Being an avid cookbook reader is nothing new for me.  As a kid, I used to pour over cookbooks for hours and hours.  The first half of my year was spent analyzing the loose pages of my mom’s Cut-Up Cake Party Book, trying to decide which cake shape would make for a totally epic July birthday party.  After my birthday had come and gone (and having the perfect cake had not suddenly made me the talk of the town), I got to switch my focus to my other favorite read, Ideals Christmas Cookbook.

This Christmas cookbook has always had a spell over me.  It is full of very fancy, gourmet recipes- “French-Style Appetizer”, “Ham Balls”, “Beef Tingler”.  It’s very, very 1970, but I would look at it and fantasize about the wonderful world of the adult holiday season: a never-ending string of dinner parties, cocktail dresses, waltzing, tiny appetizers, laughter echoing through glamorous ballrooms.

But this is real life and grown-up-dom isn’t exactly what I had imagined.  No waltzing and most of the dinner parties I attend, I’m wearing a long white apron and passing the tiny appetizers.  As for the off-the-shoulder black cocktail dress I bought at 19?  It hangs in the basement, still wearing its price tag.

It’s fine, though.  I probably wouldn’t even like being at the Ideals’ Christmas party anyway.  I’d be grossed out upon realizing “French-Style Appetizer” is actually just a piece of toast with a slice of Spam on top.  And knowing me, I’d probably spill the “Beef Tingler” all over my cute cocktail dress.

It’s fine because I have the one recipe from this book that stands the test of time, that you don’t need a party invite to enjoy.  Tender, warm, buttery jam-filled turnovers will never go out of vogue and will never stop being my favorite Christmas cookie.

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