A short time from now, the reality will hit us: Another Christmas will have already come and gone. Yes, I refer to Christmas rather than use the sterile phrase “holiday season.” Not that I’m insensitive to other religions, beliefs, or traditions. It’s just that for me, it’s always been Christmas. And let’s face it, that’s where the fat man in the red suit came from, the innocent beginning from which all of the grandiose commercialization of the season evolved.
I’m caught in a dilemma here. I abhor the appearance of the trees, lights, and displays before Halloween, but I also remember that when we owned Hoss’s Market, we were forced to put out our holiday retail items sooner than I’d like for harsh economic reasons. (We needed to sell all of the Christmas stuff we ordered in July!)
There’s even a local radio station that has been playing Christmas music 24/7 since just after Thanksgiving. How many renditions of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and “Santa Baby” does one really need?
Some might think that attitude makes me a Grinch, or worse, a cynic, but the fact is, I truly enjoy the Christmas season. It’s just that, as with other seasons of the year, there are definite beginnings and endings, and the beginning of the holiday season should be, in my opinion, mid-December.
I may be an anachronism, but I can recall that when I was a child, the official start of the season happened when A Charlie Brown Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and the magical Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer were brought to us by Hasbro, Mattel, and Norelco. (No, make that “Noelco.”) It was early enough to influence our gift purchasing decisions, but not so early as to confuse us.
Maybe the passage of too many years has muddled my memory, but that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. Excitement built through the ensuing days until the school administrators, in their infinite wisdom, realized that no further learning could occur, and Christmas break began.
That was when things started to get a little crazy. Threats of being on the naughty list became more frequent, and visions of sugarplums (whatever those are) began to dance in our heads.
Mom went into Christmas overdrive, and the motherly instinct to bake took over her common sense. We would test her patience as we tried to “help” as she prepared more strange varieties of baked goods than we’d ever seen, and in quantities great enough to carry us over to the next year. Among our favorite things to make were the cut-out cookies that we would decorate, and they’d look great … but never tasted good.
One of the simplest cookies, which was my Grandma Dwyer’s recipe, is still one of my favorites, and it instantly evokes memories of Christmas, her home, and the old cookie jar. So if you want to try a good old-fashioned cookie, try to remember a good old-fashioned phrase. In this time of jumbo flat screens, folding iPhones, artificial intelligence, and the like, there can be no better present than peace on earth and good will toward men (and women, too).
INGREDIENTS
- 41/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 tsp. ground ginger
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 11/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp. ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 11/2 cups butter (3 sticks), room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 3/4 cup coarse sugar
DIRECTIONS
- In a medium mixing bowl, stir together flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter with the 2 cups granulated sugar. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in eggs and molasses. Beat in the flour mixture until fully incorporated.
- Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll balls in the 3/4 cup of coarse sugar. Place about 2-1/2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
- Bake in a 350°F oven for 12 to 14 minutes or until cookies are light brown and puffed. Cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then move to wire rack to finish cooling.
