Boy surprises 90-year-old man with late wife’s Christmas cookies
Dec 19, 2021, 5:43 PM
10-year-old Sam Wissmann picked up baking during the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo credit: KMOV
KIRKWOOD, Missouri (CNN) — While some of us picked up TikTok dances and Netflix addictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, 10-year-old Sam Wissmann picked up baking.
“We made cookies, helped with dinner a lot,” Sam said.
When asked what his favorite thing to bake is, he said snickerdoodles, which just happens to be the cookie that means a lot to 90-year-old Jim in Kirkwood. Jim’s wife died this year. This is his first Christmas without her. She always made him snickerdoodles for Christmas.
Jim asked his neighbor, Susie, for a snickerdoodle recipe to carry on her tradition himself. Susie found something even better on a Kirkwood Facebook page. A 10-year-old who loves to bake snickerdoodles, Wissmann, a complete stranger.
“Of course, this is the one cookie he loves to make so it was a no brainer [Sam would bake him the cookies],” Sam’s mom Mary Wissmann said.
Sam jumped at the opportunity and made a large batch of Snickerdoodles delivered with a card attached.
“I said, ‘My name is Sam, I’m 10 years old, I enjoy making snickerdoodles, I hope you enjoy them.” Sam said.
According to Susie, the card and cookies brought a tear to Jim’s eye.
“He just seemed sad because his wife had died and she always made snickerdoodles, and I’ve always made them, so I figured he would like it and it would be a good memory instead of a bad one.”
Sam said he would be happy to make this a Christmas tradition.
“Oh, we will do this anytime,” Mary said. “Sam will make them next week if he wanted more.”
