ROCKPORT — There is a saying that goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. There’s also a saying that goes, a child’s imagination knows no boundaries. Both held true on Wednesday, December 12, at the Rockport Public Library. The library held a Holiday Cookie Decorating Day for kids. In their words: “The best crafts are the ones you can eat when you’re done.”

The library supplied the cookies and all the fixins’ to let the children’s imaginations run wild. They also supplied healthy snacks, too. I would have been the last person to believe that cookies and carrots could go together on the same plate, but only because I saw it with my own eyes do I believe it now. 

Ben Odgren, children’s librarian at the library, said he does the cookies decorating program three or four times a year and it’s always successful. 

“The kids and families that come have a lot of fun,” he said. “We supply all the frosting and the cookies. Usually it’s always just cookies, but this year we made sure we had some healthy snacks, too.”

Odgren said it is all part of a holiday stream of events.

“Last week we did ornament-making,” he said. “This week, it’s cookie-making. This Friday we’re doing Cocoapalooza, and next Wednesday we’re doing rock painting.”

Kaida and Kaidi Nguyen are from Rockport and said they were going to eat maybe one of their cookies, but save the other one. 

Luka Wigenes and Kai Young said the trick to decorating a good cookie is to pile as much stuff on the cookie as possible. 

Young said she took a layered approach.

“Frosting, and then sprinkles and then more frosting and then more sprinkles,” she said. 

Both agreed that Christmas colors were key to a good cookie.

George Johns said his cookie was inspired by the movie How the Grinch stole Christmas; which he and his sister, Olivia, were on their way to see, but stopped in to make some cookies first. 

“It’s the Grinch and his dog,” he said, obviously. “I’m going to eat the cookies, but I’m thinking about trying to sneak them into the movie.”

Here are the key elements I derived from the kids to decorate cookies.

1. More frosting then cookie, always.

2. Pile it high and go fro a layered approach between frosting and sprinkles.

3. Eat them, don’t save them.