Welcome! Come inside. Please, take off your coat. It’s chilly out on this fine December day. What a perfect day for the annual Taylor Christmas party, affectionately named the Cookie Party by long-time attendees. The party has gained this title from the 700-1000 cookies produced each year by Mrs. Taylor herself. Please sign the guest book on your way in to the kitchen, and say hello to Mrs. Taylor who is undoubtedly greeting guests as they pass by. And then of course, try some cookies!
“It’s fun! It makes us happy to see people, and to help people have this
festive day of the year, and we have a festive decorated house.
Spreading the Christmas cheer.”
T. Taylor, 2021
In conjunction with The Food Connection at University of Kentucky, and Lexington’s 21C Museum Hotel, we are excited to present Cookie Party!
Cookie Party is a series of events dedicated to reproducing, experiencing, and understanding American Christmas traditions. Our inspiration is the annual Christmas party of the Taylor family. This storied tradition acts as a rich representation of American holiday festivities like those celebrated by countless citizens of Lexington, and Kentucky as a whole.
The Taylors are an American family, with roots in the hollers of West Virginia, and the woodlands of Wisconsin. Settled squarely between the two in Southern Indiana, this party is an amalgamation of holiday and food traditions dating back generations.
❅ Events and Programming ❅
Cookie Party
Friday, December 3 6-9PM
21C Museum Hotel, Lexington.
Enjoy the warm atmosphere of the Cookie Party, re-created with Christmas decorations and cookies beautifully displayed. View a curated photo gallery of the Taylor family Cookie Party through the years, along with photos from other Christmas celebrations around Kentucky. Cookies and cider traditional to the Taylor family party will be served. The goal of this interactive party is for guests to experience vital traditional aspects of the Taylor family Cookie Party, while learning about other traditions carried on by Kentuckians throughout the state.
Ronni Lundy and other guest folklorists will speak on the importance of foodways and holiday folk traditions.
Lundy’s topic will be the significance of traditional handmade meals, and foods, like the many cookies made by Mrs. Taylor each year. Lundy plans to explore holiday celebrations in the Southern United States and the foods they offer. Celebrations bring us together in such a powerful way, in the same manner that the Cookie Party brings visitors together for a moment each year.
Lundy, Ronni. 2016. Victuals. New York: Clarkson Potter.
“There are a couple of kinds that I still make, that my mom made when I was growing up… that go back, I assume, [and] come from my grandmother. Which… one of them is chocolate crackles, which is Frosted Flakes with wonderful chocolate all over them. Um, and the other one are butter crescents, which are the butter cookies rolled in powdered sugar and they’re a crescent shape.”
T. Taylor, 2021
Cookie Making Demonstration
Friday, December 10 4-7PM
The Food Connection, Learning Kitchen,
University of Kentucky
Join us in the Learning Kitchen at the University of Kentucky Food Connection to go behind-the-scenes with a hands-on cookie making demonstration.
Attendees will learn three of Mrs. Taylor’s traditional cookie recipes from the baker herself: chocolate crackles, butter crescents, and molasses snaps.
These three cookies have been made for the Cookie Party for 50+ years. They represent the values of tradition and honoring the past which are engrained in the Taylor family gathering. By enjoying these cookies the Taylors transport guests back in time to earlier parties, with people who are now gone. The simple significance of a favorite cookie, unchanged over many years, lends solace and security in guest’s otherwise uncertain lives.
❆ The Cookie Party ❆
History
“Because grandma and grandpa lived in New Albany, and have really old roots in the city… [and] because mom and dad continued that by living in New Albany… it’s always felt like an important thing to get everybody together once a year and like, see the people that you don’t see. Maybe you don’t see them other times because life is busy, and holidays are a good time to do it.”
C. Lahre, 2021
The Cookie Party began in the 1960s, hosted by Mrs. Taylor’s mother Mrs. Miller. Born in 1932, Mrs. Miller is a child of the Great Depression, growing up in the immediate aftermath. She began the Cookie Party as a means to welcome several international transfer students to the University of Louisville. From there the party became annual, growing from a gathering strictly for close friends, to a raucous celebration with invitations sent to people from all walks of the Millers’ lives.
Mrs. Taylor took over the Cookie Party 25 years ago. Her baking prowess and love of hosting have fueled the continuation of this festive tradition. During its six-hour duration, the Taylor household becomes a meeting point for family friends, church members, and acquaintances. On average, the majority of attendees have been coming for 20+ years. The tradition holds, lovingly maintained by Mrs. Taylor and family.
For more information on American holiday traditions, we recommend Jack Santino’s book All Around the Year: Holidays and Celebrations in American Life. Santino explores many holidays, including Christmas. His work breaks down holidays and their associated traditions to minute detail. Reading his book will provide a better understanding of the Taylor family Christmas festivities, as well as those you yourself may celebrate!
Santino, Jack. 1994. All Around the Year: Holidays and Celebrations in American Life. Champaign, IL.: University of Illinois Press.
Cultural Traditions of Merrymaking
“We very much enjoy doing it… we do enjoy getting to share some time with people that we know and like. And plus, I really love cooking for people, it makes me happy to feed people. And we get to offer them good things to eat and drink… and share this special time together.”
T. Taylor, 2021
The elements of the Cookie Party harken back to simpler times. Mrs. Taylor presents overflowing trays of cookies, symbolizing abundance, her overflowing generosity, and the warmth the season brings. A modern-day Fezziwig Christmas party, the Cookie Party welcomes guests with warm hosts, warm food and drink, and of course music. The Taylors, and the Millers before them, have opened their doors each year out of a love for their community. It is a great reverence for their community of friends and family, and a sense of serving them, which inspire the family to continue the tradition.
Great care goes into the party each year and many hours of preparation, sweat, and sometimes tears if a batch of cookies burns (they never do on Mrs. Taylor’s watch). All of this stress pays off when seeing guests enjoy the cookies, seeing them smile and meet old friends and new. These are the values passed between generations of the Taylor family: friends, family, and great care for the community.
Mrs. Taylor herself admits that not much has changed since her mother was hosting the party 25+ years ago. Join us on December 3rd to explore the significance of these themes to the American experience. After all, the Taylors are American, and where they fit within American society, what inspires them to celebrate in this way, and maintain tradition, are ideas we will explore at both our events. Please join us to explore these ideas and more at the Cookie Party on December 3, and the Cookie Making Demonstration December 10.
Theodore Peed’s Turtle Party shares several themes and values with the Taylor Cookie Party. Peed’s garage annually becomes a focal point for the same celebration of community that is found within the Taylor household during their party. Bountiful feasts of turtle, and other game meats are prepared by Peed, displaying his generosity. His love of tradition is reflected by the many years his party has been thrown, almost as long as Mrs. Taylor has thrown the Cookie Party. You can read more about Theodore Peed’s Turtle Party party below:
Herman, Bernard. 2019. “Theodore Peed’s Turtle Party,” The South You Never Ate, 333-347.
