In nine days it will be Christmas! Isn't that exciting? I know I am excited for this fantastic holiday. Family, cookies, friends, cookies, fancy foods, oh and did I mention cookies? Now I do not want to call myself a cookie expert, but let me be honest with you. I grew up in a home that made thousands of cookies each year. We would give them to friends and family members. What ever was left would go to the Red Cross and school. The most made in one cookie season was 14,000 cookies. So this means that although this is the Christmas Season for most, it will always be the Cookie Season to me.
This tradition was started by my dad's grandmother. His mom continued it, and my dad continued it after she was no longer able to. Each year they choose specific recipes, practice and tweak the ingredients, and ensure that they are perfect for the cookie season that is ahead.
For my family a cookie season begins the day after thanksgiving and continues until around the 20th of December. Within that time frame all cookies are made, packaged up into individual containers, then loaded into the cars to be delivered to those on our cookie list. I know what some of you are thinking, how on earth is this possible in a standard kitchen? Others are wondering, how do you keep them from going stale and gross?
Well it helps when you have a kitchen stove that is able to hold five cookie sheets at once. It also helps if you have a warranty on your mixer. In one cookie season we went through four Kitchen Aid Mixers. My dad got fed up and bought an industrial mixer to fix the problem. There is always counter space if you have the right stacking and Jenga like skills. So the kitchen size was never a problem. When referring to keeping the cookies fresh, that was easy. We would use large totes, seran wrap, and wax paper. All of the cookies would go into the totes with layers between, the lid would be put on then it would be wrapped and labeled. Once that was done they would be put into the freezer. There was a freezer dedicated to the cookie season.
Each year was great. More and more cookies would come about. We even began to make banana bread as well. The cookies were always unique and it was a blast to deliver them to the spectacular people that made the list each year.
Sadly though this tradition came to a halt in 2014. This is the year that my dad passed away from cancer. Although he is no longer with us I will always remember this tradition, and I can not wait to have kids of my own to continue it with. I am very grateful for the cookie season.
