Season's Greetings, 2012

Yeah, it rains. But it's still fun. Hope your holidays are fun, too!

Recipe for Giving

Cookies. Ramen noodles. Cocoa mix. Soup packets. Maybe something warm to wear. From Mom. My mom. During our college years, she sent dozens of care packages to my siblings and me.

Most valued in each package were the home-baked cookies. My mother is an excellent baker. She doesn't bake much these days, but she passed on to her kids her love of baking and her recipes. Now, for holidays, special events, and yes, care packages, we make the cookies. We roll Butterfingers in sugar, thumb-print My Mother's Cookies (actual recipe name), and chop nearly-neon candied cherries for Cherry Chip Cookies.

My mother not only passed on the baking gene, but also the giving gene. Last Christmas, we started a Cookie of the Month club for my parents. Each month for a year, one of us bakes and sends them a batch of home-baked cookies. We just completed the first year, and we'll do the same for them through 2013. Happily, they seem to enjoy receiving these care packages as much as we did in our college years.