Cookie Day memories

What a busy day! Jen and I went to Mom and Dad's house about an hour early, just to help get things going. Jen immediately started rolling and cutting cookies. I checked with Mom and Dad, but they had nothing for me to do, so I got to eat bagels and drink orange juice and relax. But not for long--shortly after we arrived, my sister Janet arrived with husband Jim, son Evan and Evan's girlfriend Dani. Evan had volunteered to come early and mix the food coloring cookie paint. But first he very gallantly introduced his 'girlfriend Dani' to everyone in the house. Evan and Dani busily mixed up some color for everyone to use while decorating cookies and the rest of us had more bagels and donuts. The rest of the family trickled in and the decorating began in earnest. The little ones always have such a good time--they pile on lots of sugar and sprinkles and have a great time. Mom says they always believe the most beautiful cookies to come out of the oven are the ones they decorated. Janet tells the cutest story about our grand-nephew Patrick. Patrick dumped a lot of jimmies on a cookie, looked at it, picked up a pair of tweezers and carefully added one more jimmy. I can just picture the concentration on his little face as he did it! Lily was so happy to see John's little girl, Laura she practically leaped down the stairs to greet her when she came in the door. Lily was busy all day long, making friends with the other children and generally being my sweet girl.

I cut out cookies for a while, so I missed the arrival of some members of the family--if they didn't seek out the kitchen help, I didn't see them until later. Tom stayed in the kitchen all day, being Jack-of-all-trades--fetching cookie dough from the refrigerator when I needed it, putting trays of cookies in the oven and taking them out when they were done (if brother-in-law Jim wasn't doing it) carrying trays of cut cookies down to the decorators when none were waiting impatiently to take them down themselves.

At one point during the day, Janet approached me to ask if I would mind "making a fool of myself" with her and Cathy. When I said 'what the heck', she went on to explain that she had written new lyrics for some favorite Christmas Carols and she wanted the three if us to sing for Mom and Dad (and whoever else happened to hear). So the three if us arranged to meet in the third bedroom for 'rehearsal.' Janet sang the songs for us once, then said "I'll do this" and made a motion with her arm, indicating we should begin. Then we discussed how to get out of the house so we could have Mom and Dad answer the door for us. It was SO cold on Saturday, we knew we needed our coats. Janet suggested hats and scarves for effect--and Cathy pulled out Santa hats for each of us. I suggested we put two of our coats into my shopping bag and I would just tell Mom I was putting some stuff in my car. Then they could sneak out the back, go around the side of the house and meet me and we would knock on the door. As we were organizing this, Mom walked in on us. Cathy was so funny--she whipped that Santa hat off her head like she'd been caught being naughty. Mom didn't notice. When Mom went into the bathroom, all three of us sprung into action. Now, when I have a plan I tend to stick to it--so I headed for the back door...when Janet said "Mom's in the bathroom-we can just go out the front." Oh yeah-so much easier. So out we go. We suit up in coats, scarves and Santa hats and knock on the door. It was Jim's job to see that Mom and/or Dad answered the door--which they did. Other members of the family gathered around, including Tom and his camera - set on video - and watched as we sang Janet's songs. Mom and Dad loved it. Mom cried. Of course, John and Michelle got her all primed with their Cookie Day gift of a personalized cookie jar that said "MomMom's Christmas Sweets" and had all the grandchildren and great-grandchildren's names on gifts under a Christmas tree. So cute!

Now that you have some backstory, following are Janet's lyrics--which came to her in the shower on Wednesday. Inspiration!

* * * * *

Oh Cookie Day

(to the tune of Oh Christmas Tree)

Chorus

Oh Cookie Day, oh Cookie Day

Thy date is ever changing

Oh Cookie Day, Oh Cookie Day

Agendas rearranging

I had some parties to attend

Forget them all, I'll make amends!

repeat chorus

Jim mans the oven, burns a few

Just scrape them off,

They'll look like new

repeat chorus

Bump the table, make me cry

Bump it twice, I'll punch your eye!

Oh Cookie Day, Oh Cookie Day

Thy date is ever changing

* * * * *

Here Comes PopPop

(to the tune of Here Comes Santa Clause)

Here comes PopPop, Here comes PopPop

Right down our old road

He's got a sack of snacks and cold drinks

carries quite a load!

He'll make sure your glass is full!

He makes Cookie Day bright!

So grab your brushes and decorate

'cause PopPop's here tonight!

* * * * *

Silver Balls

(to the tune of Silver Bells)

Silver balls, silver balls

It's Cookie Day at our house!

Can we eat them?

Should we eat them?

No one ever really seems to know

There are sprinkles

Lots of sugar

This is MomMom's big day!

There are more here than fit 'round the table!

"This is my tray!" "No, it's MY tray!"

Hurry, cut out some more!

And above all the bustle you'll hear

Silver balls, silver balls

It's Cookie Day at our house!

Can we eat them?

Should we eat them?

No one ever really seems to know

* * * * *

So now you have a good idea how silly we can be--but it was a lot of fun. Both Mom and Dad asked Janet for copies of the lyrics, partly to go over the words again, but also as a memento. I had fun being silly with my sisters and visiting with my nephew and decorating cookies and watching the little ones play and getting a hug or a kiss from them as they went by (I love that part) and the food was good, too. Cathy has been doing some geneology research lately, and has learned we have a lot of German in our background. With that in mind, she made some German drop cookies that were just yummy! And Lisa made her chili--which she is becoming known for, and Janet brought a delicious chicken salad. Overall, a good day.