Mary Christmas

Mom's Favourite Holiday

Mom worked hard to instil a sense of wonder in her children and grandchildren — and Christmas was a big opportunity for her to do so.

Mom began shopping for Christmas as early as the summer sales; we didn’t have a lot of money and she knew managing it meant careful planning — and good hiding places. The woman must have been a friggin’ squirrel in a previous life because she knew how to hide the valuables from her litter of curious children who always went digging around for them.

The smell of Christmas was a real tree and sugar cookies being baked…while Nana Mouskouri Christmas songs played in the background. Decorating must have been mom’s second-favourite part of the season, especially prized was her Christmas village of tiny little houses carefully placed on fluffy white batting with little twinkle lights. Some of the decorations were even handmade, like my knitted stocking — or the patchwork stockings mom made for her grandchildren.

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On Christmas Eve we would watch cartoons like Frosty the Snowman and the old stop-motion movies Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys. Bedtime was early, of course.

We had an unusual tradition: we opened our gifts just past midnight because, according to my mother, it was officially Christmas Day. She would have someone dress up as Santa for the little ones and she would wake us up in time to sneakily watch Santa put the presents under the tree. Watching the amazement of the little ones, so lucky to have caught a glimpse of Santa…that was definitely mom’s favourite part of Christmas. After Santa left, we’d all descend into the living room to open our presents, get a sugar high from the chocolate, and fruitlessly try to find the batteries underneath the sea of torn wrapping paper.

Surprisingly, we did not normally sleep in on Christmas morning, not until we were teenagers anyway. Christmas Day was for finding the batteries, figuring out the “some assembly required” and playing the new board games. The main event was Christmas dinner: roast turkey, dressing, gravy and vegetables…and sugar cookies.

Sugar Cookies Recipe

Cookies:

1/2 Cup  Butter

1 Cup Sugar

1 egg

1Tbsp whipping cream

1/2 Tsp Vanilla

1/2 Tsp Salt

1 Tsp Baking Powder

2 Cups Flour

Method:

1. Mix butter and sugar together.
2. ‍Then add egg, cream, vanilla, salt + baking powder.
3. ‍Gradually add flour until dough is not too sticky.
4. Using flour and rolling pin, roll out the dough and use your favourite cookie cutters.
5. Place on a baking tray and bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes.
6. Once cooled, top with icing.

Icing:

Blend icing sugar (and cocoa powder, if you prefer chocolate) and butter together until somewhat clumped.

Add a little vanilla, then milk (or whipping cream) until the icing is a good consistency.