Ok, now that I've made my little soap-box spiel, let me move on to my sappy Christmas story. My mom loves Christmas. A lot. I have to get it from somewhere and I am sure it was from her. And my grandma. But that's another post. When my brother Scot and I were young, Mom would let us help her make "Christmas food." We always made fudge, Martha Washington candies, peanut brittle, and sugar cookies. We loved to help with the sugar cookies. It's a recipe passed down from me great grandma. The original recipe actually just says "bake in hot oven." Mom told me that when she asked Grammy-O how long to bake them, Grammy replied "Until they're done!" Now these sugar cookies are soft and delicious. And they are loaded with 5 whole cups (sometimes more) of flour. We used to tag team the stirring. We'd add one cup at a time and take turns stirring into it was all mixed and we had a beautiful soft dough. Then the next day Mom would roll out the dough with Grammy's rolling pin and we'd cut the cookies from it with the little yellow cookie cutter that seemed to get beat up more and more each year. We'd bake the cookies in a "hot oven" until they were "done" and then the fun began. Mom would make icing and we'd sprinkle the cookies with colored sugar crystals or those little multi-colored candy balls. That's Christmas to me - working needlessly hard on something that will be consumed in a matter of minutes. But we really have some fun memories. So when I made "Christmas food" this year, I spread it out over several days. It was really a lovely way to spend the first part of my Christmas season.
Remember to behave well, dear friends. Santa still has time to put you on his naughty list! Blessings and peace.