COOKIES....

As Cookie Monster would say....Me Love Cooookies! I have inherited the love of baking from my mother. The holidays are here and so I begin the endless and joyful task of baking cookies for family and friends. This year my inspiration is Tom's 93 year old mother known to us as Granma or just "Mom". I decided I wanted to bake and send her a box of cookies each week thru the holidays. So, I made my list of cookies for this year and the first was to be "Snickerdoodles". Mom was raised on a farm outside of a small town in Kansas. Weather permitting, she along with all of her brothers and sisters would walk to school. Great Granma would give them each a "Walk to School" cookie. These "Walk to School" cookies were actually "Snickerdoodles". The sugary treats helped them pass the time as they walked the 3+ miles to school.

Yesterday, I took a container of Snickerdoodles (Walk to School) cookies to Father Jim at our Parish. He welcomed me in his office and quickly opened the container to see what treat was inside. Father Jim is in his 70's and quite full of life, quick witted and a wonderful priest. He saw the treats and said, "Oh! Sugar Cookies!. I love Sugar Cookies and I won a Red Ribbon when I was a child in 4H in Independence, Missouri." This story led to others about his day as a young lad growing up near the St Frances River and the perfect swimming hole for he and all his young friends. When I left he gave me a big hug and said he had not thought of his Red Ribbon in years.

Last night, after dinner, my sweet husband brings me a holiday napkin with 4 snickerdoodles and presents them to me as if a gift I have been yearning for. (He is the most thoughtful man in the universe.) However, I told him there is no way I am going to eat four cookies but within a few minutes I had downed those "Walk to School/Snickerdoodle/Red Ribbon Sugar Cookies" like there was no tomorrow. We both looked at each other and laughed out loud. Makes me laugh even this morning. Who knew a Cookie was going to bring back memories, stories and laughs.

I hope you have a cookie day. xoxoxo D