diff --git a/server/api/auth/direct-login.post.ts b/server/api/auth/direct-login.post.ts
index 460b429..eb0119c 100644
--- a/server/api/auth/direct-login.post.ts
+++ b/server/api/auth/direct-login.post.ts
@@ -307,19 +307,23 @@ export default defineEventHandler(async (event) => {
       sessionSize: JSON.stringify(sessionData).length
     });
 
-    // Create session with appropriate expiration
+    // Create session with server-side storage
     const sessionManager = createSessionManager();
-    const maxAge = !!rememberMe ? 60 * 60 * 24 * 30 : 60 * 60 * 24 * 7; // 30 days vs 7 days
     
     try {
-      // Create the encrypted session data
-      const sessionData_json = JSON.stringify(sessionData);
-      const encrypted = sessionManager.encrypt(sessionData_json);
+      // Create session and get cookie string
+      const cookieString = sessionManager.createSession(sessionData, !!rememberMe);
       
-      console.log(`🍪 Setting session cookie (Remember Me: ${!!rememberMe}), size: ${encrypted.length} chars`);
+      // Parse the cookie string to get the session ID
+      const cookieParts = cookieString.split(';')[0].split('=');
+      const sessionId = cookieParts[1];
       
-      // Use Nuxt's setCookie helper directly with the encrypted value
-      setCookie(event, 'monacousa-session', encrypted, {
+      console.log(`🍪 Setting session cookie (Remember Me: ${!!rememberMe}), session ID: ${sessionId.substring(0, 8)}...`);
+      console.log(`📏 Cookie size: ${sessionId.length} chars (much smaller!)`);
+      
+      // Set the cookie using Nuxt's setCookie helper
+      const maxAge = !!rememberMe ? 60 * 60 * 24 * 30 : 60 * 60 * 24 * 7; // 30 days vs 7 days
+      setCookie(event, 'monacousa-session', sessionId, {
         httpOnly: true,
         secure: true,
         sameSite: 'none',
diff --git a/server/api/auth/logout.post.ts b/server/api/auth/logout.post.ts
index effdd1b..80421b8 100644
--- a/server/api/auth/logout.post.ts
+++ b/server/api/auth/logout.post.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,15 @@
 export default defineEventHandler(async (event) => {
   const sessionManager = createSessionManager();
-  const destroyCookie = sessionManager.destroySession();
+  const cookieHeader = getHeader(event, 'cookie');
+  
+  console.log('🚪 Logout requested');
+  
+  // Clear the session from server-side store
+  const destroyCookie = sessionManager.destroySession(cookieHeader);
   
   setHeader(event, 'Set-Cookie', destroyCookie);
   
+  console.log('✅ Logout successful');
+  
   return { success: true };
 });
diff --git a/server/utils/session.ts b/server/utils/session.ts
index 441c345..d80d019 100644
--- a/server/utils/session.ts
+++ b/server/utils/session.ts
@@ -1,85 +1,125 @@
 import { serialize, parse } from 'cookie';
-import { createCipheriv, createDecipheriv, randomBytes } from 'crypto';
+import { randomBytes } from 'crypto';
 import type { SessionData } from '~/utils/types';
 
+// In-memory session store (in production, you'd use Redis or a database)
+const sessionStore = new Map<string, {
+  data: SessionData;
+  expiresAt: number;
+  rememberMe: boolean;
+}>();
+
+// Cleanup expired sessions every 5 minutes
+setInterval(() => {
+  const now = Date.now();
+  for (const [sessionId, session] of sessionStore.entries()) {
+    if (now > session.expiresAt) {
+      sessionStore.delete(sessionId);
+      console.log('🧹 Cleaned up expired session:', sessionId.substring(0, 8) + '...');
+    }
+  }
+}, 5 * 60 * 1000);
+
 export class SessionManager {
-  private encryptionKey: Buffer;
   private cookieName = 'monacousa-session';
 
-  constructor(encryptionKey: string) {
-    this.encryptionKey = Buffer.from(encryptionKey, 'hex');
+  constructor() {
+    // No encryption key needed since we're only storing session IDs
   }
 
-  encrypt(data: string): string {
-    const iv = randomBytes(16);
-    const cipher = createCipheriv('aes-256-cbc', this.encryptionKey, iv);
-    let encrypted = cipher.update(data, 'utf8', 'hex');
-    encrypted += cipher.final('hex');
-    return iv.toString('hex') + ':' + encrypted;
-  }
-
-  private decrypt(encryptedData: string): string {
-    const [ivHex, encrypted] = encryptedData.split(':');
-    const iv = Buffer.from(ivHex, 'hex');
-    const decipher = createDecipheriv('aes-256-cbc', this.encryptionKey, iv);
-    let decrypted = decipher.update(encrypted, 'hex', 'utf8');
-    decrypted += decipher.final('utf8');
-    return decrypted;
+  private generateSessionId(): string {
+    return randomBytes(32).toString('hex');
   }
 
   createSession(sessionData: SessionData, rememberMe: boolean = false): string {
-    const data = JSON.stringify(sessionData);
-    const encrypted = this.encrypt(data);
-    
+    const sessionId = this.generateSessionId();
     const maxAge = rememberMe ? 60 * 60 * 24 * 30 : 60 * 60 * 24 * 7; // 30 days vs 7 days
+    const expiresAt = Date.now() + (maxAge * 1000);
     
-    console.log(`🍪 Creating session cookie (Remember Me: ${rememberMe}) without explicit domain`);
+    // Store session data server-side
+    sessionStore.set(sessionId, {
+      data: sessionData,
+      expiresAt,
+      rememberMe
+    });
     
-    return serialize(this.cookieName, encrypted, {
+    console.log(`🍪 Creating session cookie (Remember Me: ${rememberMe}) with session ID: ${sessionId.substring(0, 8)}...`);
+    console.log(`📊 Session store size: ${sessionStore.size} sessions`);
+    
+    return serialize(this.cookieName, sessionId, {
       httpOnly: true,
-      secure: process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production',
-      sameSite: 'lax',
+      secure: true,
+      sameSite: 'none',
       maxAge,
       path: '/',
     });
   }
 
   getSession(cookieHeader?: string): SessionData | null {
-    if (!cookieHeader) return null;
-
-    const cookies = parse(cookieHeader);
-    const sessionCookie = cookies[this.cookieName];
-
-    if (!sessionCookie) return null;
-
-    try {
-      const decrypted = this.decrypt(sessionCookie);
-      const sessionData = JSON.parse(decrypted) as SessionData;
-
-      // Check if session is expired
-      if (Date.now() > sessionData.tokens.expiresAt) {
-        return null;
-      }
-
-      return sessionData;
-    } catch (error) {
-      console.error('Failed to decrypt session:', error);
+    if (!cookieHeader) {
+      console.log('❌ No cookie header provided');
       return null;
     }
+
+    const cookies = parse(cookieHeader);
+    const sessionId = cookies[this.cookieName];
+
+    if (!sessionId) {
+      console.log('❌ No session cookie found');
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    console.log(`🔍 Looking up session: ${sessionId.substring(0, 8)}...`);
+
+    const sessionEntry = sessionStore.get(sessionId);
+    if (!sessionEntry) {
+      console.log('❌ Session not found in store');
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    // Check if session is expired
+    if (Date.now() > sessionEntry.expiresAt) {
+      console.log('❌ Session expired, removing from store');
+      sessionStore.delete(sessionId);
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    // Update last activity
+    sessionEntry.data.lastActivity = Date.now();
+    
+    console.log('✅ Session found and valid for user:', sessionEntry.data.user.email);
+    return sessionEntry.data;
   }
 
-  destroySession(): string {
+  destroySession(cookieHeader?: string): string {
+    if (cookieHeader) {
+      const cookies = parse(cookieHeader);
+      const sessionId = cookies[this.cookieName];
+      
+      if (sessionId && sessionStore.has(sessionId)) {
+        sessionStore.delete(sessionId);
+        console.log(`🗑️ Destroyed session: ${sessionId.substring(0, 8)}...`);
+      }
+    }
+
     return serialize(this.cookieName, '', {
       httpOnly: true,
       secure: true,
-      sameSite: 'lax',
+      sameSite: 'none',
       maxAge: 0,
       path: '/',
     });
   }
+
+  // Helper method to get session stats
+  getSessionStats() {
+    return {
+      totalSessions: sessionStore.size,
+      activeSessions: Array.from(sessionStore.values()).filter(s => Date.now() < s.expiresAt).length
+    };
+  }
 }
 
 export function createSessionManager(): SessionManager {
-  const config = useRuntimeConfig();
-  return new SessionManager(config.encryptionKey);
+  return new SessionManager();
 }