During this season, we are featuring holiday memories from some of our staff women and pastor’s wives, along with their favorite recipes. Enjoy!
The holiday season. It’s a season full of activities, family, friends and memories. And, of course, yummy food. 🙂 While I have many wonderful memories from growing up, one Christmas stands out above the others. When I was in college, my family decided to go on a ski trip together instead of doing gifts. Now, it should be said that I LOVE to ski. I’m there early, and time it appropriately so that I can catch the last lift up to the longest run in order to maximize my time. On top of that, lunch is normally a protein bar, because I don’t even have time to waste eating.
My family made many memories on the ski slopes that year, but some of the even more precious memories that we made were off the ski slopes. We didn’t know anyone in the area, so we were just with each other for days on end. We played Rock Band, watched movies and plenty of football, cooked all of our meals together, and even went sledding together on a small hill outside of the home we were staying in. Then, on the way home, there was a massive snow storm that had all kinds of roads closed, so we had to backtrack, and traveling home took an extra day.
Needless to say all this time in the car afforded us more time to make even more memories—although at the time, we didn’t feel like they were happy memories. This also happened to be the last Christmas we had together before fiancés and husbands were added to the family. It was the last Christmas that was just myself, my parents and my sisters. I will remember this Christmas trip forever, and I will always treasure the bonds that we built as adults and friends on this trip. The memories will last much longer than any gift that could have been given that year. Now that I have children of my own, I try to remember that during the holiday season.
We do gifts for our small children, but we also have traditions, and we try to give them experiences, so that long after the toy breaks, or the book is torn up, or the movie is no longer interesting, they have the memories of growing up and enjoying Christmas with their siblings. I want my kids to have something to hold on to, something to remember when the holiday seasons aren’t easy, or when they are grown with families of their own.
One thing that we like to do together is to make gifts for our friends at Christmas time. This also happens to be one of my favorite recipes—because it is so easy and absolutely delicious. Make memories with your family this Christmas. You won’t regret it.
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Crockpot Christmas Candy
1 lb. dry roasted salted peanuts
1 lb. dry roasted unsalted peanuts
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 oz. German’s sweet chocolate
2.5 lbs. white chocolate almond bark
*I like to add one bag of Reese’s peanut butter chips, but this is completely optional*
Layer all ingredients in the crock pot with the peanuts on the bottom. Cook on low for 1 hour and then stir. Continue cooking until completely melted. When the mixture is completely melted, stir and then spoon onto a cookie sheet (covered in parchment paper), or into mini muffin cups. You can leave them out to harden at room temperature, or freeze them. Either way is delicious!
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Brooke Kellum is the Director of Special Events (Kid City Summer Camp, Catalyst Camp, Men’s Retreat, Women’s Conference, etc.) for Central Ministries. She also volunteers in Kid City and with the Catalyst youth ministry in Plainview.
Women's Ministry 