Cookies

 They're sort of everywhere.  On the counter, filling the freezer, in the cookie jar, on platters.  Half-finished in the fridge and on baking sheets.  Everywhere!

Cookies.

Lots and LOTS of cookies.

It's like this every year.  We pick 25 different kinds and set out to bake one every day starting on December 1.  It started out much more modestly--only 3 types back in 2006.  Then I found a cookie cookbook and it went up to 11.  It's grown steadily until I finally put a stake in the ground at 25.  One a day until Christmas.  And that's what we do.  The girls love helping.  Everyone loves eating.  

I don't eat them really--maybe one or two here and there but mostly, I just bake them.  This is the busiest time of the year for me (big shock!) not just with my own family holiday preparations but at work too.  Fundraising hits its peak in December so I'm going going going more than usual.  Baking calms me down.  

I have a pile of ingredients in a corner of my kitchen: 25 pounds of flour, a mountain of chocolate chips, nuts and candies, somewhere around 15 pounds of vegetable shortening, and a package of flax seeds (we're doing more plant-based baking which has been interesting...).  I like to watch the pile diminish.  Turning one pile of things into another pile of things.  Creating something new and beautiful from individual things that aren't much on their own (well, except the chocolate--that's pretty amazing in any form).  

I think that's why I do it.  It's a way to find order in this chaotic life.  When I find I'm lost and not sure of what to do or can't stay focused because of the massive mountain I now must climb (how will I raise more money?  who else can I ask?  What's the right next step?), I can find a cookie recipe and start at step 1.  Just keep following along, step by step and in the end, I'll have something new.  Most of the time, I'll have exactly what I set out to make.  Suddenly, the pathway is clear again and I can set about the business of the day.

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