As a Canadian of Indian descent, Thanksgiving has never been my symbolic start to the holiday season—that title belongs to Diwali.

Falling between mid-October and mid-November, as based on the Hindu lunisolar calendar, it is legendarily the darkest night of the year. And as such we annually banish those shadows in a number of ways. We light diyas (clay oil lamps with cotton wicks dipped in ghee or vegetable oils) and wear sequins that catch the flicker of their flames, sending it across the room in rainbows. We polish any silver and brass to mirror-like reflection. We swag innumerable rows of white lights from the eaves and in the trees until the house is a sparkling beacon to welcome Lakshmi and Ganesha.

But even after the colorful rangoli designs have long faded, those lights remain throughout December. Those rows of white lights linger to illuminate the tree and stockings hung for Christmas, and the flicker of diyas makes way for the flicker of Hanukkah candles—one celebration twinkling into the next.

This year, with hope for the return to these glimmering traditions, I am compelled to embrace the optimistic exuberance of bedecking each possible moment, in all ways. I want my days properly festooned from the mantel to the windows to the table to the cookie boxes packed and ready for friends and family near and far.

现在是时候散发出洒水，戴式的每一盎司微光和额外的点缀了。今年的饼干将为聚会做好打扮。

I’m not talking about anything too difficult, but rather the baking equivalent of putting on red lipstick for the evening. That means attiringMexican wedding cookies穿着白巧克力和原始的毛衣，蓬松的椰子，可发挥雪球作用。也许甚至是撒上银色可食用的闪光，以产生额外的闪光。或服用简单的加香料切割曲奇 - 想想speculaas with nutmeg, cinnamon, and ginger, boosted by espresso—and doubling up the goodness by making it a sandwich. Between the two sides, a swirl of coffee buttercream reinforces the espresso note. And on top, a glittering cluster of candied cocoa nibs lends crunch with the laquered sheen of sugar.

In a nod to the country of my birth, there will be my in-laws’ version of a national treasure, theButter Tart。想象一下，一个小型山核桃派，上面有嫩但粉红色的外壳，并用核桃，葡萄干，甚至巧克力制成的丰富馅料 - 如果您是纯粹的人，则完全是简单的。我确实喜欢它们，就像它们在馅料表面上的精致蜂窝一样。但是，今年冬天，以更适合喜庆的心情的举动，干燥的珍珠或光泽灰尘将带来轻轻的镀金效果。

Finally, no cookie tin can be without chocolate if I am in charge. So last but most assuredly far from least, once-familiar cookie kisses return from a trip through the Black Forest, hiding a dried cherry beneath its mound ofchocolate-enrobed marshmallow。A flurry of luster dust completes them with ease and elegance. Or you could opt for a bit of silver leaf pressed into that chocolate—a gleaming nod to the brightest days of the season ahead.