The Birth of The Cookie Grandma

The 4-H judge who awarded my chocolate cookies a Red Ribbon would never have believed that someday I would grow-up and become known as, “The Cookie Grandma. Of course, I was only a ten-year-old at the time of the 4-H judging, and since then I’ve learned the secret ingredient. In fact, my own children were the teachers, and I learned quickly. As the years have passed, my grandchildren have been known to manipulate and out-maneuver each other for a batch of my cookies, especially their favorite kind. I now reign as “The Cookie Grandma” and my key ingredient is spelled
L-O-V-E!

I’m not sure how traditions begin, but one gradually evolved for our family on Thursday night. During the years our children were in elementary school and hubby worked the second shift, it was just the kids and me. After early baths, the children would get in their pjs, then we’d watch our favorite TV show, the Waltons. Being a multi-tasked person, I’d also iron, and you guessed it—bake cookies. That was when I first started adding the key ingredient of love to my chocolate chip recipe—their favorite. Unlike the judge, the kids awarded the cookies a Grand-Champion Ribbon. Love always brings rave reviews!

They grew up, as children do, and reminisced about our Thursday night ritual. Now, they’ve blessed my husband and me with grandchildren who also like cookies. I became aware of a grandchild’s fondness for the sweet delicacy when I was baby-sitting with our first grandson, a bouncing baby boy whose smile could melt this grandma’s heart. I think he was nine-months-old at the time—some say six—but I don’t think so. I know he had some teeth. I broke apart an Oreo and gave him a tiny piece. Of course he loved it and rewarded me with an even bigger smile! Not so, his mother. Her response was anything but rewarding. I think it was something like “You gave a six-month-old chocolate? Mom, how could you?”

How could I? Well, that’s what grandmas do—give cookies, not necessarily chocolate, but cookies. If the Oreo was to chocolatey, then I’d just have to bake him some sugar cookies. Out came the recipe box and the cookie baking began!

The years passed swiftly and that little grandson grew to become a soldier who served two tours of duty in the Iraq war. It’s because of him that I officially bear the tag, “The Cookie Grandma.” During his first tour of duty I made cookies and mailed them every month. I always included extra for I thought maybe his buddies would appreciate a few, too. He told me from time to time, when we talked on the phone, that they liked them.

But it wasn’t until we went to our grandson’s welcome home ceremony that I found out how much. He introduced me to some of the guys as the “grandma who made the cookies.” I received many grateful comments. I could see that they had truly appreciated me doing what I do. In the midst of a huge crowd of families and soldiers, more and more of his buddies came up and inquired of my grandson, “Is this the cookie grandma?” and the tag stuck.

I proudly wear the tag. It was during those long months my grandson has been gone that the cookies gave me comfort. Whenever I thought of him in that seemingly forsaken place, surrounded by enemies and the horrors of war, I would picture him receiving the cookies and feeling connected to home. I prayed for him daily and did the only thing I could do—bake his favorite cookies.

When he began his second tour of duty in Iraq, I pulled out the cookie sheets and went to work. Monthly, I mailed about eighteen dozen cookies, always wanting to be sure his buddies were able to share the treat. Repeatedly, they would pass on their appreciation through my grandson phone calls. It gave me great joy to know that in their long, long tours of duty, I was adding just a little happiness from home. What a thrill it was to bake his next batch of cookies when we were preparing to welcome him home. This batch would be delivered and eaten on American soil.