Sometimes it doesn’t take much. Not much at all.

The Cookie Ritual^tm has been ongoing in the Superior house for nigh on ten days now. Tonight, Piper said to me, “No more sweets for me! It was all fun and games for the first eight days or something, but now I’m feeling pretty barfy.

“Which is not to say, though, that I’ll not be having more right on up to Christmas night.” Right on, Pipey, that’s the spirit!

A few days ago, Piper timidly approached me and asked, “Can Lindsey come over tonight and make Christmas cookies with us?” Lindsey is Boyfriend Recent, and he’s the first one she has ever had that her dad and I actually like. Now, we are not stupid enough to let either him or her know this little tidbit, because that would be just pure foolishness. If they think they are under the watchful eye of semi-hatred, things may just not get out of hand.

So he came over, and I learned a great deal about this boy, just from sitting at a table laden with pans of baked goods and bowls of sprinkles and tubes of icing and playing with him and the three teenagers I lay claim to.

I learned that he has never, ever decorated Christmas cookies in his whole life. He’s never cooked with his mom. He’s never had a live tree, and looked with amazed eyes at the nine-footer in our living room, laden to near-drooping with family-traded ornaments that mark each passing year; he kept running to the tree in the dining room and sniffing in great draughts of it, “LIVE TREES SMELL SOOOOO GOOD.” His family of four eats in shifts, and in front of the television. These few things, and a few more, opened a door into this kid that I hadn’t expected to dip my head into. As a result, I am left with a tender maternal spot for him, and an understanding of this quiet and sweet boy with the shy smile. I like him, and I hope this Christmas is one he holds somewhere in his middle for the coming years; I hope it warms and delights him. Is that hoping for too very much??

:: photos don’t do them justice, y’all ::

:: three-fifths of this year’s Cookie Crew ::

:: there is nothing on Earth so entertaining as teenage boys ::

:: she’s just so effortlessly beautiful ::

:: it’s all in the approach ::

:: random moment of happy ::

:: what, you don’t have your own private cornholio?? ::

:: there is more satisfaction here than meets the eye ::

:: these things count ::