Season's Sweetenings

So as introduced by the last post, the holiday season is upon us.  Some of my previous post may have had some grinchy undertones. Although I must pride myself on my moral lesson of good thoughts to end with, today I mean to share one of the things I really enjoy about the season.  Baking!

It's great because although I enjoy baking, I never really want to eat much of what I make.  I don't have much of a sweet tooth and almost never eat desserts...but I really love making them for some reason.  I love that they are sweet, they smell great, and you can decorate them.  But the best of all, is sharing my sweet concoctions.  My latest drive is to make these wonderful guinness-chocolate cupcakes.

I found a terrific recipe for this batter which is set up for a cake, but I think cupcakes are so much more cute and convenient for serving to multiple people.  It describes a regular frosting but I use instead a Martha Stewart cream cheese frosting recipe.  I first found these recipes while looking for something to make for my fiance's cousin's graduation. She said she loves chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting so I started with that and tried to find something simple to make at home from scratch, but with a unique edge to it (thus the guinness!).  They must have been good because they were gone within the first 20 minutes of being set out with all the other food, and even my fiance who claims to dislike any sweets was pouting about not getting his own and having to share with me. 

This time around, as I was making them for a holiday party. I wanted to make the frosting green, but I strive to avoid artificial ingredients when possible.  Luckily I still had some matcha green tea in the cabinet and that stuff is pretty potent as a food dye.  I didn't add much because I was nervous about the flavor coming through, but I did achieve a nice pale green color. 

Completed with some festive wrapping paper by Reynolds and gorgeous gold sprinkles, they look great!  For someone else of course, I'm not much for sweets ;) But I certainly can't wait to share these!

I'll have a Yule-Christmas...

It's here! The holiday season.  While some are instantly excited, like my loving fiance, others find this time of year to mean instant stress and awkward conversation.  Do you call it Christmas or Yule? Do you wish Happy Hannukah to whom it applies, or resort to the generic Happy Holidays?

I'll admit that upon first becoming comfortable with calling myself Wiccan, I almost went super Pagan and decided that Christmas was offensive.  I felt "Christmas trees" and nativity scenes were signs of ignorance that the December holiday is really a remnant of the week-long festival Saturnalia, honoring the Roman god for whom our Saturday is named (among several other Pagan traditions).  Then I realized, I was no better than any other close-minded religious person.

What is the reason for the season anyway?  While I still feel a slight twinge at the "Jesus is the reason for the season" bumper stickers.... I try to remember they are just happy to celebrate their god and the season he represents.  If you take away the specific deities, Jesus or Saturn or Frey, and take away the presents and decorations...what is it about?  Winter Solstice marks the completion of the Wheel of the Year as the light of the sun returns.  There is no better time to share in thousand-year old traditions with loved ones.  The ancients celebrated the end of the cold, dark parts of the year as well as the end of their labor to rejoice in the new year and the new possibilities it will bring. So too, can we celebrate what we have reaped throughout the year and take advantage of this break from our work to prepare for a new year.  In that way, there is little between Pagans, Christians, Jews and anyone else.  We can all celebrate love, light and happiness by any name. For a Christmas by any other name, would bring gingerbread cookies just as sweet!

On that note, I have found a great blog post from one of my favorite authors about ways to reduce your stress this holiday season.
Enchanting the Day: Cut the Guilt
 I have definitely put the concept of foregoing gifts one year on my to-do list. I would love to focus on decorating the house with my love and hosting parties with drinks and food and fun for my friends and family rather than the best sales or parking spots at the mall.  I hope you all find a way to cut the stress out of your holiday season and remember that we all have the same goal here, to take a break from our crazy lives and remember to love each other.  And maybe for me, getting a few of those remaining wedding crafts done that have been laying around my office!