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{thankful week} traditions

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{Thankful Week} Traditions | gimmesomestyleblog.com

My husband’s family has a 25 year long tradition of baking cookies. Every year on the Saturday before Thanksgiving all of the wives of the family get together and bake. This is not your normal ‘get together and make a few cookies day’ We bake over 1800 cookies in. one. day. We usually try to start the day around 8:30-9:00am. Each person brings 2 kinds of cookies to bake. One of the cookies will have the dough already made, and the other dough will be made that day. Here is a view of the ingredients table.

{Thankful Week} Traditions | gimmesomestyleblog.com

That’s a whole lotta cookie prep going on here! :)

And here’s the group:

{Thankful Week} Traditions | gimmesomestyleblog.com

Throughout the day we spend time sharing stories and memories, and just spending some much needed time together. It is the kick-off to the holiday season for us and gets us into that “Christmas spirit!” (Who couldn’t be after 12 hours of smelling delicious cookies and listening to Christmas music all day!)

It usually takes the entire day to bake all of the cookies so the tradition also includes dinner, which is provided by the husbands. We all eat together and take a break from the baking for awhile, then head back upstairs to finish baking and divvy up the cookies!

{Thankful Week} Traditions | gimmesomestyleblog.com

{Thankful Week} Traditions | gimmesomestyleblog.com

And of course this is the time that the kids love the most!

{Thankful Week} Traditions | gimmesomestyleblog.com

How to start your own tradition:

  • Find something that you enjoy doing and make time to do it!
  • Encourage others to join you and make it something that they can be involved in. Traditions usually are formed because it is something that other people love to do and feel included in.
  • Set a time of year or specific date that will work with each person’s schedule.
  • Don’t stress over it–traditions are formed because they are fun and are loved over and over each year!

We may make more cookies than you would want to make and maybe it sounds overwhelming to you–start small! Have each person bring a dozen cookies to bake and split them up  for a small cookie exchange. What matters most is that time has been set aside to enjoy each others company. Hopefully this will inspire you to create your own tradition!

What is a favorite tradition of yours? Anyone else make mass amounts of cookies to share?

 

 

 

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Liz Stevens

My name is Liz. I dwell in the "Paris of the Plains" (aka Kansas City) and am married to my highschool sweetheart. Together we have a dog named Veda and a 1976 VW bus. Both of which we love like they are our children. :) I write about all things pretty. I hope to leave people feeling hopeful and inspired as I share my little ideas with the interweb. Enjoy! Follow me on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter.

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13 comments on “{thankful week} traditions”

  1. As a non-cookie baker, Imma gonna ask you to explain the 1800 part. That’s so many cookies! What do you do with them all?

    • We usually give them out as gifts and always have them on a plate when guests come over! We keep them in the freezer though to keep them fresh through the holiday season.

  2. I still can’t believe you all bake THAT. MANY. COOKIES. Amazing!!!

    (But I’m up for taste-testing any time you want!) ;)

  3. And my favorite tradition would probably be watching Christmas Vacation with my family every Thanksgiving night after we’re all stuffed. It’s cheesy, it’s 80’s, but it’s our tradition. :)

    • We always watch A Christmas Story…usually they have it on repeat the entire day of Thanksgiving and Christmas and we just had it on all day watching whatever part is on when we are around the tv. And we definitely squeeze in a Christmas Vacation watch during the holidays as well!

  4. growing up, we used to paint christmas cookies every year and then, mail them to our relatives who lived out of town. as younger kids, my brothers & i, were all about the sprinkles but as we got older the painted designs became the focus and we created some pretty artistic cookies.

  5. I hope to benefit from all this cookie baking ; )

  6. This will be the first year that I’m “officially” part of my in-laws cookie baking day! We have a lot more people participating, so we have around 1800 cookies, but we sure don’t make as many per person! Looks like you had a good time :).

  7. Im one of the original bakers involved in Cookie Baking Day. My husband always takes at least one plate of cookies to work. This year we made ten different kinds of cookies so the cookie trays are always colorful. We love this tradition!

  8. What a great day. The cutie in the braids is anxiously awaiting her opportunity to join in!

  9. I love it