A daily blog for the Christmas season, featuring offerings from members of the Anchor Lincoln community in Tacoma, Washington's International District.
During my childhood, making Christmas cookies didn’t involve ingredients like gingerbread or molasses. Making sugar cookies was also a rare occurrence, but Chocolate Cherry Kiss Cookies were always the staple of the season – and my personal favorite. It wasn’t too long until I learned that I could eat more if I helped in the baking process; after all, there needed to be a taste tester! So, I became Grammy Barb’s helper in the kitchen.
It wasn’t until preparing for this advent calendar season that I learned the story of how these came to be a tradition. My Grammy was a school teacher her whole life, and a special one at that. A grateful mom wanted to pay her for teaching her four-year-old son to speak, but my Grandma wouldn’t take payment. So, the mom brought a plate of cookies, and the Chocolate Cherry Kisses were introduced to our family!
Our family began a new Advent tradition as we were anxiously awaiting the arrival of our son, Theo; who was supposed to be a Christmas baby, but decided that he did not care for the year 2022 and waited until 2023 to meet us instead!
An acquaintance from our former church in Texas wrote a beautiful Advent book called “God is Coming.” We read it every night with our kids before bed, starting on Dec. 1st up until Christmas Day.
The story takes our family through a journey beginning with God’s creation of the world and mankind all the way through the Bible to the birth of Jesus. It is both simple, with rhymes and repetition for children to enjoy, and beautiful, as it recounts how the Lord pursues His children.
Our kids look forward to reading it every night and taking a peek at the next page to see what comes next! It has become a simple tradition that we all love!
I asked my mom to send me a picture of the original recipe card for these bars and it was coated with vanilla stains and probably a bit of sticky residue from Karo syrup. The pen had nearly faded the instructions.
These bars have been a family favorite every Christmas. They were originally titled “Jody Bellotte Bars” and then my mom scratched her name out and added “Beverly’s Bars”. And now, I’ve changed it for a third time to “Michele’s bars” as an ode to my mother.
We were stationed at Vandenberg (CA) at the time these bars entered our lives (nearly 25 years ago) and I couldn’t pick Jody or Beverly out of a line up — so Michele’s Bars it is. I hope you try them and if they turn out disgraceful, you can go ahead and tell Jody. In all seriousness, I hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas including lots of time baking, cooking, or partaking with those you love.
Happy Advent! I wanted to share a quick story about one of my Stork family’s favorite Christmas traditions.
When my dad was younger, he spent a few years living in Ireland. While there, he purchased what would become a Stork-family Christmas treasure: a beautiful leather sheep collar with little bells on it. Don’t ask me why he purchased it, I don’t think he had aspirations to become a sheep herder? I don’t think he knew then how important those bells would become for his future family.
All throughout my childhood back in Kansas City, Christmas morning began with those bells. First thing on Christmas morning, my dad (well, Santa) would ring them with all his dramatic acting might and call out, “Ho Ho Hooooooo! MERRY CHRISTMAAAAAAAS!” My brother and I would leap out of bed and race down the stairs, hearts pounding with excitement, and jump into his arms. Some years we were already awake, lying in bed and waiting for the sound of Santa’s sleigh bells. Christmas morning, with all its joy and happiness, didn’t truly begin until those bells rang.
As the years went on, my dad faithfully kept the tradition alive, and my brother and I, even into our teens and twenties, kept our end of the deal—sprinting downstairs and shouting about Santa like little kids.
But then, when we hit our thirties, my dad decided we were finally old enough not to believe in Santa anymore. That Christmas morning, there were no sleigh bells, just our alarms. We wandered downstairs feeling a little heartbroken and bah-humbuggy. Christmas felt strangely ordinary. We had a spirited discussion with Dad about the tradition, and he promised that Santa would come out of retirement and never skip the bells again.
Now that my brother has two little boys, it’s become one of our great joys of Christmas to watch their faces light up when Grandpa Santa rings those bells—just like ours did all those years ago.
So, to wrap this up with a festive bow: cherish your family, your loved ones, your quirky traditions, no matter how silly or cheesy they may seem. Dads, maybe invest in some sleigh bells? The holidays fly by far too quickly, kids grow up way too fast, families move apart, and there is never enough hot chocolate to go around. Take the time to truly enjoy your loved ones, connect with your family, and don’t take anything for granted in our short time on earth before we are called home. Those sheep bells started as a silly thing my dad did when I was a toddler, but thirty years later, I can’t imagine Christmas or our family without them.
Happy Advent, and a very Merry Christmas from Dan and Callie Stork!
P.S. Don’t judge our little Charlie Brown Christmas tree in our picture.
“Art and caring, skill and memory, comfort and nurture, faith and love — it’s all intertwined. Cooking (baking, in this case) matters because people matter. Feeding the hungry and welcoming the stranger are signposts of the Christian life. There are countless opportunities and ways to live these out, but learning to cook (bake) is a good place to start.”
I was blessed to long ago work for the above authors as a young, newly married gal living in Nashville, TN. Andi taught me a lot about what it looks like to serve others, usher in hospitality and love people well. I was also blessed with a mom who showed love and care through her baking. She never went to the dentist, the dry cleaners, the hair dresser and certainly friends houses, without some form of a home baked goody. I think it’s safe to say it was one of her God given gifts.
As a little girl I would wait with great anticipation for my favorite Christmas treat made by my mom…Almond Shortbread Cookies. The crinkly edges that formed from pressing the dough ball down, the light coating of granulated sugar and then the red and green sprinkles that added a bit of joy and wonder. These were the special, magical touches that I’d dream about and wait for each December as a young child. The cookies served as a “marker” if you will, of the joy and anticipation of the season.
Much is rooted in the traditions we practice and honor year after year during this month. Advent by definition marks the season of preparing, waiting and anticipating the celebration of the birth of Jesus. We mark this time with candles, calendars, wreaths, songs, scriptures and yes, sometimes even with special cookies. Each week brings a new focus — hope, peace, joy and love — markers of the One who came to save the world. May these markers of Christ blanket our world and us, as we anticipate His coming.
Whatever traditions you practice as we wait, I pray this season finds you filled with great excitement for the day the whole world was forever changed by the arrival of a little baby boy.
Children’s nativity plays are notorious for their unexpected mishaps that make them memorable. But every once in a while, the surprises themselves serve as powerful reminders of the message of Christmas and who God is.
Watch this video for a childhood recollection from Karin Peabody that offers us a profound picture of our Good Shepherd.
Although this recipe is not an old family recipe, it has quickly become a new favorite of my family’s the last few years. I like making a lot of Christmas cookies every year so I always have something to bring to parties but also to pass out to neighbors and friends. This recipe makes a large batch which is perfect for that. The cookies are soft but have some spice (the ginger type) that make them my favorite gingerbread cookies that I’ve had.
Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
These are a few of my favorite things… I have three things that sum up my household throughout the year but in December there is an extra hint of special that beams through each of these. Illuminating the reason for the Christmas season is a gift I am so thankful to share with my son Enzo and whoever steps in my home.
Let the craft remind you that simple does it, let the scripture you choose be read and prayed throughout the day when it’s written down and posted in all of your favorite places at home and the lights, the sweet lights, grab cocoa and gaze at lights in your neighborhood or relish in the gift of light in your home. It’s easy to forget the sweet, simple gifts we have every day in this season sometimes so these three things always bring me back home.
I didn’t grow up observing Advent and as an adult I’m still trying to understand what it means. But I think one way to help me understand is through participation.
In Advent: The Season of Hope, Tish Harrison Warren writes that during this season “we take time to reflect on how Jesus, whom the people of Israel longed for, meets us today. We look at the places in our own lives where we yearn for Christ to come, places where we need hope, encouragement, help, and deliverance.”
In periods of longing, in times of waiting in my life there is always tension and even questioning. So, to encourage time spent meditating on the Word, I’m sharing a couple songs that express that yearning and invite you to listen to one today, before or after your scripture reading. (Songs listed in no particular order.)
Anchor Lincoln Advent Calendar 2025 