Every year at this time, without fail, a strange urge comes upon me. Some things are hard-wired and this appears to be one of them. An overwhelming desire to bake Christmas cookies.

This primeval urge goes back generations. In my mother’s time, when we celebrated extended family Christmases, my mother used to be the one to bring the cookies and a fine thing that was. Half a dozen different kinds, dozens and dozens of them, some from recipes that had come down from her mother’s time. A thing of beauty.

When the boys were little and Christmas was a great big deal, I used to bake too. But not for years, now, decades in fact. For years any cookies in sight came straight from the tin. Still, for some reason, fuelled no doubt by ingrained nostalgia, the desire wells up.

On the very rare years I have succumbed, the Christmas cookie thing only lasted about one batch before I abandoned it and head for the store-bought. The reality is, I’m not actually that into it, at least not enough to devote all those hours to the kitchen. But every December, guaranteed, I think about baking once again.

This year, I decided not to push away the urge and to go with it. Embrace it. Full tilt boogie. Both Boys are here for the holidays for the second year in a row (be still my heart) and lots of people will be coming by for Solstice parties and other gatherings, so I had an audience of sorts.

So I pulled out the very old card file with its yellowed, cookie dough stained pages in the handwriting of an ancestor, with faded ballpoint ink notes in the margins, the old brown mixing bowl that is over 50 years old and used to belong to my mother, put the music on and went to town. I had a blast.

This Christmas morning where an unusual snowy winter wonderland greets us (did I mention there is no “usual” anymore on this coastal B.C. town) I’m not sure how things could get any better. We have a full house with Two Brothers, Rosie the Dog and Dennis the Cat. Presents under the tree await and feasts lie ahead. All is well.

Wishing all my friends and family much happiness on this day and good health to all in the coming year.