I can't imagine how many Christmas cookies I have made in my lifetime. I started making them when I was just a girl. My mom didn't like to fuss with cookies too much...so as soon as I could put on an apron...that was my job. I remember my mom, wearing a pinafore type apron and she had made me one similar to hers. There I stood at the counter rolling out Christmas cookies. She would mix the dough and then it was my job to roll and cut out. I learned early how to use a rolling pin. She made pies and could roll a perfect crust. She taught me not to handle the dough too much...or the cookies would be tough. She always let me have the leftover pie dough. I would roll it and sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on it...so we could bake it and have a treat. As I think back...that must have been the way she helped me learn to roll pastry.Practice makes perfect.....you know. She was meticulous in many ways, like trimming the tree. I told you in a recent post about how she told me, "If you can't do it right...don't do it." In those days sugar roll outs were the most popular at our house. Time consuming, but we always had time.
I remember one night, it was a Monday, when the Lux Radio Theater was on, and our kitchen was humming with Christmas baking. My cookies and Mom's pies. I always got to stay up and listen to this radio program. It was an hour show and featured adaptations of plays and movies sometimes....featuring well known stars. We used to eat cookies while they were baking and share a bottle of coke. Now, this was that very small bottle of coke. Mom would get the bottle and I got a little in a juice glass.I can remember it like it was yesterday. Our old kitchen was pink with turquoise accessories. Burgundy linoleum on the counter tops. A big kitchen with little counter space.I loved that old kitchen and loved the time spent with mom doing our holiday baking. The rest of the year...mom was in charge of the kitchen. She didn't have a lot of patience with me, so I didn't learn a lot about fixing meals etc...just the cookie baking (that she didn't like to do) The day I announced that I was getting married...she said, "You better learn to cook a meal." So, she taught me how to make a pot roast. I went into my marriage knowing how to make a pot roast, hamburgers, baked chicken breasts and not much else.We ate at my parent's and his parent's most weekends at first. I learned most from my mother in law. My mom used recipes, but my MIL used to wing it in the kitchen. Both were excellent cooks.
This brings me to today. I am going to bake some nut breads today. I like to have them on hand for people who stop by and for friends and neighbors. So, my Christmas celebration with family may be over, but Christmas lingers on in my kitchen.
Balisha
8 comments:
Sounds exactly like my mother and MIL--I learned to cook from my MIL mostly. The day I announced I was going to get married, my mother said, "You need to learn how to iron." and gave me some pillow cases to learn on. I didn't even know how to use a can opener when I married, but I did know how to make fried eggs and bacon, LOL.
Judy....it's surprising how we survived and lived to tell about it.
We were young and eager to learn. Just think of all the things we have learned in our lives.....and we are still learning. Where does our brain store it all?
Balisha
I can see you are really enjoying the Christmas season. I didn't cook much at home and my mom was a good cook. I do remember cooking a pie or two as a kid but that was it.
Cathy
Those little treats that you made with the pie dough ? We never did that but a local farm restaurant does, and sells them for practically a dollar each! :)
I am going to make sugar cookies on Saturday but not decorate them. I will have them on trays and icing and sprinkles ready and then the grand kids are going to make a big mess here :)
You've brought back memories of helping my mother, too, Balisha. She did teach me how to cook, however, out of necessity--she helped Dad on the farm during the busy season. So once I was old enough, I would often be in charge of having dinner ready for them when they came home from the fields. Years of 4-H also gave me lots of practice, too. Some days, I think I was a better cook then than now:)
Making Christmas cookies has become a tradition with my grandkids--the final results are often too icing-laden to eat, but we do have a good time!
Your post brought back lots of memories for me too! We had a tiny kitchen at our house so we had to take it in turns to help Mum. She was always incredibly patient. Jx
Oh, such sweet memories! I have been thinking of my Mom so much and in her honor I am baking a fruitcake-I bought all of the ingredients last week-she was the best!
Jemma
Your memories make wonderful stories, Balisha. I don't remember a time when I wasn't in the kitchen watching or helping my mom at home or my great aunt at her house. I was drawn to working in the kitchen from the time I could climb on a chair - to cook, push laundry through the ringer washer, or do dishes. I don't make cookies as fancy as yours, though:)
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