Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Christmas in here...all the hustle and bustle should be over now and we should be ready to relax and celebrate with our loved ones. I am hoping that you are with the ones you love this holiday season...and if they are far away this year, hold the memories of them close in your heart.

Wishing you Peace on Earth now and for the New Year.

Even though my girls are not here this Christmas they are still carrying on our family tradition of baking lots of Christmas cookies. Their mother, who is a excellent cook has taught them well.

I think they inherited a little of my artistic ability. Grammy thinks their cookies are beautiful.


Five Red Velvet Cakes. three Aunt Penni Pound Cakes and hundred of cookies later all the "sweets" are ready to be delivered to family and friends.

Bags of "White Christmas" line the buffet ready to go home with friends who stop by to visit.

Wishing You and Yours a wonderful Christmas filled with magic and love....May your Days be Merry and Bright...

Lemon Cheese Yule Logs

Christmas is a time for wonderful memories. It is a time for love and hope. A time for family and a time for baking cookies. Christmas cookie making is a traditon in our family. I did it with my mother, my daughter and my grandchildren. We started long before Christmas and spent many happy hours in the kitchen making those delicious morsels to share with our friends. We tried many different kinds and always baked old favorites, but Lemon Cheese Yule Logs were my children's favorite and the only one that was good enough to serve to Santa on Christmas Eve.It was the one that always had the place of honor at many a Christmas Tea Party. It was Dollies favorite , too. She would share those cookies with the little girl who loved her. The one who loved her so much she kept her for fifty-five years. Then she shared them with the dolls of daughters and granddaughters.

Lemon Cheese Yule Logs graced many a table at festive parties at home. They went to school for Christmas parties and filled many Christmas tins and cookie trays.

The sound of laughter would always fill the kitchen at cookie baking time. Friends would come over and share in the fun. The smell of dozens and dozens of cookies baking filled the house with a wonderful aroma that could not be matched. Copper cookie cutters made wonderful shapes to be iced and decorated with silver balls and sprinkles galore.

Cookie baking is fun anytime you do it, but it is special at Christmas. During the year you will bake a batch of cookies, but at Christmas cookies overflow the buffet, the countertops and the diningroom table. Loved ones and friends come together to share in the fun. They are there for the joy of baking, but most of all to create memories that will last a life time. They are there for a tradition that will be pasted from one generation to they next. They are there for the enticing smell of cookies in the oven and the taste of that first warm cookie as it comes from the stove. Most of all they are there for the love they share with the other bakers and the love of cookies.

We now share Santa's Favorite Cookie and our favorite Christmas Cookie with you...please take this recipe and start a tradition with your children. Add it to your list....I hope it becomes your favorite cookie. too.

Santa's Favorite Cookie - Lemon Cheese Yule Logs

1 cup sugar

1 cup butter, softened

1 3 ounce Cream Cheese, softened

1 egg yolk

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup finely chopped pecans

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind

1 6 ounce package semisweet chocolate morsels

Decorator Candies

Combine sugar, butter: and cream cheese: cream until light and fluffy. Add egg yolk, beating well. Stir in flour, pecans, salt, and lemon rind. Mix well. Cover and chill at least 2 hours. Shape dough by tablespoons into w-inch logs by rolling between palms of hands. Place cookies on ungreased baking sheets, and bake at 325 degrees for 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely on wire racks.

Melt chocolate morsels in a small saucepan over low heat or in a small bowl in the microwave. Dip one end of each log in melted chocolate, and sprinkle with decorator candiesl Let stand on wire racks until chocolate sets. Store between layers or waxed paperin an air-tight container. Cookies may be frozen. Makes about 7 dozen.