{"id":264,"date":"2008-11-03T19:51:00","date_gmt":"2008-11-03T19:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2008\/11\/let-the-cookie-extravaganza-begin.html"},"modified":"2008-11-03T19:51:00","modified_gmt":"2008-11-03T19:51:00","slug":"let-the-cookie-extravaganza-begin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2008\/11\/let-the-cookie-extravaganza-begin.html","title":{"rendered":"Let the Cookie Extravaganza Begin!"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s that time of year.<\/p>\n

“Election Season?”<\/p>\n

Well, yeah, but that’s not what I’m talking about…<\/p>\n

“Autumn? Leaves falling? Raking? I didn’t know there were leaves to rake in Nebraska…”<\/p>\n

Yes, that too…but keep with me here…<\/p>\n

It’s COOKIE TIME!<\/p>\n

“So soon?”<\/p>\n

In the Vollmer house, yes. Actually, this year is going to be extra early because I’ll be in Florida for most of December for some Air Force training.<\/p>\n

But I typically do the cookie thing a little early anyway…<\/p>\n

In 1997, I spent Christmas in Tuzla, Bosnia. It was surreal, the amount of kindness that gets showered upon servicemembers from all over the country! We had stacks of care packages taller than me in one corner of our weather office, filled with sweets, treats and books\/magazines! And the “any servicemember” mail we received was so touching. Wasn’t I cute back then? I guess I was about 24 years old. <\/p>\n

Note: This picture was part of a media photo shoot, a story was written up for the base paper about me and the work I was doing on the base.  One of those “in case there’s nothing better to report” kinds of things, but I don’t think it ever ran.  The hard copy print of this picture is one of the first digital photo printouts I’d ever seen, incidentally.<\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"
I’ve tried to send cookies to deployed folks every Christmas season since.<\/p>\n

So this is the 11th year, and even after 9\/11, when the military shut down “any servicemember” mail, I’ve known people in the hostile file zones every year…with a definitive address to send cookies.<\/p>\n

That being said, I want to get the cookies sent out by the US Postal Service deadlines<\/a>. One of the recipients this year is in an “093” zip code (within Iraq) so I need to get them mailed by December 4th.<\/p>\n

I’ve typically done the cookies over Thanksgiving weekend, giving me the last week of November to get them mailed out. But this year Thanksgiving is late — so I expect to do the baking the weekend prior to Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n

I have a repertoire of cookies that have proven reliable for shipment to the Balkans and the Middle East over the years, from biscotti<\/a> to oatmeal cookies with Hershey kisses inside<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I will make a full recipe of Neiman Marcus cookies<\/a>. Honestly, I don’t care whether the legend is true or not, the cookies are fantastic and a big hit no matter where they’re sent. I make them nice and small so they don’t fall apart in transit.<\/p>\n

For the past couple years, I’ve attempted to get the boys involved…last year Jake wanted to break all the eggs, and then they both enjoy rolling the oatmeal cookies in the colored sugars. Hopefully this year they can do a little more, like measuring flour and adding ingredients to the bowl.<\/p>\n

I’ll go ingredient shopping next weekend – I even joined Costco<\/a> today, in part because of the outstanding deals on bulk sugar, flour and eggs.<\/p>\n

I’ll keep you posted with pictures later this month!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s that time of year. “Election Season?” Well, yeah, but that’s not what I’m talking about… “Autumn? Leaves falling? Raking? I didn’t know there were leaves to rake in Nebraska…” Yes, that too…but keep with me here… It’s COOKIE TIME! “So soon?” In the Vollmer house, yes. Actually, this year is going to be extra […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[],"tags":[75,8,63,54,621],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ycQ0-4g","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":271,"url":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2008\/11\/the-neiman-marcus-cookie.html","url_meta":{"origin":264,"position":0},"title":"The Neiman Marcus Cookie","date":"26 November 08","format":false,"excerpt":"This is my last cookie posting for the time being. I'm going to the Florida Panhandle on Monday for some AF Training and will be back the weekend before Christmas. Yes, I could think of better times to be away from the family, and I will do what I can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"christmas\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":691,"url":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/12\/the-neiman-marcus-cookie-legend-turned-family-tradition-from-2008-post.html","url_meta":{"origin":264,"position":1},"title":"The Neiman Marcus Cookie: Legend Turned Family Tradition — from 2008 Post","date":"03 December 11","format":false,"excerpt":"Another post from 2008, and the next cookie recipe headed into in my stand mixer this afternoon. \u00a0This isn't really a Christmas cookie, but it's among my most popular (after the Holiday Surprises).****************************I'm not going to waste time going into the legend of the Neiman Marcus cookie. \u00a0I will\u00a0simply \u00a0refer\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"baking\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2770,"url":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2013\/12\/holiday-cookie-roundup.html","url_meta":{"origin":264,"position":2},"title":"Major Mom’s Favorite Holiday Cookie Roundup","date":"04 December 13","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm a one-trick pony: I make the same cookies every year. I've written pretty elaborate posts about them in 2008 and 2011, so this year I just want to round them up for you. Today is the day I plan to address all of my Christmas cards once and for\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","img":{"alt_text":"No matter what cookies we make, there's always some for Santa! What cookies are you making this year?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/IMG_0501-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":270,"url":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2008\/11\/cranberry-almond-biscotti.html","url_meta":{"origin":264,"position":3},"title":"Cranberry Almond Biscotti","date":"26 November 08","format":false,"excerpt":"So as promised, here's some more cookie closeups from the Vollmer House.Cranberry Almond Biscotti. This is one sophisticated cookie...cranberries are always so, well, holiday! What's cool is that the only fat in the cookie is in the eggs (well, the almonds, too, I guess)!!!! So that makes them as healthy\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"christmas\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":690,"url":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/11\/holiday-surprise-cookies-revisit-of-2008-post.html","url_meta":{"origin":264,"position":4},"title":"Holiday Surprise Cookies: Revisit of 2008 Post","date":"30 November 11","format":false,"excerpt":"Instead of recreating a blog post about one of our favorite cookie recipes, I've \"repurposed\" my November 2008 post. \u00a0Many of the commercial links from 2008 had to be changed, so I've updated the links to the recipe, some of the ingredients I like and the cookie-making equipment I recommend.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"baking\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":681,"url":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/11\/getting-in-the-holiday-spirit.html","url_meta":{"origin":264,"position":5},"title":"Getting in the Holiday Spirit…","date":"22 November 11","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been hard this year. \u00a0The media has been inundating us with holiday-related retail commercials and the radio stations are already playing Christmas music. \u00a0I guess it started the same week as Halloween, which seemed pretty crazy to me. \u00a0Has it always been this early?Don't get me wrong...my family and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"baking\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-E55v4QguCU0\/TssM9ld8OuI\/AAAAAAABbts\/MNbh7gfyQa4\/s640\/IMG_0079.JPG?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}