CookiePalooza Part Deux

I always get a little misty around this time remembering the early days of my baking. The weeks prior to  Christmas, mom would break out the Betty Crocker Cooky Book along with the cookie press then endless trays of overly decorated sugar bombs would come bursting out of the kitchen and assembled onto dozens of plates and wrapped up to be foisted upon good neighbors and any one who walked in our door.
Some things never change. Hundreds of cookies have been baked over the last two weeks which were meticulously arranged onto the plastic christmas tree and santa trays snatched up from Walgreens for pennies on the dollar in the days after Christmas in years gone by when the sad picked over shelves are making way for Valentine hearts 'n flowers.