I hope you all don’t mind, but with each recipe I post leading up to Christmas, I will also be sharing stories and family traditions.  I won’t be offended if you are the type to just scroll down to the recipe, I have been known to do that as well :)

With that being said, it is time for you to gather up all of your Christmas books!  This new tradition is wonderful for both young children and older ones too.   I am not sure exactly where this idea came from, but I’m pretty sure I saw someone talk about it on their facebook.  So, I can’t exactly give credit due to the person who thought of this, but it is a fantastic idea.  With two of my children in the early reading phases, we spend alot of time reading as it is.

So here is what you do.  Find 24 Christmas books- either ones you already have gathered over the years, or hit up your local thrift store.  I found so many there, and at 3 for $1, you can’t beat the price!  Then, together with  your children, wrap each book.  We used old tissue paper, newspapers, brown paper grocery bags and tied them up with yarn.  It was a fun time with my 7, 5, and 3 year old.

Starting on December 1st, your children will select a book to unwrap and read together each day.  (Obviously, I posted this a little late, so you can start this whenever you can it together)  Your kids won’t know the difference….   If you happen to have your tree up, you can place the wrapped books there… or if you are like me and don’t quite have it together, a nice basket works great!

This just makes for a fun activity that is beneficial to the kids and allows you to spend quality time with them.  This is an easy and fun tradition, not to mention FREE!  I did make sure to wrap a specific book in special paper that I wanted to read with them on Christmas Eve.  You could even go so far as to number each book in the order you would like to have them read.

Happy Reading!

Now, back to the kitchen……

I just love cranberries and the fresh tart flavor they have.  These breakfast bars are slightly indulgent.  I wasn’t sure whether they were more like a cookie or even like a scone.  I finally decided to call them breakfast bars.  Call them what you may, but they are a yummy treat.

Cranberry Breakfast Bars

• 1/4 cup oil ( I use either coconut or grapeseed)
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 cup almond flour, packed
• 2 tablespoons coconut flour, packed
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup chopped fresh cranberries
• orange zest (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 325.  Grease an 8×8 glass dish.
2. Whisk together oil, honey and egg yolk.
3. Add dry ingredients, mix well to combine.
4. Stir in cranberries.
5. Press mixture into glass dish.
6. Bake for 20 minutes.  Turn oven off and leave bars in for an additional 10 minutes.  Remove and let cool.
7. Cut and serve.

*yields 8 bars or 16 squares