I decide to ask my children what part of making Christmas cookies they enjoy the best. It occurs to me that it’s a good idea to get their perspective every once in a while. Do you remember when I returned from our glamorous New York City trip and asked my children to recall their favorite memory?
It was the amazing birds. Feeding the birds. Not the fancy restaurants, shopping, huge buildings, or museums.
Maybe my children don’t even enjoy all this fuss about Christmas cookies. Maybe we should forget the whole thing.
“What was your favorite part about today?” I ask. I’m wiping flour from my face, removing sprinkles from my shoes, and scraping dried frosting from the counter. The food coloring spilled everywhere just drives me crazy. Next year, I’m going to prepare all the colored frosting bowls myself and make neat little stations for them to frost and decorate cookies. Next year, I will not let little children anywhere near the food coloring.
“My favorite part,” my daughter cheerfully answers, “was definitely the food coloring. We got to make all those colors!”
Noted.
Living with flair means we recognize that the very thing we can’t stand might be the thing they love.
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What thing do children love and remember that adults tend to not want to bother with?
0 Responses
Oh…this made me laugh. So true. You are such a good mama, Heather.
You are too kind, Patricia! I nearly lost my cool with the food coloring spilling all over the kitchen table! But that's what they love 😉
This is so true, Heather. The very thing that annoys us, is the thing they remember and love. I need to think of this the next time I want things to go my way.
I know, Amy! Even just tonight, we went to see Christmas lights, and I was so tired and just wanted to sleep. But the girls were so excited and thought everything was so magical. These are their memories!
So true Heather. Next year you might want to invest in food coloring paste. It won't spill so it might make things a bit easier. Found in nice cooking shops. Merry Christmas.
Glad I read this tonight since we are going to make Christmas cookies tomorrow! And Jadon is also going to make dinner. He is so excited! And I'm excited for him! We are having mac and cheese of course!
Great suggestion, Tammie! Paste!
Wish I could be there to feast on mac and cheese with your sweet family, Kirsten!!
I've been catching up on your blog and had to comment on this one. What a great reminder. More often than not I choose the road that makes less mess, is less noisy, requires fewer stops at the store, disrupts my life the least. But my most memorable moments with my kids have almost always involved a little inconvenience, mess, and noise, and I'm almost never sorry we did it.