Gingerbread Season

For some reason, gingerbread cookies are associated with the Christmas season. According to Wikipedia, this is a more of an American thing, to serve gingerbread in the winter time, perhaps because it tends to be rather a "heavy" cookie or cake and doesn't really suit the light and fluffy summer season. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gingerbread. Unfortunately, this write up doesn't quite explain how the cookies came to be part of the Christmas tradition but perhaps that is just one of life's great mysteries.

Last week, this Christmas card arrived at our office, sent by one of the law firms with which we do business. Every "cookie" has a picture of one of their staff members. It's such a cute card and we all got a chuckle when we saw it, going through the faces, trying to pick out the people we know (although they had their names printed on each one in very tiny print, just in case people couldn't recognize them with their new icing hairstyle, I guess). Apparently they all liked the way their pictures turned out, except for one guy, whose cookie doesn't have any pants. Perhaps, as a lawyer, he's a little concerned his clients will be nervous he'll showing up wearing just a vest and three gumdrop buttons to court one day. :)

This week, our annual Christmas gift from this firm arrived. You know how a lot of corporate gifts involve a gift basket or a bottle of alcohol? Not these people. They are a classy and unique bunch. They send a tray full of cookies. Not just any cookies either. One of the lawyer's husbands actually bakes the cookies himself. Can you imagine? I don't know how many of these trays they send out but you gotta believe, that's a lot of cookies for one guy to make. They are delicious too!

Lo and behold, this year's tray featured two special gingerbread cookies just like the ones on the Christmas card. Isn't that fabulous?

The funny thing is, the majority of those cookies disappeared within about an hour of delivery, even though it was just before lunch (the guy in my office who suggested we wait until after lunch to open the tray was quickly outvoted) and the rest were gone by late afternoon. All except for...the two gingerbread cookies. And then, next time I looked (for the tray was conveniently, albeit dangerously, located only a few feet away from my office door), the pink dress cookie was gone (I suspect my boos took it as she left, as we'd been discussing those little silver balls people use for decoration - I thought they were called "hundreds and thousands" and my boss only knows them as "dragées"). When it was time for me to leave, Jeanne's cookie was the only one left. Of course, I had to bring it home with me, I couldn't leave it there all alone to get stale and soft overnight.

Which reminds me, it's time for a snack! Yum.

Jeanne, whose face adorns this cookie, is married to the guy who makes the cookies. Unfortunately, I don't know his name but well done, sir, and thank you!