Cookie Monsters

My imagination tells me I have a lot more patience than I actually do. Or maybe I have more than I imagine... I always imagine neat and mostly settled cookie frosting parties with me patient and calm. Ha!

I spent a couple hours rolling, cutting, and baking cutout cookies yesterday afternoon. Today, after lunch, I had four cookie decorators helping me frost and sprinkle cookies. Emily is 11. She does a neat and tidy job with minimal finger licking and "sensible" sparkle sprinkling. The others?  Well, let's just say it was an experience to remember. ha ha!

I doled out equal amounts of cookies (trees, stockings, candy canes, snowmen, bells, horses, and wreaths) and let them have at it with the frosting and toppers. I try hard not to interfere, even though it's next to impossible. I want these little people to remember the fun of decorating cookies, not a grumpy grandma. Frosting washes up, sprinkles can be vacuumed, and licking knives and fingers probably won't cause any lasting damage.

They're sugared up and riled now, not to mention tired. I've scrubbed the table, tossed sticky paper towels in the trash, and piled the lovely treats onto paper plates. They now await transport. In my kitchen a pile of unfrosted treats remain. Maybe I'll have another go with a different bunch of kids, or maybe I'll frost a few of my own. Maybe. Maybe after I vacuum those stray sprinkles off the dining room floor.