Christmas Cut Out Sugar Cookies

What could possibly be more FUN than decorating a batch of Christmas sugar cookies with 3 two years olds?
One mandatory activity on the agenda this week while 5 of the 6 grand kids are visiting was to bake and decorate the famous Christmas Cut Out Sugar Cookies that I have been making with my girls for the past 25 plus years. So here is the secret recipe!
 

Ingredients
2 cups shortening
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
5 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
4 teaspoons vanilla
4 Tablespoons milk

Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs and beat well. Sift dry ingredients and add alternately with milk and vanilla. Stir well. Chill for 1 hour or until easy to handle. Roll out to ⅛ inch thick and cut out with cookie cutters and bake in a 375 degree oven for 15 minutes or until slightly brown. Then frost with classic powdered sugar frosting and decorate with sprinkles.
(This year I tried substituting 1 cup of coconut oil for one of the cups of shortening and the cookies came out perfect and a bit more healthy-but remember these are the classic sugar cookies so I left the rest of the ingredients the old fashioned unhealthy but YUMMY variation)

Frosting
1 stick of butter softened
1 box powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup canned milk or soy or almond milk
Beat all ingredients together until smooth. Add a bit more milk if needed. Divide frosting into 4 separate small bowls and add food coloring to make red, green, yellow and blue. Frost cookies when cooled and sprinkle and decorate to your hearts desire.Pure christmas JOY will abound in your house if you whip up a batch of these delicious cookies and have a cookie decorating party! These were the cookies we always baked and decorated on the day we put up our tree and decorated it with lights and ornaments.

What is one of your favorite traditional Christmas cookie recipes? Are you wiling to share the recipe?