A Reflection on Baking During the Holidays

Around this time every year, we enter a golden period for baking. Sure, we love cake and cookies throughout the whole year — but there’s something special about having a slice of pumpkin pie after the Thanksgiving feast. There’s something so beautifully nostalgic about Christmas cookies or latkas during the holidays. Why does baking mean so much to us during these next few weeks? We’ll give our hypotheses below.

Celebration: From November until December, there’s a lot to celebrate. The upcoming holidays remind us of the importance of family, friends, and loved ones. Thanksgiving has us reflect on our past and celebrate the things to be thankful for, while New Years has us look to the future with hope. Culturally and historically, pastries have long been a way for people to celebrate. Since baked treats are indulgent, they’re meant to be saved for the times truly worth celebrating – as much as we’d love to have cake every single day of the year, there’s a reason why we don’t. These baked goods are special to us during this time of the year since it’s a time we all celebrate life.

Giving: One of our favorite parts about the holidays is giving our friends and family delicious baked treats. We love to proudly show off our delicious pies during Thanksgiving or drop a tin box of cookies off at our neighbor’s. Baked goods are such sweet (pun definitely intended) presents because there’s an assumption of the amount of time the baker spent to create the treats. For example, when we give Christmas Cookies as presents, not only do our family, friends, and coworkers love the taste of the cookies, they subconsciously know that you put time into making those delicious cookies. You put time into decorating them.

Collaboration: Baking can be such a fun activity to do with loved ones. It’s a time when family and friends can get together with a common goal of creating something delicious. It’s something you can do whether or not it’s snowing (not gonna happen here anytime soon), raining, or sunny. And when you and your fellow bakers are done baking, you’re left with a delicious prize. Baking parties are always fun!

We hope you and your loved ones find the time to bake this holiday season. But if you can’t find the time to bake, we’ll be here waiting for you with delicious holiday treats at the ready.