Whenever people ask about family traditions, I have to admit I come up blank. We Macros aren't much on tradition--there's very little handing down things from one generation to the next. But I will say one thing: in my family the holidays revolve around FOOD.

My mother made these cookies every Christmas that I can remember. We call them nutballs, but they also go by the more polite name of wedding cookies. They are easy to make, though you do need a little bit of elbow grease while mixing.

1 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
2 cups flour
2 tsp vanilla
powdered sugar

Cream butter and sugar together. Add vanilla,nuts, and flour. Mix well and shape into one inch balls. Bake at preheated 350 for 15-20 minutes till lightly browned. While hot, roll ball in powdered sugar. Roll again when cool.

It's like eating a lovely pat of butter with each cookie.

I might not call this a tradition, but when I was a kid there was something called the "YULE LOG" on local station WPIX. People from outside of the NYC area have sworn I'm lying about this, but, from Christmas Eve through Christmas Day, that station broadcast nothing but a single shot of a blazing fire as they piped in every form of Christmas music imaginable. It was a 24 hour "moment of zen." My father loved this crazy yule log and drove us crazy by not allowing us to watch anything else. My sisters and I still joke about it today.

You can download the "original" WPIX Yule log. There are DVDs of other logs but they're not the original.

I'll be back tomorrow talking about Avon Books. Until then, Merry Christmas!