The word “sweet” can describe something that is full of sugar or something that is delightful. On December 13, 2015, I had an experience that put both of these definitions into action. My family spent the day participating in a cookie ambush with my church. A “cookie ambush” is a way to let God work in us and through us by gifting cookies to local people who may be experiencing difficult times in their lives in hope to bring them joy and allay some of their sad emotions.

I was excited for my cookie ambush because making others happy makes me happy; it would also be a new experience for me. I’ve participated in many of my church’s giving activities such as working with “Kids Food Basket” or pecuniary giving, but I have never participated in a cookie ambush or been in contact directly with the people I was giving to. This made me believe that engaging in the cookie ambush would be an exceptional cultural experience and would give me new perspectives when it came to giving. As I began to embark on this journey of delivering cookies, I had no idea how the people would respond to our acts of kindness. I could assume that some people would feel delight in their times of sorrow because of us, but others might feel embarrassed and feel anger.

The first stop was to the house of a fellow churchgoer who was recently diagnosed with cancer and about to begin chemotherapy. The mother of the home answered the door already in tears. Her thankfulness and love shone above the obvious sadness. We prayed for their family and handed them a box full of cookies with Christmas embellishments. The emotion in the room was somber but the family’s ubiquitous appreciation of our thoughtfulness also had an overwhelming presence.

We soon left the house and headed to greet another family. During my car ride, I had some time to think. Bringing people cookies is a common thing to do during the holidays. What made the cookie such an important staple in the American Christmas Holiday?

After some research I found that Christmas cookies originated during Medieval Europe. Cinnamon, ginger, and almonds were ingredients incorporated into recipes and quickly became assets of European baked goods. Besides the fact that these sweet flavors are enjoyed by many all year long, I also found that there isn’t much significance to the cookies during Christmas.

Continuing on with my cookie ambush, the next stop was at the house of an ex wife of one of my fellow deliverers. The family had just lost their young son in a tragic car accident. At this house we decided to carol because the more joy, the better. We sang songs such as “Deck the Halls” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”

Singing Christmas carols made the parents smile through their tears. It made me wonder, where did carols originate? We don’t have songs for every other specific holiday. What is the meaning behind caroling during Christmas?

My curiosity got the best of me, so I decided to look up the history of Christmas caroling. I found that caroling first originated in Europe. “Carols used to be written and sung during all four seasons, but only the tradition of singing them at Christmas has really survived”. The beginning of caroling was around 1200, and all of the songs were written in Latin. This did not go over well considering most people in Europe did not understand Latin. It caused the celebration of Christmas to decrease greatly; though, this did not last forever.

Twenty years later it changed when St. Francis of Assisi created Nativity plays. Caroling began again and was focused more greatly around Jesus and Mary. These plays and the caroling were originally only performed on Christmas Eve but became remarkably popular that people soon began to sing them in the streets. This is continued today on the radio, at performances, at church, and even people singing door to door. Knowing the history of caroling will help me incorporate meaning behind what I’m doing because I am aware that they were originally performed only for God.

But, the meaning behind the cookie ambush was to make others feel happiness. When we finished caroling at the second house, the mom cried and thanked us. The cookies could never compare and heal her emotional rollercoaster of losing her son, but the cookies are not what she was focused on. The fact that there were twenty loving people from the community all there to support her in a time of need is what she was truly recognizing.

On the news I often hear the negative stories. I see the latest robbery or the face of a murderer, but it’s the small things that define American culture that are not seen on the news. American culture is people coming together to help someone going through a difficult time. Sometimes we do this with money, sometimes we do this with prayer, and sometimes we do it with cookies to simply show someone that we are there for them.

Even though each cookie delivery had a unique difference, they all had the same reaction at heart. Everyone was immensely thankful. Throughout my simple day, I learned that every human is willing to accept someone’s gifts whether it’s through a physical or emotional acceptance.

Since this was experienced with my church, I started to think about other religions as well. Do other religions performs random acts of giving in their own ways as well?

After some research, I found that in the Islamic religion, there are five pillars that one must follow. One of those pillars is to “give to the needy”. This type of giving has a slight nuance of difference than my giving since the people whom I was giving to were not necessarily indigent, but the Islamic pillar still follows the same concept of helping others. Why do most religions encourage giving to others? Could it be because of the way the giver feels as well as the receiver? I looked to my cultural experience and my own emotions throughout the journey for this answer. This experience opened my eyes to the greatness of giving. I felt the same amount of love and my heart was warmed equally as much as the people who received the cookies. 

In Sir Francis Bacon’s aphorisms, Bacon proves that there is one basic principle, which states that some minds see the similarities while others notice differences. In the moments of the cookie ambush, all I could see were the similarities that connected each and everyone one of us as human beings with genuine feelings. This is a key aspect of American culture. America is known as the melting pot; everyone looks differently, acts differently, and comes from different backgrounds, but we are all humans at our core, and that is what matters.

My cultural experience didn’t just help me define culture, but it also changed me as a person; I will give more willingly and do my best to brighten anyone’s day. I didn’t know the people whom I gave to, but that didn’t make a difference in how I felt. I’ve learned to give to the people who don’t expect it, even if I don’t have much more than a heart to give because just caring can be the greatest gift.