Having moved to Chappaqua just a few years earlier, I wanted to find a different way to throw a holiday party. So, I came up with the idea of throwing a Cookie Exchange. I looked at every magazine to research how to throw a Cookie Exchange party, and then devised my rules, which included, at that time, each person having to bake six dozen cookies, and sent out invites to 20 friends.
That first year, the ice gods of the Northeast decided to visit us during the party and my long, uphill driveway became a hazardous, sliding terror. My husband walked everyone down to their cars, holding the traded cookies in addition to our guests arms, to make sure there were no accidents–with cookies or appendages.
That first Cookie Exchange took place 18 years ago and it has grown into a party of between 60-70 guests. My dining room table has every leaf in it and the cookies barely fit, especially when bakers, like Cindy Greenstein, make an amazing yet giant cookie quilt. Prizes are awarded to the best tasting, most creative looking, best presentation and Michele’s choice, usually given to a newbie. Lisa Avramovitz and Georgia Frasch have won the most times, as both their decorative cookies and presentation astound everyone.
We have had our excitement over the years. There was the year that someone said their butter looked weird when they were baking and the cookies they brought were green, when no food coloring was used. Another year, one of the guests somehow took someone else’s white minivan home and, after an hour of phone calls, she embarrassingly brought back the car and took her own white minivan home. And, yet another year, my son and his teenage friends ate so many cookies as judges, that we had to banish them to our basement so that there would actually be enough cookies to be exchanged.
And what about my friends who are just horrible bakers? They attend but are encouraged not to bake because it is in the best interest of attendees not to eat anything they would attempt to make. So, they bring wine.
This year’s bakers will only make four dozen cookies. Still, there will be no slice and bake cookies, no cookies from a mix or ones that have been purchased. My son will be home from college to do the judging along with several others. And, many families in town will enjoy a cornucopia of cookies, at least for the weekend.
The Horace Greeley High School gym was packed on November 4th for the 10th Annual Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund Spelling Bee. Spirits were high as students, teachers & administrators, families, and community members came together to share in this special event which was enjoyed by participants and spectators alike. More than 60 teams competed this year, not only to be the top spellers, but as contenders for best costume as well. Ultimately, student team All the Buzz beat out the steep competition with the word EUONYMUS and claimed the 2019 championship title. Organized by Horace Greeley High School’s SHARE (Students Have a Responsibility Everywhere) community service group, more than $20,000 was raised to benefit the Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund which exists to make up “the difference” between the actual costs of college and all other financial resources available to students and their families. In the last 72 years, hundreds of Greeley students have been awarded need-based grants from the Fund helping to make college a reality for all Greeley graduates.
Under sunny, bright blue skies, and with some 8,000 attendees and 152 authors gathered in downtown Chappaqua on October 5, the 2019 Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival had “its best day ever,” said founder Dawn Greenberg, “And we can’t wait to do it again.” The ‘literary loyalty’ on hand,” she said, included Ce Ce Bell who travelled from Virginia, Jarrett J Krosoczka, Nikki Grimes, and Dan Gutman. “All were lovely and so thrilled to meet so many excited readers in one place.” The event is possible due to the creative and hardworking efforts of the CCBF’s Board of Directors Greenberg, Madeline Finesmith, Amy Kaiser, Joanna Segal, Lori Morton, Cheryl Fisher, Arianna Grassia and Sally Cook, plus many generous sponsors. Behind the scenes, a village of volunteers work everything from author hospitality and panels to costumed characters and downtown decoration, and more! Visit 
December 1 is the 10th Anniversary of Frosty Day! This year to celebrate there will be 40 different activities downtown starting at noon including three ride-on trains, automated Arctic animal rides, the Bubble Bus, six bands and of course everyone’s favorite Frosty the Snowman plus Santa. A parade with decorated vehicles, costumed characters and marching bands kicks off at 4:00 pm culminating with a lighting ceremony at Wampus Park at 4:30 pm. The parade is organized by Friends of Frosty, Inc., a non-profit organization in charge of planning one of the most anticipated days for family fun in Armonk.