I love reflecting on all the Holiday traditions my family had when I was growing up. It is always those special moments that I remember the most when thinking of the Holidays. The first Christmas my husband and I had together, we started talking about the way we would want to incorporate some of the traditions from our childhoods into our future family, and how we would begin creating our own. Some things we started right away, like watching Christmas movies together, decorating the tree while listening to Christmas music, sipping hot coca, and baking tasty Christmas cookies. Then when we began our family, the excitement of creating traditions grew even more. Having kids really added that extra level of fun inspiring us to make the Holidays magical for them.

I remember breakfast on Christmas morning the most. The excitement that overtakes your little body the moment you open your eyes and realize it is Christmas morning. The excitement causes you to jump right out of your warm and cozy bed into the chilly air and run to the kitchen where the aroma of pancakes greets you. It was our Christmas tradition, pancakes on Christmas morning. When we were younger, no one ate the pancakes until every last gift was open, but as we got older, it didn’t matter as much to rush to the tree as it did to fill our bellies first. So we sat around the table as a family and enjoyed Christmas breakfast. Every part of my personality thrives off those moments with family, so it’s the memories of sitting around the table and eating those Christmas morning pancakes that brings my heart so much joy. Being around the people you care about the most, and surrounding the table with laughter and family stories will never get old. There was no doubt it was a tradition I wanted to continue with my family.

My husband and I love taking family traditions, giving them a little twist to make them our own, and continuing it in our own family. We are big lovers of eggnog over here, so we decided to put a holiday twist on a well-loved breakfast and create eggnog pancakes. I decided to decorate them as Santa to add an element of fun for the kids and it was such a big hit I know it’s going to be a Christmas morning tradition for years. I imagine this being something the kids one day treasure about Christmas, waking up to the smell of pancakes, unwrapping all their gifts under the tree, and eventually to treasuring the memories made around the table with family. That’s what makes the Holidays something to look forward to.

Just in case you are looking to start some Christmas traditions of your own, I wanted to share this tasty recipe with you. The best part is it’s as simple as simple can be! Just because I said I decorated the pancakes like Santa, I don’t want you to click that little “X” because you don’t think you are creative enough. I promise you, I am not that talented in the kitchen and these I can do! Just five ingredients and you can make these DELICIOUS pancakes for yourself!

 

1 Cup Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix

¾ Cup Eggnog

¼ Cup Milk

Whip Cream in a can

Strawberries

Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix is the perfect pancake mix to bring your family together for the Holidays. It’s tasty and has everything you need to make this recipe super simple. You can find the Aunt Jemima Pancake mix at your local Walmart. There are three different kinds, Original Complete, Buttermilk Complete, and Original and any of those will work perfectly for this recipe. Be sure to pock up some Aunt Jemima Original Syrup too! This is definitely a recipe that your family will come to love!

Combine the Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix with eggnog and milk. Stir until smooth.

Heat a pan on low-medium heat and pour about 1/3 cup of the pancake mixture into the pan. When the pancake is ready to flip, the edges will start to bubble and look a little brown. Flip your pancake and it will be a perfect golden brown.

Slice some strawberries for Santa’s hat. You will want to cut some strawberries in half, but then some in quarters. The strawberries cut in half will be the bottom of the hat, while the strawberries cut in quarters will make up the top of the hat.

Lay the strawberries on your pancake to make Santa’s hat. Next, you’ll make Santa’s beard! The trick with this is not to just make a line with the whip cream, but to somewhat make little dots. That way the bear looks full and like a cute little Santa. Put whip cream on the bottom of your pancake and then go on the sides up to the hat. Next make a little dot on the top of Santa’s hat.

You can use chocolate chips or blueberries to make the eyes and there you go! There’s your Santa pancake! It’s as easy as that! Make sure you top it with Aunt Jemima Original Syrup to make it even better! Syrup, strawberries, and whip cream together is pretty AMAZING!

Making traditions with your family is fun and exciting. What makes new traditions fun is that at the root of it all it is about spending time with family and making memories with those you care about most.