I can't believe it's that time of the
year again. I can't believe November has rolled around. I can't
believe the weeks are zooming by. And because of that, I
can't believe I have to start thinking about Christmas cookies.
It seems to me like I was just passing
out all of the cookies I made last holiday season. Of course, it
also seems to me like I was just graduating from college, but seeing
as how that was last century (whimper), it gives you a pretty good
idea of how I handle the passing of time. And since I've been so
busy recently, and have had so many things I'm trying to keep up
with, I figure I should probably get my butt in gear regarding this
year's batch of cookies.
After all, I don't want to be passing
them out next February or next March. I have a feeling they wouldn't
be appreciated quite the same as they would be in December.
As you may recall, Christmas cookies
are the big holiday tradition in the small Koski apartment. I always
make five or six kinds, which we then pass out to family, friends,
co-workers, and, in a tradition that's been going for over a decade
now, to several old neighbors. Seeing as how I end up making four or
five hundred cookies in total, and seeing as how I know there's no
way Loraine and I want to eat them all ourselves, they get handed out
for the holidays.
We might as well spread the caloric
catastrophe out amongst as many people as possible, right?
There are several major steps to the
whole production, the first of which is deciding what the “new”
cookie will be. Like most things that have to do with the holidays,
tradition abounds in my making of Christmas cookies. There are
several kinds I have to make year in and year out—the Grandma
cookie, the cherry one with the dark chocolate stuck on top, &
the Nutella cookie (which this year may be amped up with a Nutella
filling inside because, of course, you can never have too much
Nutella in a cookie). Now, I know those aren't the actual names of
the cookies; that's just how they're referred to on the assembly
line.
Along with those cookies, I always make
a cookie I've not made before. Last year, it was a lemon-rosemary
shortbread cookie that quickly became one of my favorites of all
time, and may have made the jump up to “make this every year”
status. So picking the “new” cookie is always a serious task,
and one that demands some thought. After all, not only does it have
to be something I've never made before, but it also has to balance
out the rest of the cookies. Am I making too many with chocolate?
Then maybe the “new” cookie should be something that's a little
spicy. Do I have too many cookies that are green and/or red? Then
maybe I should make a white cookie, or a yellow cookie, or even, I
dunno, a black cookie. These are all things that a normal person,
when deciding which cookies to make for the holidays, wouldn't even
think about. But me?
Well, who ever said I was normal,
right?
So I guess I should make that first
step and decide—quite soon—what this year's “new” cookie
should be. Then I can make up a shopping list, and hope I find some
time to throw them all together in time for delivery BY Christmas.
Otherwise, we'll have to call them New Year's Cookies. Or
Valentine's Day Cookies. Or St. Patrick’s Day Cookies. Or even
Arbor Day Cookies.
Wish me luck!
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