Without fail, my mother would make lemon bars from scratch.  Tangy, twisting up your tounge lemon bars with a smattering of powdered sugar on top, and a crust that could melt the even the coldest of holiday hearts.  When my mother passed two years ago, my brother's wife began making them.  Although the recipe is different, I find the taste and scent to be the same.  Lemon zest citrus, to me, smells like laughter and love under the lights of our holiday tree.

I'm the only (and I do mean ONLY) person in my family who can make desserts. All my family lives overseas apart from my sister and parents, and holidays are somewhat lonely because we're all alone. So for us cooking together is a big deal. I always make (faux)cheesecake supremes, vegan muffins, and a whole load of other desserts. It's great for us to all be together, scrambling around to share a single kitchen, sticking our fingers in each other's creations and getting in the way. For me, that's what makes it the holidays, that we can all be together the four of us and not feel lonely

Our mother always made waldorf salad for Christmas dinner.  My sister and I have carried on this tradition for years.  We live in different states now, but one Christmas I was sitting at my sister's kitchen table doing all the chopping for the salad.  We were talking, and I wasn't paying attention.  My sister looked over and said "what are you doing?"  I was cutting the various ingredients into way-too-tiny pieces unconsciously.  It still makes me laugh to think about it.

although, it's not all that traditional in these parts, we used to do fondue for christmas dinner.  there was some prep involved, but not too much, so we were all relaxed throughout the day and could be leisurely about our meal.  fondue is a fairly long affair, so it was great for having quality time with the family!  we would get so full from the beef that we ended up eventually ditching the chocolate fondue for dinner!

I love making my grandmother's divinity recipe! She would make it every year. I also make vegan cookies, along with vegan dog treats for the hound dog!

I always bake with my mom and brothers, rolling dough and listening to Christmas music. Also, on Christmas Eve, mom started a new tradition a few years ago of having 4-5 different soups that we can eat all night along with cookies galore. So delicious.

My favorite holiday tradition is making homemade spagetti sauce and meatballs for dinner and homemade apple pie for dessert.  It's a tradition that goes back to when I was a little girl I used to go to my grandmother's house and watch her add all her secret ingredients in the meatball mixture.  I love how she used to add pork, sausage then her delicious meatballs in the gravy (my grandmother was Italian).  After my grandmother passed away I carried on this wonderful tradition with my mother.  My mother and I make the same gravy and meatballs around the holidays and even throughout the year.  It's a tradition that I hope to pass one day when I have children.  Miss you Grandma!!

I am the only vegetarian in my family-and with everyone being from the south, Sausage balls have always been a staple at holiday meals.  My favorite memory is my aunt katy calling every single holiday for the recipie for these balls.  Whenever the phone rings we make bets to see if it is Aunt Katy!!!

My mom used to try to teach me how to make Christmas candy.  I suspect I was usually more of a nuisance than a help.  We made chocolate covered cherries, chocolate covered mint balls, fudge, Divinity, sugar cookies with red green and white frostings, Dirty Snowballs (crushed up oreos and cream cheese covered with white chocolate).  She would always prepare everything and would let me do things like frost the cookies and dip the mint balls in the chocolate.  "C'mon now, don't be so messy - at least TRY to make it look nice" was a common phrase heard from my mom.  But that was our time together when it was snowing outside and school was out.  That was the time she could be with her kids, teach us something, and bond with us, those times are few and far in between nowadays.  While candies and cookies were baking we would watch the movie "White Christmas" together.  And now, we still watch that movie together every year, whether it's while we're baking or just plain eating.

When I was a kid my job was always veggir prep.  Snapping green beans, cleaning mushrooms and so on.  I loved being in the kithced with my Grandma, Mom & Aunts cooking like a big girl!  This year for the first time I put my son to work.  Passing the torch.  I help with the real cooking now lol.  And men need to learn early that they can help, too!  =P

Because I've got such a fluid, on-the-go family, my holiday meal tradition is not as long standing as most people's. I've had holiday dinners in over 10 different houses over four cities and with different people joining the festivites each time.  In 2009 I chose to spend Christmas at a work-stay with a British family in Spain, and spent much of that time learning new recipes. My favourite one, which we made quite near Christmas time, was one for Italian Chocolate Cookies. The rich cacao and fragrant nutmeg and cinnamon all working together has been a favourite combination of flavors for me ever since, and I've made them for the last two years over the holidays to remember what I fantastic time I had learning to make them the first time.

Sounds good- is there an alternate flour ie rice that i could use since I'm gluten-free...?

My favorite holiday cooking tradition is waking up to the amazing breakfast bake my mom would make every christmas morning with eggs and sausage in it...now since ive been veggie we make one with tofu and veg sausage crumbles...delish!  (usually we dont even tell my dad and brother and they have no clue!) sneaking a little healthy lifestyle one bit at a time!  love adapting our favorite family dishes to suit my vegan lifestyle and ever since my mom was diagnosed with cancer a year ago I try and get to her to eat vegan as often as possible because I truly believe it contributes to your health and can aid your body in fighting off those awful rotten cancer cells! This year I am just happy to have my mom stil here to celebrate with us :) 

Before my grandfather was in a nursing home, every Christmas Eve my grandmother, mom, and I would prepare a giant Spanish meal for my family (since we are Latin), and a few friends and I who are all Latin/jazz musicians would serenade with music late into the night. Since my grandfather has been living in a nursing home, we take the spirit of thanks and giving to him by indulging with a feast at the nursing home. To keep with tradition, we conclude our evening with dancing and music to bring joy to our family as well as the community.

Feliz Navidades!

my favorite holiday cooking tradition is making and decorating cookies! :)