Czech Christmas Cookies

One of the things about living abroad that I love is experiencing all the traditions you might not see while just traveling.  Here's one I think is amazing: Czech Christmas cookies.  Families bake anywhere from 5-30 varieties of traditional Christmas cookies every year.  Then they might not make any more cookies the entire rest of the year.  Of course, If I'd made 20 varieties in December, I probably wouldn't want to touch another cookie recipe for a good many months either.

Here's the plate of cookies my wonderful neighbors brought over:

Czech Christmas cookies--looks like a cookbook, but it's from my neighbors!

And here's the plate of cookies the owners of our pension--impressed that I was trying to speak Czech--brought us the day after Christmas:

Amazing.