The Cookie Exchange That Got Out of Hand

Our street started a holiday cookie exchange five years ago with six families, each bringing a dozen cookies. This year there were thirty-four families and over four thousand cookies.

It's held in the church basement now, because nobody's house is big enough. There are tables covered in tins and platters as far as the eye can see: gingerbread, sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, Mexican wedding cookies, Polish kolaczki, Indian nankhatai, Italian pizzelles, and one batch of "experimental" bacon maple cookies that caused a minor scandal.

Everyone walks around the tables with an empty box, filling it up. Kids sneak cookies when their parents aren't looking. The grandmothers compare recipes and gently criticize each other's baking.

I came home with six dozen cookies and a stomachache. It's my favorite night of the year.