C is for Cookie . . . but B is for Burn!

I love Christmas. So many happy things to be doing and listening to and participating in and enjoying. It's wonderful. Even houses look friendlier at this time of year, thanks to snow and lights. What happy feelings prevail. I've really enjoyed finding gifts for family, friends, and roommates. My home looks like Christmas, with our pretty tree and poinsettias and nativity. And on Saturday, it even smelled like Christmas!

Lisa and I pose with our masterpieces.
We were both pretty proud of the gingerbread house we decorated together.

How does Christmas smell? Like hidden kisses and chocolate diamond squares and sugar cookies. That's right. It smells like sugar and chocolate. Both of which are important ingredients in the cookies I made Saturday afternoon, when the intense desire to bake seized me with a vengeance! My roommates didn't quite know what to make of me, but I didn't care much. I was just happy, jumping around the kitchen, all excited to be making hidden kisses. And all the cookies I made turned out quite nicely. They were enjoyed both at Becky and Noah's Hanukkah party Saturday night and at the dessert night our neighbor Tyler hosted on Sunday night.

Becky and Noah preparing for their Hanukkah party.
Yes, they are still Mormon. They just wanted to make latkes.

Since several cookies of mine were consumed over the weekend, I needed to make more, so I could share my culinary talents and Christmas cheer with my co-workers. However, yesterday's experience wasn't nearly as happy, all because of the clumsiness of me. I somehow managed to burn both my thumbs while getting out a pan of cookies, even while using pot holders! I don't know how I wasn't positioning the pot holders correctly, because heaven knows I've used them many times in my life with success, but twice within about thirty seconds, I did not. 'Twas a painful experience, and Lisa was a tad concerned when she walked into the kitchen to find me crying with the cold water running over my thumbs. I laughed a bit as I told her what happened, but I was still mainly crying because it just hurt so badly. Oh, well. An hour later, I was calling Mom to amuse her with the tale of my woe, so I don't think I was in a horrible mood. But that sure killed my cookie buzz. ;) Oh, well. I survived, and my thumbs shall recover, I'm sure you're all glad to know.

Noah shares the joy of "Calvin and Hobbes" with Brandon.
(the gift i gave to becky and noah)

Hope Esther likes her "Vicar of Dibley"!

Preparing to play the dreidel game.

-Me

"I don't want to live in a world where I have to eat sugar-free sugar cookies." -Takayuki Ikkaku