A Cookie Cutter Connection

   

   I dug through the pots and pans, grumbling that it is time to organize the tumbling on the floor mess I am creating while looking for the purple bowl. So I guess my cupboard is a pot, pans, and big bowl space that is like a migraine to manage.

    Finally at the back of the cupboard, I reach in, almost fully inside, legs wiggling out of the end. I carefully pull the bowl from an unsecured pot pile and a group of teetering pans. With the purple bowl in hand, I triumphantly place it next to the eggs, measuring cup and package of sugar cookie mix. A tangle of cookie cutters is scattered on the table with an assortment of sprinkles and colored sugar crystals.

    After mixing the ingredients together the dough is ready to roll out flat for the cookie cutters to shape into Christmas stars and joyful bells, singing angels and fancy trees. I love this time of year and the fun of baking something special.

   After the cookies appear from the oven I call to the girls, “Elaina, Lydia, come here.” As the excited feet come bounding up the basement stairs they both let out a gleeful cheer, “sugar cookies! Can we decorate them?”

    I smile as I hand them the decorating supplies. Happy chatter pours out as the girls sprinkle color over frosted shapes. It brings me back to snowy afternoons when the kids were small with play-doh spread out on the table.

“No, don’t put that in your mouth.” I would say to a child tempted by the bright colors of the sculpting dough.

Back in the present, I see Lydia licking the knife of pink frosting, “Lydia, don’t do that!” I playfully scold as she giggles guiltily.

   In ten minutes they are finished frosting the cookies and tromp back down the stairs. We just shared a brief fun moment together. These days a brief moment together is a gift. Gone are the days of wanting mommy as the playmate. Time changes things and stages change things, luckily I have one thing to count on: my cupboard of disheveled pots and pans.

   Even on the best of days opening the cupboard door can make me grumble. It just seems I don’t have time to clear up that problem. I live with the mess because there is always something more important to do. I guess that is why I am willing to make a cookie mess for ten minutes of connection with my girls. Mess might be required to get to the things that really matter in life. The things that sprinkle color on life and make it worth a heavy jog up the stairs.

And that is why I love to make sugar cookies