Best Christmas Cookie Recipe Ever

I just can't seem to get on schedule. Earlier this year I wrote about my sister Joan's recipe for Festive Cream Cheese Cookies in, er, February. Which is when they were dismantling the giant Christmas tree on Gay Street, across from the French Market, and, now, the S&W Grand. I said I was going to imitate their procrastination and make those cookies, however far I lagged behind the season. I did not. Now the two, the tree and the cookies, are forever linked in my mind. And the tree has been going back up for about a week or two now--just as unseasonably early--though it's not been lit. So I'm starting the timer now. Make the cookies. If I start my typical well-meaning but not particularly aggressive approach to holiday baking right now, it might even work out that they're ready by Christmas. But I'm using reverse psychology, and planning to make football shapes, so who knows...