Bishop Tobin on His Mother's Christmas Cookies.

"My mom loved Christmas. Each year it quickened her step and lifted her spirits, creating a lot of activity in the little house in which we lived.

"For example, after my dad died, the task of putting up the single string of lights around our front porch fell to me. They were the old-fashioned, large, multi-colored bulbs we used to know. But I remember so clearly, that as I climbed the ladder to string the lights my mom would invariably start to sing in a soft, lilting voice, 'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.' It happened every year.
My mom liked to write Christmas cards to family, friends and neighbors, especially to long-time friends she hadn't seen in a while. And she really looked forward to receiving them too.

"And for many years she dutifully gave $5 to each of my ten nieces and nephews, even when they were grown adults. When, at one point I suggested that maybe it was time to increase the gift, perhaps to $10, she looked at me like I had just shot Santa Claus. Her Christmas gift was $5, and that was that!

"But most of all, my mom loved to bake Christmas cookies, an event which took over our kitchen and dining room for a couple of weeks before the holiday. At her peak she made about 200 dozen cookies I think. Her traditional list included Russian Tea Cakes, thumbprints, spritzes, gingerbread men (each individually wrapped) and her specialty, sugar cookies - rolled thin because my dad liked them that way - and cut with old-fashioned, metal cookie cutters, into Santas, stars, stockings, bells and wreathes, and finished-off with homemade icing, and, on some, sprinkles."

In a recent commentary, Bishop Thomas J. Tobin, of the Diocese of Providence (RI), re-shared a reflection on his mother's Christmas cookies and their relationship to the mystery of Christmas..

To access Bishop Tobin's complete essay, please visit:

Without A Doubt: My Mom’s Christmas Cookies (14 DEC 17)

ote: Bishop Tobin recently celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of his ordination as bishop. Congratulations, Bishop Tobin!!!