TOTALLY GEEKED!

Dear Prudence,
Each Christmas, for more than 20 years, my mother and I have been making gingerbread cookies. The recipe comes from my grandmother, who used to make them each Christmas before she passed away. We make hundreds of cookies and distribute them among family and friends as Christmas presents. In the last couple of years another family member has also started making the cookies and giving them out to the family. It feels like she is intruding on a special and long-standing tradition I have, but am I being too sensitive?

–Bewildered Baker

This is an easy one! Yes, you are being too sensitive, but it’s a sensitivity easy to sympathize with. As special as your grandmother’s memory—and recipe—must be, she was also the grandmother to others in your family. Don’t think of these cookies as an exclusive tradition that defines your place. (“These are my cookies. There are many like them, but these are mine.”) Think of them as cookies. Only make and give them away if it brings you joy to do so.