When I was a little girl- ya know, knee high to a grasshopper and all that- my mom was a seamstress. Not just ANY seamstress. She made wedding gowns! She made other things too, but weddings gowns were a specialty of hers. We would have the most beautiful and excited brides in our home for my mom to either a) make their gown from scratch or b) alter an existing gown. I can remember seeings stacks and stacks of magazine cut outs in a pile on our glass coffee table, or neatly glued into a binder, depending on the bride. And samples of intricate lace with pearls or sequins (it was the 90s, yo) stapled to pieces of paper with random sketches and scribbles of neck lines, bodices, and veils. My mom would spend hours looking for just the perfect detail for her client.

No matter what my mom was working on, all of it had common ground. It was custom. Tailored made for one specific person. In a world of Target and Amazon, that’s a pretty sweet commodity. As I’ve gotten older and oh, so much wiser, I’ve really started to see the value in that. Like, the actual literal dollar value of something that’s custom made.

Let’s not confuse homemade with custom made. Homemade is something that has nostalgia but not necessarily good or pretty. Custom made is made by a professional and individualized for someone or event. And I’ll have you know, those professionals aren’t just up in ivory towers with gold spinning wheels living the big life. They are hiding right in your very neighborhood, their kids go to your kid’s school or sit next to you at little Junior’s basketball games. There are incredibly talented people doing the most amazing things right beneath your nose. It’s beautiful and refreshing!

Because it’s 2019, I don’t often have the privilege of giving my cookie quotes to people face to face. But I can almost see the blinding whites of some customer’s bug-out eyes via “the cloud” after they ask for a cookie quote and it’s quite a bit more than, ya know, Publix’s fine bakery or those fluffy sugar cookies at Walmart. (Oooo! Shout out to Publix and their Key Lime Pie. I’ve been told it is award winning, and buddy, I believe it. It’s fantastic and I wish I had some at this very minute.) I get it. Custom cookies are pricey.

The time a local baker spends on a custom sugar cookie is kind of insane. Just ask my family. They don’t get to eat at the kitchen table, come into the kitchen, or breathe anywhere close to the kitchen for days upon end sometimes. I won’t go into the cookie timeline mostly because, honestly, it varies so greatly. But the brain power alone that goes into each custom order could well serve a promising freshman class at Harvard. (No? Too far? Ehhh, nah. It feels accurate.)

Here’s the thing: you can go to a chain “bread” shop and get a decorated sugar cookie for $2.69 and- I’m just gonna say it- the decorating is sub par, produced in masses, not freshly baked and certainly not custom. A custom cookie from a local small business baker will cost a little bit more at $3-$5. And yes, Kathy, I know most bakers require a dozen or two minimum order. You’re missing my point. What I’m saying is: a local small business owner has put more thought, love, sacrifice and better ingredients than that chain “bread” shop could even pretend to care about. I mean, hello, McFly. I use farm fresh local eggs for my cookies! You know what else? Every time you purchase from a small business owner, they literally do a jig and give the heavens a shout of “Hallelujah!” Maybe not while you’re standing right there, but at some point, those exclamations of joy definitely happen. Cross my heart, it happens.

Well, it does at my house anyway.

Shop local, eat local. Support all those talented friends of yours!. Even if it means paying a little bit more. It’s worth it! You’re literally helping a family in your very own community pay their mortgage, or tennis lessons, or for braces, or just food in the fridge. (Have I mentioned I have four adorable kids with not super straight teeth??)

And if you need to see the “Hallelujah” jig, buy some cookies from your ole pal, Sugar Jane. I hear her cookies are as tasty as they are pretty