Christmas Sugar Cookies

My mother passed away in 2004 at the age of 56 after 5 years of battling breast cancer (see attached pic). Faced with an original prognosis that gave her months instead of years to live, she endured countless medical procedures and treatments and fought on with sheer will power. For her battles, she was rewarded with the greatest gift one can receive at Christmas or any holiday-time with friends and family.

Mom was a very good baker and our home was always filled with smells of baking sweets, treats, and breads around Thanksgiving and Christmas. My favorite, though, was a very simple Christmas sugar cookie that she made. After she baked them, my brother, sister and I were allowed to frost and decorate them to make them. Under the auspices of making realistic looking reindeer, snowmen, and Christmas trees, we’d try to layer on icing and colored sugary decorations as thick as possible, eating every 4th masterpiece along the way.

Thankfully, she passed along the recipe and my family still makes these each holiday. In her recipes and memories, mom continues to celebrate the holidays with us and each sweet taste brings back memories of how her hug could cure scrapes and bicycle accidents when I was a child.

Christmas Sugar Cookies

By Cherie Redington

3 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 scant tsp baking soda

¼ tsp nutmeg

Cut in 1 cup margarine as for pie crust. Blend in 1 cup of sugar. Beat 2 eggs, 3 tbl milk and 1 tsp vanilla. Add liquid to dry ingredients & mix. Take out small portions & knead in a small amount of flour & roll out on a floured surface. Cut into holiday shapes and bake at 400* on a cookie sheet greased with Crisco until only lightly browned. Frost & decorate as desired.