Monday, December 18, 2006

Passing on my Childhood

One of the things my family always does around Christmas is to decorate gingerbread cookies. Last year, since I knew I wasn't going to be home in time to do it with my family, I did it on my own with friends from Church. This year I made them again, and decorated them with two different groups.

The first I did with the Palladinos. At four and six years old respectively, Diego and Sierra were old enough to enjoy it, but it was quite an adventure. I think that they ate more candy than they put on the cookies -- and it would be a mistake to say that any of their cookies were low on candy. Their results weren't fancy, but they seemed very proud of their creations.

The second group was with the Kennedys. At fourth grade and sixth grade, Amanda and Tarin were capable of doing a bit more sophisticated patterns on the cookies. A substantially percentage of their candy ended up on the cookies. I think this was largely due to the fact that they felt they needed excuses to eat the candy. For instance, if two chocolate chips were stuck together, or if a cinnamon candy was the wrong shape or size for their purpose, or making sure that a thick layer of frosting didn't harden on the knife.

Early on, Amanda and Tarin got into a competitive spirit about how many cookies each had decorated. I had made three giant angel cookies (over twice the size of the next largest cookie shape). Amanda was the first to decorate one, and informed Tarin that it counted as three cookies, thus putting her well in the lead. Tarin was quick to counter with a point that Amanda agreed to: "No, it needs to count as one cookie so that when Mom tells us we can only have one..."

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