Some people take to hiking or hunting in nature to relieve their stress. Some folks find their rest and recharge in a good book and an hour of silence.

I prefer to wander through antique stores when my peace needs recharging.

The other day I took a solo jaunt to Wichita, Kan., to wander through antique stores. No real list in hand. No time limits. It’s especially fun to go antique shopping at Christmas. You’ll see decorations and things from your childhood that bring up memories of happier and simpler times.

That was the case for me with the box of red plastic cookie cutters I found in one booth.

See, I’ve been on a mission for about 20 years now to find the specific red Santa cookie cutter my grandma used to make her epic sugar cookies each year. And, more importantly, to find the recipe for the sugar cookies and the icing that was a perfect consistency for decorating.

You know how it is when someone passes. There’s just so much that gets lost in the packing and the sorting and the shuffling among relatives. A cookie cutter and a recipe aren’t really high priorities to save. But to me, well, they’re something that lets me picture my grandma in her apron, in the kitchen of their little house in Junction City, stirring a pot and talking about her latest quilt project on the frame in the basement. For her, cooking and baking for her family, and making quilts and Afghans, was her way of showing her love.

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So when I saw the cookie cutters in that antique booth, I held my breath. I’d been disappointed before. Still, I pawed through the pile, hoping against hope that the particular Santa cutter would be in there.

And it was. Jackpot!

“Now all I have to do is track down the recipe,” I thought. The aunts have been on the trail for a while, looking in their boxes, but you know how life gets in the way. “That’s OK, I can experiment with recipes I find online until I find it,” I tell myself.

Then, a day ago, I was scrolling through Facebook — like one does to unwind at the end of the day. There, on an antique page, were photos of the original box that this cookie cutter set was originally sold in. (The one time that the Facebook algorithm overlords actually used their powers for good and not evil.) And in another picture, the inside of the box lid, which showed the recipes the manufacturer included for the housewife of the 1950s to use to make her own Christmas sugar cookies a smashing success.

Could it be that simple? Were Grandma’s cookie and icing recipes off the box lid?

This week I’ll be experimenting and seeing if I can’t recreate a little Christmas magic. I know they won’t be exactly the same. She had a touch for baking that I can’t quite re-create. But I think I’ll have an angel guiding my hand.

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With every bite, I hope to remember a time when my biggest worry was what present was under the tree for me. And when all it took to feel safe was a warm car ride to our country church’s Christmas Eve service, sitting on the rear bench seat between my older sister and older brother.

I tell you this story today, on Christmas Eve, to remind you that the longest lasting memories for our families aren’t found on Amazon or in the aisles of Walmart. Christmas isn’t found on a sale or in a flashy advertisement. It’s not found in expensive gifts that break or get tossed aside the minute the next model rolls out.

It’s in the time we spend with family and friends. It’s in acts of giving and service to our loved ones and to strangers. It’s in the small things, like a plastic cookie cutter and a sugar cookie recipe.

And, above all, it’s found in the story of a very special child’s birth in a stable, reminding us that the greatest gift of all is love.

Christmas sugar cookies and icing

This is the recipe off the box lid that I’ll be testing this week:

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½ cup shortening

1 cup sugar

2 well-beaten eggs

2 tbsp cream

1 tbsp. vanilla or almond

3 ½ cups cake flour

2 tsp. baking powder

Mix together and beat the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, cream and vanilla or almond and beat well. Sift together, separately, the cake flour and baking powder. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Shape into a mound, wrap in plastic and chill thoroughly. Roll chilled dough on a board lightly dusted with confectioners’ sugar until the dough is about ¼ inch thick. Dip cookie cutter in confectioners’ sugar each time before cutting a cookie. Place cookies on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for about eight minutes or until delicately browned.

For icing, take one unbeaten egg white and add up to 1 cup of confectioners’ sugar gradually and a few grains of salt, beating until smooth and a consistency to pour slightly. Color and flavor as desired.