Christmas Cookies

Who doesn't love Christmas Cookies??

This year I get an honor that makes me both happy and sad.  I am helping Granny make the time-honored super-special super-delicious world-famous Xmas eve Christmas cookies.  It's sad because she has been having some pain issues and doesn't feel that she can do it alone.  It's happy because it has been a super secret recipe my entire life, and NOW for the FIRST TIME, it is being passed down.  I don't know if this means that next year the responsibility will be all my own, but I will take on the shared or solo cooking with gratefulness.
There is also a tradition involved in these cookies that goes like this:

NOBODY gets to eat a Christmas Cookie until AFTER dinner on Christmas eve

But other than these cookies, I will also be baking several others.  In all reality, I don't have much of a sweet tooth.  I will probably only eat a couple of each cookie over the holidays.  But I love presenting them, and I love giving them as gifts.

Here is my list:

Swedish christmas cookies
Candy cane cookies
Ritz thin mints
Buckeyes
Chocolate covered orange balls
Saltine toffee
Candied citrus peel

These are my maybes:

Fruit jellies (I've never made them before, but this is my kind of candy!)
Peppermint marshmallows (I've never made homemade marshmallows, but they are all over this year)
Lemon ginger mint cookies (very good, but not very Christmassy)

I know I will have to cut a few of these out, but it's so hard to choose!!

What are you favorites to make?


Peace.  Love.  Serene