They say this jar once sat on the windowsill of a little white farmhouse. It belonged to a ranch hand named Eli, who was hopelessly in love with the schoolteacher, Clara. Trouble was, Eli could barely string two words together around her. So he came up with a plan: every Friday, he’d sneak into town, buy the biggest batch of cookies he could afford, and tuck them inside this very jar. On Sunday afternoons, Clara would visit his mother, and Eli would ‘just happen’ to be there, offering her one.….

—and that’s where the love story rests, tucked inside this jar. The rest belongs to whoever keeps it on their table next.

Some history: This is a Western cowboy boot cookie jar, often called the “Outlaw Cookie Jar.” Versions like this were typically made in the 1970s–1980s, sometimes by companies like McCoy or Treasure Craft.