The stockings are hung by the chimney with care, with hopes that St.

Saturday, December 11, 1999

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care, with hopes that St. Nicholas won’t be upset – the cookies are store bought, not made from scratch.

The First Presbyterian Church decided not to sponsor its annual Cookie Walk this year, said Peggy Smith, co-organizer.

"We have a very small congregation," Mrs. Smith said. "Only 10 to 12 of us would do the Cookie Walk. Most of our members participated, but several were ill or couldn’t work. I couldn’t believe it myself we weren’t going to do it, but you can only do so much."

The Cookie Walk has been a Presbyterian Church tradition for nearly 10 years, Mrs. Smith said.

"It was fun and very rewarding," she said. "The first year, after it, we said we were all on a cookie high."

And hopefully Mrs. Smith will experience that doughy euphoria again. Church members have no plans to cancel the Cookie Walk permanently, she said.

"We hope it will be back next year," Mrs. Smith said. "We just want to rest up a year."

The Cookie Walk takes a lot out of the small congregation, not only in ingredient purchases for the 1,000 to 1,500 dozen cookies the group makes each year, but also in work hours, she said.

"One year, we spent four days a week making dough and baking," Mrs. Smith said. "And I know on baking days we were there from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. That’s a pretty long day for us."

Mrs. Smith is the first to admit that she misses the activity this year, though.

"I’ve been in the food business all my life," she said. "I’ve always said they’re going to bury me with an apron on. It comes easy to me to be in the kitchen so many hours a day."

If not for the sake of Lawrence County residents, but for Santa, Mrs. Smith said she will be willing to continue with the cookie tradition in years to come.

"I’m hoping come fall we can see our way to say let’s do this again," she said. "We may not make as many, we could decide to only take orders. It’s all in the future."

Funds raised from the Cookie Walk are used to support church activities and for building repairs.

Although the congregation will not raise money through the walk this year, they will continue to sponsor fund-raising luncheons every other month.

The next one is tentatively scheduled for January, Mrs. Smith said.