Every year my neighborhood has a Christmas decorating contest. All the parents with young kids get into it the most because, not only do they have the neighbors to please, they also have their little ones to please. It has become a great tradition in the town because every year someone completely surprises us with their creativity. Not only does it make a beautiful drive through the town it also brings everyone together to discuss the challenges they went through like adding the star to the chimney or the plastic Santa to the roof.

Every year the winners are awarded with a fun Christmas award to display in their home. Many keep their Christmas award out all year and others only display them around Christmas time to match the decor. The neat thing about this whole event is that it brings the community together in a fun competitive way. Once the Christmas season is over it is always sad to see the bare homes once again but excites you even more about the following year.

Every fall my mediate family gets together for an annual cookie bake off. We try to out do each others cookie creation yet enjoy the fun filled atmosphere. We each bake around 5 dozen cookies so everyone can take home 1/2 a dozen and the recipe. It’s fun to taste test each cookie and award the winner the cookie bake off trophy.

Many make the same cookies year after year and other don’t bake at all. They decide to purchase cookies from a bakery and are automatically disqualified but don’t mind because they only want to be a part of the fun. In the end we thank them for delicious cookies over their poor efforts to cook.

I believe this year will be our 7th annual cookie event but only my 3rd time baking up a batch. In years past I took part in baking with my mom rather than preparing my own. Now that I am out of the house and on my own I have to create my own cookies to enter into the competition. In years past I made simple chocolate covered pretzels and Oreos. This year I want to go for the award. I have already started searching for that special cookie. I think it will be fun to winning the 7th annual cookie bake off award. Wish me luck!