My favorite Christmas cookie recipe is this one for Candy Cane Crisps. I love them soooo much that I can keep candy canes around long after Christmas just to make them!

1 cup butter, softened

about 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 tsp salt

about 3/4 cup coarsely crushed candy canes

Preheat oven to 325.

Beat butter and 1 cup of powdered sugar until creamy; beat in vanilla. In another bowl, stir together flour, oats & salt; gradually add to butter mixture, blending thoroughly. Add 1/4 cup of crushed candy canes and mix until well combined.

Roll dough into 3/4-inch balls, then roll in remaining powdered sugar to coat. Place balls about 2 inches apart on greased and flour-dusted cookie sheets. Flatten cookies with a fork making a criss-cross pattern with the tines. Sprinkle each cookie with about 1/2 tsp of crushed candy canes.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Let cool on baking sheets for 2-3 minutes, then transfer to racks and let cool completely. Store airtight. Makes about 4 doz.

(From Sunset Cookies: Step by Step Techniques, 1985)

Growing up, my mom's tradition was to bake Sugar Plum cookies every Christmas. Even if she never made anything else, she made those cookies - and it got to the point that she would make them because we children insisted on having them. They were a pretty simple shortbread cookie rolled around a raisin and dipped in powdered sugar icing. We considered them absolutely essential to Christmas! The funny thing is that after I got married and was celebrating my first Christmas with my husband, I knew I just had to make these cookies - I envisioned them as being an essential part of my family Christmas tradition. So I made them. And, well, they weren't actually very good! Maybe now that I can get butter-flavored shortening, I could make them taste better, but I haven't made them in over 15 years. I may pull out the recipe if I can find it and try to tweak it this year and see what my kids think.

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16