Merry Christmas!
The house and windows are decorated, the christmas stockings are on the wall and the first presents are about to be wrapped. I love the festive atmosphere of the Holiday Season – the flavor of freshly baked cookies, the scent of mistletoe, and the childrens’ excitement in the house.
Our kitchen turns into a Christmas bakery. In that vein, here is a Christmas cookie recipe which we traditionally like to bake with the entire family.
The children especially enjoy this recipe, because everyone can take part – from cutting out cookies to decorating them.
Christmas Cookies with sugar icing
250 g soft butter
250 g sugar
2 eggs
500 g flour
½ pack baking soda
powdered sugar, lemon juice, sugar sprinkles for the icing
Mix butter, sugar and 2 eggs with a mixer. Slowly add the flour and the baking soda. Cool the batter until it can be easily rolled out.
Roll out the batter with a bit of flour, cut out the cookies and bake the cookies 5-8 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius until the edges are slightly brown.
Mix the sieved powdered sugar with a bit of lemon juice until the icing becomes thick and apply it to the cooled cookies with a brush. Add sprinkles or nuts or alternatively jam or melted chocolate.
There are a lot of interesting similarities and small differences between the ways that Christmas is celebrated in Las Vegas and Europe . First, in both the U.S. and Germany, Advent calendars are a common tradition. In Germany Christmas is actually celebrated on the evening of the 24th of December, whereas Americans celebrate Christmas on the morning of the 25th. By the way, there is a Santa Claus celebration on the 6th of December, where children place their shoes outside the house waiting for them to be filled with candy the next morning, but this is a little known tradition in the States which one might nonetheless see in heavily European influenced neighborhoods.
One of the really wonderful parts of the season is the tradition of charitable giving. Many schools support charitable foundations during the holiday season and by doing that they are raising the students’ awareness for people and children in need in their community. Our children have decided to donate to children in less fortunate situations this year. They will use their own allowance to buy presents for a few children with less good fortune in their lives.
In connection with my foundation Children for Tomorrow the holiday season has led us to send a wish list (pdf) on behalf of the children of Uganda to our sponsors
We hope to create spaces, namely traditional round huts painted with many colors and furnished for the needs of kids, to enable them to talk about their traumatic experiences of war and violence.
Whether it’s Christmas in the USA or Western Europe, orthodox Christmas on January 7th, the Jewish Hannukah or whatever holiday you are celebrating, I wish you all a very relaxing and happy time with your family and friends.
Wishing you and your family a blessed festive season!!!
From sunny South Africa
Merry Christmas Steffi,
we hope you will comeback in singles next year!
Bonjour Stefanie,
Tu étais ma joueuse de tennis favorie pour ta classe, ton humilté, ta discrétion, ton professionnalisme dans les bons moments comme dans les souffrances.
Tu demeures un modèle pour moi en tant que femme et mère. Ta simplicité, la manière que tu as de vivre simplement malgré ta richesse et l’aide que tu apportes aux victimes de violence en Afrique et ailleurs.
Je suis heureuse que tu sois heureuse en ménage avec André Agassi. Que Dieu vous bénisse et vous protège.
N’oubliez jamais de remercier le Seigneur qui vous a offert tous ces bienfaits! Voyez toujours la vie du bon côté et soyez une force d’amour pour le monde!
je suis consciente qu’André et toi n’êtes que des êtres humains capables d’erreurs, c’est pourquoi je prie pour vous et vos enfants!
Je sais aussi que vous êtes capables du meilleur…
Bravo à André pour sa biographie et à tout l’amour qu’il porte à sa femme et à ses enfants!
Que votre Amour dure éternellement!
Soyez fort et persévérants, toujours confiants en Dieu!
Amour, Paix et Bonheur dans votre maison!
Joyeux Noël!
I see Andre on the tv to night for his book.HE was very blooming,so happy.Are you also in France?merry christmas Steffi.SO sorry for my english.Can I try the next time to explain you in french with easy word what I feel? THANK YOU
Hallo liebe Stefanie, auch ich möchte Dir und Deiner Familie auf diesem Wege ein gesegnetes Weihnachtsfest mit ganz viel Zeit füreinander und für 2010 alles Gute, Gesundheit und viel Freude wünschen. Ich hoffe, Ihr könnt Euren Urlaub in den Bergen nach Weihnachten so richtig genießen. Herzliche Grüße aus Deutschland sendet Dir Deine Christiane und DANKE für alles!
Just a detail in case *someone* tries to follow your recipe:
what’s the weigth of the american packs of backing soda?
Have a great Christmas with your wonderful family.
Merry Christmas Steffi!
We love you here in Montreal : )
Merry X’mas! And hope you to comeback next year…. ^_^
Merry X’mas!
I wish to see you in tennis game again…. ^_^
Meine Familie und ich wünschen euch und euren Kindern ein frohes und gesegnetes Weihnachtsfest und einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr.
Dear Steffi, Andre, Jaden and Jaz,
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Love,
Liz
Happy Christmas and Best Wishes for 2010 to you and your family!
I hope that you got everything you wanted for Christmas and that 2010 brings you happiness!
Love Catherine xxx
Liebe Steffi, Andre, Jaden und Jaz,
liebe Grüße vom Alpenrand zu euch auf die (fast) andere Seite der Erde. Wir wünschen euch vor allem Gesundheit, Erfolg und viele schöne und freudvolle Stunden im nächsten Jahr 2010. Einen guten Rutsch, nie endende Wünsche und Hoffnungen, liebevolle Momente und Inspiration und Energie für die nächsten Vorhaben.
PS: Natürlich lag “OPEN” unter dem Weihnachtsbaum….hat uns tief berührt, begeistert und unser Leben bereichert. Danke!
Herzlichst Anka und Peter
Happy New Year Steffi! Best wishes for you and your familiy!
Greetings from Argentina
Hi,
I was just wondering how you handle the various Christmas traditions in your family. Who brings the gifts, the Christkind or Santa? Do you put the shoes outside at St.Nikolaus?
Greetings from London
I wish you and your family all the best for 2010, Steffi!
Lot of love from London!
xxx
Alex
Just finished Andre’s book. Very well done ! Nice to see the other side of the athlete. Beautiful story of the relationship you both have. My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed it and watching your tennis careers over the years.
Best regards.
Hello Steffi,
Hope 2010 is going great for you. You are my favourite sportsperson of all-time. I have followed your career with great interest and absolutely love your game, especially that forehand!
Dearest Steffi, Andre and kids,
Happy Christmas and a very happy new year to you all.
May God bless you all greatly.
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