Month: December 2018

Chickasha Festival of Lights Makes Christmas Festive

Posted on by Kitty

My family and I went to see the Chickasha Festival of Lights this year, and it was spectacular. Every year for the past twenty-six years, Chickasha has put on a wonderful display of lights for everyone to enjoy for free. There are food trucks, a Ferris wheel, and carriage rides as well. They sell delicious cinnamon buns and hot cocoa. My husband and I bought a cinnamon bun, cookie, and two hot cocoas for just $11. It was all very tasty.

Local businesses sponsor lights that are placed throughout the park around a large lake. There is a large bridge that goes across the lake that is covered in white lights. Many geese and ducks are in the lake, too. The lines can be a bit long, but it is worth the wait to see the display. My family got behind a long line of cars and waited about an hour and a half just to get into the park. We found a parking spot fairly easily though. After we parked near the food trucks, we got some free samples of kettle corn.  

Chickasha Festival of Lights

Chickasha LightsChickasha LightsChickasha Lights

The state of Oklahoma was represented by the state seal and an oil tower. I especially like the heart of Oklahoma display.

Oklahoma State SealOklahoma OilHeart of Oklahoma

There were some random cute ones that I took pictures of, including some popcorn and a loch Ness monster. I especially liked the carriage ride with the high-stepping pony.

PopcornLoch Ness MonsterCarriage Ride

There were many traditional scenes at the Chickasha Festival of Lights. The nativity scene is gorgeous and very sweet. There were some singing angels as well. Of course, there was a Santa with his sleigh and reindeer.

Nativity SceneSinging AngelsSanta and Reindeer

I had to get a couple of pictures of the bridge. I also took some random pictures of things that I liked that were miscellaneous scenes. It was cold, and my fingers were going numb so I had to stuff them in my coat pocket a few times to regain some warmth. The weather was fairly nice for a winter night though. There was no wind to speak of, which made it much more bearable.

Chickasha BridgeChickasha BridgeChristmas Lights

Christmas LightsChristmas LightsChristmas Lights

After looking around for about an hour, the family decided to leave the park to go where it was warm. It was a fun and memorable experience seeing the lights and being in the crisp, cool night air with Christmas music playing. I hope to see it again next year.

 

Christmas Cookies Make Delicious Mini Fruitcakes

Posted on by Kitty

At this time of year it is nice to bake lots of goodies. These Christmas Cookies make wonderful gifts for people. This recipe I am sharing with you started when my uncle wanted some oatmeal cookies. I altered the traditional recipe and made it my own special Christmas Cookies recipe. My husband loves coconut, so I thought I’d add some to the mix. I thought that more fruit could be added, too, since he also likes fruitcake. I’m thinking of altering this recipe even more to incorporate more fruit, nuts, and maybe some spices. This one is a hit though with family and friends.

Christmas Cookie Ingredients    Christmas Cookies

The dough for these Christmas Cookies is kind of clumsy when forming it into teaspoon sizes for baking. There is so much stuff in them that they want to fall apart. It takes a little extra wrangling with two spoons to clump the mixture together. With a little practice, it does not take long to master placing them on the baking sheet.

Christmas Cookies

2 1/4 C. Flour

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1 tsp. Salt

2 Sticks Butter

3/4 C. Sugar

3/4 C. Brown Sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

2 Large Eggs

2 C. Chocolate Chips

1 C. Chopped Nuts ( I used pecans)

1/2 C. Raisins

1/2 C. Golden Raisins

1 C. Dried Cranberries

1 C. Oats

1 C. Coconut

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Soften butter and add both kinds of sugars to it. Cream the butter with the sugar then add vanilla and eggs one at a time. In a separate bowl, measure flour, baking soda, and salt and stir together. When the dry ingredients have been measured, add half of them to the dough and stir well. Add the other half of the dry ingredients then chill in the freezer for ten minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients. Chop up the nuts and fruit after measuring them. Combine the chocolate chips, chopped nuts, raisins, cranberries, oats, and coconut in a bowl and set aside. After chilling, add the fruit mixture to the dough, stirring gently until it is well mixed. You may wish to chill the dough a little more at this point, but it is not necessary. Get two cookie sheets and use two teaspoons to drop the cookie dough onto the pans. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.