KALEIDOSCOPE

As Christmas approaches, I find myself remembering Christmas traditions of old and of special experiences of past Christmas seasons.  One of the first holiday tasks began the Friday after Thanksgiving.  This was the day that my grandmother began the task of baking numerous kinds of Christmas cookies; one year, I remember, she made almost 30 different kinds.  Anyway, the first batch of cookies to be made were pepparkakor (Swedish ginger cookies) because, as she said, they had the longest shelf life.  These were followed by rolled sugar cookies, spritz, caramel spritz, oatmeal date sandwich cookies, Christmas cherries, marzipan squares, dreams, melting moments, and other recipes that would be new for the year.

When the bus dropped me off from school, if it was a cookie baking day, my grandfather would be waiting to pick me up.  Then, it was off to his house where I got to make my own cookies out of the scrap dough.  See, my grandmother would only work with a portion of the dough so many times and then it would get put into a bowl and refridgerated until I got there to form my own cookies.  As the cookies came out, slightly over done cookies, broken cookies, and the edges of bar cookies would become tasting scraps, but the “good” cookies would be carefully packed into the “correct” jars and tins and placed in the pantry.

Gram loved entertaining during the holidays and her guests would always enjoy a wide variety of cookies on the cookie tray.   If I was lucky, I was the one who would arrange the cookie tray, and I would be allowed to take one or two of my favorite cookies.  I have tried to adopt this yearly tradition that my grandmother had, but I begin with wonderful plans that rarely are completed due to the complexities of life.

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