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What started 14 years ago as a way to get rid of extra Christmas cookies Maureen Albrecht baked for her son’s elementary-school class has turned into a much-anticipated tradition for her Shavertown family.

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Mostly neighborhood children gathered at the Albrecht’s Shavertown home in the late 1990s to decorate cookies for the holidays. From left are Mia Remplewicz, Nate Albrecht, Niki Malloy, Mark Malloy, Dom Jose, Haley Schmid, Devin Albrecht and Sean Deats.

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Cookies of all shapes and sizes were decorated at the Albrecht family’s Shavertown home on Dec. 18 as part of the family’s annual Christmas-cookie party. It began more than 10 years ago as a small neighborhood event, and now more than 50 high-school and college-age kids share in the fun.

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The annual Christmas-cookie party at the Albrechts’ Lehigh Street home is a way for Maureen’s sons, 19-year-old Devin, a mechanical-engineering major at Wilkes University, and 16-year-old Nate, a sophomore at Holy Redeemer High School, to spend time with their friends and their parents at home on the Friday before Christmas.

“I love having the kids around. The more the merrier,” said Maureen, who bakes hundreds of cookies annually on the last Friday before Christmas and invites her two teenage sons’ friends over to decorate and eat them.

The group started small and now numbers more than 50. Using colored icing, sprinkles and candy, the army of high-school and college-age helpers, along with some adults who couldn’t resist joining the fun, spent the evening of Dec. 18 decorating cookies shaped like stars, wreaths, hearts and more.

“No one leaves until all these are decorated,” dad Mark said with a laugh. “I always threaten them with that because sometimes the decorating runs out before the cookies do.”

Most don’t need the encouragement, though.

“It’s like they believe me that they can’t leave until they’re done,” he said, while watching the college-age crew decorate in the kitchen as the high-schoolers stayed busy coming up with different designs in the dining room.

In the kitchen, 20-year-old Mary O’Connor decorated a tree-shaped cookie using M&Ms as ornaments.

At the same table, 20-year-old Taylor Bridges made a bell with sugar glitter and M&Ms, while Devin made a snow-covered house using white icing and a red M&M as the door handle.

“This is the highlight of my Christmas break — coming here for the Christmas cookies,” said 19-year-old Kim Konnick, a student at Cazenovia College in New York, who went to the former Bishop O’Reilly High School with Devin.

“My son says this is his favorite party of the year,” said neighbor Susan Malloy, whose son, 16-year-old Mark Malloy, has been a cookie-decorator since the beginning in 1995.

“Those early years it was just the neighborhood kids,” Mark Albrecht said.

Now the annual party is a much bigger event.

“It’s a big homecoming for everyone,” explained Devin, who invites his old friends from high school and new friends from college.

“It’s a nice mix of kids,” said Ann Bernardi of Pittston, whose daughters, Ashley and Lauren, have attended the past few years. “Last year we had snow so it was really a lot of fun.”

In addition to the 260 cookies, the teenagers also munch on boneless-buffalo wings, cheese balls, shrimp, tacos, and other treats in the kitchen, which is filled with tiles from various places Maureen has traveled.

But, besides the kitchen and dining room, visitors mingle in the family room, where as the night goes on, Devin plays Billy Joel tunes and other songs on the keyboard.

“(“Piano Man”) is my signature song,” he said.

For the party, Maureen says, she starts picking up decorating supplies in November, a little each time she goes grocery shopping, which is why it’s tough to estimate how much she spends each year.

“If you do it that way, you don’t even notice,” she said. “Just seeing everybody here is worth it to me.”

Despite all the fun, there is perhaps one downside to cookie-decorating night: “Your hands are permanently sticky all night,” Nate joked.