Don't get me wrong. I love candy canes, gingerbread and peppermint bark. And we will surely be making and decorating cookies this week. 

But sometimes it's good to be a little salty.

In addition to our ginger sugar Christmas cookies, these are some of our favorite funky alternatives, all using not-sugar bomb cereals as an essential ingredient.

Furikake Chex Mix
It's easy, packages up well, and is a most welcome change-up from all the sweet action going on during this time of the year. My son, the Chex Mix Jedi, declares his preferred combinations to be Crispix and pretzels or Rice Chex, Honeycombs and pretzels. Capn Crunch steer clear you should for this.

This takes a little more than an hour to make. However, in the spirit of full disclosure, it didn't take me much time at all because my #1 son made this batch for me. 

Click here for the recipe.

My Daddy's Energy Bars
This is probably one of the healthier treats. Yes, it has marshmallows, Rice Krispies and butter. BUT it also includes oatmeal, raisins, nuts and peanut butter.

My Dad made these for years and now my nieces have taken over the annual 'baking,' which means microwaving for less than 10 minutes.

Click here for the recipe.

Cranberry Cereal Biscotti
This has been one of the most popular items at our annual Christmas party for the past two years. The cereal makes it crunchy but without becoming molar-cracking, as when some biscotti can be a tad hard.

Click here for the recipe.

'Tis the Season. Eat Well. Be Well. 

We are a house of snackers. American snacks like chips and salsa, tapenade and crackers, guacamole, hummus, and my son's most recent, warm Jalapeno cheese sauce.

And then there are the "Hawaii" snacks. Our recent Christmas haul was especially bountiful. One of our favorite treats for Christmas is the Big Island Delights Furikake Snack Mix. It's only made on the Big Island, and even if you find it on Oahu, it's pretty expensive for 'snacks' (around $10!) for a chips-sized bag. Once we open the bag, any one of us can eat the whole thing. Quickly.

My son hit upon the brilliant idea that we could actually make furikake chex mix. And so we (OK, he and my husband) did. This makes a lot of snack mix, but in our house, this is not a problem. 

We also convince ourselves that because it uses cereal, it might be healthy. While it's not exactly un-healthy, and definitely healthier than say, the caramel-rocky-road popcorn with caramelized pecans (another blog should be devoted to this masterpiece) that we received and devoured for Christmas, this still sits squarely in the category of snack food. 

Click here to try it and enjoy!