As a kid, it was one of those times I actually wanted to help.

When I was growing up, my Mamaw Jo always put her Christmas tree up the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It was artificial, so she could do that. Of course, that excited me since I enjoyed decorating it.

I like hearing the song 12 Days of Christmas, which generates imagery of a lot of interesting people and animals. While it is considered a nonsensical sort of song, it’s been suggested that it’s actually a secretly coded song of Christian instruction.

As soon as it turns November, the craziness starts. I am bombarded with, “When are you going to make your cookies?” Or “Have you started on your cookies yet?”

I have even taken vacation days to make my Christmas cookies. Every year, I make hundreds of them by hand. Hundreds. No exaggeration.

So what is this wonderful cookie? It’s a Ritz cracker/peanut butter sandwich dipped in white chocolate.

My daughter Anne's favorite cookie is chocolate chip. There is no doubt about that. But Spritz Cookies run a close second. She seems to crave them around Christmas time. Every year I make a variety of candies to give as gifts during the holidays, but I must bake a batch of Sprtiz just for Anne. It is not Christmas unless she has her special cookies.

Twas just days before Christmas, the rain came in sheets. The folks in Sharps Chapel knew Santa’s arrival looked bleak.
Young ones and older came from miles around, to be in Sharps Chapel when Santa’s sleigh touched the ground.
Children at the Library, noses pressed to the glass, were getting kind of worried, would Santa have to pass?

The house in which I grew up had many eccentricities to which any old house is entitled. The oppressive summer heat would sometimes literally bake the sap of the decades old indoor tongue and groove pine walls in the downstairs rooms, even through the paint that covered their surfaces.

I have a problem with egg yolks and avoid them as much as possible. This eggnog is a good substitute for regular eggnog that is loaded with eggs. The flavor is a bit different, too. It is a sweet refreshing drink. Try it, please.

This recipe has been around for a long time. I remember back in the day when everyone had a favorite recipe for Snickerdoodles. It is an old timey stand-by cookie. I give cookies at Christmas time. This year I included Snickerdoodles. This is my favorite version. You are supposed to chill the dough for 1 hour before baking. I prefer to chill it overnight. Keep the balls of dough small, 3/4 to 1 inch in diameter. You might think that 2 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon is too much. It's not. You will use it all.

I have always been a person who not only celebrates, but also decorates lavishly for Christmas. As I have gotten older, I decorate sooner. I mean, why go to all that trouble to put up something that has to be taken down in a week or two? So Christmas decorations go up at our house almost as early as they do in the stores. Some time not long after Halloween. On the other hand, the tree usually goes up on Thanksgiving, usually during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. (It comes down during the Rose Parade on New Year’s Day.)

The average human body is comprised of around 37.2 trillion cells.That’s a bunch. There are blood cells, skin cells, bone cells, cells that line your stomach and intestines, cells that make up your brain and cells that comprise all of your organs and other tissues. Everything about you is built from cells. You are a walking, talking, breathing pile of cells of all kinds. And, they’re all yours.

No–they’re not.