Hello everyone! Two more Fridays till Christmas, woohoo! Time flies when you are a senior citizen way faster than it does when you are a kiddo.
Christmas at our house has always been amazing. My mom made sure we had lots of gifts and my sister Pam, and I were spoiled rotten. My granny, Nevada Virginia Morgan, always told us what we got. One year mom and dad were gone, and granny was watching us, and we were going through our gifts trying to figure out what they were. Mom wouldn’t let us, but there were no rules with granny. Anyway, I turned one of the boxes over and it went “whaaaa.” It was a crying baby doll. Pam had the same box, so we knew she got one too. Fun times with granny. She was so much fun. Lots of wonderful memories with her. On Christmas Eve, everyone gathered at my mom’s house, and we had a big old Christmas with all the kids and my mom cooked delicious food and we played dirty Santa, talked loudly and laughed a lot. There were so many of us. Now, we have to have it in my brother’s church basement fellowship hall. I love all the excitement of the little ones as they open their gifts and their eyes light up. It is just precious. Everyone brings a box of Little Debbie cakes, and we play games. Whoever wins, gets the Little Debbie’s for the prize. I hate to admit it, but my sister and her girls usually win the haul of Debbie cakes.
Now this part of the story is about Thanksgiving. Years ago, I worked at the boy’s camp as a cook. It was called the Power House back then and was a drug rehabilitation for teenage boys. Lisa Favela and I cooked, and the boys always cleaned up. The boys started out calling me the “big cheese,” then they shortened it to “cheesey.” We loved them kids. One Thanksgiving we had to make dressing and all the trimmings for them, and we had never made dressing because our moms had always made it. We knew what went in it, but didn’t really know how much. We had it all mixed up and we didn’t know how much sage to put in. Let’s just say that we put so much sage in that dressing that it was as green as the grass outside. I mean, green, green. We got made fun of sooo bad and when Chuck Hopkins found out, he never let us live it down. It was always this “remember the year you and Lisa made dressing, and it was green?!” Yes, I will never forget, because you keep reminding me. Chuck Hopkins actually thought I was a wonderful cook because he said his mom could not cook. He always said everything she cooked was in one pot and everything was cooked as high as the burner would go. I don’t know about all that, but she did make these little snowball or wedding cookies that I just love. They are easy as pie, but they taste so good to me. So, in memory of my mother-in-law, I am giving y’all the recipe. Make these and think about green dressing.
WEDDING COOKIES
1 cup butter (real) softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Powdered sugar for rolling the cookies
Cream together the butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy and stir in vanilla. Whisk together the flour and salt and gradually add to the butter mixture. It will be thick. Stir in the chopped nuts. Chill the dough. If it seems too soft. Form dough into 1 1/4 inch balls and place on a cookie sheet. I always line mine with parchment paper. Bake in preheated 400-degree oven for 10-12 minutes. They will be a light brown. My oven is hotter, so I would check them after 8 minutes. You don’t want them to burn. Cool slightly and roll them in the powdered sugar until evenly coated. Cool cookies and enjoy. For something different, you could put almond extract instead of vanilla. Have a great week and be safe out and about shopping.
