You are all too sweet
And gosh I wish you all could have come over today!!! Your treats sound yummy!!!!!!
So, quite a few people couldn't come. I froze their share of cookies for them in my freezer from those who did show up, and I'm going to arrange when the pick them up and drop off theirs to distribute to those who were here today. So it was a smaller group but gosh it was a nice day after all! We had 9 people additional to the 4 of us here. We made a good dent in the food I had prepared, so we had a bunch of leftovers but a reasonable amount that we can eat before it spoils over the next couple days. Also tomorrow will be a snow day for the kids meaning I can put the trays back out and not cook, and it can feel like a snow day party. I can't believe it but I ate the healthy snacks (veggies etc) that I had on trays, and managed to reign in my sweet tooth and only sample three treats. It was hard to believe they had no sugar!
Everyone seemed to really enjoy it and nearly everyone asked if this was a new tradition because they'd love to do it again. Seems all the ladies are now feeling competitive on what to bake next time and even more importantly, how to one up each other in the pretty packaging lol. My one neighbor is pretty low this year, holidays are hard for her and money is very tight, she struggled to afford to bake a simple recipe for the exchange. I had assured her it would be a hit and true enough, hers was the least complicated and few ingredients and turned out to be the one raved about the most out of all the fantastic treats. She left beaming and with a arm load of goodies. 2 people who were not here had actually cancelled, not due to weather but due to inability to fit in the baking etc. So we all had 2 extra sets of a dozen treats. Somehow my awesome friends and family must have seen how this socializing and exchange meant a lot to her and you could see her visibly have lifted spirits. They each and every one ended up giving their extra 2 dozen treats to her for her freezer. She babysits 4 different families of little girls in order to make ends meet on top of her job, and her little granddaughter lives with her pretty much. So she was the perfect person to go home with 3 times the amount we all exchanged.
My favorite part of the day? easy child brought me to her room and said she knows it is dishonest and people might not think it's okay but could we ignore that it isn't right for a bigger reason, and rig the draw for the gingerbread house so this neighbor could win it. So her and I dug out the slip with her name, i stuck the slips in the Santa hat and shook them up but kept this womans in between two fingers so easy child could grab it. She was so happy calling out this womans name and bringing over the gift in its gorgeous bag. You could just see the delight and this woman instantly raved and was so excited to bring it home to show all the girls and especially her little grand daughter.
That alone makes up for the extra food, the missing guests, and the nasty storm outside. We all had fun and making this womans Sunday into a brighter one that she expected was enough in itself to make the bumps in the day worth it.
I'll see if I can get my pics online, some great group photos and pics of all the cookies and bars spread on the table
(Some treats were: Cranberry-orange chocolate truffles, shortbread drizzled with chocolate, gingerbread men, orange ginger spice cookies, sugar free old fashioned fudge ... and on and on ... they may be sugar free but they are still going to go straight to my hips. But ohhh what a great journey that will be lol)
Anyone else up for some cookie fun today?
