By: Urshitaa Goel

1. Potato Latkes

Potato latkes are a traditional Hanukkah dish served with all sorts of condiments such as sour cream and applesauce. Before potato, latkes were, and in some places still are, made from a variety of other vegetables, cheeses, legumes, or starches. Modern latkes are usually made with potatoes however other vegetables are sometimes used. Some other variations of latkes use pureed or mashed potatoes rather than grated ones. This gives the latkes a different texture.

2. Sufganiyot (Jelly Donuts)

Sufganiyot is a round jelly doughnut eaten in Israel and around the world on Hanukkah. The doughnut is deep-fried in oil, filled with jam or custard, and then topped with powdered sugar. Traditional sufganiyot was originally made by sandwiching a jelly filling in between two circles, sticking them together, and frying them in one piece. Although this method is still practiced, an easier technique commonly used today is to deep-fry whole balls of dough, and then inject them with a filling through a baker's syringe.

3. Gingerbread Cookies

Gingerbread cookies are a popular Christmas treat all over the world, in many different forms. Until the fifteenth century, gingerbread didn’t specifically refer to the sweet cake made with treacle and ginger. Earlier, in England, gingerbread meant “preserved ginger,” referring to the preservative effect of ginger on breads, cakes, and other pastries. The treat became associated primarily with Christmas in the nineteenth century. If you don’t have molasses, you can use this recipe however your cookies won’t be as dark as traditional ones. These cookies can be cut out into whatever shape you want including a gingerbread house by using one of these templates.

4. Shortbread Cookies

Shortbread cookies are one of the most popular cookies to make near the holidays. They can be decorated with royal icing which can be found in both the gingerbread cookie recipe and the snow globe cookie recipe. They can also even be eaten plain, or with a light dusting of powdered sugar. They can be cut into any shape and before baking they can be patterned by using any object such as a fork.

5. Snow Globe Cookies

When you shake your snow globe cookie, the sprinkles will move around just like in a regular snow globe. You could also dust these with some edible luster dust to make them seem even more magical. You can use the shortbread cookie recipe instead of the cookie recipe on this site if you don’t have all of the ingredients. You will want to use royal icing though because that dries out and otherwise your cookies will not stick together. These cookies can be cut out in any shape and can also be used as ornaments. The isomalt nibs can be traded out for any clear candy such as Jolly Ranchers.

6. Candy Canes

Candy canes are one of the most popular treats around the holidays. They were originally a straight white stick and the red stripes and the “cane shape” were added a few years later. The first time they are documented as being called “candy canes” comes in 1866 and their first connection to Christmas comes from 1874. Early recipes state that they were just “sugar” flavored however now they are usually flavored with peppermint or wintergreen. You will want to be careful when pulling the sugar mixture because you can burn yourself so wait until it is cool to the touch. Don’t wait for it to cool down completely however otherwise it will be hard to work with. The more you pull the “clear” part, the more opaque of a white color you will have. You can also use these homemade candy canes to make these super simple candy cane cups.

7. Peppermint Bark

Peppermint Bark is a popular chocolate confection around the holidays. It usually consists of peppermint candy pieces in white chocolate on top of dark chocolate. However peppermint bark can refer to any chocolate with peppermint candy pieces in it.

8. Hot Chocolate Bombs

Hot chocolate bombs, open up revealing the cocoa and marshmallows inside when they are put in hot milk. If you don’t have hot cocoa mix you can make some by following this recipe. Make sure to place these upside down when letting them set so that they are less likely to crack and have an even layer of chocolate all over. These can be decorated with anything that you like including melted chocolate and/or sprinkles.

Local- Thanksgiving Trends are starting to emerge with the different types of food, and decoration. Obviously, this year is going to be way different than the other years because we can’t go visit our family and friends. Of course you can’t have thanksgiving without the famous turkey, but there are other delicious foods that people love. Some delicious desserts that kids love are peanut butter pumpkin cookies, mini caramel apples, and chocolate pecan pie. Other Thanksgiving foods that aren’t turkey are, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, and stuffing. Some things you can do on Thanksgiving that don’t require food are practice for the Turkey trot race, craft a family heirloom, go leaf peeping, or jump in a pile of leaves.

Places to go- The top 5 most visited places for thanksgiving are NEW YORK, NY, MIAMI, FL. CHICAGO, IL, LOS ANGELES, CA, and believe it or not ORLANDO FL. Some of the most favorited places to go on thanksgiving are, the Blackberry Farm in Tennessee, Montage deer Valley in Utah, and Plymouth Massachusetts. Events that there are and places to go in Orlando are Family fun celebration and Thanksgiving day parade at Macy’s. Macy’s is going to have some face painting, Balloon twisting, and do it yourself craft stations. Dr Phillips center is going to have an event too, Dr. Phillips will perform a story called Love never dies, it is more for the fans of Phantom of the opera.

Decorations- A lot of people decorate too on Thanksgiving. They usually go for the same traditional colors, brown, mustard yellow, orange, auburn red, olive green, and coffee brown. Some cheap decorations you can do are mainly, hang up some orange, red, and yellow leaves around your windowsill, you can also add some thanksgiving themed throw pillows on to you couch. Maybe add minor decorations but can pull off that thanksgiving look you're looking for, for example add a thanksgiving themed table cloth, add some tiny pumpkins or some candles in the center of the table, maybe on your fridge add some leaf and turkey themed magnets. Having all those things just makes the area look more cozy and nice and definitely can pull off the thanksgiving look in your house.

Holiday Giving Drives By: Charleigh Gonzalez

During the months of December there are places that help kids that are in orphanages and who are homeless. One of the ways people and places help are toy and food drives.

Toy drives are a charity event that collects toys or money for them to be distributed to those in need. This is usually for the celebration of Christmas. Volunteers come and wrap the gifts then distribute them based on age categories. Take Toys for Tots as an example. Toys for Tots is a U.S. Marine program that collects new, unwrapped toys during the months October, November, and December and then distributes the toys to those less fortunate. The primary goal of Toys for Tots is to deliver, through a new toy at Christmas, a message of hope to less fortunate youngsters that will assist them in becoming responsible, productive, patriotic citizens.

Food drives are also a common charity event. A food drive is a form of charity that is run by an organization to stockpile and then distribute food to people who are not able to have food during the holiday season. Organizations like Feeding America help people by setting up stands around the area that they are in and giving out food to needy and homeless families.

Ways that you can help are donating money to these places, dropping off food or toys, or volunteering at the drives to hand out the food or toys. Donating money helps the places buy more food or toys for the people they are giving out to the families. Donating toys or food lets the organization have more to give. And volunteering helps them distribute the items quicker.

That is what toy and food drives are and how you can help give.