this snowflake curtain from Bugs and Fishes is amazing, but i doubt i will be able to produce that many paper snow flakes.
My mom has a bunch of these little paper houses from the 50s. They are very christmas kitsch. There is even a printable pattern here.
of course there about a million different christmas cookie recipes and decorating options, but these are an old classic my mom used to make. they are called chocolate crinkles and are a bit like mini brownies. I really like the look of the white powdery outside with the chocolate cracks showing through. how rustic.
(p.s. i also saw these on marthastewart.com and she added espresso to them and called them snow caps. fuck that, don't mess with a classic)
okay this is also another fantasy family classic and it's way fun to do (i think).
you need:
one or more potatoes depending on how many stamps you would like
paint in some festive colors
paper (new paper would work but i like plain brown paper - it should be cheap though, whatever you choose)
a sharp small knife, like an exact-o
a plate or something to put the paint on
1. cut the potato in half
2. draw a picture on the cut half of the potato to be your stamp
3. cut away the bits of the potato you do not want to be stamped so that your design is now '3-D'
4. squeeze out some paint in a puddle on your plate
5. dip the potato stamp in it and then decorate your paper!
