LaQuinta, Ina, and Paula, I’m so glad you sent your favorites to us!! And that we could present them along with all the other great recipes, participate in the fun of a contest, and get bunches of new recipes. I put the three winners’ names in a hat, picked one, and it was the gingerbread cookies I baked for the Christmas cookie club that year. Yes, I made thirteen dozen individually decorated and delicious gingerbread girls and posted pictures on my fan page. The advent of social media has allowed me to be much closer to my readers and now I have windows into the lives of many new friends.

Sharing food is one of the oldest means of connecting with others, and I love seeing that it’s just as powerful in our post-millennium, technological world. The ripples have spread not only in the United States, but throughout the world, emphasizing once again the smallness of our planet.

The Christmas Cookie Club was reviewed in Germany and the reviewer Tweeted me a link. I used Google to translate her review. The next morning, I happened to appear on TV and mentioned to the anchor this amazing event. She, too, was struck by the ease of connection across oceans and continents and brought it up on air. I sent a link to my German reviewer so she could see me talking about her on a U.S. TV program. And all this happened in less than 24 hours!

In North Adelaide, South Australia, a new cookie club was inspired by the novel to bring cookies to their local hospice. The manager of the facility e-mailed me to say how thrilled her residents were by the prettily wrapped and very delicious cookies. “I cannot even begin to tell you the impact this had on our patients,” she wrote. Wonderful how such marvelous ripples spread.

The twentieth gathering of my home cookie club was in 2010. The Christmas Cookie Cookbook: All the Rules and Delicious Recipes to Start Your Own Holiday Club had hit the stands two months previously, and Marybeth was ready for our party, with appetizers waiting for our friends.

Because man cannot live by cookie alone, we always like to have some savory snacks on hand as well. Here are a few of my favorites from our cookbook.

Brie en Croûte

1 sheet frozen puff pastry

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1/2 cup walnuts or pecans

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 8-ounce wheel Brie

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Defrost puff pastry for 15 to 20 minutes and unfold.