My Mom‘s brothers and sisters get together for a potluck every Christmas Eve complete with Christmas carols and my aunt Lola‘s famous Christmas cookies. I haven’t been able to attend for a few years but this year, I scrounged up enough money to rent a van so that I could go while in my motorized wheelchair.
Because I was seated in my motorized chair, my Mom and my brother put together my plate from the buffet. Once my brother brought my plate over, my Mom cut up my food (because chewing is an issue for me these days) and placed it in a ceramic bowl so I could eat holding the bowl. After a while of speaking with some of my aunts, uncles, some of my cousins and their spouses, my speech began to slur a bit and I got tired.
My Mom asked me what kind of pie I wanted. She told me that apple was an option and I said that I wanted that. My Mom did not make the apple pie this year but I knew that my aunt’s apple pie was just about the same thing. I later learned that my cousin, Cathy, made the pie but it tasted just as good!
As I spoke with my aunt Carmen, my Mom came over and asked me if I wanted cookies. OF COURSE I did!!! My favorite cookie that she makes that has always been my favorite cookie is Spritz cookies in the shape of a Christmas tree. I eat the Christmas tree row by row until it is all gone.
I liked that I was a part of the Christmas caroling and our family’s traditional rendition of the 12 days of Christmas but my absolute favorite is the cookies! My aunt always sends a container of cookies for our immediate family’s Christmas Day celebration.
I am not even the least bit ashamed to say that my breakfast on Christmas morning was book ended with a few Spritz trees before I ate and after I finished. It was Christmas! It’s totally okay to have sugar cookies as the first thing you eat!
I had some with my breakfast and with my lunch as well. As I eat this deliciousness, I think it’s because I am wearing my Ginger Spice chapstick that I have been thinking a lot about my Abuela.
That picture has got to be from Christmas (Note: my Abuela’s pin) and I had to have been three years old. My aunt Rita must have hosted because we were sitting in her house. I don’t even feel bad that there will still be enough cookies for my meals tomorrow and I am going to eat some more because I have waited all year long for this!