Christmas Cookies

I will confess that in recent years baking Christmas Cookies has been low on my "to do" list during the holidays. I definitely do not need the calories and figure my children are no worse for the wear with all the other holiday fare to partake. Don't start feeling too sorry for them though ... I make Seasoned Oyster Crackers which are like crack on Ranch Dressing. Once you start eating these little "innocents" you need to get into a 12 step program to get off. They are addicting. And I make Peppermint Bark which I dread the thought of how many miles I would have to run to work off those sweet little delights. But this year the powers that be at the Commissary here decided to no longer carry my favored brand of Oyster Crackers and well, the Sunshine brand of Krispy Oyster Crackers they do carry, it's just not the same. Even our daughter Wrenn said "I don't like those other Oyster Crackers." So I decided to reevaluate this year. Cookies seemed more in the realm of "doable" and the Commissary still has unsalted butter! So cookies it is. But where are all those cookies going? Not on my ever-expanding hips. Victims? I have two English Conversation classes on Mondays and one on Tuesdays. The traditional Japanese ovens are notoriously small, not big enough for one cookie sheet much less two and so I decided to suck it up and make Christmas Cookies for my students with my sou-chef Wrenn right by my side. All the boys (adult and adolescent) were at other commitments this afternoon, and so I took advantage of some "quiet time" and Wrenn and I cranked out 8 dozen cookies. I do not recall the last time I baked so many cookies – and I can't get them out the door fast enough, my waist line is expanding just looking at them.

It was fun and it reminded me of crazier but somehow calmer times. When the kids were younger, more enthusiastic over the holiday season. Now it's a tough crowd ... this weekend I tried to get the clan to watch "Polar Express" one of my favorites but was met with much resistance. "We've seen that like 100 times." I'm thinking your point is? I saw "Rudolph" and "Frosty" and "The Grinch" like 100 times. It's Christmas, that's what you're supposed to do. Instead I cave and say: "O.K. fine, you pick the movie." How about "It's a Wonderful Life?" I hear. Really? Now I think that I have seen 100 times. At least.

I'll keep plugging. Each day is a part of a tradition – old and new. Traditions to share and traditions to hoard. This year I am grateful that our daughter decided it's not too uncool to help with the cookies ... and there's nothing quite like the smell of sugar cookies in the oven to get you in the holiday spirit and be well, inspired.