My family has been baking Christmas cookies every year for the past 66 years. We make thousands of cookies for friends and family.

• The tradition started in 1957 when my grandparents made cookies for their employer.
• Now we make 15 different types of cookies and over 100 cookies per type. 
• Our cookie tradition is something I've looked forward to since I was a kid. 

The tradition started small in 1957, with my grandparents making cookies in a glass jar for their employer, the owners of the local dairy farm. The glass jar was intended to be a gift, but the recipients enjoyed the cookies so much that they asked for just the cookies, no matter what vessel they could come in. My grandmother and grandfather, both immigrants from Switzerland, didn't know it then, but they had just started a tradition for decades to come.

Now, 66 years later, my family's cookie-baking weekend is getting out of hand. It consists of four 18-hour days, more than 15 cookie variations, and sometimes upwards of 100 cookies per variation. I'm not the best at math, but that's a lot of cookies.

There's a specific timing to each cookie: when the trays have to be in the oven, how long the dough needs to sit, and how long the cookies have to cool with melted chocolate on them. There's an exact science to this weekend, perfected over the decades of the tradition.

It's a whole family activity

This year, the tradition continues shortly after Thanksgiving, with my 91-year-old Swiss grandmother, aunts, cousin, and myself baking thousands of cookies. A stress and perfectionism-filled weekend turns into fun if we can manage not to burn a batch accidentally. Of course, with the cookie checkers, perfectly timed and positioned timers, and quality control in place, we limit the chance of that happening as much as we can. We then give the cookies to relatives, friends, and community members.

Of course, there are different roles between those that make the dough, roll the dough, cut, bake, and decorate. In all of the years I've been doing this, I've slowly risen through the ranks from just someone who can dip the cookies into chocolate to baker, dough maker, and cookie cutter, always under the watchful eye of my grandmother. Side by side with those who have been doing it for as many decades as it has happened, I learn tricks to keep the tradition alive and ways to keep the cookies tasting as good as possible.

Cookie variations have been removed or added to the day of baking

One thing to the practice is keeping the Swiss tradition and making authentic cookies. This includes brunsli, bretzeli, kolachen, spritz, similar to ones you'd find in a bakery. While cookies have been added and removed and even re-added, the favorites have lasted the taste test of time. Of course, everyone has a favorite, but sometimes it can take effort to pick between chocolate and jelly, powdered sugar, and hazelnuts, so we will surely hand out a variety to everyone.

While the list of people who get cookies continues to change and expand over the years to include friends of friends, coworkers, and extended family members, the heart of the weekend stays the same. There's no better way to get into the holiday spirit than to have your hands dipped in chocolate, with flour and sugar dirtying your apron, surrounded by the people you love.

Over the years, the tradition has developed and evolved — more family members have been added, new kinds of butter tested, and ovens replaced. The nuts that make the cookies are still ground by hand, and a lot of the processes can be automated, so a lot of the tradition still rings true to how it was the first time.

To some, it may seem excessive to spend over four days baking cookies, Hallmark movies, and Christmas songs playing in the background, but it's something that I've always looked forward to, even as a child.

Spending this much time with my family makes me realize the importance of family traditions and keeping my Swiss heritage alive by learning next to my grandmother. It helps that the cookies are very delicious, too.