Christmas weddings . . . and baking!

ByTamera Alexander
22 Comments

Today, Joe and I celebrate our 31st wedding anniversary. Yep, we had a Christmas wedding—and loved it! Poinsettias and all…

IMG_4313

That was then,

this is now…

IMG_7693

Time has a way of catching up with you, and it’s certainly caught up with us! And though our journey has hardly been perfect, and we’ve weathered some storms, I’m so grateful for Joe and for the love and laughter we share. I treasure it…and him! Here’s praying for another 31 years!

As I was doing some Christmas baking this weekend—getting ready to host 70+ neighbors in a progressive lunch on Saturday (our house was desserts! Surprised?)—I looked at the dates on some of my recipes and realized that many of them predate my marriage! Hey, when you got a good thing goin’…

Tried and true recipes (like husbands!) are my favs. . .

Blog Island

A bird’s eye view

Dessertcollage

7 layer bars, Red Velvet Cake Balls, Cherry Dump Cake, and Pecan Tassies

Screen Shot 2015-12-14 at 11.39.18 PM

The Belle Meade Carrot Cake and June’s Coconut Cake
(It’s just not Christmas if I don’t make Mom’s Coconut Cake)

Screen Shot 2015-12-14 at 11.42.09 PM

And finally… Tiger Butter
(So easy and so good)

Kelsey helped with the cake balls—and I’m sooo grateful she did! I’d never made them before but she had, so she saved my bacon…or my cake balls…with her tricks of the trade, bless her.

Have you done your holiday baking yet? And are any of your recipes as old as (or older than) my marriage? 🙂

Blessings on your Tuesday, friends.

And wishing you a very Merry Christmas!

Tammy

Screen Shot 2015-12-14 at 11.52.40 PM

Discover more from Inspired by Life . . . and Fiction

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Tamera Alexander is a USA Today bestselling novelist and one of today's most beloved authors of inspirational historical romance and women’s contemporary fiction. While being Gram Tam is her current favorite role, she’ll never turn down a stroll through an old cemetery or browsing through antique shops. In These Hills, her newest novel, releases September 2026.

22 Comments

  1. I gained 5 pounds just looking at those pictures! I love coconut cake but I don’t do much baking anymore. We try to stay away from sweets. Wait…that’s my characters. Pass a cake ball, please.

  2. Hi Tammy, Happy anniversary to you and Joe! Wow, what an amazing array of desserts. I’m sure your friends enjoyed their time in your home. I’m wishing you and all the girls at Inspired by Life and Fiction a very Merry Christmas! Carrie

    1. We had such fun opening our home to neighbors—and eating! I’m so grateful we live in a community that values relationship. That’s growing even more important as time goes by. Merry Christmas to you and yours, Carrie. Much love, friend.

  3. Did you bake ALL of that, Tammy?! Wow. A progressive lunch with neighbors sounds like a blast.

    I haven’t done much holiday baking yet, but this Saturday, my kids and I will bake batches of Christmas cookies to deliver to our neighbors. 🙂

    1. Yep, started Thursday night and ended Friday night. (Be careful what you commit to in the heat of summer, LOL!). It was fun, but I will admit…my baking itch is fully satisfied for the time being. 😉 Happy baking with your kids this weekend! Those are sweet times, and memories.

  4. Happy Anniversary, Tammy! May you have many, many more years together. Your dessert spread looks amazing! I never count calories at Christmas.

    1. Thanks, Lynn. If you were to talk to my Spanx, they’d say I never count them anytime! : } However, I do tend to look at food through the perspective of time on the treadmill (or outside walking).That does help the control of intake. LOL! Merry Christmas to you and Ken and your lovely family. Still wishing we could matchmake. Just sayin’… 😉

  5. Oh my! Delectable! Those cakes could be on any Southern Living cover. But no Pecan Pie?!

    LOL about the progressive party. Our SS class is having a Progressive Christmas Dinner Party this weekend (unfortunately, I have to work) and a friend said her teenager thought it was some weird thing we had dreamed up. She told her it was a “real” thing that lots of people do. The teen couldn’t imagine it and didn’t think it sounded like any fun.

    Happy Happy Anniversary! Kudos to Joe for putting up with you for all these years. 🙂

    1. Amen to “Kudos to Joe.” Bless that man! And don’t work too hard during the holidays, Ms. Mocha!I know your job can be all-encompassing. Much love to you and yours, friend.

  6. Happy Anniversary! Christmas is a lovely time for all kinds of celebrations, especially weddings! I haven’t baked a thing this Christmas season, but I will be baking my Monster Cookies. It’s the only recipe I make year after year, and I don’t know how old it is, but it was given to my mom by a church friend when I was a baby, so it’s over 35 years old. There are a couple secret ingredients that set it apart…but I’ll never tell. 🙂 Merry Christmas!

    1. LOVE Monster cookies! Love their crunch, and love that the recipe you use is so time-honored. Tastes and smells bring such reminiscence, don’t they? Such a special time of the year. Merry Christmas, Gabrielle!

  7. Wow, yum! My daughter had a cookie swap last night but I didn’t participate in that. My diabetic husband’s sugar counts have been really high lately and I knew neither one of us needed the extra calories or sugar.
    HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!

    1. I hear you on the diabetes front, Gail. Joe’s diabetic too, so we don’t typically eat many sweets. Or, well…he doesn’t! ; } Thanks for the anniversary wishes!

  8. I haven’t started baking yet, but I at least had my oldest daughter help me make a list of what we’re going to bake. There are a couple non-negotiable, one of which is the butter (cut-out) cookies I’ve taken over making for my mom. Standard shapes: trees, bells, stars, Santa. The rolling, cutting, baking, and decorating is a big part of Christmas. I think the recipe came from my mom’s Betty Crocker cookbook – probably purchased when she married in the mid-1950s.

    1. Love what you shared. And the “non-negotiable.” ; ) I still have my mom’s original Betty Crocker cookbook, then the one I was given when I married. It’s a classic. I LOVE sugar cookies, especially the ones you described, Carolyn. Enjoy that time with your daughter. I really miss my own precious mom during this time of year. We had such fun cooking and baking together. Merry Christmas to you and yours!

  9. Happy Anniversary Tammy and Joe!! I always forget that our anniversaries are very close – – our 33rd is this Friday, Dec. 18. 🙂 And I also had a Christmas wedding–it was the wedding of my dreams and included gorgeous poinsettias too.
    Oh my – – those desserts look sooo yummy!! I LOVE Tiger Butter but have never made it – – since you said it’s easy, I’ll have to try making some. 🙂
    Christmas blessings to you and your family, sweet Tammy!!
    Hugs, Patti Jo

    1. Happy Anniversary, Patti Jo! Fun that we share this month!and yes!Try that Tiger Butter. So good. Much love, friend and Merry Christmas!

  10. I did a double take when I saw that you were celebrating your 31st wedding anniversary. My husband and I will celebrate our 31st this coming Monday. Christmas weddings…where the church is already decorated so you have more money for the reception. Oh, yeah!

Comments are closed.