Forget Apples, We've Got Good Stuff!

The girls show off their teacher gifts before taking them to school.

It's always a tough decision - what to get your teacher for Christmas. Since mom is a teacher, she knows there are "bad" gift ideas for teachers. Some of the gifts that mysteriously "disappeared" from our house after she got them included: coffee mugs, stuffed animals, books (because she usually already had them) and perfume (unless you asked her what kind she wanted).

On tap for Emily, Lauren, Julia and Olivia's teachers today was a host of goodies: Custom-made penguin bags filled with snowmen, gingerbread and Santa figurines and a matching embroidered kitchen towel. The figurines are designed to double as picture holders. But instead of pictures, we included each girls' favorite cookie recipe: Emily had chocolate brownies (sprinkled with powdered sugar), Lauren had forget 'em cookies (with crushed peppermint sticks), Julia's was oatmeal scotchies and Olivia had scotcheroos (an OB family favorite). Besides the recipes themselves, the girls each baked their favorite cookies and each teacher received a sampling of all four girls' baked goods.