Pies = Thanksgiving & Cookies = Christmas

When I was a kid, my family spent Thanksgiving with our friends, the Mells. They lived in Massachusetts and we spent the entire weekend at their house. We ate, drank, watched football and had a great time. My mother was in charge of bringing the pies, and boy did she bring pies! They are a big part of Thanksgiving for me now too, although I only make a couple, unless we have company. The other tradition I've taken from my childhood is making fried dough Thanksgiving morning. My mother never made it at home, so it was a big treat to eat it at the Mell's house. You wouldn't believe how much Bob ate this year!

Christmas, however is a time for cookies. My mother made lots of great cookies, including "snowballs", which were my father's favorite, made from his mother's recipe. I haven't made them yet -- my mother still sends them to me. I might this year if I find time. So far I've made a few batches of Tollhouse cookies, including a new type this year made with chocolate mint swirled chips. Not bad!

But my all-time favorite cookies are wreath cookies. They are made with corn flakes, marshmallows, butter, vanilla and food coloring. Wicked easy, but very sticky! My mother thought these cookies were ugly and refused to make them, so I had to make them myself. I still use the recipe card that I wrote out when I was like maybe 12 years old. (It's funny to see my "kid" handwriting.)

Here's the batch I made tonight:

The last type of cookie I will need to make this week (before I go fly 9 out of the 10 days before Christmas day) is Italian cookies. When I Cranky and I were first married, his Grammy (who died last month) gave me this recipe. My kids love making these. They are a twisted cookie that we decorate with green and red icing. They will have a special significance this year...