So, what do the holidays mean to you? Chocolate-peppermint bark, maybe? Or good ol' pecan sandies? Or perhaps the classic thumbprint, pressed extra exuberantly to permit the maximum amount of raspberry jam on top? If none of these treats grabs you, then I'm sure you've got some other goody that conjures up Santa, sleigh bells, and the spirit of giving in one bite. After all, it's our memory - not our tastebuds or our eyes, as some insist - that is the first and last arbiter of good taste.

While recent expositions on the relationship between taste and memory have been appetizing, who needs a panoply of famous writers in the New York Times (and now in a book) to affirm what the humble cookie exchange has been telling us for decades? I've been to more cookie swaps than I can count over the years. And, sure as the sun rises each morning, these parties invariably unfold this way:

Cookie swapper: You've got to try my [insert cookie name]. It was my mom's [or insert gramma's] special recipe. She made it every Christmas.

Julia: Mmmm . . . [while taking a bite]. Mmmm . . . [again, while secretly wondering what all the fuss is about]

Cookie swapper: I make it every year, but it never comes out quite like my mom [or insert gramma] made it.

Julia: Hmmm . . . any idea why? [asked, knowing full well that memories have a way of playing tricks on tastebuds]

Cookie swapper:  No, not really. But it's the best, isn't it? [said, beaming ear to ear, fully expecting a positive reply]

Julia: Mmmm . . . [for lack of anything better to say]

Now I'm not one to burst anyone's bubble, and sometimes these family heirlooms do register quite high on my foodometer. But, more often than not, they are positively flavored by their bakers' recollections of time spent with mom (or, shall I say, gramma) during holidays past.

And so? Does our tendency to overinflate our treasured recipes make them any less praiseworthy? Fortunately for those around the cookie table, not so much. We only get into trouble when we fail to divulge the secret ingredient - that special vignette, or that snippet of family history, which makes the recipe linger as sweetly in our minds as on our tongues.

That said, I give you two of my favorite cookie heirlooms (below)  - and the stories behind those cookies - with the hope that you'll spread the season's joy by sharing your favorite recipes and their tales with those you love.