Making Christmas “Cookies”

While I’m not a “traditional” person in general, when it comes to holidays, I’m all about traditions. My family probably has the most traditions surrounding Christmas, and the one that generally falls on my shoulders is the baking of Christmas cookies. This year, I’m not going to be able to get home until LATE on the 23rd (like, midnight late), so the cookie baking will largely fall to my mom, with the exception of some I made over Thanksgiving (which I will talk about when it gets closer to the holiday), and oyster crackers, which I made today.

They’re not cookies, per se, but for as long as I can remember, they’ve been a part of our Christmas spread.

They’re so easy to make – just a box of oyster crackers, Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix (the powdered kind), dill, and garlic powder. Even the recipe is a sort of tradition (I’ll post a picture when I get a chance at home); it’s written on a square of paper, by my father (who knows why he was writing it), it’s not at all organized, and I think me or one of my brothers drew all over it. It always makes me smile to read it.

Making them this year was a little different – I had to borrow a roasting pan from my friend, I don’t have wax paper or a porch where I can spread them out to cool, and the Kroger brand crackers are larger than I’m used to.

They still taste the same, however, and just making them makes me feel a little better about not being with my family right now. And that is, to me, the essence of traditions – not necessarily recreating the same thing every year, but recapturing the same feeling of happiness year to year. And with these, I’ve accomplished at least some of that :)

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