The smell of fresh baked cookies wafting through my kitchen is the familiar sign of the holiday season. There is something so comforting about the smell of vanilla with recognizable holiday tunes ambiantly playing in the background. My family memories have always been made in the kitchen; I have grown up cooking with grandparents and there was always an emphasis on food at family events. There is something so special about making something together, bonding, laughing and then enjoying the goods produced. Over the years, we have noticed that we can not really eat all of the baked foods we make during this season and have found a way to share these treats with our friends and family.
I forgot whose idea it originally was, but I feel like I can safely credit it to my mother. Her idea was to surprise people with our Christmas cookies by dropping them off at their houses. My sister and I fell in love with this idea and ran with it as elementary school children fear nothing. This event was a multiday endeavor: day one consisted of baking. Flour was flying through the air as we divided and conquered. I took the chocolate chip cookies, arguably the most important, my sister made the pretzel Hershey kiss bites, my mother made the experimental cookie of the year (often a candy cane or double chocolate cookie but it varied), and my father inevitably ended up doing the dishes. After what felt like no time at all, the entire day had passed and our baking was complete. The evening and the next morning consisted of packing and labeling and making sure the holiday spirit was packed in every box. The car was then loaded up and we were on our way, think of it like Santa and his sleigh of toys, but instead it was my mother’s minivan filled with bags of cookies.
Our journey started off at our first house, which is typically our neighbors. My sister and I would put on our cute little santa hats and reindeer antlers and run up to the houses and ring the doorbell. Everyone would greet their door with big smiles as we were quite adorable. We repeated this process about twenty times, each time stopping to talk to the friends that lived in the house. The second day was even more exhausting, as we had to be energetic throughout the deliveries. When we finally arrived back at Santa’s Workshop, I mean my house, we would put on a christmas movie and revel in our holiday cheer. There is something so special about giving people little gifts to show how much you care about them. The holiday season can seem merry and bright, but sometimes there are unknown struggles people in your life are dealing with. I think that this tradition that my family and I created allowed us to reach out to all those in our lives and remind them how much they are loved. The simple thought of delivering cookies to someone’s house can truly make their day or even their entire holiday season.