Icing

Thanksgiving day...

...we went for a walk after our meal. It was a warm and golden afternoon and we shed our coats as we walked. But this week...

...it's cold! It rained all day yesterday, and we woke today to a dusting of snow. Zoe had to go outside right away. With her first step out the door, she slipped. Ice! Mid-moring, we watched snow fall from the sky. For, like, all of two minutes. The icy little pellets melted on contact. This snow thing, along with the several nights of hard frost, is unusual for our typically moderate coastal climate. I hope my Meyer lemon tree survives (I'm covering it at night).

*****

Zoe saw some fancy frosted sugar cookies in a magazine, and wanted to try her hand with royal icing. We decided to make cookies to give to our neighbors for holiday gifts. The kids helped measure ingredients and roll dough and cut out cookies. Waiting for the cookies to bake and cool wasn't easy. Making icing was noisy (the Kitchenaid got a work out). Mixing colors into the icing was fun. Decorating was messy.

We did good work, but I was exhausted and out of patience by the time everything was cleaned up. Zoe is old enough, and has the personality for, this kind of project. Vincent liked it, but I will enjoy doing this kind of thing with him much more in a few years. But I'll probably try again before that, because soon I will only remember the best part of the project: how happy the children were to give the cookies they made to our neighbors.