VISIONS OF MOTHERHOOD

When I was growing up, there would come a day each December when my mom and her sister would begin to bake. I would walk in from school on a gray, cold afternoon to find them working together, talking and laughing in the warm kitchen, surrounded by flour and waxed paper and mixing bowls and rolling pins. And I would know that the holidays had begun.

It was a ritual that would last for days, and sometimes I would help, as they filled cookie tins with pizzelles, biscotti, pumpkin swirls, sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, anise cookies and lemon squares. The tins, tightly shut, were stacked high on the dining room buffet, relatively offlimits to us kids until Christmas night when their treasured contents would be grandly presented on tiered trays and pedestal dishes. Like many homemakers of their generation, Mom and Aunt Lee were content to rely on companies such as Keebler and Nabisco for most of their baked treats the rest of the year, but never at Christmas. Christmas was all about scratch baking.

So, I suppose it was not surprising that, when I became a mom, baking holiday cookies somehow became a part of what I wanted to do, part of my vision—as I once joked with a coworker— of motherhood. A full-time career and a long commute didn’t lend themselves well to the ritual, but still we found the time and my son was game for the task, climbing up on the chair to use the cookie cutters and swirl his elbows in flour. Over the years, we’ve turned out a few dozen holiday cookies each December and also crafted some family customs of our own, such as my husband’s ‘festive holiday pinecone’ cheese spread. A neighborhood hit, it has become a tradition that we make and share with our friends on Christmas Eve.

In this issue, a few of our favorite scratch bakers (page 36) and home cooks (pages 15, 50) share their perspectives and recipes. Along with those treats, we offer up a cup of hot chocolate (page 64), a day’s outing to a local Christmas tree farm (page 55), the chance to give thanks with a neighbor in need (page 18) and much more. And on this page, I’m pleased to present my husband’s coveted recipe for that pinecone spread.

I’ve always thought there’s something special about the winter months here in the Northeast. Yes, it has a lot to do with the holidays and their traditions, and the way that a good snowfall— like scratch baking or carefully placing roasted almonds into cheese—can force you to stop and stay in the moment for a while. But perhaps it has even more to do with the simple, beautiful privilege of being in a warm kitchen on a cold winter’s day with the people you love.

Best wishes for a wonderful winter season.
Nancy Brannigan Painter
Editor and Publisher