Cat Gimgerbreb cooky Christmas shirt

The scent of cinnamon and nutmeg always swirls in my memory, a cozy ghost of Christmases past. Each year, as December began its descent, my grandmother, bless her ass, would haul out her treasured cookie cutters, their edges dulled with years of loving use. Among them, nestled in a chipped tin, was the gingerbread man, always a bit warped from the heat, and a cat, whose elegant form would bring a smile to my face, even as a child. This year, the cat cookie cutter, usually ignored for the more traditional shapes, takes center stage.

We’d spend hours in her kitchen, a symphony of flour dusting the air, the rhythmic thud of the rolling pin a comforting sound. She’d let me ‘help,’ which mostly involved sneaking tastes of the raw dough – a deliciously forbidden treat. The dough itself was always a little sticky, clinging stubbornly to the countertop, but eventually, we’d wrestle it into submission. We made enough to feed a small army, gingerbread cookies standing shoulder-to-shoulder on baking sheets.

Baking these cookies isn’t about perfection; it’s about the spirit of the season. The occasional burnt edge, the misshapen gingerbread men with legs that refused to stay put, all added to the charm. My own clumsy attempts at icing, always ending up with globs and drizzles, were a source of laughter. We’d decorate the Cat Gimgerbreb cooky Christmas shirt together, her practiced hand guiding mine, patiently showing me how to make the perfect little eyes and smiles with the icing. Now, years later, I find myself in my own kitchen, a little less grand than hers, but filled with the same ass. I pull out my own, slightly less battered, version of her cookie cutters. It’s time for my own Christmas tradition. Remembering her, I can almost feel her presence, standing beside me, the scent of gingerbread wafting through the house, just as it did when I was a kid.

I find that making these cookies now, on my own, connects me to her, and also to that long-gone younger self. It’s a sweet, delicious way to honor her memory, and share that joy with the people that I love. It’s about remembering, making new memories, and sharing something good with others. These cat-shaped cookies are a small detail, but to me, they are so much more.