It's not much warmer here in MA, John. We're getting slammed hard on both sides of the coast. Over the weekend, we must've gotten 2-2 1/2 feet of snow, with more on the way after Xmas.
Among Mr. Ed's fact checks: That deregulation did not contribute to the global meltdown, that Bush is a responsible steward of the environment, that he's not unilateral and that he didn't take his eye off the war on terror by invading Iraq (multilaterally, of course).
You thought Bush and Cheney were delusional. They ain't got nuthin' on Gillespie.
KyCole
· 11 months ago
My Mom has the very same cookie cutters. As I type I have sugar cookies baking. I'm going to take some un-iced ones to my Mom's today so the niece and nephew can decorate them tonight. My kids loved to do that when they were young. We discontinued the practice when all of my son's gingerbread men began to look like porn stars. Now that they're grown, they have a renewed interest in the tradition.
KarenMrsLloydRichards
· 11 months ago
Haiku for the Obama Administration (#21):
The gays got Rick-Rolled He'll never give Warren up-- They clicked on a punk
Older_Wiser
· 11 months ago
I remember those kind of cookies at xmas from years ago...hard, oversweet with white frosting, although the decorations were awesome.
I made some sugar cookies for my son's boss who requested them...but made them soft, cut them into stars, and sprinkled with red sugar. Now, those are really edible!
But, congrats, your cookies do look great! Very creative.
KarenMrsLloydRichards
· 11 months ago
Haiku for the Obama Administration (#22):
Paparazzi pics-- Pecs on display for hausfraus, All of them aswoon
Ferry Fey
· 11 months ago
I grew up with those cookie cutters too, still have them. The only time I hung cookies on the tree was for a few years in high school, when I made anatomically correct gingerbread people for my friends.
Indigo
· 11 months ago
49º in Orlando, Florida makes this about as cold as it gets here.
Same cookie-cutters, same tradition here as well. I think it was a 50s thing, Ozzie and Harriet style. We didn't hang them in the tree, though. We balanced them on the boughs for display and easy snagging to eat on Christmas day afternoon. Candy canes also went on the tree along with strings of popcorn. First onto the tree was the lights. Then the ornaments. Then the tinsel. Then the popcorn strings, the candy canes and last of all, the cookies!
Festive!
jurassicpork
· 11 months ago
Btw, Merry Xmas, from Pope Karloff. The Pope actually said recently that defending heterosexuality is at least as important as saving the rain forests. He called it "the ecology of man."
Gee, I never thought that being gay would result in global warming and punching holes in the ozone layer.
Wh0Cares
· 11 months ago
Those are pretty cookies, John!
GK
· 11 months ago
Many years ago, I lived in Vienna, Austria. One Christmas, we decorated our tree with large gingerbread cookies that were elaborately decorated. There were stars, Xmas trees, santas, even the three wise men. They were sold at a konditorei on the Graben in the First District and had holes through which you could thread ribbon. We also had candles on our tree instead of lights. It was the most beautiful Xmas tree ever.
triple7s
· 11 months ago
Hey, the BIG FAT cookie in the yellow pants, looks a lot like the Rev Rick.
chowderSF
· 11 months ago
Fun....I see some talented artisans there, John. However, just looking at them is giving my a cavity....in a good way. And clean up looks like it might take as long as the decorating!
MattFromChitown
· 11 months ago
I'm really sorry about the cold, John. And I'm even sorrier Daley's not getting the streets cleaned. Perhaps this is his Bilandic-esque moment.
dad
· 11 months ago
angry blue one looks like rush
dad
· 11 months ago
what the fuck?
dad
· 11 months ago
better?
dad
· 11 months ago
make the pants red and he'll look like the electoral map
JJ
· 11 months ago
Beautiful job. This post brings back so many great memories. Here in Michigan we used to hang cookies on the tree with my grandmother. I remember one morning waking up to find our dog had eaten all the cookies off the tree as far up as he could reach his mouth! Even funnier, he left all the ribbons used to hang the cookies on the tree in a little pile on the floor.
Been hearing your name a lot lately on the Rachel Maddow show, John.
John Aravosis
· 11 months ago
Oh we came home once, when I was a kid, to find the tree laying sideways on the ground and the dogs eating everything LOL And yeah, Rachel has been giving us great props lately, maybe she'll invite me on some day... ;-)
sisterfaith
· 11 months ago
Thanks for sharing this John. I have a set of those cookie cutters too! When I see them at yard sales.....I buy them. I tie them among the ribbons on Christmas presents!
grandma
· 11 months ago
Good morning...
From Sullivan:
John Aravosis has noted that the Saddleback website posting that “someone unwilling to repent for their homosexual lifestyle would not be accepted as a member at Saddleback” has been removed. I have to say that this did not strike me as in any way notable, especially since the note also insisted that gays were always welcome to attend services. And one wonders how that makes Warren different from any Catholic bishop let alone the Pope. My own church teaches that I am barred from full communion because of my civil marriage to another man, although it does not bar me from attending mass.
And Benedict has gone out of his way to issue what can only be called calculated affronts to the dignity of homosexual persons. Yesterday's statement that humankind needs "saving" from homosexuality, the way the rainforests need saving from being raped and pillaged is his latest provocation. His first-in-history attempt to ban even celibate gay seminarians is easily the most draconian and hateful anti-gay policy of any church, stigmatizing them even if they agree to obey every stricture the church places on them. His own complicity in covering up the abuse of children and evil protection of Father Maciel make his attacks on the dignity of homosexuals all the more repulsive.
And yet those of us born into this Communion and in love with the Jesus of the Gospels have to find a way to live in this place with our fellow Catholics in charity. At least Warren appears open to dialogue, rather than recoiling in fear and loathing. In that he is somewhat more Christian than this Pope.
Annnnnd...what does that have to do with the price of tea in China? - since the issue at hand has absolutely nothing to do with "international homophobic clergy at large," but with who American President-Elect Barack Obama chooses to place in a position of honor, before the American people, during his American inauguration.
Presumably, if the Pope had been chosen to blather instead of Warren, there would be just as much reason (if not more so), for those who are presently protesting, to protest.
So, what's the point; we should be lucky Obama selected Warren and not the Pope?
How does that even make any rational sense?
That's like saying, that because Hitler's acts were greater and worse than Mussolini's (assuming that's true), that Mussolini should therefore get a "free pass," and that criticizing Mussolini's facism is "misplaced" and "uncalled for" without also referencing Hitlers.
John Aravosis
· 11 months ago
Not to get all Rick Warren in the Christmas cookie post, but.... what's notable is what I mentioned in my post. The fact that he pulled the post shows that we got under his skin, that he was embarrassed by his own teachings. As for his positions, yes, they mirror the Catholics in many ways. But I have yet to see a Web site for a Catholic church that specifically says on the site that gays may not become members. That was pretty ballsy for Warren, and showed, I think, that he's a bit more radical than most.
cosanostradamus
· 11 months ago
. We're freezing our ASSES off here in Hawaii! The temperature dropped below 80* today! FAHRENHEIT!!! I KNOW!!!
Barack had to stay in his mansion all morning, until the temp hit the 80's again. We feel so bad this had to happen when he was here.
We were going to take Barry Christmas shopping, but the Secret Service beat the crap out of us for going on his private beach. We f*cked up, dude. Now we'll have to go shopping alone at 7-11. We hope this helps you with your shopping, back in Frostland. Mua-ha-ha-ha! .
Laura_in_CC
· 11 months ago
I thought ALL of the beaches in Hawai'i were public???
cosanostradamus
· 11 months ago
. Not the President's beach, Ma'am. Move along.
Beaches here are, theoretically, public. But access is another matter. Les riches close off even official public right-of-ways to keep us commoners out of their sight and off "their" sand. Some of their piggy little private engineering projects have resulted in a total loss of sand to everyone: Beach all gone. Yet the State lets it go on. It's a source of great friction between "haoles" and "Locals."
Obama should have known better. At least Clinton stayed on an Air Force beach, here. Barry's in a private multi-million-dollar mansion, right next to the Marine Base. I might try to drop by there tomorrow, to snap some fotos. See if I can get shot. .
Richard
· 11 months ago
Speaking for many reading these comments today, totally in the spirit of the holidays -- and in light of the fact that A: it's 18 in Detroit right now and B: I actually live in Detroit -- let me just say most of us hate you!
Happy Holidays. Stay warm cosanostradamus!
cosanostradamus
· 11 months ago
. There are flights here every day from most parts of the country. Tourism is at its' lowest since the Great Depression. Rates should be negotiable. Of course, it is the rainy season.
Just out of curiousity, why in the name of Gawd does anyone live in Detroit? I used to live in New Jersey, but I reformed. And at least we had an ocean there.
If it makes you icicles feel any better, we transplanted Mainlanders in Hawaii sometimes experience a nanosecond of nostalgia when we see snow on TV. And then we remember driving, trudging, slipping and freezing in it, and change the channel. And then we're here again. There's snow on top of Mauna Kea right now, if we need a fix.
We don't.
Merry Chrismukkawanzamadan & A Happy Lunar & Solar New Year!
Or, as we say in the Aloha State, Mele Kalikimaka me ka Hau'oli Makahiki Hou!
[Pick up a Pahinui Brothers CD for a taste of the Old Hawaii, the one your {great?} grandparents fantasized about, listening to "Hawaii Calls" on a great big radio, and feeling a little warmer away from the howling snow for a little while. Or maybe your {grand?} dad remembers passing through here on a troop ship or a destroyer back in the Big One. We really are Americans, still, folks. Even if we do raise kids named "Barack."] .
David Bricka
· 11 months ago
Great pics John! Please post a photo of them on the tree!
I love hearing stories from my partner Michael of his cookie baking experiences with his mom and dad. Very focused and detailed. We went to a friends this year and made cookies...(She did Christmas and we made fun dreidels and stars of david). We got a beautiful blue....I did a lot of the piping and actually wrote some hebrew letters on the dreidels.
As a kid, my mom did not spend lots of time in the ktichen, in fact the big joke now is that my older sister had to go else where to bake Christmas cookies! Her strengths were elsewhere.
A Very Merry Christmas to you and yours. Thank you John for your dedication and hard work. Americablog is my favorite blog and I always save it for last!
AngelaChanning
· 11 months ago
OMG, I cannot look at another cookie right now because I have eaten so many! LOL. What is funny is that my sister owns a bakery that has been in our family since 1927 and she uses the same cookie cutters that you have on ebay. A lot of the old timers in the neighborhood marvel that she uses the same shapes that were around 50 years ago. A lot of folks in Baltimore hang cookies on the Christmas tree. I remember my father telling me about it when he was a child, but it was something they did because they did not have enough glass ornaments. In those days, they ate the cookies off the tree, usually within a day, so the tree looked empty anyway. LOL. What also is funny is that a lot of my sister's customers buy her cookies, transfer out of the packaging and pass them off as their own home baked cookies. (They freely admit this to her. ) Fortunately, from a business angle, she has sold just as many cookies as last year, despite the downturn in business overall. Thanks for the great post. Stay warm and now I think I have changed my mind and will get another cookie. Thanks for listening.
Laura_in_CC
· 11 months ago
We had these cutters, too. (Mom still has them.) Our family tradition, though, stemmed from an article my mother saw in the L.A. Times in December of 1952, the directions and patterns for making a gingerbread house, complete with Santa, reindeer, etc. From that Christmas on, we all got together and "built" the gingerbread house, placed it (in all of its "glory") on the dining table as a centerpiece where it remained (mostly untouched) until we broke it up (traditionally, with a karate chop to the roof) on New Year's Day. Of course, by then it was pretty stale, but as children we didn't care one bit!
When my 4 granddaughters were here over Thanksgiving (they live about 300 miles away) we drug out the directions and pattern (a photocopy of the original Times article) and built this year's edition for them to take home with them. Ah, tradition ...!
Katherine
· 11 months ago
It is traditional in Denmark to put cookies on the tree, dance around it on Christmas Eve, and sing a song tat mentions "eating the tree". I spent a wonderful Christmas there once, and suspect many Northern European countries have good pagan traditions like this.
DKarma
· 11 months ago
Awesome! We have those exact cutters too! Talk about a hit of nostalgia.
John
· 11 months ago
I used those cookie cutters last night. They were my mothers and among a dozen or so other cutters she had. I use the star to cut out the middle of the jumbo linzer cookies I make. My mother would do a weekend marathon before christmas and bake and bake and bake. I don't think the oven was turned off for 48 hours. She would pull out old family recipes from Germany ahad an assembly line going. She could pop out perfect shapes every time. My kids are old enough now to help and they get into the whole process. We've got 14 dozen under our belt and have the gingerbread dough ready to go for tonight.
Richard
· 11 months ago
Wow. Maybe it's a Chicago thing. I grew up there and my mother has that exact same set of cookie cutters. We have hung cookies from the tree a few times but it's never been a tradition I think because there's almost always been a dog around and they aren't so picky about picking out the metal hooks...which, by the way, are so soft that they'll usually be easily digested. Just give the dog some white bread. This was advice given by the vet the last time we hung cookies from the tree. The dog was fine.
mousegirl
· 11 months ago
I have those same cookie cutters! Heck, judging by the number of people who have those same cookie cutters perhaps those were the only kind they made way back when...My mom handed them down to me when I had my daughter.
tlsintx
· 11 months ago
fun!
SouthernYankee
· 11 months ago
Wow you all looked like you had some fun. My granddaughter who will be 3 on christmas day helped me in the baking area. Her thing was cracking the eggs. That is about the attention span she has until its time to lick the bowl, like all kids and even some parents. Merry Christmas to all.
FreakOfNurture
· 11 months ago
Can't say this ever became a tradition in Florida. I just got a flashback to the ants that attacked the candycanes on the tree one year.
nainam
· 11 months ago
For more than 40 years, we have launched Christmas "cookie parties." The first was when my oldest was 4 years old. I baked the cookies in advance, spread newspapers all over the dining room floor and table, and provided about 8 small children with every kind of squirt-on frosting, sprinkles, etc.
There was one rule for the mothers sitting in the living room sipping coffee or wine: "DO NOT HELP!!" Needless to say, most of the frosting ended up on the kids but they had a great time. At the end, one 6-year-old girl ran into the living room and hugged her mother saying "Thank you, thank you for not helping!!"
Over the years, the cookie party has become both an annual tradition and truly an art form. However, since I use an especially yummy butter cookie recipe, none of them make it to the tree.
Tomorrow I'm spending Christmas Eve with children and grandchildren, the cookies are baked and I have tons of decorations. "DON'T HELP" still applies.....
Ann
· 11 months ago
Merry Christmas, John. Love the cookies and Petey the Wonderdog.
jixter
· 11 months ago
What's a "wodnerdog"? A new breed?
teatime
· 11 months ago
We have those exact same cookie cutters! We also have some in less orthodox shapes like dinosaurs and cactuses...
Jonathan_Justice
· 11 months ago
Cookie making is a wonderful holiday tradition, especially if you do the tree Christmas Eve. What got me however is the way the blue DePauw tee shirt folded just so as to read DePaui, as if to rhyme with Maui. That would have sold a bunch of tee shirts back when I was in Greencastle in the early 70's! I wonder whether the inadequately protected Dan Quayle would have bought one.
james k. sayre
· 11 months ago
Hanging decorated sugar cookies on the Christmas tree? My mother did that back in the 1950s when we kids would happily then select one (1) cookie each day, starting on Christmas.
Folks have probably been hanging sugar cookies on Christmas trees for hundreds of years. The custom probably started in Germany or Sweden, for the English didn't really get into Christmas trees until late, in the 19th century, I believe when the Queen started with her large Christmas tree. Before then, in England, Dhristmas trees were a pagan tradition, frowned upon by the proper English. The Queen has some German blood, so she was amendable to ideas and customs from Germany.
Elizabeth in Portland
· 11 months ago
A childhood tradition here, too. Though not this year - we made kiflis at Thanksgiving instead. Check out my photos at http://last-best-year.blogspot.com/2007/11/chri... and you'll see that we use the same cutters, only ours are copper-colored. We have an old set of plastic ones that are really detailed, too, but sometimes the donkey's ears fall off. Happy holidays!
Annapolitan
· 11 months ago
Years ago we decided to decorate our tree with handmade ornaments only to give it an old-fashioned look. So I got the family started on cutting out, baking and decorating cookie cutter shapes.
The only difference from your tradition, John, was that we made salt dough ornaments, because we wanted to use them for more than one year.
The year we made them, the family dog ate a couple of the ornaments and, because she had consumed all that salt, spent the rest of the night drinking all the water in her dish, and then the water out of every toilet in the house.
And then she peed all over the house multiple times before we awoke.
We spent hours looking for and cleaning up dog pee. It wasn't so funny then but we reminisce and laugh about it today.
Ah, Christmas memories!
Blazorge
· 11 months ago
We used to have cookie cutters exactly like those when I was a kid. I don't know what ever happened to them. I haven't seen them in years and had totally forgotten about them but I used to love them. Thanks for posting the pictures. Great memories. Merry Christmas! -B
Donna in Rome
· 11 months ago
I had loads of old aluminum cookie cutters, mostly from the 50s and 60s (like the ones in the photo): I had gotten them from my mom and a great aunt, and a few I had bought myself (in the 70s). Well, in October they ended up getting ruined when our garage and part of our house got flooded. At first I was really upset, then I went on eBay and found a mixed collection of over 30 just like mine, with a few extras to boot. I snatched them up and they arrived a few weeks ago, well in time for my Christmas cookie baking this week. :-)
The best thing about eBay is the possibility to replace things you've lost or broken (like plates from over 30 years ago).
shell
· 11 months ago
We had those same cookie cutters when I was a kid. And yes, it was the early 60s. They must have been popular. It is one of those things you never realize aren't around anymore.
John Aravosis
· 11 months ago
Ah but they are... they're all over ebay, and cheap :-)
Polly_Tics
· 11 months ago
John, just as I thought, the hanging of cookies on Christmas trees began back in Germany and has had a rich and colorful history.
======================================================= ...In Germany, someone solved the problem by cutting down an evergreen tree, probably a spruce or pine, and tying apples onto it. As well, the tree was hung with round white wafers to remind the audience that even though Adam and Eve were expelled from Paradise, the birth of the baby Jesus Christ would bring redemption....
As the years passed the trees were loaded with many more things to eat in addition to apples. Gilded nuts and gingerbread cookies were hidden in the tree while marzipan candies, shaped like fruits and vegetables, were hung from the boughs. Brightly decorated eggshells, cut in half and filled with tiny candies, were set in the tree like birdnests. So many sweets were hung from the tree that some people called it "the sugar tree". On the Twelfth Night of Christmas, January 6, when it was believed that the Magi arrived in Bethlehem bearing gifts, the tree was shaken and the children finally were allowed to eat the sweets that fell from the tree.
The wafers once hung on the Paradise tree were replaced with cookies in the form of hearts, bells, angels and stars. With time, perhaps because so many decorations were eaten before the tree was taken down, the cookies were replaced with decorations made out of thin, painted metal.... =====================================================
My pleasure! But I thought that one of the most interesting points in the article was this:
"Ever since, red and green, the colours of apples hanging on a pine tree, have been the official colours of the festive season."
Who knew? .
Robin Gilbert
· 11 months ago
Hey, John. My family has made cookies to hang on the tree ever since I can remember and those cookie cutters look just like what we used (and I have some saved). Do you think we had the same mother??!!
All Comments
Anyway, you've gotta read former RNC chair Ed Gillespie's latest Koolaid gargling about Bush's legacy.
Among Mr. Ed's fact checks: That deregulation did not contribute to the global meltdown, that Bush is a responsible steward of the environment, that he's not unilateral and that he didn't take his eye off the war on terror by invading Iraq (multilaterally, of course).
You thought Bush and Cheney were delusional. They ain't got nuthin' on Gillespie.
The gays got Rick-Rolled
He'll never give Warren up--
They clicked on a punk
I made some sugar cookies for my son's boss who requested them...but made them soft, cut them into stars, and sprinkled with red sugar. Now, those are really edible!
But, congrats, your cookies do look great! Very creative.
Paparazzi pics--
Pecs on display for hausfraus,
All of them aswoon
Same cookie-cutters, same tradition here as well. I think it was a 50s thing, Ozzie and Harriet style. We didn't hang them in the tree, though. We balanced them on the boughs for display and easy snagging to eat on Christmas day afternoon. Candy canes also went on the tree along with strings of popcorn. First onto the tree was the lights. Then the ornaments. Then the tinsel. Then the popcorn strings, the candy canes and last of all, the cookies!
Festive!
Gee, I never thought that being gay would result in global warming and punching holes in the ozone layer.
Been hearing your name a lot lately on the Rachel Maddow show, John.
From Sullivan:
John Aravosis has noted that the Saddleback website posting that “someone unwilling to repent for their homosexual lifestyle would not be accepted as a member at Saddleback” has been removed. I have to say that this did not strike me as in any way notable, especially since the note also insisted that gays were always welcome to attend services. And one wonders how that makes Warren different from any Catholic bishop let alone the Pope. My own church teaches that I am barred from full communion because of my civil marriage to another man, although it does not bar me from attending mass.
And Benedict has gone out of his way to issue what can only be called calculated affronts to the dignity of homosexual persons. Yesterday's statement that humankind needs "saving" from homosexuality, the way the rainforests need saving from being raped and pillaged is his latest provocation. His first-in-history attempt to ban even celibate gay seminarians is easily the most draconian and hateful anti-gay policy of any church, stigmatizing them even if they agree to obey every stricture the church places on them. His own complicity in covering up the abuse of children and evil protection of Father Maciel make his attacks on the dignity of homosexuals all the more repulsive.
And yet those of us born into this Communion and in love with the Jesus of the Gospels have to find a way to live in this place with our fellow Catholics in charity. At least Warren appears open to dialogue, rather than recoiling in fear and loathing. In that he is somewhat more Christian than this Pope.
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily...
Presumably, if the Pope had been chosen to blather instead of Warren, there would be just as much reason (if not more so), for those who are presently protesting, to protest.
So, what's the point; we should be lucky Obama selected Warren and not the Pope?
How does that even make any rational sense?
That's like saying, that because Hitler's acts were greater and worse than Mussolini's (assuming that's true), that Mussolini should therefore get a "free pass," and that criticizing Mussolini's facism is "misplaced" and "uncalled for" without also referencing Hitlers.
We're freezing our ASSES off here in Hawaii! The temperature dropped below 80* today! FAHRENHEIT!!! I KNOW!!!
Barack had to stay in his mansion all morning, until the temp hit the 80's again. We feel so bad this had to happen when he was here.
We were going to take Barry Christmas shopping, but the Secret Service beat the crap out of us for going on his private beach. We f*cked up, dude. Now we'll have to go shopping alone at 7-11. We hope this helps you with your shopping, back in Frostland. Mua-ha-ha-ha!
.
Not the President's beach, Ma'am. Move along.
Beaches here are, theoretically, public. But access is another matter. Les riches close off even official public right-of-ways to keep us commoners out of their sight and off "their" sand. Some of their piggy little private engineering projects have resulted in a total loss of sand to everyone: Beach all gone. Yet the State lets it go on. It's a source of great friction between "haoles" and "Locals."
Obama should have known better. At least Clinton stayed on an Air Force beach, here. Barry's in a private multi-million-dollar mansion, right next to the Marine Base. I might try to drop by there tomorrow, to snap some fotos. See if I can get shot.
.
Happy Holidays. Stay warm cosanostradamus!
There are flights here every day from most parts of the country. Tourism is at its' lowest since the Great Depression. Rates should be negotiable. Of course, it is the rainy season.
Just out of curiousity, why in the name of Gawd does anyone live in Detroit? I used to live in New Jersey, but I reformed. And at least we had an ocean there.
If it makes you icicles feel any better, we transplanted Mainlanders in Hawaii sometimes experience a nanosecond of nostalgia when we see snow on TV. And then we remember driving, trudging, slipping and freezing in it, and change the channel. And then we're here again. There's snow on top of Mauna Kea right now, if we need a fix.
We don't.
Merry Chrismukkawanzamadan & A Happy Lunar & Solar New Year!
Or, as we say in the Aloha State, Mele Kalikimaka me ka Hau'oli Makahiki Hou!
[Pick up a Pahinui Brothers CD for a taste of the Old Hawaii, the one your {great?} grandparents fantasized about, listening to "Hawaii Calls" on a great big radio, and feeling a little warmer away from the howling snow for a little while. Or maybe your {grand?} dad remembers passing through here on a troop ship or a destroyer back in the Big One. We really are Americans, still, folks. Even if we do raise kids named "Barack."]
.
I love hearing stories from my partner Michael of his cookie baking experiences with his mom and dad. Very focused and detailed. We went to a friends this year and made cookies...(She did Christmas and we made fun dreidels and stars of david). We got a beautiful blue....I did a lot of the piping and actually wrote some hebrew letters on the dreidels.
As a kid, my mom did not spend lots of time in the ktichen, in fact the big joke now is that my older sister had to go else where to bake Christmas cookies! Her strengths were elsewhere.
A Very Merry Christmas to you and yours. Thank you John for your dedication and hard work. Americablog is my favorite blog and I always save it for last!
When my 4 granddaughters were here over Thanksgiving (they live about 300 miles away) we drug out the directions and pattern (a photocopy of the original Times article) and built this year's edition for them to take home with them. Ah, tradition ...!
We have those exact cutters too!
Talk about a hit of nostalgia.
My mother would do a weekend marathon before christmas and bake and bake and bake. I don't think the oven was turned off for 48 hours. She would pull out old family recipes from Germany ahad an assembly line going. She could pop out perfect shapes every time. My kids are old enough now to help and they get into the whole process. We've got 14 dozen under our belt and have the gingerbread dough ready to go for tonight.
I baked the cookies in advance, spread newspapers all over the dining room floor and table, and provided about 8 small children with every kind of squirt-on frosting, sprinkles, etc.
There was one rule for the mothers sitting in the living room sipping coffee or wine: "DO NOT HELP!!"
Needless to say, most of the frosting ended up on the kids but they had a great time. At the end, one 6-year-old girl ran into the living room and hugged her mother saying "Thank you, thank you for not helping!!"
Over the years, the cookie party has become both an annual tradition and truly an art form. However, since I use an especially yummy butter cookie recipe, none of them make it to the tree.
Tomorrow I'm spending Christmas Eve with children and grandchildren, the cookies are baked and I have tons of decorations. "DON'T HELP" still applies.....
Folks have probably been hanging sugar cookies on Christmas trees for hundreds of years. The custom probably started in Germany or Sweden, for the English didn't really get into Christmas trees until late, in the 19th century, I believe when the Queen started with her large Christmas tree. Before then, in England, Dhristmas trees were a pagan tradition, frowned upon by the proper English. The Queen has some German blood, so she was amendable to ideas and customs from Germany.
The only difference from your tradition, John, was that we made salt dough ornaments, because we wanted to use them for more than one year.
The year we made them, the family dog ate a couple of the ornaments and, because she had consumed all that salt, spent the rest of the night drinking all the water in her dish, and then the water out of every toilet in the house.
And then she peed all over the house multiple times before we awoke.
We spent hours looking for and cleaning up dog pee. It wasn't so funny then but we reminisce and laugh about it today.
Ah, Christmas memories!
The best thing about eBay is the possibility to replace things you've lost or broken (like plates from over 30 years ago).
http://www.christmastrees.on.ca/ednet/lesson2.html
Who knew?
.