By Kaili McDonnough, Staff Reporter"The spirit of Cookie Day always warms my heart as it reminds me that above all what matters most is love."
IN THE Gambrill household, Christmas is a stellar event. The spirit of Christmas can be felt throughout the rooms, say family members, who point to adorning the tree with keepsake ornaments, composing heartfelt cards, creatively wrapping presents and the excitement of Cookie Day as evidence of their Christmas celebration.
SkyWritings (Air Jamaica's inflight magazine) Managing Editor Laura Gambrill recounts how her parents have made each Christmas special and unforgettable. She noted that they drove home the message to her and her older sister Ashley that Christmas was more than just a time for gift exchanges and that it is a time for the family to come together in the celebration of tradition, sacrifice and bountiful amounts of love.
As with many Jamaican households, the countdown to Christmas means putting in extra effort with household chores. Gambrill joked that as children, she and her sister were not always excited about that aspect of the holidays. Riding their bikes and climbing trees with their neighbours was much more fun than helping to get the house in order.
LITTLE CRAZY
Preparing for Christmas was always such a production, she recalled, noting that with a mother who is a former actress, the behind-the-scenes Christmas preparations had the tendency to become a 'little crazy'. It's a theatrical production that still goes on 'Cookie Day' the day on the entire family gathers at the house to make sugary Christmas cookies.
Gambrill admits that 'as youngsters Ashley and I were too young to appreciate the foundation that Mummy was trying to lay down'. The sarcastically painful Cookie Day story that she recalls is 'being 16 and having to stay home on a Friday night during the holidays to prepare extra cookie dough for Cookie Day while all of my friends went out partying. At 16 my priorities were very different'.
In her head she can still hear the familiar voice of her mother saying, 'One day you will
understand'. Now in her mid-20s, she reflects on her family tradition in an appreciative light. Getting slightly choked up she says, "I cannot imagine a Christmas without Mummy's crazy rituals. Mummy has always made Christmas so extraordinary, not only for our immediate family but also to our extended family and close friends who have joined us to make Christmas so memorable."
COOKIE DAY
On Cookie Day Linda (mother) Gambrill provides the ingredients for the cookies and she also uses the day as an excuse to have a pre-Christmas lunch. The tasks are endless planning of the menu, grocery shopping, cleaning, cooking, serving and, last but not least, the entertainment. Gambrill noted that any gathering at her parents' home always comes packed with show-stopping entertainment.
"Mum is unaware of her off-key tempo, but the mood is so warm and delightful that you barely even have a chance to notice that she has missed a beat.
"Cookie Day is such a feel-good and wholesome event as it is the one sure time during the year that the family gathers together. The younger children playfully cut out cookies, the parents all get a chance to chat and catch up on each other's lives."
This year, Mrs. Gambrill is
taking a siesta from Cookie Day and is passing the responsibilities to Laura and Ashley who will host Cookie Day at Ashley's home. In honour of Christmas and her mother's tradition, Laura proudly shares her mother's famous cookie recipe which is a modified version of a recipe that she tore out of a Home and Garden Magazine more than 25 years ago.
Sugar Cookies
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 tsps. vanilla
3 cups flour
2 tsps. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
METHOD
In a large bowl mix together butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla.
In a separate bowl sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Stir dry ingredients into creamed mixture and mix thoroughly.
Chill dough for at least 1 hour or overnight.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough out very thinly on a floured countertop. Bake on lightly greased cookie sheet for 6 to 8 minutes depending on the softness of crispness desired.
Makes about 10 dozen small cookies.
Icing
1/4 lb. softened or melted butter
2 lbs sifted confectioners sugar
2-3 tbsps. vanilla
Milk (just enough to make the mixture pasty)
5 drops food colouring
METHOD
In a bowl mix together confectioners sugar, vanilla and a little milk to make a smooth consistency. Mixture should be fairly stiff.
Scoop small portions of icing into separate bowls, depending on the number of colours of food colouring that you will be using.
Add a few drops of food colouring to each mixture and stir. Use a butter knife and spread the icing on the cookies that are cool.
Add sprinkles for decoration.
