Christmas Traditions and Store Bought Cookies

Every year we bake homemade chocolate chip cookies and decorate the tree for Christmas. It's become a holiday tradition for our family. Although there is something you need to know about me. I am not the world's best baker. I am a terrible cook but I can bake pretty good most of the time. However, tonight was NOT my night. My chocolate chip cookies turned out to be more like "chocolate chip pancakes". I have no idea what I did wrong and this has happened to me on more than one occasion. So I ended up having to go to the store to buy store bought cookie dough. Oh well, it's better than no cookies right?! Larry handed me $6.00 and said, "Buy as much cookies as you can for $6.00." So I did. I knew that the total was going to be close to $6.00 but I didn't know for sure. So I grabbed the cookie dough and I walked up to the cashier and said, "Well I've got $6.00 and I'm not sure if that'll cover it but we'll find out." She rang them up and I needed 8 more cents. So I rummaged around in my purse for some changed. It figures that the day I need my change is the day I don't have it on me. So I say to the cashier, "Oh well, I'll just go and put one roll back." She says not to put it back because she has a quarter in her pocket. I tell her thank you. Then she says, "Here I'll even let you keep the change." She hands it to me, we laugh, I say thank you and leave. On the way out the door I put the change in the "bell ringers" bucket. When I got home I explained to Larry what happened and we carry on with our Christmas tradition. Later I decided to bake some cookies for the kind cashier. I decided to give her a Christmas card to go with the cookies. In my card I explained our family tradition, said thank you, and taped a quarter on the inside of the card. I then told Larry that I was going to take the cashier some cookies and a card to say thank you. Larry giggled about it and thought I was silly, I guess. Oh well, in my opinion there are too few "Thank You's" being said these days. Tara, the cashier, was VERY SURPRISED! I caught her off guard as she was talking with her co-workers. I handed her the tin of cookies along with the card and explained that they were for her to say thank you for her kindness. She smiled really big and said thank you as her face turned red. Sorry Tara I didn't mean to make you turn red. Oops. I drove by the store as I left the parking lot and saw her still smiling as she read my card aloud to her co-workers. So maybe a simple "thank you" was all that may have been necessary for Tara giving me a quarter but sometimes it feels good to go out of your way just to say thank you. Who knows that may be something that Tara will take to heart and pass along to someone else. Have you ever seen that movie called "Pay It Forward"? It's all about kindness. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.