I am finally done with my Christmas cookie baking escapades, thanks to a last-minute “push” to bake and decorate almost 80 cookies on Saturday night, in addition to all of the others I baked last week. Since Thanksgiving was a week later than normal this year, I knew that I was going to be behind in my baking, and that proved to be true, unfortunately. I would liked to have baked about three more types of cookies, but it just didn’t happen this year unless I decide to bake a batch or two after Christmas for our upcoming RV trip next week.
I also included homemade fudge, homemade peanut butter Rice Krispie bars, assorted chocolate and hard candies, Bob’s Candy Canes, homemade instant spiced tea mix and some flavored popcorn with most of the cookie trays, and I liked those additions this year for these gifts. I haven’t had the spiced tea mix in years, and I made sure that I kept some of the mix for us to enjoy for Christmas, too.
I have delivered most of the cookie gift trays, and it has “blessed my socks off” to deliver them to my elderly friends and some family members. Our next door neighbor, who is a sweet elderly widow, loved hers so much that I thought she was going to cry right there at the front door. She has already written me the sweetest thank you note, and she just went on and on in great detail about how she was going to enjoy each and every cookie on that tray. It was priceless, and I will keep it forever. I took a gift tray to our son last night just as he got off from work, and he was so grateful to receive it, too.
If you want a blessing during the holidays, I highly recommend taking a plateful of baked goodies to elderly friends and family members, especially if you can surprise them with it. I hope that I can continue to do this for many years to come. After my experience this year, I would love to be able to give many more cookie trays away, too.
Here are the cookies that I baked this year. Hubby volunteered to help with decorating the sugar cookies all on his own, and he did a great job. Of course he did. He has that artist’s touch, much more than I do, for sure. I told him that he is officially hired for future decorating needs. That will teach him to volunteer! Seriously, we had a fun time decorating cookies, although in the fifth hour of decorating about 11:30 pm on Saturday night, we were both getting a little slap happy. Hence, you may see a few decorated cookies that are a bit “different.” How about a stocking covered in dots as just one example?
I will let the photos tell the rest of the story. My personal favorites are the “psychedelic snowflakes,” and they are actually quite easy to do. I came up with that design, and they really are so pretty and bright!
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My Five Fs 
Your cookies look yummy and beautiful!
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Thanks so much!
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What a lovely thing to do and it must be very gratifying for you. Your cookie recipients must be thrilled. The cookies look too good to eat! Merry Christmas to you and have a happy and healthy New year!
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Thanks for those kind words. Giving them away to my elderly friends this year brought me so much joy. They may get cookies again for Valentine’s Day! I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful new year ahead, too! 😀
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Just beautiful! I used to do the same thing – bake tons of cookies and tray them up to give to neighbors, older friends, the mailman, whoever. Now that was back when I had three young children still at home, so I’m not sure when I found the time to do it. Now I have more time, but since we moved back to our home state and our country home (15 yrs ago) , I find I don’t do this very often any more. You’re inspiring me to re-visit that! Merry Christmas!!
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Giving the cookie trays away this year was such a blessing for me. More than last year, I saw true joy in the eyes of some of the elderly people that I gave them to, and it was such a great experience for all of us. I think I am hooked on this now. Have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year in 2014!
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Those are the most amazing cookies! Each one is a work of art. Absolutely beautiful:) Too pretty to eat.
What a wonderful gift for others!
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Thank you so much for your sweet comment! Thanks to a great cookie recipe, they are very tasty to eat, too! haha I’ve had way too many already, I’m afraid. This is such fun for me to do, and it was a very special experience for me this year. I hope I can continue to do this every year for my elderly friends and relatives, as well as a few other special friends. Have a very Merry Christmas!
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