War Cry - December, 2014 Page 17

The War Cry | DECEMBER 2014

with Mom, her parents ended up enjoying it as well.

They loved their sweets, as was evidenced by the

peanut clusters, orange slices and other candy we could
always find at their house. Our Christmas cookies
quickly became a favorite of Grandpa's. I even began
giving them as his present each year. After we opened
gifts, he never made the mistake of passing his cookie
tin around. He knew they would disappear before the
day was over if he didn't guard them closely.

After our girls were born, making the cookies trans-

formed into a whole new adventure. As an eager pre-
schooler, Kristin wanted to be in the middle of it all.
Who knew so many challenges could present themselves
when little ones attempted such things?

I decided Kristin's first job could be shaking sprinkles

onto the iced cookies. What I didn't anticipate was the
amount of sprinkles she wanted to shake or that she
couldn't seem to help shoving the shaker into the icing.
For a mom like me, who functions best in an orderly

environment, making cookies proved to be a nerve�jan-
gling experience.

Despite getting a little rattled at times, we faithfully

kept to our tradition.

Kristin loved making, eating and giving away our

special Christmas cookies, but Kelli never seemed to
care. Somehow she missed getting the cookie-making
gene. Now that she's a married woman, I see signs that
she may adopt the practice after all.

Kristin has happily carried the Christmas cookie

tradition into the fourth generation. During her college
years, she blessed her friends and professors with her
carefully decorated labors of love, and when she came
home on break, she made our cookies almost
single-handedly.

My sister, Debbie, and her family took the cookie-

making custom cross�country when they moved to
Phoenix years ago. Since she had two sons to include in
her cookie�making projects, I imagine she encountered
plenty of silly antics. When Aaron and Adam reached ju-
nior high, the whole family began sharing the tradition
through Debbie and Keith's campus ministry at Ari-
zona State University. Each year as they decorated the
student center for Christmas, and the aroma of fresh-
baked sugar cookies added to the festive spirits inside.

For Debbie and her family, making the cookies moved

beyond mere tradition. It became a ministry. They wit-
nessed first�hand how much this simple activity meant
to students living away from home and to those who
had never made cut-out cookies before. It also became
an outreach to international students as they showed
them a tradition practiced in our country. Who knows,
maybe our family recipe has traveled the globe now?

My younger niece and nephews--Joanna, Cody and

Gavin--have become Christmas cookie fans too. They

think it's my job to bring the cook-
ies to our family gathering on Christ-
mas Day and that it's their job to eat
them. They especially like the candy
canes, but any will do. In fact, they

choose the cookies over
all the other treats
available. I wouldn't be
at all surprised if these
faithful fans passed

down our Christmas cookies to their own kids' one day.

What a blessing to hand down from generation to

generation something as simple and cherished as the
making and sharing of cookies. I can't help but wonder
what else I'm handing down through the ages. If I can
touch the generations around me and those that follow
with something fun like a holiday tradition, surely I can
impact their lives with even more important things.

I pray that I'm handing down a love for God, a thirst

for His Word and a way of life filled with prayer, love
and an attitude of service. Passing valuable things down
through the generations, whether traditions or virtues,
requires effort, consistency and love. It's not an easy
thing to do. But it's always worth it.

Cheryl Barker lives in Coffeyville, Kansas.

Generation