My mom passed away just before Christmas this year. Making shortbread was the hardest thing to do and the best thing I could do. Making traditional shortbread requires about an hour of kneading the dough to get it just right and melty-in-your-mouthy. We would put on Christmas records (yes, vinyl) and blast them (the record player was in the basement so you had to play it loud to hear it upstairs) and we would sit in the kitchen listening/singing and chatting. We would chat about everything.