Hello from your friends in Reno, Nevada and my 7th Annual Christmas Cookie Exchange!

My theme this year was taken from one of Robin's newsletters--the Red & White Poinsettia: One gal won having made and wore a poinsettia crown.

The cookies this year,as usual, were amazing and extraordinary! I had 2 prizes this year: One for the Best Cookie that looks the most "Christmasey". The other was for the Best Cookie that "looks like it tastes good!" (since we don't taste cookies just swap) The same gal who won for Best Cookie the previous 2 years won again this year for her extreme effort of making the little rolly polly Santa cookies.

The cookies that "looked like they taste good (each gal described her cookie ingredients) was the little round Eggnog Cookies with white icing and green and red candy decorations. I, personally, gave special recognition to the cookies made by my friend who was to attend coming from Texas but didn't make it to the party because she was stranded on the plane on the runway for 5 hours in Las Vegas during the freak snowstorm that happened on Dec.17--my party date. She didn't get here until the next day with her cookies. She had made sugar cookies with cut outs of the state of Texas, Texas cowboy boots she decorated as Christmas stockings and Texas longhorn steers.

Each cookie had candy stained glass windows in the middle and she had individually wrapped each of the 4 dozen cookies and packed them in bubble wrap. Not one had broken on her way to Reno! She MAY have given my friend Raylene, who won for the Santa cookies, a bit of competition! wink wink.

There were chocolate mint, eggnog, coconut, sugar, pumpkin, German rum glazed, peppermint snowballs, lemon filled poppyseed, chocolate kisses, shortbread, candied cherrry, apricot bars w/grande marnier,and candy cane twists COOKIES!! Oh... and my traditional minestrone soup.

We played the purse scavenger hunt which was a new game for me to play at my party this year--lots of laughs. I also had a new game where I gave out bags to each guest as they arrived which each had a gift inside. The person who got the bag with coal in it could obtain another gift if she decided to sing a Christmas song in front of everyone (she did!). My left/right game included the story that I had made up, but didn't win, from Robin's contest earlier in the year.

There were 3 girls here who had been to my very first party back in 2000: Brenda, Neena and Lorraine. Other attendees were: Raylene, Terry, Kathy, Pam, Janice, Karen, Mary, Christie, Joyce! Thank you girls for joining the fun and providing great cookies!

I, as hostess, am the one in the black sweater with the poinsettia belt I made!

Happy New Year from the cookie party girls in Reno! Thank you for your website and everything in it Robin!

Debbie Stolpman