Blame it on Big Lots

If you are reading this post it means that I survived Cookie Club 2013. Before I get into what Cookie Club is I must tell you how it began. Back in the summer of 2012 I found a book, in Big Lots, by Ann Pearlman called The Christmas Cookie Club. When I opened to the first page I knew this book was for me.
Prologue: We Gather Every Year I am the head cookie bitch and this is my party. This was a Cassi book. Here is a summary of the book.

About The Christmas Cookie Club

Every year at Christmastime, Marnie and her closest girlfriends mark their calendars for a cookie exchange. Everyone brings homemade cookies and a bottle of wine to share, but this year, it’s their stories that are especially important—the passion and hopefulness of new romance, the betrayal and disillusionment some relationships bring, the joys and fears of motherhood, the stress of financial troubles. On this evening, at least, the sisterly love they have for one another rises above it all. Celebrating courage and joy in spite of hard times and honoring the importance of woman’s friendships as well as the embracing bonds of community, the delightful novel speaks to us all.

I fell in love with this book and could not put it down. So when I finished I asked Jennifer, "hey do you think if I started a cookie club people would be game?" Of course she said yes, she always encourages my hair brained ideas and I love her for that. So I sent out invites to 11 of my closest girlfriends. ( 2 of the ladies were not able to make it though) My girlfriends thought I was bat shit crazy. I asked them to bake 13 dozen cookies....from scratch. Hey that's what the book said to do. See also the cookie has to tell the story of our year. Here is Bianca's recap from last year. Let me tell you my girls are the most awesome chicks in the world. They baked the cookies but not before cursing me out in the Facebook world. Hell, I even cursed my own self out during the process. Needless to say we survived, had an awesome time and learned more about each other.

Since this is a yearly event. I sent out this year's invites and to my surprise everyone from last year was still in. I did have to replace 2 members that dropped so this year I inducted Aisha to our cookie madness. I also invited another girlfriend but she had to drop before the party.
    The cookie party is held in my home because well I'm the head cookie bitch and it's my party plus I would NEVER ask any of the other girls to host and bake cookies. That's just not fair. I also request that we keep our cookies and stories a secret. No real reason other than that's the way they do it in the book.

  Last night was filled with laughs and emotions. We inducted our cookie virgin Aisha and I also changed two of the rules because of a debacle that happened. Next year we will only bake half a dozen for each lady but we will still bake a full dozen for the charity. The second rule change is we will stick to 10 ladies. Last year we started up with 12 and ended up with 10 and this year the same thing happened. So I am taking it as a sign. 10 is a nice round number and 10 means perfect. As emotional as last night was it was perfect. Check back tomorrow to find out the cookies and all the madness that ensued. Don't worry ladies I'll only do a summary because "What's said in Cookie Club stays in Cookie Club.