That's the way the cookie crumbles

Apologies for not updating you sooner, but my neighbors moved out and took their internet access with them!

I had so much fun baking for Brian's care package last Christmas, playing with new recipes and sharing the yummy goodness. This year, I decided to tweak plans a bit by hosting a cookie swap party. Of course, if you're going to have any kind of holiday gathering, you have to decorate for it. Since I knew I'd be at Dad's the week between Christmas and New Year's, it just didn't make sense to buy a tree this year. Instead I whipped up this faux tree (materials: 8 yards of quilting fabric, lots of safety pins, a few ornaments, my punching bag and an upside down tomato cage!). Simple, crafty and, best of all, free!!

My friends all brought delicious cookies to sample and share. There was a lot of milling about, chatting, sharing funny stories and just hanging out. My kind of laid back, relaxed gathering.

Knowing that a few friends have gluten issues, I made these red velvet cookies using a gluten-free, vegan friendly recipe. They were so good you'd never notice that they were vegan!

Much like my scavenger hunt this summer, the best part of the cookie swap party was that I put my friends to work for me! The leftovers from the swap were promptly packaged up and sent out as gifts to several lucky friends.

Two Years

Last night I was sitting in my living room watching an old movie and knitting. I looked down at the project in my lap and suddenly realized: I have my Mom's hands.

I can't tell you how many times I studied Mom's hands when I was a child. I used to watch her create amazing things with her hands. Delicious meals, beautiful clothes and toys, thriving gardens all came from the work of her hands. In church I would play with the rings on her fingers, twirling them around and around. I would trace the lines on her palms and the ridges on her nails. I could tell when she had been working on hand quilting a project because her finger nails would be bent bend from pressing into the thimble.

As I looked at my hands last night, I saw those same ridges on my finger nails and the creativity flowing from my finger tips. Of all the gifts Mom gave me, the desire and skill to create is my most treasured.

It's been two years today since she left us, but I'm still occasionally caught off guard by her absence. There are times when I think "Oh, I have to call Mom and tell her..." before I realize that I can only talk to her in my heart now. I wish that I had saved an old voicemail message, just so I could hear her voice one more time.