How is it possible that we’re just a week away from Christmas? I mean yeah, my family and I have the tree up, the holiday playlists are programmed on the iPod (because what is Christmas without Hipsters' Holiday and A Charlie Brown Christmas?!), and much of the shopping is done.  But still, we’re not quite there with the holiday cheer. I thought about this today when reading a friend’s Facebook status update:

Quick, someone send me a Christmas card so I can stop feeling like such a loser. So far the only cards I've gotten have been from my gym and my lawyer. Never mind that I haven't sent any cards out myself, I still regard this lack of cards as a gross injustice. I'll put (my address) out there for all....that way those of you in the area who have extra Christmas cookies know where to bring them.

Ok, I’m not sending Christmas cards this year, but cookies... I should be making cookies!! Making (and eating) cookies was always such a big part of my family’s traditions when I was growing up. We’d listen to Joan Baez’s Christmas record or Handel’s Messiah and crank out the cookies in the kitchen. Some of them would go into decorated tins for gifts to grandparents, some would be left by our stockings with a note for Santa, and the rest would be eagerly consumed by my brother and me.

I would love for cookie-making with Mom to be one of my son’s fond childhood memories too, but sometimes it seems so hard to fit the Norman Rockwellesque traditions in between school, homework, swim lessons, my jobs, and all the 21st century distractions we deal with. I’m inspired though, and determined -- we’re going to bake some cookies this weekend, whether we want to or not.

So this morning, I put a call in to my mom. “Help! I need some of your old Christmas cookie recipes that are quick and/or easy!” My mother, being about a thousand times more organized than I am, has all her recipes entered into her recipe database, so she’s always my go-to resource in a recipe pinch. We quickly dismissed the boterkoek (a delicious Dutch favorite, but not Christmassy enough) and pepernoten (Mom’s making them this year) and settled on two other family favorites: Esther’s Jam Diagonals and Rum Balls.

Esther’s Jam Diagonals is a recipe we got 35 years ago from Esther Folts, a long-time family friend and the organist at the Methodist Church in Seneca Falls, N.Y., where I grew up. Esther lived halfway between my house and the elementary school. Her children had all grown up and moved away, so she was always happy to host me for an after school cookie-making event.

Esther's Jam Diagonals

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup raspberry jam
3/4 cup powdered sugar
4 teaspoons lemon juice

Cream butter, sugar, vanilla and salt until fluffy. Gradually stir in flour until blended. Divide dough in thirds. On lightly floured surface roll into 9 inch ropes. Place 3 inches apart on greased cookie sheet. With finger make a depression down the center of each rope. Fill with jam. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes until golden. Cool on cookie sheet. If desired, blend confectioners sugar and lemon juice and drizzle over. When set, cut diagonally into one-inch cookies.

Makes 24 cookies.

Having tasted many a rum/bourbon/brandy ball in my day, I have to say that while my family’s rum ball recipe is a variation on all the many similar recipes you can find out there, it’s pretty darned tasty. And it’s easy! Just be aware - you’re not baking the cookies, so the 1/4 cup of rum you’re pouring into the cookie dough is all still there - and potent - when you’re eating the cookies.

Webster Family Rum Balls

1 cup finely crushed vanilla wafers (30 - 36 wafers)
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
2 tbsp cocoa (I use Droste)
2 tbsp light corn syrup
1/4 cup rum
1/2 a cup (or more) premium chocolate sprinkles (I use De Ruijter dark chocolate sprinkles, available at Morgan & York)

Stir together the wafer crumbs, confectioners sugar, pecans and cocoa.
Add the corn syrup and rum and mix well.
With wet hands, shape into 1 inch balls.
Roll the balls in the chocolate sprinkles.
Store the cookies in an airtight container.

Makes 36 cookies.

Jessica Webster oversees Food & Drink coverage on the Community Team for AnnArbor.com. Contact her at JessicaWebster@AnnArbor.com.