Reminders

  The plan today is to cook some sugar cookies. Alright, bake the cookies. Actually, I will be making Spritz cookies. I'm no baker that much is for certain, but my grandmother Bennett was a trained pastry chef and an excellent baker. At Christmas she would bake Spritz and Peppakakor. As a kid I never asked too much about any of that I just ate them. Grandma was from Sweden and I just naturally assumed there were some Swedish cookies. Now that I'm seventy I have finally looked that up and know a bit more about what Spritz and Peppakakor are. Spritz is a German word meaning to squeeze. You make Spritz cookies using a cookie press. They are really just sugar cookies made to be used with that cookie press, instead of rolling them out and using a cookie cutter. Peppakakor spritz are made with molasses, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. They are also made with a press, that's the spritz part. Well, you are never too old to learn something new, the challenge is in remembering it. 

  We have the cookie press that belonged to my wife's grandmother. Her name was Elizabeth, but they called her Mo. Grandma Mo. My wife doesn't know the reason for that or how that came to be but that's what it was. Grandma Mo was long gone before I knew my wife and so I never got to meet her. But I knew her son, Uncle George. Uncle George was quite the character. After his passing we inherited a few things from his home. Among them are the cookie press and Grandma Mo's rolling pin. Both are still used, and Grandma Mo is thought of every time. My wife remembers her, and I just imagine what she would have been like based on the stories I'm told. So, in a way the two Grandmothers will be in my kitchen today, Christmas Eve 2023. Their memories remain. Oh, my grandmothers name was Cecilia, but we just called her Nana. 

  I'm feeling especially sentimental this year for some reason. Is it an omen of things to come in the new year? Could be if you believe in omens. Personally, I don't place much faith in omens or signs. Omens I believe are created in your own mind and signs; well, they could be written by anyone. They are also subject to change. I built a replica of the fireplace in my childhood home and have lighted a candle in it. The fire is burning reminding me of hearth and home from over fifty years ago. Back to a time when Santa Claus was real, and the Angels sang on high. It's Christmas eve and the presents are wrapped; all is ready for the big day. But there are no small children here today, no small children with their eyes all aglow. I'm remembering all those Christmases past. Mine, my children and my grandchildren. The excitement of the day is different now, more subdued. All is calm, all is bright. More like the eve of the first Christmas. Although I expect Joseph was a bit excited to find there was no room at the Inn. 

  I don't feel sad. Sentimental and sad are different emotions. Sentiment warms the soul and gives solace. Sadness just makes you feel bad. I expect that is a bit different for everyone. I'm one that finds the sadder the song the more I enjoy it. I love all those songs of heartbreak, desperation, toil and trouble. In short, the blues or honky tonk country. They make me happy. Sentiment makes me happy too. I will enjoy making the Spritz cookies and thinking about the Grandma's and the sentiment they must have felt while doing so. A common thread. That's what sentiment is. Life comes forever forward, traditions remain, stories told. Spritz cookies. Something I heard from my Swedish grandmother but is actually a German term. My paternal grandparents were Germans. So, in a way they are there too, although they had all passed before I was even born. The thread remains though. A reminder.