Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda onto a large piece of wax paper. Set aside,

Beat shortening and sugar in large bowl of electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and lemon extract. With mixer on low speed, alternately beat dry ingredients with sour cream into sugar mixture (begin and end with the dry ingredients). Divide dough in thirds. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate serval hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Working with a third of the dough at at time, roll the shilled dough out on a lightly floured board to 1/8 inch thickness.

Cut the dough with cookie cutters, cutting as close together as possible. Transfer the cookies to ungreased cookie sheets. Reroll and cut the scraps into tree shapes. Sprinkle the cookies with sugar, or decorate with the angelica or candied fruit.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until the cookies are firm and lightly browned around the edges. Cook the cookies for 1 minute on the cookie sheets. Then transfer the cookies with a metal spatula to wire racks to cool completely.
Yields: 5 dozen, depending on size of cookie cutters