Chocolate cake and lights was all I had to go on for Cody’s third birthday party. I knew I had hit the target when he woke up to find lights strung throughout the living and dining room and his eyes followed the colorful strings of lights to a big chocolate cake in the center of…
I was barely five years old and the brick steps in her garage were high. The railing was of little help to my short arms as I balanced from step to step behind my mother. As soon as we entered the kitchen the warm smell of a boiling chicken in a pot on the stove…
The houses are constructed. The icing glue is set. Cousins are waiting patiently at the dining room table, resisting attempts to get into the building materials: red and black licorice, sour patch kids, jujubes, and snowcaps. Soon the butter knives are in hand and the fun begins! Globs of icing lazily hold a candy here…
Pink knit hats with soft bear ears. Small bundled faces staring back at me, their cheeks flush with the winter wind. They sat warmed by the fire.
Warmed ovens. Chilled dough. Accoutrements galore. Stools pulled to counters. Books stacked in chairs for little buddies to participate fully. Patient, loving, hands guiding smaller ones from step to step; rolling out dough, cutting into fun shapes, decorating little master pieces. It was the traditional cookie day of my childhood. We would go to a…