Baking cookies at Christmas time

I really don't remember baking cookies with my mother, but I must have because somewhere along the line I learned how to do it. I vaguely remember her using her cookie press to make decorative cookies, but I was never permitted to help with that job. Maybe I just ate the raw cookie dough, which is not something I enjoy in my elderly years. No, not even chocolate chip cookie dough.

I remember her making candy-cane cookies out of sugar cookie dough. She would cut the batch in half and pour a few drops of red food coloring in part of the batch. The other remained plain. Then she would scoop out a small ball of the red, and a small ball of the plain. Then she would roll them out into a long, rope-like piece of dough, Then she would twist the two colors together, cut them to about 8 inches, curve the top to look like a candy cane, and then bake them. I loved those cookes, yet cookies that weren't candy canes, but made from the same dough had no appeal to me. I wonder why that was, and still is?


I was baking cookies with my grandson, David, today. Well, I made the dough (simple sugar cookie dough), rolled it out, and then let him cut out tree-shaped cookies and then sprinkle them with red, green, and multi-colored sprinkles. I couldn't find my silver balls and mini-choco-chips to put on the trees, so we just went with simple sprinkles. It was enough for him to enjoy and since I won't be eating the sugar cookies, and he and his siblings will, it's okay.

I guess my mom didn't do much cookie making because the church women were so generous in sharing their makings with our family.

I was watching something on TV last night, the family was enjoying cookies and milk, and it brought to mind another item that I loved about Grandma Aspling's dinners -- her ruby-glass drinking glasses. Milk looked so wonderful in those glasses, and because it looked so neat, the milk even tasted better than in the old pimento-chesse glasses we had at home. When I grew up, and was able, I bought a dozen of those red glasses. And, my children loved drinking milk out of them as well.

Times change, though. The ruby glasses are gone, replaced with the biggest clear glasses I could find -- saves on getting up and getting refills. My husband likes to carry around a half-liter plastic mug filled with icewater. Personally, I don't like to drink anything out of plastic. But, Alan carries that mug every where he goes, even if he knows there will be water available at the destination. And, nine times out of ten it spills in the car and gets ME wet. It never seems to pour over to his side of the car.

Once again, I got away from the theme of the remembrance -- cookies. Just as well. I don't need to eat cookies!