It is almost that time of the year again, where pine trees lord over the living room, the smell of hot cocoa fills the air, and winter for some (and not so for others). Yes, it's almost Christmas time again and children and nutrition has never been as important now than at any other occasion.

Sometimes, we as parents would just like to let our hair down and enjoy ourselves. In doing so, we are also letting our kids enjoy ... but not too much. We should still be in control over the food that they should be eating, holiday season or not. Nevertheless, we should be having fun ourselves. It is, after all, Christmas.

So in the spirit of the holidays, let me introduce you to three favorite recipes that we've been doing since my kids could understand what the festivities are all about:

Reindeer Cupcakes
Ingredients: 1 box of chocolate cake mix (yes folks, the simplest recipes lie in ready-to-mix ingredients), 1 container chocolate frosting (or you can do it as we do by melting half a cup of butter and stirring in two-thirds cup of Hershey's Cocoa; alternately add one-third cup of milk and 3 cups of powdered sugar; and stir in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract), broken pretzel pieces (for the reindeer antlers), M&Ms or anything similar to it (for the eyes and reindeer noses).
Procedure: Prepare the cake mix according to package instructions, putting them into muffin cups before baking them. Allow to cool and frost with the chocolate frosting. Stick pretzel antlers on the top of the "heads" and add eyes and noses.

Baked Omelet
Ingredients: half a loaf of white bread (cut into cubes), 1 and a half pounds of shredded Cheddar cheese, 7 to 8 eggs (depending on egg size), 2 cups of milk, 1 cup of cubed cooked ham, a pinch of salt to taste (although I usually put in a dash of pepper too and a dash of hot sauce), one-fourth cup of chopped green onion.
Procedure: Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan. Put half of the bread cubes on the bottom of the pan as the first layer. Sprinkle with half of the ham and half of the cheese; repeat this step. In a bowl, beat the eggs, milk, salt (and pepper and/or hot sauce) and green onions. Pour into pan. Get a baking sheet with a rim and pour some water on it before putting the pan on top of the sheet. Bake for about 60 minutes or until the eggs have set. Serve while hot.