Family Cookie Exchange

Something that I always wanted to have was a family cookie exchange. I wanted to bake cookies with my daughters, then daughters-in-law, and eventually my grandchildren. So when my middle daughter suggested a family cookie exchange, I was excited.

This was the beginning of our families' annual cookie exchange. We sent out email invitations. Each person was to bake their own cookies and give one dozen to each of the other households. My daughter, who is a chef, planned and cooked the brunch.

The first year, everyone showed up - daughters, daughters-in-law, sons and babies. They loved the brunch, and the cookies. Some years it was a delicious homemade French onion soup with crispy bread to go along. Some times, it has been a full breakfast with eggs, sausage, bacon, pancakes and the works. Other times it was quiches, croissants and salads.

I guess I should have given more thought as how to do a cookie exchange. The first year everyone showed up ready to actually make their cookies at my house from scratch. We mixed our cookie dough, baked the cookies, packaged them, and divided them up. By evening I was the last to get my cookies baked and handed out. It was fun but an exhausting day.

The following year we figured out that we needed to just make our own cookies in our own kitchen and then come with them already packaged. We eventually eliminated the "boys" from coming along. Anyway, some of them lost interest, even though they wanted to eat their sister's great meals.

In the beginning, a few who attended would find shortcuts as to what to make, like Oreos dipped in chocolate with sprinkles on top, or pretzel rods dipped in chocolate with sprinkles. They were good and everyone enjoyed them. But as the years evolved, everyone tried to find different kinds of cookie recipes and would try those.

The packaging of the cookies became the high point of the exchange. Some were in Christmas boxes and others on Christmas trays. A few different packaging ideas were fancy Chinese containers or festive holiday, plastic ware.

Now our cookie exchange has seemed to come along way and it runs smoother. We still gather together, eat something and exchange the cookies. But the simple idea of one dozen cookies has evolved into a few dozen cookies, which isn't so bad. But the plus of all of this...we come together for a short time to talk, eat, and share cookies. For a few hours we forget about all that we have to do for the holidays, and we are family under one roof until our big Christmas Eve celebration.

The cookies don't last long but the memories do.