The Legacy of Baking

My husband and I have both lost our moms in the past 4 years. One thing both matriarchs loved to do was bake Christmas cookies. We gathered together every year with our small children to create yummy treats for the holidays.

It would have been easy to lay aside this tradition with their passing but we realized by continuing to bake {or muddle through the process and come out just wishing they were here to fix our messes} we are keeping their legacy alive and telling their story to our children.

So each year we gather together, pull out their tattered and floured recipe pages and try our best to pour as much love into their cookies as they once did. We devote a day {or two} with grandpas, aunts, uncles and children to carry on their tradition and remember their lives. We tell stories and drink wine {the adults, not the children of course}. We roll and slice and cut and decorate three kinds of delicious dough until we’re left with a pile of treats and hearts full of love.

Maybe you haven’t lost a loved one. Maybe you don’t yet need to bake in honor of someone dear. The legacy of baking starts long before family members are gone. The only way to carry on a tradition when we need to remember someone we love is to first start it while they are here with us.

The busyness of the holidays often robs us of tradition. Shopping lists, holiday parties and jam-packed schedules get in the way of slowing down to savor the season by gathering together to begin or continue family traditions.

Don’t wait and don’t give room for regret. Find time this season to gather and get lost in an afternoon of baking or cooking or decking the halls. We’ll be together again this year to make sugar cookies, struffoli, thumbelinas and peanut butter blossoms.

Our moms would be so proud.

Is baking a big holiday tradition for your family? What are your favorite recipes to make together?