Christian's macaroons

One of the best things about being off work this week is it gave me time to get my package together for Christian, my Operation Baking Gals soldier in Iraq.
I decided to bake macaroons because they are always popular, they'll be a nice change from all the chocolate chip cookies he's sure to get, and they stay fresh forEVER. And even when they're stale, they're good. So my hope is that by the time they finally get to him, they'll still be edible.
I baked the cookies last night and then this morning, I began the all-important packing job. These boxes travel far, and they are thrown around, so the pack job is very important.
I alternated layers of paper towels and cookies, and followed the suggestion of another Operation Baking Gal, who said an apple peel tucked into each layer of paper towel is the best way to keep the cookies fresh. Her grandmother used this technique when sending snacks to her grandfather when he fought in WWII.


See how pretty the cookies look all layered? I'm sure they won't look like that when they arrive, but I packed them in with about a half a roll of paper towels, so I'm hoping for the best.

Now all I needed to do was pack everything into the box, which I picked up from the Post Office last week!

Oops. When I bought this container yesterday, I measured the height and the width to make sure it would fit in the box. I somehow forgot to pay attention to the length.
No worries. I just really shoved it in there -- hey, maybe this will keep the cookies from being jostled around a lot, right?
I tossed in some extra snacks for him and the other soldiers in his unit, and wrote him a note to tell him a little bit about me and to thank him for his service.

Then I used a LOT of tape.

Now I'm off to the Post Office!