Mother's Day 2009: "Drop In & Decorate"

The past few years I have not looked forward to Mother's Day at all. I have some very important women in my life who are Mothers, but my Mom is no longer here. I lost her to breast and lung cancer three years ago. Also, I struggled with infertility for four years. The loss of my Mom, more infertility treatments than I would like to remember, along with three pregnancy losses, has made me want to skip over the second Sunday in May. This year, though, Mother's Day is going to be different!

I made a goal in December that I would start a food blog, cook and bake more, and photograph it as I went along. I needed something positive to focus my energy on instead of focusing on what I did not have. The concept of the blog started two years ago in an effort to chronicle my journey of continuing my Mom's tradition of baking many different kinds of Christmas cookies and sharing them with family and friends. My first blog, My Mom's Christmas Cookies, was only shared with a few people and after the cookies were done did not think much of doing anything with it. Last Christmas, after bringing over a tray of cookies to our neighbors, my young neighbor who is battling leukemia asked for some of the recipes. Instead of just writing them up I decided it was time to move forward on my idea of a food blog and post them there. That way, I would always have them in one place and could share with others and easily refer to them. I had no idea what I was doing, but geez, could it be that hard???

My blog has been a lot of fun to date. I must admit, it is a lot of work! Trying a new recipe or sharing an old one takes more work as there are pictures to be taken, food to be staged, and a post to write up! I try to get at least three recipes posted a week, but the past few weeks work has been busy so I have not spent a lot of time in the kitchen or on the blog! There is so much I want to do to spruce it up a little, but that will come in time.

All of this brings us to Mother's Day 2009 Drop in & Decorate! In honor of my Mom this year, I am hosting a Drop In & Decorate cookie decorating party. Drop In & Decorate is the brainchild of Lydia Walshin, a professional food writer, fellow blogger (be sure to check out Ninecooks & The Perfect Pantry), and cooking instructor from Rhode Island. The concept is really simple: bake some cookies, invite some friends and family over, decorate, and donate to a local human services agency. For this year's Mother's Day event, Lydia is hoping to collectively donate 1,000 cookies (with all the participants across the country) between May 1-10th to shelters, food pantries, kids' programs, senior centers, and local agencies all across the country.

So this year I am not going to mope around on Mother's Day. I am going to honor my Mom, who many of you know was a very good baker, and co-ordinate this event so that I can give back to those who are less fortunate or who could use a brightly decorated cookie made with a lot of love to put a smile on their face!

If you are interested in learning more about this year's event or hosting a party, please visit Lydia's site at: Drop In & Decorate

P.S. Check out some of the cookies decorated over the years at the Rhode Island events: Photos

4/18 Update: Our cookies will be donated to the following organizations this year:

New Hope: A local agency that works to end domestic violence
Franklin Senior Center
St. Vincent de Paul Society at St. Mary's Church