In my family, Christmas cookies reigned supreme. The moment the Thanksgiving leftovers were put away, my mom shifted to Christmas cookie baking. Dozens of cookie tins were brought up from the basement and washed. The dining room table was commandeered.
Mom baked like a fiend and put each batch of cookies in its own tin. Nana (Mom’s mother, who lived with us) cooked amazing fudge, the likes of which I have not tasted since. The fudge went into a tin that was stored on the screened porch off the kitchen.
When the time came, Mom assembled elaborate cookie plates for Dad’s work colleagues, for neighbors, for aunts and uncles. My earliest instruction in the fundamentals of design and composition came from watching Mom compose those cookie plates. They were works of art.
When all the cookie plates had been disbursed, the remaining cookies went into a HUGE cookie tin. Each layer, separated by waxed paper, had an assortment of cookies. The ironclad household rule was that you COULD NOT lift the waxed paper to find your favorite kind of cookie in a deeper layer. When you lifted the layers, you risked breaking the more delicate cookies on the layer above. (God rest Mom’s bipolar, anal-retentive soul! Were unbroken cookies worth all that vigilance and angst?)
I have all Mom’s recipes, but at most I bake one of these during the holidays.
Among the cookies I remember:
Poinsettias – a spritz cookie made with butter (not margarine) and almond extract. A single silver dragee in the center. I inherited Mom’s cookie press, so I am now the only one who can make these. 
Chess cakes – teeny tarts with coconut or pecan filling
Apricot butter rings – apricot jam sandwiched between shortbread cookies
Hello Dollies – your standard seven-layer cookie. Where that name came from, I have no idea.
Strawberry tarts – a bar cookie, not a tart, with a Linzer tort dough base, strawberry jam, then topped with a lattice of the dough
Lemon love notes – your standard lemon bar with shortbread crust, but once again, where did that name come from???
Mincemeat bars – an oatmeal cookie base with mincemeat filling and a crumb topping
Pecan butter balls – Mexican wedding cookies, more or less
Holiday cherry bars – graham cracker base, chopped maraschino cherries, coconut, pecans, miniature marshmallows, sweetened condensed milk.
So what are other Dopers’ Christmas cookie memories?
. I am thrice-crowned Most Beautiful Cookie Queen at the cookie exchange [/brag].