I can’t believe it’s Christmas already.  BF and I have spent about 12 hours in cars over the past few days and now that we are finally in Syracuse, NY we are relieved.  We spent all last week in a whirlwind of events, shopping, baking, and generally making our last week at home seem like a blur.  We started the week off on Sunday afternoon in Harvard Sq overwhelmed by the choices and fine tuning that Christmas gifts for our immediate family entailed. And those sneaky secret Santa gifts for the rest of the family – those were absolutely terrible as well but for different reasons, challenging to pick out when you only see someone once a year.  When we did eventually emerge from Harvard Square empty handed and irritated with each other we realized the Christmas tree was crooked, and proceeded to enact a scene from the Christmas Story while trying to fix it.

Monday and Tuesday were quiet in comparison to the rest of the week, hanging out at home inert watching movies and generally chilling. But then it was Wednesday, there was a cookie swap (hosted by myself) coming up and I had no cookies yet.  I panicked and made an excess (6 dozen, give or take 2), Jackson Pollock Florentines and Mountain Top Coconut Macaroons (recipes forthcoming I forgot the hard copies on vacation :0), they were delicious, I also used this opportunity to dip peanut butter balls in chocolate (since I wasn’t cooking enough that evening as it was – ha-ha).

Thursday was the grand adventure however – the Boston Blogger Cookie Swap!  This was my first ever cookie swap and it was awesome.  I started the evening by packing up my car with all the things I was bringing (plates, napkins, index cards for cookie id, Sharpies et c.)  and then driving into Harvard to meet the lovely Elizabeth and then head to Whole Foods, who had kindly offered their community room as a space for us to use (Thanks, David!).  We arrived at WF to see Lara waiting patiently for us with a bag of cookies and her phone out, tweeting (Yay, Boston bloggers who tweet!).  We went in and I set up.  As more bloggers trickled in cookies started to appear making us all hungry and eager for delicious.  Mmmm Cookies.

We all sampled everything and decided our favorite was Lara’s Oatmeal Brown Sugar all the way (a cookie I wouldn’t feel guilty eating for breakfast!).  It was so much fun to sample all of the cookies and then bring them home!  I loved attending, and hosting, the cookie swap and I am hoping to make this a Boston Blogger tradition in the coming years.  How else are you able to try such awesome cookies without making them?  All of the cookies were truly delicious too, trying to choose a favorite wasn’t easy there were Egg-nog cookies (Thanks Poor-Girl Gourmet!), Coconut Snowballs, Chestnut Cookies, meringues, biscotti,  and so many more!  A huge thanks to all the bloggers who participated in the Swap it was super fun to get to hang with you all one on one in a less hectic setting!

Thanks also goes out to my Big sister who came and acted as designated photographer, so I was able to have photos while still being social. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and eats some magnificent cookies (try these salted caramel thumbprints, they are awesome!  Tania made them for the swap)!