An Excuse Not to Bake for the Holidays

Off and on for most of my life I have cranked out batch after batch of Christmas cookies for holiday feasting or gifts. My last years in Oklahoma City I made eight or ten trays with four to six kinds of cookies, a quick bread, and some homemade candies garnished with holiday commercial candies & wrapped in cellophane. I loved making them and they were well received as gifts. Since I have lived in Massachusetts I have not made a single batch of Christmas cookies. Mainly it's because I don't have enough people to gift to make it worth while to make many different kinds, and it's not as much fun to make just one or two kinds. Maybe next year I will make some and take them around to my neighbors. It was never cheap or easy to make them but I liked doing it. Some years I did them by myself, other years my daughter Jennifer would help, or my nephew Kyle, or Shana's Aunt Rita.


When I was a girl we would make a lot of cookies, and for the holidays we would make several favorites and a couple of experimental varieties. There was often an Irish Tea Cake, and always some kind of sweet bread for a quick and festive Christmas morning breakfast. It's a tradition worth keeping.

For my excuse this year maybe I will blame it on Martha Stewart, who does everything so well that there is no need for mere mortals to even try.  I do see that she has loads of help, so my pathetic lack of staff will be an additional excuse.