Cookies!

 It was about a year ago that the world came crashing down.

Last March was so hard- it was bitter cold, we couldn't leave the house, everything was scary and everyone on edge. 

As we entered this winter, I knew I couldn't endure another depressing state like what we felt last March/April, and I was really worried.

So, for fun, I told the girls we would try to perfect the chocolate chip cookie.

I casually mentioned this on Facebook, and suddenly people from all across the country were sending me recipes- friends I haven't talked to in years. It was amazing that people cared so much about a silly cookie.

But, I also realized that for whatever reason it made people happy and brought people together for something fun.

I decided we would make it a contest. Some friends suggested making a cookie bracket. I'm not tech savvy, but Ben made it for us.

Here's the bracket, with recipes included:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15bO0ZIhpf3pwx9j5oDajqJluJQJW1t0NTX43XBRybpc/edit#gid=0

We started with 12 recipes. Each week, the girls and I make the recipes for the week. Then, we deliver cookies to multiple families along with a scoring sheet for judging. The families send us their results, we calculate the scores, and announce the winners.

This week was our second round of semi-finals. In two weeks we will have the finals.

It has turned out to be a nice distraction, and we have brought a lot of smiles to families in our area. It turns out, our own original recipe that we have been making for years may be the overall winner. Which would be hilarious. 

Either way, I'm glad we have been able to bring joy to others.

Here's some of our cookie creations. For the record, we are all a little sick of chocolate chip cookies: