Merry Christmas!
More cookies are made and eaten by our family at Christmas than any time of the year! We have a family cookie baking day, usually the first or second Sunday in Dec. About twelve of us gather and have an obviously efficient system where everyone is assigned to a staion.” Grandsons who are now adult, insist we continue this tradition and they participate along with granddaughters. I started the activity when these grandkids were all little. We make ten to twelve batches. One favorite is Great-great Grandma Bee’s Pecan Dainties. My heroine Jennifer Trevor of my mystery Bullet in the Night loves this cookie as does the hero of my Tommy Smurlee children’s series. Here is the recipe. When I do a book signing I always bring copies to pass out. These cookies melt in your mouth.
Judith Rolfs
Great-Grandma Bee’s Pecan Dainties
2 sticks butter
2 cups flour
2 teas. vanilla
1 cup pecans
Mix together and shape into small crescents.
Bake at 400 for 10 minutes. Roll in granulated sugar when done.
A little bit about my celebration of Christmas ~
1- I guard my treasured box of Christmas CD’s. At the end of November it appears and Christmas music becomes my background for four or five hours each day. I never tire of the classic songs. I often listen when writing. My heroine Jennifer Trevor is occasionally stressed by the demands of her life and uses music to unwind. Solving the mystery of serial killings in her town required lots of calming music to keep her focus away from the distress she felt in my novel Never Tomorrow.
2. Christmas and Christ go together, of course, but the connection can be so easily forgotten. We work hard to keep the meaning where it should be. Taking ten after dinner to read the Gospels of John and Luke make our Christmas so much more special. I wrote a devotional book called Jesus Time which is just the type of meditation my character Jennifer Trevor in my mystery novel Windemere Affair would use daily. Jennifer is a lot like me in many ways sharing a passionate love for Jesus.
3. I always dress our plastic Nativity figures in real wool capes and clothes before I arrange them with a wooden log manger in our front yard. See how beautifully they turn out. (picture below.) I use items I’ve purchased from Good Will. It makes such a difference in their appearance. We have a lighting of the Nativity outdoors like some celebrate the lighting of a Christmas tree. Ritual and tradition are very important to the heroine of my mystery novels. I like to think my heroine Jennifer Trevor, a psychotherapist and mom of three children, would do exactly this because she loves being a mom and designing fun, memorable activities to do with her children. Yes she’s also a detective but nothing comes before her family as readers learn in Bullet in the Night.
4. Our most fun family event is a Christmas scavenger hunt outdoors at a local resort on Lake Delavan in WI. You can easily adapt this for your family and your location. It’s become a highlight of our holiday. I divide the teams to include children and adults. This is a great family bonding experience. If Albert Windemere in my mystery novel The Windemere Affair had spent time like this with his family, perhaps he wouldn’t have been murdered. Author Judith Rolfs. Here’s an example of how to play.
Rolfs’ Family Christmas Photo Scavenger Hunt
Take a picture of one member of your team jumping up in the air to show Christmas joy. 15 pts.
Take a picture of a baby Jesus that you find somewhere on the property. 17 pts.
Find a Christmas tree and take a picture of two members of your team next to it. 12 points.
Take a picture of another team taking a picture. 7 points
Find a snowman decoration and take a picture of your team with him.
Take a video of two members of your team saying Merry Christmas to an employee. 8 points.
Take a picture of one member of your team on an elliptical machine. 12 pts.
Take a video of two members of your team laughing anywhere.
Take a picture of a sign somewhere on the property that says Marry Christmas, a brochure cover will do. 6 points.
Write down the theological significance of one of the twelve days of Christmas. 8 points.
Collect 3 small stones from somewhere on the property. Place in brown bag and have it with you at all times. 10 Points. May substitute leaves.
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