Can you believe we are to December? I know personally this month is going to fly by and there are so many holiday events I am looking forward to.

Last Saturday on the tail end of November the Christmas holiday events began in the Greene house. The first Saturday after Thanksgiving Corning hosts it’s annual Parade of Lights Christmas Parade. The evening starts with the lighting of the Christmas tree and fireworks. Luke and I parked and walked down Market St. to meet up with our friends by the Christmas Tree. On the way I had noticed the floats were stationary as though they were lined up to move down a different street. I wondered if the parade route had changed since last year. When we met up with our friends we find out why: this year the parade was stationary meaning the floats stayed in one place and the rest of us moved around to view them.

We are not sure what the purpose of this was but it is possibly  because the main bridge in an out of downtown is being rebuilt. We stood and watched both East and West high school preform at either ends of the street and looked at the stationary floats. After walking Market St. both ways we decided we were done being cold and wanted to  move on to the second part of the evening.

This year we decided to host a Post-Parade Cookies and Cocoa open house at our home. We invited some of our co-workers and friends who were residents of Corning to come warm up after the parade at our place. I had spent most of Friday baking like crazy and decorating the house for Christmas. I made two types of cookies: funfetti cheesecake cookies I first made for 4th of July and redecorate for Christmas and another more basic cookie with red and green m and ms. I also, for the non-cookie fans made some peanut brittle using the recipe I mentioned in my November post: The Great Pumpkin.

I finally got the chance to use a glass chip and dip set we got from our wedding registry to display the sweet treats.  I had hot water and brewed coffee along with several options for sweet warm goodness.  For the non-hot drink people there was also eggnog and milk. Because I personally love peppermint I had both peppermint drops and pink peppermint flavored marshmallows. I made some dark hot chocolate for myself and put in two peppermint drops and a hand full (or two) of the peppermint marshmallows.

The night went well, friends and neighbors came to warm up after being in the cold, some for several hours. We sat, listened to Christmas music, and talked about upcoming movies, how our thanksgivings went, and what our holiday traditions/plans looked like for December. For a first year hosting a holiday event in our own home I think it went well.

What holiday events do you plan on hosting this winter?

Or are you hoping to avoid the responsibility of cooking and baking for the masses?