Don't you wish you were my neighbor?

Alison and I spent all morning decorating the cookies I'd spent most of yesterday afternoon baking. We planned to give them to our neighbors as little holiday treats. We've done it for the past couple of years.

Our neighbors to the east routinely bring us fresh produce from their farm; our neighbor across the street has a daughter who sometimes babysits, and our neighbor to the west has a little girl Ali plays with sometimes. They're all pretty nice -- and we should probably send out cookies to a greater swath of neighbors. But making cookies is hard work, man.

And cleaning up is even harder. But it's fun and we like to do it. It's an annual tradition at Auntie Jen's in Maine, too, so it's sort of a trial run.

This year I found some festive little plates at Kroger to use, too. While the cookies are fun, I like having that little token, and when you find a bargain, it's really not that much.

Karin and I went shopping today, and she asked if Ali could play with Alex and Hannah while we were gone. It was an event that demanded a plate of cookies.

On the way home, though, Alison had a bit of a bone to pick with me.

"Um, Mom, did you know that you gave away a perfectly good plate with those cookies?" she called from the back seat.

"Yes, I did know that," I said.

"Well I think you should ask for it back," she said.

"But it's part of the gift," I said. "Don't you think it's a pretty plate?"

"Yes, I do. In fact it's such a pretty plate, I think you should ask for it back," she said.

"Well that would be kind of mean, don't you think? To ask for them to give their gift back?"

"Well, I don't think they'd mind. I mean, it's a real plate!" she said.

What the heck do you do about this? I'm hoping she'll forget. We do still have a few of the plates. I can just see her knocking on the neighbor's doors asking for the plates back.

If you happen to be one of our cookie recipients, please keep the plate. No matter what the little red head says.