How I love imperfect Christmas cookies! You know the ones! They’re thick on one end and thin on the other. They’re the angels with the brown and white cow sprinkles or the purple maple leaves. After twenty years of child raising I think I’ve seen every imperfect cookie imaginable. It all started out when I was a young lady, just a kid really. My mom and grandma were Christmas bakers extraordinaire! We seemed to have a new model every day of December; in fact our Norwegian heritage practically required it! The cookies were so good and looked so nice! I’d enjoy them while watching all those Christmas specials on tv and dream about my perfectly decorated house, with my color coordinated Christmas tree, my holiday ambient music and of course loads of Noel specialities, the king of which being the decorated Christmas cookie. I got married to the man of my dreams and our first Christmas was spent together in the married couples dormitory at Bible school. Wanting enjoy every day of our vacation, I’d decided to make ahead my Christmas cookies in the dorm kitchen. I wasn’t much of a cook back then so my Christmas cookies were less than Better Homes and Gardens perfect. My man didn’t mind. He’s known as the family cookie monster now, but back then I was amazed at the relish with which he devoured those first cookies that I made. My perfectionism took a blow that day, when I showed him that first plate of Christmas goodies. It was so far from perfect. Little did I know the true importance of imperfect Christmas cookies. A couple years later, I was sharing my Christmas baking skills with a blond cherub who looked like she was straight from a holiday card. I laugh when I remember that first baking day in our tiny suburban Paris apartment. It was a calm day compared to a few years later when my cherubs had multiplied and I was juggling three or four at once who wanted to roll, cut out and sprinkle all at once. Running from the dining room table to the oven, watching small hands, making sure the dough was being cut out and not eaten raw, I burned a few of those treats. No matter how imperfect those cookies were, that man of mine would sneak in and steal one while the kids were rolling and cutting (and arguing too from time to time). Everyone would stand back and appreciate their cookie craftsmanship with a glass of milk on those wonderful December afternoons. The floury faces and chubby hands would warm my heart. What was it about those oh so imperfect Christmas cookies that were so very delicious? When the teens got to cookie making, the overall esthetic quality of the average Hill family Christmas cookie greatly improved. The kitchen was quite a mess after those baking sprees, but nothing that a whistle and a shout from mom couldn’t remedy. On those afternoons, we were lucky if we had a cameo appearance from the high school aged boys who’d throw on a handful of green and red sprinkles, swipe a cookie and run off to basketball or homework. Those magical cookies were just as good as last year... or were they better? One child loved those angels with bright red sprinkles. Another said the brown stars were the best. Dad would just smile and eat another one, basking in the bustle and holiday hum. I would just wonder, what was it about those Christmas cookies? Even when we’d give them as gifts or bring them to a Christmas party, they bring smiles to all faces. This year, I’ve been too busy to do any yet. Lydia took over for me today and asked me for the recipe. I found our usual one and she started to make some with the two youngest. Today while listening absently to their cookie conversations, I realized what that magical ingredients were. No matter what the cookie looked like, or what decorations adorned it, the two most important ingredients remained the same. Those ingredients are TIME and LOVE. It takes a little time to make those cookies. Actually you need to consecrate pretty much a whole afternoon to do it. That time consecration is important. Your priorities are the things that take the most of your time. This special time was set aside to make those Christmas treats. Time to mix and bake but also to talk.That cookie time is more that food prep. It says to the people you bake with and for that they are important enough to have that TIME spent on them and them only. The fact of spending that time on those cookies just for THEM equals LOVE. While baking a lot of listening gets done. Undivided attention is given to family members during this holiday ritual. The bakers come away with that “good all over” feeling. They been listened to and communicated with. They’ve also sown into that baking time so the cycle of giving and receiving is complete. Love has been given and received. And that love reproduces itself later on when those imperfectly made cookies are given and eaten. Those imperfect Christmas cookies may never make the front page of any culinary magazines, but when they are made and eaten, something wonderful happens every time.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 21:32:38 +0000
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