Wow! Another Thanksgiving weekend down. And can I just say, my tummy hurts! Ugh!

Not from all of the delicious, carb-rich food from our two Thanksgivings.

My discomfort is from all the cookies I ate Sunday during our annual cookie baking fest. I mean, this is some SERIOUS Cookie Baking to the Extreme. 

Every year, (starting before I was born), my mom, sister, aunt, cousin, and I bake cookies. A LOT of cookies.Let me break it down for just a sec. We each used to make two kinds. Two dozen per person, per type of cookie. So each of us would make four dozen cookies for five people. 48×5=240 cookies.We also used to bake everything all together in 2-3 days. That much baking, with that many women. (Let that sink in for a moment.)

I don’t care how big your kitchen is, that is some close quarters. And we’re all hopped up on sugar, so forget it!! We’re lucky we’re still friends by the end!

Finally, (after 30 years of trial and error), we decided to simplify things a bit.

First, each of us only bake one type of cookie, (so only 120 cookies per person.)

Second, instead of baking together, we bake at home.

We forego the three day baking event, and get together for one day to have a cookie exchange.

While we’re together, we bake sugar cookies.They happen to be, in my humble opinion, the tastiest, most fun to decorate, and the biggest pain in the ass. Roll, cut out shapes. Flour everywhere. Roll some more. More shapes.

Every year while we decorate them, we watch a Christmas movie. My favorite is Love Actually, (Walking Dead fan? You’ll never look at “Rick” the same after this movie). My second favorite is Elf. It has everything you want in a Christmas movie. It’s cheesy, magical, and heartwarming.

One year we even watched Christmas in Connecticut. That was a memorable one. The sexual innuendos alone are almost enough for a recommendation. Almost. (In case I’m being unclear, I’m saying don’t watch it!)

This year, my little lady got to get in on a bit of the action.She helped me make my Knock You Naked Brownies. She had a lot of fun counting out the caramels for me.That is until she got fixated on the idea of sampling one. At that point I lost her.

She also got to help my mom make Sandies (or Russian Tea Cakes, if you prefer.) Rumor has it, she sampled more dough than mama would have liked.On the big day, she helped with the sugar cookies.Ha! She helped, alright! She cut out a cookie sheet or two’s worth, then she was busy playing in the flour. Because flour is so fun to get all over grandma’s kitchen, obviously!!

I’m just bummed we didn’t get to the decorating part until after she went home. Next year, though. She’ll get to do it all.

In the meantime, here are some of my gems.You can tell I was done by the time I got to these cookies. I enjoy decorating quite a bit at first, then I want it to be over.The detox starts today.

Do you bake Christmas cookies every year? What kind? What types of traditions are you sharing with your little ones?

Thank you for stopping by! Please feel free to join the conversation and leave a comment. Also, if you’d like, you can follow Mama By Fire on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest.

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy:

Christmas Cookie Exchange

Knock You Naked Brownies