All those cookies!

Well, Christmas Eve is here and I didn’t meet my goal of 20 different varieties of cookies. I’m blaming my daughter-in-law Allison for that. (-: Normally we do all this baking together, but she’s back in the U.S. with the kids this year, and I find it isn’t half as much fun to bake without them.

I mean, people here really enjoy receiving baskets of these cookies, because they are very different from what you can purchase at local bakeries. However, the most fun comes from having the family come together to do this. Part of our tradition has been for the kids to come straight to Nanny’s house after school for lunch, and then spend the afternoon baking and decorating cookies. Nanny (me) usually has the dough ready to go, and Allison does the actual baking. Oh, boy, do I miss her!

So we decided to bake together “long distance.” We were baking the same recipes… and then talking to Allison on the phone she tells me she was feeling the same way… it’s just not the same. I guess there’s a good side to this. I am truly lucky in this wonderful daughter-in-law, and I guess it says something for our relationship that we enjoy each other’s company so much and really feel the absence.

In any case, I figured that even with half of what I planned, there certainly was plenty to go around. Most of my cookie baskets have been delivered, just a couple still sitting around to hand over tonight.

And the cookie tray for our own Christmas Eve dinner is ready. Doesn’t it look nice?

As a bi-cultural family, we celebrate both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Christmas Eve is a candlelight service at church, and then the big dinner, with the extended family and friends. Christmas Day is just “us”. My mom, my kids, and I.

Anyway, all is ready, and all is peaceful and calm. No rushing around. And still there are cookies left over. Good! There’ll be some for New Year’s Eve!