Sleigh Bells Ring... Thanks for Listening...well reading

Many years ago while in college, my mother suggested that I host a “Christmas Cookie Swap” party. A what?! I looked online. No mention. I looked in cookbooks. No mention. What on earth are you talking about. My mother explained that her mother (my Nana) and her friends use to have them all the time.

So I hosted my first Cookie Swap party. The next year I found a book Betty Crocker's Christmas Exchange Book (http://www.bettycrocker.com). It was like a minimag at the checkout at our food store. Hmmmm, there it is! Then the next addition was the Wilton line at Michael's Arts and Crafts (http://www.michaels.com ) started carrying Cookie awards and cookie boxes and more. It seems after about my fourth yearly Cookie Swap party suddenly they have come into vogue again. Everywhere you turn someone is talking about ideas for a “Cookie Exchange” as the magazines now refer to it. Love that my mom was ahead of the time. I have honestly lost count at how many Cookie Exchanges I have hosted. But I have loved them all. So here is the recap of this year's party – with a Sleigh bell/Country Christmas theme.

The inspiration for this year's theme came from a gift last Christmas from a friend. She gave me a large container of red sleigh bells. The brought to mind all those lovely Currier and Ives scenes that so beautifully represent the holiday season. So after several stages of visual word association in my head – I conjured up mental images of sleighs, sleigh bells, vintage parcels of brown paper with beautiful ribbons, mason jars of cinnamon and sugar, and more. So the party prep began.

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At the dollar store I found a great brown and white gingham printed table cloth. Grabbed one for each of our tables. Add a little greenery – things are simply decorated. I wanted brown and red gingham ribbon. This year I could not find it anywhere. My husband joked that he is beginning to believe that the manufacturers are reading my blog and borrowing ideas the next year. (Isn't he sweet!) But watch next year, when I no longer need it, the correct ribbon will be available. So I settled for a nice green and red plaid ribbon from the Christmas Tree store. At $2 a roll they couldn't be passed up. 

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Along the way I found a slightly nicer ribbon (red and beige gingham). This now adorns our Christmas tree. From an ice tea party (see former blog post), I still had plastic orange and lemon slices. I made a small slit in each and added them to the branches of the Christmas Tree. Our Christmas Tree Store had brown sleigh bells with gingham ribbon ties on a garland of old fashioned style string. Of course several of these were immediately purchased at $3 a garland.

At a Michael's Arts and Crafts, I found a lovely gold sleigh. I filled it with greenery and mason jars containing greenery, salt (to look like snow) and a gold faux candle. At the Christmas Tree Store I found snow blankets $2.99 a bag. And each bag when unrolled really has quite a lot of “snow” in it. They are perfect.

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This lined the landing in our apartment hallway. A wooden sled welcomed guests and wished them Happy Holidays. A wooden set of mittens hung in the hall window also cast a warm hello to guests.

Now what party is a party without favors. Of course since this is a Cookie Swap (Or Cookie Exchange as others like to call it now), the was the obligatory box for cookies. This year's was beige with mini gingerbread on the pattern. A large tin of Cookie cutters served as another favor. And then I visited my favorite dollar store, The 1$ Zone on Central Avenue. They have such great items. There I found (http://www.merchantcircle.com/business/One.Dollar.Zone.914-793-7640 ) wooden spatulas (serving utensil kind), plastic mini spatulas (the removing batter from a bowl kind), and aprons. One for each of my friends was purchased and tied up with cinnamon sticks and ribbon.

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Since it was expected to be a chilly afternoon in the forecast, I made a big crockpot of vegetarian chili and another of cheese tortellini in chicken broth. Of course we had to have some snacks. Gingerbread flavored popcorn was interesting find. Regular popcorn. Cheese platter. The usual.

Then it was party time. My friends thankfully arrived despite the threat of snow and the cold. They each brought cookies to share. And recipes – or information about the bakery. And we sat around enjoying a hot chocolate bar, chili, pasta and warm thoughts. Thanks for coming girls. Hope everyone had a great time!

Cookies Galore - Fete Avec Moi

  

Favors - Fete Avec Moi

Facebook inspired Front Door Decoration - Fete Avec Moi