What's your special recipe?

I made my mother's famous Christmas cookies yesterday. I started at 10am and finished by 6pm. It's nothing but a simple sugar cookie recipe that my mother used and the icing is confectioners sugar mixed with butter, vanilla and creme. I used bright, pretty colors for the icing and with the sparkles added....well they turned out beautiful. I made pretty trays full of each design, made a few smaller plates for friends and saved just a few for our family. I started this tradition 21 years ago. I don't know why I decided making Christmas cookies should be part of our season, but when our family grew to include our children...I quickly learned this was important. I have made this recipe for our children's school parties....everyone of them. I learned that our children were proud to take these to share with their friends. I realize there isn't a need to to send cookies to school parties anymore, but the making of these cookies is still important to my family. When our teenagers arrived home from school yesterday, I saw them stop to view the dining room table that was completely covered with cookies, sprinkles, sparkles and icing. The kitchen was a complete wreck. There was stuff even on the floor, but no matter how bad the mess, it does not steal my joy from this tradition. In fact, it is just part of the fun. I never want to be a Martha, like Jesus talks about in the Bible, I want to be like Mary, who is more concerned with relationships than her kitchen being in order. I will share these bites of sweetness with our friends and family. If asked, I will tell of the sweetness in this recipe. I will stop and treasure the memories along the way. A recipe that I can remember by heart because I have made it from the heart. The most important ingredient.