Cookie time: It’s the Girl Scout ‘gotcha!’

The powers that be at Girl Scout headquarters aren’t dumb. They know that, at about this time, New Year’s Resolutions we so devoutly made at the onset of January are becoming a bit threadbare. We’ve been to the gym, eaten carrot sticks, even gone to bed early (before dinner?) to avoid those late evening snacks. And then?
Yep, there at your door or at the supermarket or – yes – even in your very own family are those adorable munchkins who approach us these cold, wintery days bearing delicious delights just when our resolve is at its lowest ebb. I mean, who can resist a Brownie or Daisy Scout in uniform? Nope, they are just so dang irresistible.
And so are those cookies! Hello – Thin Mints? And in case you’re interested (or still on the fence about your purchase), the Girl Scouts organization website offers up ironclad reasons why we should invest in cookies: purchasing a box of Thin Mints “helps a girl learn MONEY MANAGEMENT. She handles money, keeps records, even tracks orders – activities that are essential to running a successful business.”
Well. You certainly can’t argue with that kind of logic. Besides, those cookies are gooooood. And if you think you can resist tasty cookies AND a girl in uniform – here’s the ace in the hole, folks – they are only available for a short time every year! So give those Girl Scouts leaders a merit badge in brains for coming up with the most surefire fundraiser ever.
This year our family has a new Daisy Scout named Gracie who also happens to be my oldest grandchild. At five years of age, Gracie represents the third generation of Girl Scout cookie sellers in our family.
Now I’m not sure what this says about me, but I loved going door-to-door selling Girl Scout cookies – and in those early days of Girl Scout cookies there were only a couple of choices – no Thin Mints back then, friends! Nope, we had a hard sell with some pretty dry, unexciting cookies, but I gloried in getting those orders and delivering cookies to our neighbors.
As the old saw goes, I walked for miles uphill in the snow. Well, maybe it wasn’t uphill exactly, but still. Colorado in winter was rough going. I remember my little mittened hands were frozen solid due to retrieving my pencil and order form that kept falling into the snow – not to mention wearing my beloved Brownie uniform with my skinny little legs sticking out. Brrrrrr …
When my own daughters were in Brownies, they traveled the neighborhood, too. By then it was advised that the girls were safer selling in numbers. Gone were the days when a little girl could be reasonably secure traversing her neighborhood by herself to take cookie orders.
Since I was a Brownie leader for both of my daughters’ troops, I was both astounded and delighted at how Girl Scout cookies had changed since I was a girl. For six years of leading Brownies through the rites and rigors of cookie sales, I was still excited at cookie delivery time when my garage was stacked with boxes of yummy goodness.
And now it was my older daughter’s turn to take her cookie-selling kindergartner and Daisy scout, Gracie, around the neighborhood to sell cookies for a good cause. My daughter practiced with Gracie beforehand so Gracie could perfect her pitch.
“Hi, I’m Gracie,” she was to say, “and I’m a Daisy Scout. Would you like to buy some Girl Scout cookies?”
Finally, dressed in her uniform, off they went, Gracie pulling a red wagon borrowed from my grandson, Charlie, that they loaded with Girl Scout cookies. 
Here’s how it went down:
Gracie knocked. The door opened.
Gracie: (Silence)
Gracie’s mom: (nudges Gracie)
Gracie: (More silence)
Gracie’s mom: (more nudging) “Gracie! What are you supposed to say?”
Gracie: (after several-seconds delay): “Hi! I’m Gracie …”
So the third generation of our family’s representative Girl Scout cookie sellers is in the history books. But those cookies sure aren’t! New Year’s Resolutions or not, I think I hear a Thin Mint calling my name.