Tradition: Family Bakes Over 1,500 Cookies Each Holiday

Christmas cookies. It is a holiday tradition for most, but for one family, it is a week long event.

Every holiday season since 1995, Jackson County’s Lucy Brown and daughter Sheri Price prep, bake and package over 1,500 homemade cookies. Brown said the generosity began with her mother.

“She used to bake cookies and give them to the hospital employees in Detroit, Michigan, and I just kind of carried on this baking with a lot of her recipes,” Brown said. “Then, my daughter came into the picture.”

Brown said she starts with roll up cookies early in the week. Then, Price comes for the weekend and the baking begins. All in all, every cookie is ready to go by the end of the week.

“Over the years, we have these favorite recipes that takes days,” Brown said. “Two or three days for roll up cookies and making four or five recipes. So now that I am retired, I start earlier in the week like on Tuesday or Wednesday and get some of the cookies that last long out of the way.”

A mixture a neighbors, friends and church goers receive the holiday goodies. Brown said while she does love the joy of giving, her favorite part is making memories with her daughter.

“She is a CPA, and she is quite busy raising her son and living over an hour from me,” Brown said. “It is some mother daughter time.”

This year, the family duo baked 1,575 cookies. Brown said the family record stands at over 2,000 cookies baked in 2010.