. Get the family involved.  This year we decided to do some rounding out of our holiday gifting for family, and my husband made my father’s famous seasoning/bbq salt and my son made his lip-smacking vinegary bbq sauce as a gift as well.  Something about giving a few different (even thematically unrelated gifts) feels very appropriate and on-brand this year.  Normally, I would fret and fuss that BBQ sauce and seasoning doesn’t really “go” with bread, but this year is the year to ignore the fussy rules and just share whatever you make.  

3. Make family favorites that mean something to you.  See above about seasoning salt and BBQ sauce.  Choosing family favorites makes the creating process much more enjoyable. For a traditionalist like me, this is like manna from heaven, a doubling down on meaning by making new traditions out of old.  

4. Let go of time schedules and deadlines.  I normally don’t advocate this type of unorganized hearsay, but over the holidays, most of the stress I feel surrounds getting it all done by X date.  A little personal story here to illustrate.  A few years ago a friend came by unexpectedly to drop off a family Christmas gift for us.  I was so flustered because mine weren’t ready yet that I went dashing to the kitchen and searching high and low for something I could gift back right then.  I have an open concept house. Suffice to say, it was not a pretty look standing in my living room watching me flail about. The worst part was that I focused so much on not having a reciprocal gift, I forgot to focus on the gift I was given.  Talk about ungrateful!  It is still slightly mortifying when I remember that story, but it is a powerful reminder.  How much better would it have been to simply and genuinely thank my friend with a warm smile.  This year, I plan to get my gifts to my friends and relatives when they are ready, and when I haven’t stressed over them. If that means I am delivering for New Year’s Day, I feel just fine about that.

That’s it; that is my plan for a different approach to the holiday gifting season. Nothing revolutionary and frankly pretty simple, but I feel good about it. More importantly, I think I will feel good while doing it. And with that, I am off to the kitchen.  I have a few loaves to bake!