Hello my Foodie Friends!
The excitement is building because Christmas is just days away.
In the past, Paula’s mom and my mom were in full cookie baking mode during this time and our house’s smelled great. Paula and I have tried to carry on their traditions but it’s hard to measure up to the best. That being said we keep trying!
Paula takes a lot of pride in baking up cookies for school events at her college or sending the kids back to their college with enough cookies to make even the Keebler elves jealous. Just like our parents did, Paula and I now have our kids helping with the cooking and baking.
Getting children to help do anything is never easy but baking cookies is not work to children it is a privilege. We start with if you are good then we will LET you help us. My mom taught me this strategy since she had five kids who needed to be focused on something other than quarreling with each other. One time my brothers Danny and Billy and I came rolling into the house covered in snow and wrestling with each other over a snowball fight that got ugly.
My Mom, who had an empty plastic bottle in her hand, conked us each on the head and told us to stop fighting or we wouldn’t get to help make the brownies and cookies. The three of us sat on the floor trying to figure out what that was that conked our heads and then those wonderful smells hit our nostrils. My brothers and I had a look we would share that we still do today.
You know that look, it says: “Boy are we lucky.”
As Confucius said, “find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.”
A family working together in the kitchen is a great bonding experience that stays with you the rest of your life. I can’t wait for my kids to come home for the holidays so we can make some memories.
Remember my Foodie friends: “Life Happens in the Kitchen”
Take Care and HappyHolidays
from the Reardon Family!
