Saturday, December 13, 2008

Cookie Exchange

The following confession will hit some of you pretty hard. It will be met with the same incredulous, jaw-dropping, mouth-gaping awe that my never-been-to-Disney-Land confession receives. There's no easy way to say it so I'm just going to take a deep breath and let it out.
Up until last night I had never been to a cookie exchange.
There. I said it. It's out there and I can't take it back. I know what you must be thinking: "And you call yourself a woman?!" Alas, it's sad but true. Last night I went to my first cookie slash ornament exchange. I wish I could say otherwise, but the truth is that the experience was completely lost on me. Here's why:
  • Who wants just one of every cookie? I mean, there are some at every party where one is more than enough. But more often than not, people have pulled out their holiday best. There are mostly those cookies, soft chewy tasty looking cookies, that let you know right up front that one wouldn't even come close to being enough; especially when you know you're taking the plate home to little people who need everything to be exactly fair and even in order to insure their survival. That puts the necessary minimum for each type of cookie at three and that's just not reasonable at the average exchange.
  • Random ornaments?! Any of you who know me well know that I don't do random. Any tree that I have ever decorated of my own volition has had a theme, or at the very least a color scheme AND ORNAMENTS ARE ONLY PUT ON IN SETS! If there's just one of something, hang it on your rear view mirror! I watched last night with complete fascination as the other women oohed and awed over the ornaments and commented on how cute a particular one would look on their tree and I just thought: BUT HOW COULD THAT BE? THERE'S ONLY ONE! Don't get me wrong, there were cute ornaments. My friend Shandolynne, who I went with, summed it up best. During the exchange she leaned over and whispered, "Let me know if you see something you like and we'll go out tomorrow and look for eleven more."

Despite my neuroses, I did come home with a plate of yummy cookies that has already been attacked by the little people this morning and a very nice ornament that will be gifted to one of you random ornament collectors or hung from my rear view mirror.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm with you on the ornaments. I have several sets, all different themes. I refuse to do random.
And I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees the shortcomings of the cookie exchange! With kids, it is just a fight waiting to happen. So I let Em pick her favorite one and then one for Joseph and dad, and the rest went into the garbage before we got home. Was that wrong?
(I finally went to Disney World two years ago...I was very unimpressed. You're not missing a thing.)

Sara said...

You crack me up woman! My kids don't even know that "disney" is a huge giant deal, much less been anywhere in the vicinity of one of their theme parks :0 (I know, I'm a horrible mom). As for cookie exchanges, I've only been to one, last year, but we made a dozen cookies each for each person, so I ended up with a dozen each of five kinds of cookies, so I thought it was pretty awesome!

Brooke said...

Guess what? I have never been to one either! I totally hear you on the one cookie thing. As far as the ornaments go, My tree has a theme and mostly sets of matching ornaments but I do have a few random ones. BUT, they all have sentimental value and are ones we have got each year we have been married. I do try to keep to the same color scheme at least. :)

Brenda said...

A DOZEN OF EACH COOKIE?! Now that would be worth it.

Natalie, I don't think you were wrong at all to just toss your cookies...so to speak. As moms we have to pick our battles and I just don't see that the cookie exchange is worth a fight.

Quin's momma said...

I must be the oddball because I'm NOT about sets of ornaments. Of course- I don't think trees should look like the trash can threw up on them either. I WILL admit- the two years I put a little tree on a table so it would be out of the reach of my sweety- I broke my tradition and did a themed tree with sets...it was all red, white and silver. Don't worry friends- I have plans and there will be themed trees (notice that is plural) with sets of ornaments one day in my home.

Lauri said...

The only cookie exchange I went to had 12 people and you got half a dozen of each kind. That was awesome.
As the the tree. I have gotten over wanting a Martha Stewart Tree, I am just not a Martha Stewart kind of girl. Mine has a general color scheme, of sorts. At least it did before I had kids. Now they get a new ornament in their stocking each year and my mom sends them a special ornament each year so there is no simblance of a theme left. They are at least cute regardless of the fact that now my tree is covered with Sesame Streeet, Hello Kitty, Care Bears, Dora, etc... I have thus far, however, stayed away from the I-made-this-for-the-tree-at-school-mom ornaments. They go straight to the I-love-it-so-much-I-want-to-keep-it-forever box.

Anonymous said...

I haven't been to a cookie exchange for the same reasons you listed!

I'm funny about my tree too...Last year, I didn't even decorate it b/c I didn't want to fight the kids rearranging it every day. They solved that by emptying their toy room and decorating my tree, complete with socks on each branch (in case it is cold, mom)! This year, i bought them their own tree to decorate and re-decorate as many times as they want. Now, I just can't get up the energy to do my own themed tree! Maybe next year? :)