Mother's Day 2009

On May 3rd, I hosted my first Drop In & Decorate party in memory of my Mom for Mother's Day 2009. It was a huge success! You can read more about the background of my event by going to this post. Be sure to visit the Drop In & Decorate site to learn more about Lydia's nonprofit and read about all the events across the country in honor of Mother's Day. I baked about 215 sugar cookies and my Mom's friend added to that by making 8 or 9 dozen almond sugar cookies. From there, my friends showed up and decorated away! The cookies were donated to the following local agencies:

• New Hope; a domestic violence agency in Attleboro, MA
  
• Franklin Senior Center
• St. Vincent de Paul Society/St. Mary's Church Franklin
• Bellingham Senior Center
  

I had been planning the event for about a month and then all of a sudden it was here! I took last Friday off to bake and then Monday off in order to individually wrap and deliver the cookies. I must say I did start Friday a little teary eyed thinking about my Mom, but it was an opportunity to remember why this event was so important to me. If she were still alive she would have been quite thrilled to be part of it. Baking and giving back. Those are two words that bring back memories of my Mom.

Over the next week, I will post some tips that I learned through my baking, frosting creation, and cookie decorating for this event. Lydia has a "how to" document on her website that is very helpful on how to get started to host your own Drop In & Decorate event. I have some additional tips on rolling out dough, mixing frosting colors, and, transferring frosting to squeeze bottles. Lydia was a huge support and was always quick to respond to my email questions. Thank you Lydia!!!

Think about hosting your own Drop In & Decorate event. It does not have to be big scale or fancy. You don't have to make cookies from scratch. You can buy slice and bake sugar cookies and decorate those with frosting. Royal Icing helps create some really beautiful cookies. It is very forgiving and you can create simple designs with as little as two colors and end up with stunning cookies! Matter of fact you can use any frosting you want! Trust me, you will truly make a difference in someone's day.

For all the Mom's out there Happy Mother's Day to you today! For those who have lost their Mom's be good to yourself today. For my Mom, I miss you every second of each day and continue to try to adapt to life without you here. Each day, though, you continue to help guide me on this journey called life. I am very fortunate to have had such a wonderful Mother who instilled the value of being kind and good to others in me. For that, I thank you more than words could ever say.

Please take a stop by Flickr (click here) to see some photos. You can view individually or in the upper right hand corner you can choose "slideshow". There were just too many too post here!

I will end this post with one of the thank you notes I received:

"Dear Ms. Coullard,

I am an employee of New Hope and wanted to thank you for your generous donation. Laura told me about your project in honor of your mother who passed away from cancer. What a beautiful way to memorialize your loved one and bring joy to others from what I know must have been a grueling journey for you and your mother.

My beloved sister is currently fighting her battle with cancer. Our family anticipates losing her within the next few months. You have inspired me to create a project of my own to honor my wonderful sister and I truly thank you from the bottom of my heart."