Dances, Thank you for the cookie recipe! I no longer have the stamina to mix a big batch of cookies together and then bake them all, but this is doable. Mix, put in fridge for when I want them, bake as many as I want at a time (I even used the toaster oven for a few), and they taste great! SharonG/FL

Well, when moms all had to go back to work in the 80's recession days, if they weren't working already, then stores started being open on Sundays because with everyone working, there was not as much time to do shopping errands during the week. I tried to institute the tradition of Sunday dinner with grandpa at least even once a month with SO's son and grandson and got a polite, "No Thanks." There is a certain civility in learning to get along and be considerate with all kinds of folks, and for kids to have to suck it up and entertain themselves, and taking a chill pill on Sundays. I still do, to most extent. And I hate shopping any day of the weeks, so I certainly don't want to do it as holiday entertainment. Although I have shopped over Thanksgiving weekend to some limited extent, and enjoyed it. But it was more along the lines of, "Let's walk around town, window shop and maybe pick up a bite to eat" or something like that, not an event in and of itself. Most downtown areas are vacant and abandoned, the excitement of "going downtown" or even going to the mall has been replaced by a tortuous drive from strip mall to strip mall in most places. My landlady made Christmas cookies with her grandkids on "Black Friday" and there's no doubt that everyone had way more fun. If most of your economy is based on consumption of goods, then we shouldn't be surprised that it is hallowed and celebrated by our culture. But honestly, most of the folks I know don't get that into shopping, I think it is way overblown by the media to encourage us to do more of it. Who wants to report that the Jones just went to the mall to see Santa and the train display, stopped off to get takeout pizza for dinner on the way home, and rented a movie and stayed in and ate popcorn. Or write articles about it or blah, blah blah about it. Not terribly different from when I was a kid, except that then we went "downtown" and I really miss that. IT was the place back then to see and be seen by all your friends and neighbors. Now I am just a nameless, faceless sheep milling around with all the others at the strip mall off the highway. My downtown has few stores even open, and few restaurants can stay open as well. I live in the rust belt, so to paraphrase Bruce Spingsteen "Those good ol' days are gone, and they aint never comin' back, to my hometown.."

The week before Christmas my father, God bless him, used to take one night after work to make Spritz cookies with us kids. It was always green Christmas Trees and pink Flowers. They went into foil lined tins that my grandmother saved from the very old days of fruit cake or purchased "fancy cookie" giving. I have the blue container that looks like Wedgwood. In 1965 part of our Christmas present was my parents getting tickets for us to go see THE SOUND OF MUSIC over an hour away in the next state. It snowed that entire day but my "never day die" father didn't falter and we were some of the only people on the road that night. My mother brought the cookie tins and passed out those green and pink Spritz cookies to all of us through the movie. Precious memory...

I've also made dough ahead of time and refrigerated it for a couple of days without problems, and I've frozen dough for months and still had good results when baking, I often portion out a batch of dough, freeze on a sheet pan and store in a ziplock bag, I can take out a dozen when I want and bake them and just like that, fresh cookies! If you want something different, I make these and I don't know anyone else who does, and they are a lovely pink color for Christmas, although the green maraschino cherries would work too, I'm sure. Instead of making balls and flattening them, I just roll the dough into logs, wrap in plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator, slice off cookies as I need/want them. I also just toss it into the food processor until I get a dough, usually it's kind of crumbly and I have to knead it a little to get it to come together. White Chocolate Cherry Shortbread 1/2 cup maraschino cherries, drained and finely chopped 2 ½ cups all purpose flour ½ cup sugar 1 cup cold butter 12 ounces white chocolate squares with cocoa butter, finely chopped (I just used Ghiradelli white chips) ½ teaspoon almond extract 2 drops red food coloring (optional) 2 teaspoons shortening White nonpareils and/or red edible glitter (optional ) Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spread cherries on paper towels to drain well. In a large bowl, combine flour and sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in drained cherries and 4 ounces (2/3 cup) of the chopped chocolate. Stir in almond extract and, if desired, food coloring. Knead until smooth and form into a ball (dough will be crumbly at first, but will come together as you work the dough with your hands). Shape dough into 3/4-inch balls. Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Using the bottom of a drinking glass dipped in sugar, flatten balls to 1-1/2-inch rounds. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until centers are set. Cool for 1 minute. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool. In a small saucepan, combine remaining 8 ounces white chocolate and the shortening. Cook and stir over low heat until melted. Dip half of each cookie into chocolate, allowing excess to drip off. If desired, roll dipped edge in nonpareils and/or edible glitter. Place cookies on parchment or waxed paper until chocolate is set. Have fun, it sounds like a great time to me! (Edited to clean up all those weird spaces and formatting, ugh) Annie