Our Christmas cookie tradition

Every Christmas we make cookies using these tin cookie cutters my mom got in the late 50s or so. We decorate the cookies with colored sugar, chocolate chips, nonpareils, and chocolate ants (as we call them). My mom uses an old recipe she got from a friend, and, interestingly enough, the cookies come out so durable that you can poke a little hole in the top, string them with thread, and then hang them on the tree for weeks, and they're still good to eat after (seriously). It's kind of a shortbread recipe, I think. But it works. Until the dog knocks the tree down to get the cookies.

My mom used to oversee the venture (adventure), but now I oversee it (though mom finds it hard not to meddle). We have 5 or so basic shapes (Christmas tree, gingerbread man, star, Santa, bell), but only one set. So this year I went on eBay and found the original set (times three), and a bunch more shapes we never had, like angels, bunnies (okay, not quite Christmas-y), diamonds, reindeer and camels. So now we have a set for all the siblings and their kids.

My 23 year old nephew of course had to make a mutant.



And let's not even discuss his anatomically correct Easter Bunny.