Cookie Tradition

Every year for Valentine's Day we (meaning me) make a bunch of Valentine's cookies and bring them to our family members. This year was fun because everyone was able to help. Alexandra helped by eating, but everyone else got to decorate.
I frost and the kids put on the candies. We have a 5-candy limit per cookie to ensure that the eater can taste cookie with his/her candy. This rule was violated several times, but I think it all turned out OK.

When we decorate cookies, we have a "no licking" policy. If anyone licks their fingers they are done and don't get to decorate anymore. We wash our sticky hands when we are done with the project - NO LICKING! In the picture below, notice the ostracized cookie at the end of the table that doesn't get to be on the cookie sheet or the cooling rack? Nathan was decorating and was so excited that he decided to stick out his tongue and spit! That cookie was sitting on his plate at the time. He was removed from the table, his cookie was quarantined, and he had to sit in time out for a few minutes. After that he learned his lesson. We let him wash his hands and join in on the fun, but he didn't even hint at coughing, spitting, or licking. When everyone got to choose one cookie to eat, he had to eat the cookie that he had done wrong. I bet he sure learned his lesson!

This year I was quite proud of myself. I made exactly the right amount of frosting and had to scrape the bowl for the last few cookies. No waste!

I'm not sure how many cookies Alexandra ate while we were frosting, I just know she stayed busy. :)

The fun part comes once all the cookies are finished. We deliver them! Here are the kids at our first stop - Cathy's house. They were all very excited to share their creations with their cousins.

As we were giving the cookies to Cathy and her kids, I was telling her about our no licking rule and that the cookies were clean, so she didn't have to worry. Ashley posed nicely for this picture and right after I took the picture, she forgot to pay attention to what she was holding and spilled all the nice, clean cookies all over the porch! 10 SECONDS! I hurried and put them back on the plate and no harm done, right?

Next stop, Teresa's house. It was Nathan's turn to hand over the plate of cookies.

Teresa told me they had been looking forward to receiving our Valentine cookies this year because she didn't make any. Unfortunately Katelyn wasn't home when we arrived because she was babysitting. She was the one who brought it up to Teresa that we usually bring them.

Teresa told us where Katelyn was babysitting and we popped in on her at that house and surprised her with her own Valentine cookie!

We then drove over to Lisa's house and gave her a plate of cookies too. :)

Our other stops aren't pictured. We met Mike and Ronda at the mall and gave them a plate of cookies in JCPenney. They weren't home when we called to deliver their cookies. Sorry to those of you who live farther away. We have in years past brought you cookies but it didn't work out this year to drive up there. We will try to get you some next year!

The night we delivered cookies we also dropped off our kids for sleepovers. Jeremy and I had to get up early the next morning to go on a ward temple trip. We dropped off Nathan and Alexandra at Lisa's house and Athena and Samantha at Grandma and Grandpa's house. All the kids were so excited for their sleepovers after delivering cookies. It turned out to be a fun night for everyone. :)