My Christmas Picks for 2014

Here's a couple of my favorite gift ideas for this year ~ just in case you are still looking for that last-minute Christmas gift ~

 

I happened to run across these adorable 

holiday cookie jars this year at Pier 1.  

Now, before you jump all over me for saying "holiday" instead of "Christmas", there's a reason for that.  These are not just for Christmas.  One of the reasons they were attractive to me was that I could give or send them early, and they can be used to bring cookie joy for the entire month of December, and on into New Years ~ or the entire holiday season, if you will.

The snowman was the first to catch my eye; but then I bought out my local store (that would be just the one snowman ~ 'cause I'm talkin' about tiny little St. George here); and then it seems I bought out Pier 1 online (last time they checked their database for me, there were only 2 left for distribution on the entire west coast;)  so your best chance of finding one, come to think of it, is at your local Pier 1!

But the "presents" cookie jar is equally cute,  I think.

~ Plus  ~  

You have the added enjoyment of knowing that this gift will be "present" to share each Christmas for many years to come.

My friend V was the one who sponsored this whole cookie jar theme for me this year.  Many years back, she used to bake cookies for Christmas like a woman possessed.  She didn't just bake for hours.  She baked for days and days on end.  She had a long line of 6 foot tables set up in her dining / living room which were laden with, groaning under the weight of pounds and pounds of home-baked cookies.  Christmas cookies, traditional cookies, and everything in-between.  Brown batter, white batter, nuts, chocolate chips, no nuts, you name it.  

So if you dropped in to pay a visit, or if you got an invitation to her house during the holidays, you would always leave with a plate of home-baked cookies for your house from hers.  Baked with love.

Then, following the holidays (I'm getting to the cookie jar thing, finally), she would have a "cookie clearance" event.  On your very first time to this event, she would give you a festive holiday cookie jar to fill up with all your favorites from her cookie extravaganza.  Previous visitors, of course, have their cookie jars at home already, anxiously waiting for their empty belly's to be filled with this year's treasures, which were transported with care on heaping holiday plates. 

This was the inspiration for the Pier 1 cookie jar's being my "girl's gift" this year.  Unfortunately for MY friends, however, I'm not a baker.  Like, not at all.   So a full belly for these little cookie monsters would mean a trip to the local bakery.   But still ~ it's a cute (and lasting) gift idea.  
 

Amidst my Rocha madness, my Father Christmas cookie jar from my friend V graces my kitchen counter every year, with warm thoughts and memories of those Christmas's gone by that were filled with friends, laughter, hugs, and lots and lots of wonderful cookies.   Now I have a daughter-in-law who's an excellent baker, and her oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are happily residing in my cookie jar.  (At least for a few days.....)  New traditions mixed with old ~ I like it!

So thanks, Miss V, for this connection, for this lasting tradition ~ and for this great Christmas gift idea that I hope will sponsor more of the same.