I don't know what it is but I have a thing for squirrels. I always have. When we lived in Cambria my house was named "Squirrel Cottage". You have to be careful with a love like that. It invites trouble. Have you seen those squirrel salt and pepper shakers of the vintage variety? There must be a thousand different versions of those things. And I think I have all of 'em. Birthdays and holidays are potential land mines when it comes to squirrel love. There is squirrel everything. And I have seen it all ! Squirrel tee shirts, aprons, tea towels, pot holders, tablecloths, candles, pajamas, slippers, socks, garden art of all kinds, books with squirrels, pictures of squirrels and even..hey..squirrel cookies. Yep, and I am to blame for that. I was asked to bake some one year for a wildlife Christmas tree and now I knew I had to pay.
The recipe below is from a book called " The Blessing Of Toads " by Sharon Lovejoy.
These cookies are for squirrels and birds..but I like 'em too.
We don't live in Cambria anymore...but I still have secret squirrel love.
As little kids grammy and grandpe always had these little tins around the house at the holidays.With the little butter cookies that had the sugar sprinkles on top. They sure aren't anything that you would find in the Willams-Sonoma catalog..and I guess therein lies the charm.I got this yesterday at the grocery store in the holiday section. Having this tiny tin sitting on my drainboard during the holidays always reminds me of those happy childhood days of waiting for Santa. The house all decorated for Christmas. Grandpe always had a fire in the fireplace. Fruitcakes from the neighbors sat in tins on the counter. Grandpe eating a slice every morning with his coffee exclaiming it to be the "best fruitcake Mary Alice had ever made." My grandparents have been gone for many years now, and when grammy died my brother Mark and I went out to the store room and found all of the boxes that held the Christmas decorations at the house in Los Gatos. And as I was going throught it, I thought to myself, why this is a box of just some old dime store ornaments and tinsel. Nothing special...alot of it plastic..you know, reindeers with glitter, snowmen with the carrot nose broken off, socks with stains and holes,the tinsel thin and smashed to one side.Construction paper chains Mark and I had made. A piece of brown paper in the shape of your hand and drawn with crayons to look like a turkey. A bouquet of plastic poinsettias with gold sparkle,candles that had a fake flame on the tip..all melted from spending the summer in the store room .Everthing in those boxes was tattered and old. But as kids..we thought it was MAGIC.Our eyes glowed with wonder and amazement at the tree and decorations every year.And I thought, as kids you don't know or care about what store the decorations came from, how much they cost and were they fancy..... or not. Did they come from places like Gumps in San Francisco or those charming Christmas shops in Carmel? No, none of that mattered. It doesn't matter to kids. It's just the feeling of home and family that really matters. Still does.
.JPG)
