Cindy Overland

Called “one of the best long-track speed skaters Canada ever produced” by the Cambridge Sports Hall of Fame, Cindy competed in the winter Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan, in 1998 and in Salt Lake City in 2002.

My warmest Christmas memories see me, my sister Amanda and my mom in the kitchen, a few days before Christmas. The music is turned up loud and we’re bopping along with the group Boney M.

We’re baking date squares and sugar cookies. My Mom has hauled out the family Christmas cookie cutters shaped like a star, a Christmas tree, Santa and a reindeer. Enough cookie dough is saved to roll out and fill with date filling. We call these yummies “piggies in a blanket.”

Even when I was training for the Olympics in Calgary, mom came out west with her cookie cutters and her Boney M tape. We continued the tradition there.

Such warm, comforting memories.