As I reflect back over the fun family times of the Christmas holidays, I am reminded of how good food plays a role in the enjoyment of the times we spent together. On Christmas Eve, my husband and I hosted another evening in the garage with his side of the family. Once again we did the tiny lights, the candles, the soft Christmas music and food...lots of good food. Since it was a special occasion, I did provide this small candy station for everyone. The biggest hit of it all...was definitely the" sugar babies", although it all seemed to disappear. It was enjoyable to watch the children's faces when they realized that on this evening candy was available for all.

Christmas morning...10:00am...we sat down to a table in the kitchen of my daughter and son-in-law's home. The table was beautifully set and was seated full of precious children, each excited to eat the food before them. This is the egg and ham casserole that my daughter took out of the oven. It was so delicious! She had discovered the recipe on the Internet and thought that it looked like one we would like. We all recommended that she file this one in her collection. The eggs, cheese, ham, and bread cubes blended perfectly creating a mouthwatering casserole.

This is what she served with the egg casserole on this special morning. I brought it from my house. On the afternoon of the 24th, totally unexpected a dear friend stopped by and dropped off this very special homemade gift. I had not seen her for a long time, and her visit added a touch of joy to my day. I knew we were in for a treat, since she has the reputation of being a great cook. The cinnamon rolls were packaged so attractively on the red plate and tied with a red bow. The tiny spatula that was tied in with the bow completed this surprise package beautifully. I am sure you all can imagine just how deliciously this complimented my daughter's egg casserole at our wonderful Christmas breakfast.

One of my favorite foods of all time is fresh fruit. On Christmas Day evening we all went to my sister and BIL's home. Another one of our yearly traditions. My part was to bring the fruit platter. I purchased one large cantalope, one large seedless watermelon, a carton of clementines and a big bag of seedless red grapes. Thinking that, since it was the winter season, the fruit might not be ripe and sweet like it would be in the summer...but, I was wrong. It was ripe and so very sweet that it tasted just like it came from the neighbor's garden in the summer. I cut it up in chunks, added my fancy picks, and I had a completed fruit tray. For the dip, I took two containers of light peach yogurt, one small container of my frozen peach puree', and a container of light cool whip. I stirred in a teaspoon of cinnamon sugar, and the dip was complete. Oh, yes, to add a touch of color, I cut three small stars out of watermellon pieces to add to the top of the dip.

I peeled the clementines since I thought that would make it easier to serve on this platter. It was not as time consuming as I thought it would be. We are blessed in this country to have access to fresh fruit in all four seasons. Everytime I have the privilege of eating from a fruit tray, I am so thankful for the abundance of something so healthy and delicious.

As you can see, good food was included in my holiday memories and I pray that I never take that for granted, when in so many parts of the world this is not the case.