Cookies! What better way to start the season of giving?

My son Tyler: not so much

Sylvia Gillespie: one serious cookie decorator

Cookie decorating has never been a big thing in my family. Every year when the holidays roll around, it's always been something we mean to do but never seem to squeeze in.  

Last year, we finally did it — elbow to merry elbow with dozens of other families at Geraldine's Counter, which has hosted Rainier Valley Food Bank's annual holiday cooking decorating party every year since it started back in 2008.

We're going again this year, and my kids can't wait to get their hands on those fun tubes of frosting and see how many sprinkles they can get to stick to their cookies. (With a 2- and 4-year-old captaining the cookie-decorating ship at our table, we surely ended the night with more sprinkles on the floor than our cookies, but no one held it against us.)

Kate Hinley has taken her family every year.

"The folks at Geraldine's are warm and welcoming, the room is filled with good cheer, the food is delicious, and the kids are thrilled to be able to make fabulous cookie creations and eat the results. It is a great way to kick off the holiday season by supporting such a good cause."

As delightful as the cookie decorating can be, what means the most to me as a parent and RVFB volunteer is that the restaurant is filled with families who are committed to helping those in need.

Geraldine's co-owner Stacey Hettinger

Each month, Rainier Valley Food Bank is a lifeline for about 11,000 of our hungry neighbors. The food bank could not do what they do without all the donations of food and funds that they get from this generous community.

Geraldine's is one of the food bank's biggest supporters. They donate the space for the cookie party, dinner for everyone, their staff's time, and they spend November and December seeing which staffer can collect the most donations for RVFB.

Over the past four years, Geraldine's staff and proceeds from the cookie party have raised more than $34,000 for RVFB. Talk about a gift!

"It's important for people to be taken care of, to have food — the basics," Geraldine's co-owner Stacey Hettinger says k.

RVFB's 5th Annual Holiday Cookie Decorating Party is on Monday, Nov. 12 at 5 p.m. at Geraldine's. Tickets are $25 per person. Buy yours today — they sell out fast!