COOKIE MANIA!!!!

Alright, so I had this idea for a care package to send Eric for Christmas. He doesn't want anything for Christmas because he doesn't "need" anything taking up more space in his tiny room, plus he doesn't want to have to pack up more stuff for when he comes home. What is a wife to do? I can't just not send him anything for Christmas, right? So I came up with a pretty unique idea, and it was a total surprise to him. Instead of writing down all the details, I thought I would just copy the email I sent to Eric explaining his Christmas gift. I told him to be expecting some care packages for Christmas (I didn't tell him how many), but he was not allowed to open them until he had talked to me. I told him that I would send him a message explaining everything, and after he read it, he was allowed to open them.
Here is the message I sent :)



Okay. So you might think I am a little crazy and you are probably right. I had no idea what to do for you for Christmas this year, so I asked for a little help. I thought that cookies are probably one of the best things about the holidays and I figured you would like a few. I decided it would be a fun idea to do a "Cookie Mania" care package for you so everyone that helps and supports us can show their appreciation and love. This is how it went down lol.

I sent out an email to all of the lovely ladies in our families to ask them if they would like to bake some cookies to send to you and your friends. Then I thought, why stop there? So, I asked your mom to send my email to all of the women that work in the schools to see if they would like to chip in as well. But then I went even more crazy, I thought why not get as many women in this town as possible to pitch in too. As you know, we come from a small town and everyone always asks me how you're doing and if I ever need anything to just ask, so I did. I simply told them that if they would like to make some cookies to send to you and your friends for Christmas that I would make sure that they all got packed up right and ship them on Dec. 5th. I even asked Stacy Conner to make an announcement at church, and you have no idea how many people loved the idea, it was so sweet to see how many people support you and all that you are doing over there for us.
Anyway, I told them to have the cookies at your parents' house by Dec. 4th and we would ship them out the next day so they would get there in time for Christmas. Little did I know how successful this idea would be.

Your mom and I spent all day Sunday and most of Monday putting together these care packages. Let me tell you, it is so much harder than we thought it would be lol. As you know, it takes a few weeks for packages to get there, so it was tricky to pack up baked goods. First we had to individually wrap the cookies, then we had to vacuum seal them into little bags, then we had to put them into plastic or tin boxes with bread in them (The bread sucks up all of the air in the box so none of it can get to the cookies and ruin them..DO NOT EAT THE BREAD!!!! lol it will probably be very stale or moldy haha) just know that it is there for a reason, after all of that we finally got to put them into the shipping boxes : )

It truly amazed your parents and me to see how many people in this town support and care for you honey (your dad volunteered to be the taste tester haha). We got over 2,000 cookies. YES 2,000 COOKIES!!!!!! <--- not a typo lol It took us hours and hours to pack them all up. I'm sure you don't know most of the people, but we put names on all of the bags so you would know who they were from. I asked everyone to leave a note with a name tag, but many people didn't. Just know that the ones without names, are all from the church : ) We are truly blessed to have so many people that care about us baby, I was seriously in shock. I had no idea that my idea would be so successful. I hope you enjoy them, and I hope they get there as good as when they left lol. Tell all of your friends to help you out and enjoy them, lol, and that our tiny little town is supporting them as well, and we love them and can't wait for y'all to come back. I'm trying to spread a little home cooked Christmas love <3 Make sure you open the boxes before handing them out so you know who they are from, and because we put all of your family's (Washington's, Purdy's, Bell's) cookies in certain boxes for you. Your dad even pitched in a little something of his own haha. I think thats about it. I love you so much, honey, and I hope you're not overwhelmed with all the boxes lol. Please stay safe for all of us back home. You have so many people that love and care for you. I'm always missing you and I can't wait to see you again. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU!!!! MORE! HA




This was his response…


Wow Baby, would you please thank them for all of it? It was a great idea. I opened them and already handed some out. I think next time I'm in a village, we are going to give some out to the kids, they always like getting food from us and i know they'll love cookies (they don't eat much out here, and if they do, it doesn't taste very good lol) so you can let them know most of their cookies are going to go to kids out here. I hope they like that idea. Lol it wasn't easy carrying all those boxes the mile back to my room lol but it was worth it. Thank you baby, I know that must have been a lot of work for you guys and it really means a lot to us. Thanks again baby, that was so great of you to do, I love you so much baby.


We talked a little while longer and he just went on and on about how much it meant to everyone over there and how all of his friends are very thankful. It is so amazing to see so many people come together for the man I love and his friends while they are serving our country. Thank you everyone that helped and may God bless each and every one of you :)


Here are a few pictures of our little adventure :)

Here are some of the cookies after they had been put in to the vacuum sealable bags. There are about 1-2 dozen in each bag.

Here is Lynda helping me pack the thousands of cookies lol

Here are some of the boxes we had already packed :)

And here we are at the post office filling out all of the paper work (There was a TON!!!)

Thanks again everybody, We are so blessed and we love y'all.
Kyra