Papassinos (Sardinian raisin and nut shortbread cookies), page 131

It is so the Christmas season. We've made a gingerbread house and actual cookies not from the frigerator section at the grocery store! That tells you right there that something special must be in the air. One of the Christmas cookies we made was papassinos from Cooking Wild in Missouri.

Really, as I think about it though, this story is about mammas, and specifically my mom.

Sara Hill with KOMU asked to film a story about the 'woods to food' project our family is doing. She wanted to film Fred and the boys hunting and then me cooking from the book. We set up Thursday to do this since the boys would be home from school. Anyway, because 1) I rarely seem to get done everything I picture getting done and 2) we're trying not to stress this season, Thursday morning came and I hadn't got the house straightened up too much.

My mom and dad were up to watch the kids for the day. And, while I went to work in the morning for a bit, Mom saw to it that things got tiddied up. Then, because the Sara Hill was coming at noon and the cookies I wanted to make needed to chill for four hours, Mom made the dough for me in the morning. Then, she trotted to the basement to help us catch up on laundary, helped my older son on his piano playing, and worked with the boys to clean their rooms - all before 11:00 a.m.

Then, when the film crew got here, she stepped outside with her dog, stepping away from the attention of the TV folks.

And, as it turns out, Sara and company filmed us making another recipe, but didn't stay long enough to film us baking the cookies anyway. They left to film Fred and the boys rabbit hunting and had enough footage by then that they didn't need to come back to see the finished product of what we were making.

Thanks, Mom, for supporting us on our project and our family! And, thanks to all the mommas this holiday season who are helping their adult daughters make "ends meet" with all the big and little things you do to keep our worlds turning in the right direction. Life is so much with better with you.

Cookies were good, by the way.

Merry Christmas, Mom, and to all a good night.