Making cookies with Grandma

Baking cookies with her grandchildren is one of things Mary Kobliska of Staples enjoys the most about the Christmas season.

“It gives me the opportunity to find out what’s going on in their lives,” Mary said of time spent baking  with Lizzy, Jayce and Jorja Kobliska.

Mary does the majority of the baking and the girls help with the decorating.

“It’s a lot of fun,” said eight-year-old Jorja, who was frosting a Santa-shaped sugar cookie and adding colorful sprinkles during a recent afternoon at her grandmother’s.

She usually starts her holiday baking around the first of December, Mary said. Each year she bakes dozens of cookies and bars (several varieties of each), as well as specialty breads such as lemon-poppy seed and cranberry orange.

Their favorites?

“My son, Jerry, really likes the peanut butter bonbons,” Mary said. And the grandkids always seem to request her fudge, she went on.

“I like when she adds chocolate chips in her cookies,” Lizzy, 14, said. “She could add chocolate chips to anything.”

She’s not sure how many eggs, or how much butter, sugar and flour she goes through each Christmas season. “A lot,” Mary laughs.

For the past several years, Mary has increased her holiday baking to include sharing with others in the community. Last year, she gave out 20 trays, each filled with a variety of Christmas goodies. “I really like doing it,” Mary said, adding, “It’s what the season is all about...giving.”

Baking is good therapy, too, Mary says. It’s a time to clear her mind of the cares of the day and turn her attention to her grandkids, as well as those she plans on sharing her baking with. The smell of cookies baking, along with the Christmas decorations adorning the house, help get her in the holiday spirit, Mary said. “We usually have Christmas music playing, too, when we start our baking.”

She hopes that the tradition of baking Christmas cookies with her granddaughters is one that will continue for a long, long time, Mary said. “I hope someday that this is something they will do with their own children and grandchildren.”

“We love doing it,” Jayce says. “Especially when we get to taste the fudge. Grandma’s fudge is the best.”