Bake More Than You Eat

(by Mandy Dokie)

There is nothing like the smell of sugar cookies baking to bring me right back to childhood: I’m six years old, patiently waiting for Mom to bring my brother and me the giant ball of dough to roll out. My long brown hair is tied back in a braid, and I’m rocking a Ninja Turtle sweatshirt spotted with flour. Flour had to be on the table, on my pants, and my nose. If I didn’t have flour on me somewhere, was it even baking?

“Wait! We forgot our music!” Mom would yell from the kitchen. Music was a must. Baking Christmas sugar cookies was not complete without Nat King Cole singing "Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire" in the background. The rules were simple: Mix the ingredients, roll out the dough, and bake more dough than you eat. That last part was always a little hard for us.

A vast array of cookie cutters sat in a large bowl on the table—the same cookie cutters that my mom used with her mom and sisters at Christmas time. Our eyes were as big as the cookies while we watched our creation