Gumdrop Cookies

It has long been something of a family joke that I love traditions. They're all quite correct in their accusations! Perhaps this comes naturally with a love of history, for that means that the things you do have a history of their own. I'm not quite as bad as my mother makes it out; she always says that if we've done something twice, it's a tradition, and if we've done it three times, "we've always done it". Well...maybe she's more right than I want to admit; I was pursuing the possibility of doing something again this year that we'd done last year at Christmas (and let's admit it, a ton of traditions surround Christmas!)

Of all the traditions we keep, not very many of them come from my father's side of the family, and consequently those are some of the ones I'm more tenacious about keeping. One of those is an old Christmas cookie recipe. I don't know how long my grandmother has made Gumdrop Cookies, but my father grew up with them. They're extremely easy- really just an oatmeal cookie with gumdrops, and they don't make a lot. They must, however, be quite unusual because they always seem to get people's attention. Bluebonnet and I just finished making a batch for this year. She helped by stirring the oats and gumdrops together, but decided that she didn't especailly care for the yellow gumdrops.

Oh, and you must use spice gumdrops, not fruit flavored ones.