The idea of a holiday cookie exchange conjures up “Fun, Frolicking, Festiveness, and Frivolity” but there’s another reason I will forever call the events I planned the “F-word Cookie Exchange.” I think it will become abundantly clear when I tell you the two groups with which I attempted to organize these recent nightmares. My Writer’s Round Table and my Group Therapy.
Let’s listen in, shall we?
Writer’s Round Table Cookie Exchange
Me: I know! Next time we meet, let’s each bring a plate of cookies for one of those fun trades, ok?
Member 1: Great, I’ll pick up a variety pack at Costco.
Member 2: Uh…you have to bake to be in a cookie exchange.
Member 1: Really? That’s funny. You don’t write, yet you’re in our Round Table.
Me: C’mon folks, be nice. This is supposed to be just for fun.
Member 3: Why should I put major time and effort creating War & Peace cookies if someone else just brings Fifty Shades of Grey cookies.
Me: (Trying not to picture a Lady Finger handcuffed to the bedpost) I guess that’s true. If we wanted store bought cookies, we could just head to the market.
Member 1: I prefer to spend my time using a pen, not a pin.
Me: A pin?
Member 1: A rolling pin.
Member 3: You could always pick up those pre-made slice n’ bakes and just plop them onto cookies sheets.
Member 1: That’s cheating. And I feel that the Pillsbury Dough Boy is not a fully fleshed out character. What’s his true motivation for squealing when someone pokes him in the tummy? And shouldn’t he have an antagonist?
Me: Okay, seriously???
Member 4: Did you know that Ernest Hemingway adored his mother’s Toll House cookies so much it inspired his book title, “For Whom The Bell TOLLS?”
Me: I didn’t know that. You smart cookie, you!
Member 4: Nah, that’s pure fiction — I just made it up. Pretty good, eh? Don’t steal that. Speaking of, I call dibs on Oreos. Nobody else better plagiarize.
Member 2: You can’t copyright a sandwich cookie.
Me: You know what? Let’s forget this whole thing and stick with writing. A cookie exchange was a half-baked idea.
Member 1: Yeah, and you get those by the (baker’s) dozen.
Group Therapy Cookie Exchange
Me: We’ve all become so close and understanding of one another’s issues. What do you say we have a festive cookie exchange next time we meet? Everyone brings a platter with 3.5 dozen, ok?
Mr. OCD: I really can’t think about odd numbers. Can we round up to 4 dozen? I would feel so much safer if things were even numbers.
Ms. Germaphobe: Can we make a pact that everyone wears gloves while we bake?
Mrs. Agoraphobic: I will only be able to attend if the cookies are distributed in my own home.
Miss Panic Attack: I’m starting to feel quite anxious that I might burn them all.
Mr. OCD: Just check the oven every 30 seconds, like I do.
Miss Chronic Depression: It’s really hard to get motivated for something this heavy. I’ll probably just spend the day sleeping. Although I once tried a cookie recipe called, “Pumpkin, Peanut, Prozac, Percocet Surprise Bites.”
Mr. Low Self-Esteem: My cookies will get pushed to the lonely back row and they’ll all still be there after our meeting. I just know it.
Ms. Borderline Personality: OMG, people! This isn’t all about you. It’s not even about cookies. I’ll confess that I’m sexually drawn to Bakers and Cooks in general and this entire conversation triggers my abandonment issues from the time the Head Chef for Marriott left me alone in Ikea housewares.
Mrs. Binge Eating Disorder: I would like to graciously offer to bake on behalf of everyone else. I have each and every ingredient to make 103 different batches.
Mr. OCD: Can you round down to 102 batches? I would feel so much safer if . .
Therapist: I’m sorry, but that’s all the time we have for our session today. Good work everyone. Next week we’ll discuss favorite childhood cookie brands. Be prepared to feel a bit unsettled if Chips Ahoy comes up–but I’ll be right here with you the entire time and we’ll walk through it together.
Hahaha loved this one! =) It brings me back to one night at a potluck dinner when people brought store bought food that they just put into their own casserole dishes and tried to pass off as homemade. We were all supposed to make our assigned dessert or entree or side with our own hands…a recipe we would then exchange with the others after the meal. Obviously those who brought store bought had a lot of explaining to do after the meal. LOL
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I’ll just call you Cookie if I may ? 😀 ❤
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This is funny! I could easily relate to the group therapy session! Haha! Thought I’d seen myself from all of them! In reality, sounds like the people I work with 😉
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Thank you. About 80% of this really happened in a women’s support group I run. We all got in a huge fight over a petty cookie exchange!
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Who thought of that cookie exchange, anyways?! Stern look.
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Reblogged this on and commented:
A funny cookie exchange… 😉
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Thank so much for coming here and sharing!
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So funny and cleverly written! Sometimes a cookie is just a cookie…but usually it’s my lunch!
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Haha to your last line. Thank you! The idea came from reality when I went to a cookie exchange for busy moms and they were all store bought.
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You’re funny.
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Thank you – – but I think you just share my wacky sense of humor!
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Can I join one of your writer’s group? I make awesome batches of cookies. My Macbeths are to kill for. My Great Gatsbys are very rich. My Oliver Twists always leave people wanting more. And my Sun Also Rises, man they look awesome. Seems everybody loves that they are mooning the cookie eaters. So you think I can join?
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Clever comment, as always!! You’re totally in!
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Cookie, cookie, cookie.
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That was a good example of how to take a simple fun idea and complicate it into a chore. Just reading it makes me laugh and shake my head at the same time. Although, it’s comforting to know that this was completely made up. It was made up, correct? If not I say you take the Peanut butter and thumbprints and make a run for the door.
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LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! Hilarious!
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Awww, thanks so much you flatterer, you!
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Hahaha. Making me laugh as usual.
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Always an honor when you visit me here!
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Loved this! However, I realize I belong in the second group. While reading, I started to stress over which kind of cookies I would bake if I were in the group!
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We might put you in both groups.
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I guess we can fit cookies and depression in the same blog if making and baking them is required . Oh, the anxiety!
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Hmmm. Not a fan of the cookie exchange either, but I am of your blog. Happy Holidays!
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