Cookies Together

Cookies and toddlers; it's a powerful combination.  Perhaps not as volatile as a glass of water, or as all-consuming as a piece of candy, but deeply, psychologically powerful.  And maybe for grownups, too.

Yesterday, Maeve and I made our first batch of Christmas cookies together.  Well, I say we, but I made the dough, chilled it, rolled it out, and cut out the shapes.  But Maeve helped put on the red hots, which is really just as important as all the rest of that stuff, because it takes an artist.

She was pretty grumpy, as she'd just woken up from a 3 1/2 hour long blockbuster of a nap, but I needed to get the cookies into the oven before they dried out, so we got straight to work.

I put one red hot in the center of a star, then handed her one to put down.  Any cookie on the sheet, I told her.  She put it down right next to mine, in the center of that same star, which made me smile.  I handed her another red hot... same thing.  I had to draw the line at three red hots on one star, the cookies weren't that big.  I moved the tray around and convinced her to branch out a little.

It wasn't quite the idyllic Christmas memory, but on the other hand, there were no tantrums, she didn't pick up the dough or cry or anything, so we'll go with a success.  The best part for me was that she actually ate a cookie afterwards, and she usually does not like my homemade cookies.  I think the enticement of the candy on top really motivated her to give them a try.  Or maybe she was just proud of her own handiwork.  But my heart was very warm and Christmassy yesterday.