Homemade? Christmas

This weekend the five of us had "Christmas Negotiations." We gathered around our huge whiteboard and wrote down what we each really wanted from Christmas and our upcoming vacation.

We did this because of me. I was starting to get angry and I could feel it building.

I was getting the feeling that everyone else in our house expected Christmas to just arrive. Presto! Here's Christmas with everything your heart desires bouncing along with it.

No one, except me, seemed to have any idea what needed to be done to make that happen. So that equation, in my mind mind, looked like this:

CHRISTMAS + TONS OF WORK (for me) = FUN (for everyone but me)

Not a happy inducing equation. Thus the discussion.

One of the topics of discussion was COOKIES. Here's how it went down...

MGG: Do we want cookies?

ALL: Yes!!

MCG: Maybe we should write down what cookies we want.

GJG: Peanut butter Kiss ones!

CAG: Yes!

MGG: Sugar cookies?

ALL: Yes!

MCG: Chocolate crinkles?

GJG: I don't really like those.

CAG: I can live without those.

MGG: O.k., no crinkles

GMG: I like the ones Grandma made.

MGG: Which ones?

GMG: She made them when I was 5, I think.

MGG: (totally stumped) Which ones?

GMG: They're white and round.

MGG: You mean the Russian Tea Cookies? (thinking of all my kids, she would be the one to like those)

GMG: What are those?

MGG: They're white and round. They have nuts in them and are covered in powdered sugar.

GMG: No, I don't think so.

MGG: Why don't you go get the cookbook and look through it to see if there's something that looks familiar.

GMG: (now really frustrated with us) They're NOT cookbook cookies. They're the ones Grandma made!

MGG: O.k. What do they look like.

GMG: You know, they're white and round and they have pictures on them.

MGG: (it begins to dawn on me) You mean pictures of Christmas trees and snowmen and stuff.

GMG: Yes!

MCG: You mean slice and bake cookies?

MGG: The Pillsbury cookies?

GMG: Yes!

CAG: Oh yeah! Those cookies with the pictures in the middle that taste like Pillsbury-everything. I love those!

GJG: I love those too!

Appears that the Pillsbury Doughboy understands Christmas Negotiations quite well. He's going to help make Christmas cookies happen this year without a lot of effort on my part. He's going to help! Which is ultimately what I wanted to from our family discussion. HELP.

Now the question I have is -- given my own expectations of providing a homey homemade holiday for my kids to remember -- is that a good thing or bad thing?