Grandma Grace

June 2, 2010 · Filed under Uncategorized

Yesterday was a sad day for my family.  A wonderful lady, who I proudly called, Grandma, passed away.  She lived a good, long life and died at the age of 96.  However, it is sad because she will be missed dearly.

My Grandma was an extremely generous, loving woman.  She was a stubborn red head who always said “her jewels” were her children and that she was the wealthiest woman in the world. She was indeed wealthy.  She had four children, seven grandchildren, and ten great grandchildren.  She was the matriarch and the rock of the family.  We are all truly blessed to have had her in our lives.

For those who do not know, my grandmother loved to bake cookies with us grandkids. It is a fond memory I have of her and apparently I am not the only one.  Below is the story of “the famous” Friar Tuck Cookie Jar.

My father, the youngest of her children, gave my Grandmother a cookie jar one Christmas a long time ago.  The cookie jar is of Friar Tuck with his fat belly as the jar and with the words “Thou Shall not Steal” engraved on it.  My Grandmother treasured it and kept it in her kitchen for many years.

During those years my cousins and I grew up always having our Grandma sneak us cookies. She thought it was great fun to go behind our parent’s backs and smuggle cookies to us.  We loved it!  On more than one occasion she had us help her make chocolate chip cookies.  Oh was I excited.  Did I mention I love chocolate?

Anyway, about five years ago we sadly had to put Grandma in a nursing home.  That same year my Aunt Janet decided to host Christmas one last time at the family homestead.  That Christmas Aunt Janet decided it was time to give away Grandma’s household items.  She, of course, asked each of the grandkids what item of Grandma’s he or she would like to have.

Wouldn’t you know it, out of all my Grandmother’s worldly possessions, the only thing we all wanted was “the famous” Friar Tuck Cookie Jar!

And thus the email war began…

Us cousins upon hearing that we ALL wanted that cookie jar, the one that my father bought for probably a dollar back when he was like five, started the trash talking email chain about who would get the cookie jar. The war lasted for days.

Oh how I wish I had saved that email chain…we all had so much fun teasing one another on why one deserved it more than the other.

Christmas Eve arrived and we all headed over to the family homestead.  It still had not been decided who would inherit the cookie jar.  I brought my then boyfriend, Chad, to meet the family that year.  Things were going well and everyone was having a great time.

Our family does a Yankee Present Swap.  Sometime during the evening someone got the brilliant idea that whoever picked the number “1” in the Yankee Swap would get to keep Grandma’s cookie jar.  Everyone agreed that it was a good idea and the Yankee Swap began.

One by one, each of us took our turn pulling a number out of the hat.  And one by one disappointment appeared on each cousin’s face when the number one was not selected by them.  It was now time for Chad to pick his number.  He reached in and that son of a gun pulled out number 1.

We all froze.

Then cousin Karen yelled, “Who the hell are you!?!” which was followed by a chorus of 6 other cousins yelling a mutinous “Yeah!”  Then someone chimed in “You better stay with Katy, cause there is no way that cookie jar is leaving this family”.

Ah… poor Chad.  He desperately began searching for an escape route.

Of course within seconds the jokes start flying and harmony was restored.  It was then agreed that I would keep the cookie jar and that every year after, it would be brought back to the Christmas Eve Yankee swap so that someone else could be the keeper of “the famous” Friar Tuck cookie jar.

Side note: My cousin John forgot it one year at my parent’s house and it has been there ever since.  So if my cousins read this we may be in trouble.  Whoops.  Sorry cousins.