keljonma
Epicurean Goddess
Ohio authors book looks to Depression for a story
The Gift of the Christmas Cookie by Dandi Daley MacKall
When Dandi Daley Mackall started to write The Gift of the Christmas Cookie last year, there were already signs the economy was heading toward recession or worse.
Mackall, who lives in Cinnamon Lake, Ohio, thus decided to set her story in the Great Depression and use it as a bleak backdrop for a warm story of giving and meaning.
In the story, a young boy named Jack and his mother are struggling to make ends meet on the little money his father sends home from odd jobs he finds while traveling the rails. His mother uses their meager resources to make a batch of sugar cookies, not for themselves, but to give away.
The cookies, in the shape of an angel, are made using an heirloom wooden cookie press. Jacks mother explains the tradition of the press, going to back to the Middle Ages. European woodcarvers created the presses in shapes that could be used to tell the Christmas story.
Jacks only Christmas gift that year is an angel cookie, but when a stranger shows up at the door for a meal, Jack decides to give his only gift to the man and share the story of Christmas with him.
The bleak setting and timeless story are sure to resonate with families this Christmas, and Mackall hopes the book can help point them to rediscovering the true meaning of the season. Indeed, Mackall feels these troubling economic times are pregnant with potential for helping consumers break the vicious cycle of buying more and more, yet feeling less and less fulfilled.
I think this year will bring the opportunity for us to be forced to do what weve said we wanted to do at the end of previous years, she says.
The Gift of the Christmas Cookie is a good place to start, especially for parents who need to explain to their children that they cant provide the kind of material gifts theyve been accustomed to in the past. Mackall feels its important parents be frank with their children about giving and not worry that the children are going to be devastated.
Frankly, I think (the parents) are much more worried about it than (the children) are, she says.
She recommends using the book as a springboard for sharing. A recipe for simple sugar cookies is included, and Mackall suggests baking a batch with your children and talking about who should be the recipient of them. The children should also participate in sharing the cookies and telling the story represented by them.
Visit with (the recipient) and develop a relationship, she says.
Mackall, who has 400 books to her credit, says The Gift of the Christmas Cookie has a personal connection: She has wonderful memories of making cookies with her mother and sister at Christmas. And the first batch of cookies always went to someone in a nursing home, hospital or shut-in.
Another memory that plays into the book is her grandmother pointing out the smiling cat mark that a hobo had carved into a tree in the front yard during the Depression. That memory served as the catalyst for an earlier book, Rudy Rides the Rails, A Depression Era Story.
I love that era, says Mackall, who chose it again for The Gift of the Christmas Cookie.
Rudy is sort of there in spirit, Mackall says of the Christmas book. (Prior to researching and writing Rudy Rides the Rail), I had thought of hobos in the way people dress up as hobos for Halloween. But meeting Rudy totally transformed that. Hobos in the Depression were good people, just like all the good people today who are losing their jobs and homes.
@Star-Beacon 2008
The Gift of the Christmas Cookie by Dandi Daley MacKall
When Dandi Daley Mackall started to write The Gift of the Christmas Cookie last year, there were already signs the economy was heading toward recession or worse.
Mackall, who lives in Cinnamon Lake, Ohio, thus decided to set her story in the Great Depression and use it as a bleak backdrop for a warm story of giving and meaning.
In the story, a young boy named Jack and his mother are struggling to make ends meet on the little money his father sends home from odd jobs he finds while traveling the rails. His mother uses their meager resources to make a batch of sugar cookies, not for themselves, but to give away.
The cookies, in the shape of an angel, are made using an heirloom wooden cookie press. Jacks mother explains the tradition of the press, going to back to the Middle Ages. European woodcarvers created the presses in shapes that could be used to tell the Christmas story.
Jacks only Christmas gift that year is an angel cookie, but when a stranger shows up at the door for a meal, Jack decides to give his only gift to the man and share the story of Christmas with him.
The bleak setting and timeless story are sure to resonate with families this Christmas, and Mackall hopes the book can help point them to rediscovering the true meaning of the season. Indeed, Mackall feels these troubling economic times are pregnant with potential for helping consumers break the vicious cycle of buying more and more, yet feeling less and less fulfilled.
I think this year will bring the opportunity for us to be forced to do what weve said we wanted to do at the end of previous years, she says.
The Gift of the Christmas Cookie is a good place to start, especially for parents who need to explain to their children that they cant provide the kind of material gifts theyve been accustomed to in the past. Mackall feels its important parents be frank with their children about giving and not worry that the children are going to be devastated.
Frankly, I think (the parents) are much more worried about it than (the children) are, she says.
She recommends using the book as a springboard for sharing. A recipe for simple sugar cookies is included, and Mackall suggests baking a batch with your children and talking about who should be the recipient of them. The children should also participate in sharing the cookies and telling the story represented by them.
Visit with (the recipient) and develop a relationship, she says.
Mackall, who has 400 books to her credit, says The Gift of the Christmas Cookie has a personal connection: She has wonderful memories of making cookies with her mother and sister at Christmas. And the first batch of cookies always went to someone in a nursing home, hospital or shut-in.
Another memory that plays into the book is her grandmother pointing out the smiling cat mark that a hobo had carved into a tree in the front yard during the Depression. That memory served as the catalyst for an earlier book, Rudy Rides the Rails, A Depression Era Story.
I love that era, says Mackall, who chose it again for The Gift of the Christmas Cookie.
Rudy is sort of there in spirit, Mackall says of the Christmas book. (Prior to researching and writing Rudy Rides the Rail), I had thought of hobos in the way people dress up as hobos for Halloween. But meeting Rudy totally transformed that. Hobos in the Depression were good people, just like all the good people today who are losing their jobs and homes.
@Star-Beacon 2008
