Laughter and the smell of baking cookies filled the air at St. John's church in Mahoning Township on Saturday. It was Carbon County 4-H's first Holiday Family Gathering, and a chance for 4-H members throughout the county to socialize and learn how to make holiday treats and homemade gifts.

"The holidays are a time for family," said Georgia Farrow, 4-H program assistant for Carbon County. "The idea was to promote easy, inexpensive ways to spend time as a family."She said that while it's a bit early to be thinking about holiday cookies, now is a great time to start planning for gifts - especially homemade gifts that might take some time but not cost a lot of money."We all get so busy. We thought it would get an edge on the holidays," Farrow said. "If people need to purchase items to make these gifts, they will have time to do it."The program was open to all 4-H members in Carbon County clubs. Approximately 20 children and their parents attended.Every person attending took part in a cookie-making session, lead by the owners of 14 Acre Farm in Summit Hill. They showed the children and parents how customize plain sugar cookie dough with toppings such as chopped nuts, chocolate or candy to create a unique cookie creation.Members then divided into different craft and food activity stations. Some made homemade cards from colorful paper and ribbons. Others learned how to make an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie mix and package it for a gift. Still other activity stations showed how to create chocolate-dipped pretzels or use a wood burner to make tree ornaments."These are all fun things to do with family members," Farrow said, adding that this was also a chance for 4-H members to have fun outside of their regular club projects. But that doesn't mean they didn't learn anything worthy of 4-H display. Farrow said some projects, such as cookie mixes, might be a good craft to display at next year's Carbon County Fair.