Kids Cuisine

It’s Holiday Tradition week at Kids Cuisine and the Well Fed Network. Each day we’ll be bringing you activities and recipes that bring our families together.

My tradition actually comes from my husband’s childhood. In the days leading up to Christmas, he and his mom would back batches of special cookies — candy cane cookies and sugar cookies. On Christmas Eve, Ryan carefully put together a tray of cookies, milk, and a note reassuring Santa that he had been very good. But Santa doesn’t come alone, so Ryan also left a tray of carrots as a treat for the reindeer.

After the food was carefully spread out, Ryan trudged off to bed for a restless night. He did his best to fall asleep so that Santa would come and bring his present, but the excitement sometimes made that really difficult.

Early the next morning, Ryan stumbled out of bed to see if Santa had come. The cookies had been reduced to a pile of crumbs, and the milk was almost gone. And the carrots? Well, near the door Ryan found little chewed bits and the tops of the carrots. Next to them, little puddles where the snow from their hooves had melted.

A few years ago, we had my then 8-year-old brother put out carrots on Christmas Eve. Though he was originally skeptical, the look on his face when he saw the chewed up pieces the next morning was priceless. He fully believed for several more years after that!