Holiday cooking* is a thing. There are books across several culinary disciplines, blogs, catalogues, apps, television shows, water cooler convos and (insert other medium here) dedicated to the subject because, obviously, holiday time means calories no longer count and there’s no better cure for annoying relatives than Peanut-Butter Blossoms.

Winter, of course, is partially to blame. If we’re plunged into darkness for months at a time like so many grumpy bears, why SHOULDN’T we eat loads of cheese, cake, pie, cookies, ham, cake, nuts, figs, cheese straws, cake and more cake? A bear’s got to eat to survive the long cold winter, am I right?

As the holiday season unfolds, it only behooves us to prepare large quantities of food for the family, friends and wandering prophets who will gather to deck your halls, trim the tree and egg the nog — naturally, jingling all the way.

I come from a proud tradition of massively overfeeding people when I entertain. It’s a Polish grandma thing. Mine was not comfortable unless she had at least two cakes on-hand for any hungry guests who might drop by, even in a non-holiday context. Just in case.

Even my grandmother, though, would be impressed with what we’ll call #massivecake for now.

Here at The Day, come holiday time, the newsroom throws a lovely potluck lunch; we adopt a family or two; our Let’s Do Fun Stuff committee hosts a craft and dessert fair; and the whole building does lunch together and collects canned goods for local food pantries. It’s fun, it’s festive, it’s (a working journo’s favorite part) free.

Still, none of those things are a 3-foot Christmas tree cake. But this year, a 3-foot Christmas tree cake we shall have, thanks to the moxie and vision of one of our newest newsroom staffers, Tess Townsend.

When I hear, “Hey, can you bake something for a party?” I make a mental note to hit the grocery store on the way to work that day. Not Tess. When beckoned to make with some baked goods for the good of the group, Tess opted to go big after some initial success with an adorable, gluten-free, pumpkin-flavored and -shaped cake for Halloween. Emboldened, she tossed out the idea to craft a giant Christmas tree cake; would any of us be interested in lending tools, expertise, or general madness to such a project? Many of us were, and several emails later (including one soliciting the advice of a staffer’s engineer husband), Tess had a half-baked plan to construct our holiday #massivecake. Literally. Following the next flurry of emails taking into consideration the cake’s: weight, diameter, flavor, height, portability and overall feasibility, she took pencil to paper and blueprinted out our delicious mission.

#Massivecake will be assembled this weekend so that we may enjoy it at our Tuesday potluck lunch. A small army of bakers stand ready to provide up to 50, 9-inch cakes (don’t ask; someone else did the math, and someone else kicked in some cash) of various flavors (mine) that will become an edible, nut- and gluten-free tree, decorated to the hilt by still more volunteers with any and all sprinkles, candies, frosting, fondant, toothpicks, lights, glitter and fireworks we can collect. It will be a thing of beauty. We may or may not get our hands on some dry ice to really nail the presentation.

Will it fit in the car in a few sections? Maybe. (“Does anyone have a forklift?” asked one volunteer.) Will it collapse under its weight? It’s possible. Will we have a contender for cakewrecks.com? Still a win. (Visit the site and see why for yourself.) We’ve got enough whimsy and good intentions to see through any incarnation of this cake. If it implodes, we’ll still have had a fantastic time dreaming up the whole idea and making the attempt to sweeten up the holiday season en masse.

All we really need now is a better name for this behemoth. We’ve bandied about #muckcaker, #Journocake, #TownsendTower (later dismissed as too Donald Trump-y) and, of course, #massivecake. Why the hashtags? Because we intend to share our cake-making mission and the anticipated joys of making a #massivecake with the world via social media, video and loads of photos — hashtags drive searches on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and beyond, so any pop culture sensation worth its salt needs a hashtag and/or meme.

Shall we continue with #massivecake or do you have a better name for this very special project? Share your ideas and any cake-making advice (is there an architect in the house?) in the comments section; we’ll be much obliged for the encouragement. If our first cake-scape goes well, we hope to craft another as a (perhaps Kickstarter-fueled) fundraiser for local charities.

Keep an eye on The Day’s Twitter (@thedayct) and Facebook feeds for details. Follow Tess the Trailblazer on Twitter at @ConnecticuTess; as the project unfolds, you’ll find more of us tweeting out updates (I’m @TheMDesk).

*With one cooking blogger up in software training and our other one recently departed for a gig in NYC, I’ve decided cooking falls under the rubric of “pop culture.” Tomato-tomahto. I abandoned my own cooking blog for pop culture when I realized I’m the world’s least productive home cook.