Christmas gifts you can't buy

 A few posts ago, I was mentioning my propensity for wanting things to go according to "my plan".  Well, yesterday was headed in just that direction.  I was going to have my Saturday Christmas parties with Kindermusik, then head home and do a bunch of Christmas shopping with my daughter in the afternoon, who had a day off from dance classes.  But when I came home, I discovered that my husband and daughter had gone to the mall for their own date.  Guess I forgot to fill everyone else in on my direction for the day.

So there I was with a whole afternoon - and not a plan in sight.  My first thought was to spend the time doing some clean-up...but that thought quickly went away (smile).  Who wants to spend newly found free time doing housework?  While I was eating some left-overs for lunch, I remembered my 19 year old son with his nose in the books, preparing for finals in a week.  Hmmmm....I remembered being in university and needing some study breaks.....so I went downstairs and asked him if he wanted to walk the dog with me.    And so began a wonderful afternoon with my first-born.

We put on our boots/shoes and scarves (OK, I put on a scarf, he didn't), jackets and gloves and walked in the snow.  We talked about university, we talked about daily stuff and ordinary life.  As we were nearing the house, I said that it had been ages since we had played "Scrabble" together - and he was up for it.  So I made some hot drinks and we spent a while playing our game.  No one else in the family plays "Scrabble" with me, but Evan likes to.  Funny thing is, we don't even keep score.  We just like seeing what words we can make.

After that we finished decorating the Christmas tree downstairs that had been sitting half decorated since last weekend.  The upstairs one had been done, but the boxes were still everywhere downstairs, and the tree looked sadly neglected.  So we hung the last few decorations and talked about the ornament collections.

Saturday, the 11th will go down as one of my favourite days of Christmas this year.  A day I had thought I would spend looking in the mall for gifts for others turned out to be one of the best gifts of all for me.

Milk and Cookies - yummy in my tummy!

Few flavours in life can compare to the taste of homemade cookies! This is a prized cookie recipe I received years ago. It has become not only our family favourite chocolate chip cookie recipe, but the favourite of our friends and family around North America.

The mixing and measuring, scooping and tasting will delight your little one into regular culinary adventure together with you. Try it with your little baker at home this week - your taste buds will thank you!

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup butter or margarine 1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

Cream these together with electric mixer and then add

2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla

Mix the eggs in with mixer until light then add

1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt

2 cups flour 2 cups large flake oatmeal 2 cups chocolate chips

Mix until combined, then drop by rounded spoonful (your choice - big or small) onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350° for 8 minutes for small, 10 for large. They will be slightly golden when done.

Secret tip: When they come out of the oven, drop the pan on the counter to flatten. Do not over bake as they are NOT the same when not soft. ENJOY!!