S-M holds Christmas Bazaar, Cookie sale.

YOUNG VOLUNTEERS (from left)
Blaise Mork, 9, Otto Mork, who said he
was six "and a half," and Kelsey Pease, 9,
help dish out cookies at the St. Mary
Christmas Bazaar and Cookie Sale
Saturday morning.

Young volunteers Kelsey Pease, and Blaise and Otto Mork, all admitted to eating some cookies – but they had a good excuse.

"Just the broken ones," said Blaise, 9. Complete with see-through plastic gloves, he joined his brother Otto, 6, and 9-year-old Kelsey Saturday morning on the business side of the cookie table at the St. Mary Christmas Bazaar and Cookie Sale.

As customers worked down the extensive line of cookies, they dished them out.

The three were part of scores of volunteers needed to put on the event, according to chair Lori Pease. Some 60 were required just to bake enough cookies, which were placed in plastic "to-go" containers and weighed at the checkout table.

Despite the advantages of buying cookies by the pound, Peggy Kolarik found a far more Christian reason to attend with her daughter, Alexa, and son, Hunter. She buys up the hand-made mittens and hats, which she latter will place on various "mitten trees" up throughout Leelanau County. They will eventually end up on the heads and hands of those in need, which does Kolarik's heart good.

PICTURED AT the checkout counter
at the St. Mary Christmas Bazaar and
Cookie Sale is volunteer Amy Baker,
and Peggy Kolarik with her daughter
Alexa, 11, and son Hunter, 10.

"I buy them, and then I give them out. They'll be somewhere where they are needed," she said at the checkout counter.

And the cookies? "They're wonderful," said Kolarik. "They are the best varieties."

Credit humble knitter Pat Gardner with providing many of the hats and gloves, which she creates in matching colors.

"I usually make them to match," said Gardner. "It's a hobby. I enjoy it."

Charged with coordinating all the knitters, bakers and others who volunteer — several home-made quilts were also offered for sale — is Pease, who said the cookie part of the event was added about two years ago after a Leland church discontinued its Christmas bake sale. "We wanted to keep a cookie sale going in the community," said Pease.

Apparently, the cookies have helped bolster attendance, as Pease said a steady stream of customers had been making their way through the St. Mary church basement. More people seem to be attending with the addition of home-baked cookies to the line-up.

"We do get people who come for the cookies, but we get people who come for the 'bazaar' things, too," said Pease.

Perhaps volunteer Jean Schaub had the best explanation why cookies are big sellers at this time of year. "It's a tradition. What is Christmas without cookies?"