Another year of over indulging. Another year of amazing cookies, and a little, just a little, unspoken competition. More cameraderie, I’d like to think. Another year of seeing our friend’s children grow a few more inches. Another year of welcoming new friends into our lives. Another year of opening our home to loved ones, another year of laughing and catching up on all that has happened.

We paid tribute to John Hughes, writer, director of movies that define moments of high school in the 80s: Ferris Buehler’s Day Off, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, Planes, Trains and Automobiles. He holds a special place with some of us because we graduated from the same high school he attended, Glenbrook North High School.

So, our friends brought their best cookies. We tried to name them accordingly, too, (i.e. Cookies-when-you’re-“Home Alone”, or “Ferris’s thumbprint cookies”, Sloane’s Sugar Cookies, Blaine’s Butterscotch shortbread, Abe Froman cookie) Still, it was a Christmas cookie swap, so if the creative mood didn’t strike them, it was okay.

After sharing two dozen to sample, we swapped six dozen (plus some leftovers) more. Seventeen households/families… it was quite a party! We recognized the best theme-related, best tasting, best decorated, best-in-show, and best haiku.

See some pictures here taken by my brother-in-law and my pictures below. If you roll your cursor over the pictures, you should be able to see their names. Want recipes? Let me know. Enjoy!