Christmas cookies

Growing up making Christmas cookies was always a good memory. My grandma is the one who makes lots of Christmas cookies and the family favorite is "pink cookies" ie raspberry meringue kisses. Grandma also uses the WE energies cookie cookbook for many of her recipes and she gets me one of the cookie cookbooks every year. Also over the years at rummage sales I have gotten some of the older cookie cookbooks which are really cool.

Most things with the girl's health stuff just is what it is to me. I get stressed over the details of dr appointments, med supply frustrations, and helping my kids the best I can but the fact that they have a genetic disorder or have feeding tubes just is what it is, I try not to wallow in it cause I can't change it and it shapes who they are. I was talking with Stacy this week and we both agreed that our kids would not be the same if it was not for their medical stuff. It has made them more compassionate towards others and more patient. It has shaped them.

But it did hit me when Jillian was younger that baking for an NPO child was going to be hard. See I love to bake. I have taught myself how to decorate cakes. I find baking relaxing (but those pesky dishes always pile up after...) but it is not something that happens much in my world at this point. But I remember once when Jillian was younger getting sad at the thought that I would not be able to make baking memories with her, I mean I am not cruel, I'm not going to make an NPO kid cook food she can't eat, but it made me sad thinking back to those great memories of baking cookies with my grandma and thinking I would not have those with Jilli.

As Jilli has gotten older she has become more interested in cooking. When she was little we didn't buy any play food until she asked for it. I wanted that to be on her terms and her choice. About 6mo ago she started to play with play food other places and asked for some at home. Now we have a couple of the Melissa and Doug food sets and she likes to have picnics with Lydia.

About a month ago she asked me if she could help me make cupcakes while I was in the kitchen making cupcakes for other people to come over. She had fun. We have to be really careful that she doesn't get any food on her because we don't want it to accidentally end up in her mouth so she mainly holds my hand as I put ingredients in but to her she is helping. She also can only help me for a short time because her saliva glands still work and like anyone else when she is near food she starts to salivate and if she does for too long she starts to struggle with her secretions.

Last night Brent and I decided we were going to make some Christmas cookies. I always make spritz as my first cookie of the year (with the WE Energies cookbook recipe). Jilli said she wanted to help so we pulled a chair into the kitchen and she helped to dump ingredients in.  She also shook the colored sugar on them. We had a fun family time. My cookies... well some burnt and I accidentally used salted butter so they are not the best cookies I have made but there is no way I am tossing them after Jilli helped to make them.

So we adapt and adjust to what is best for the girls. That is what our life is about and this is just one more way we do that. I can't believe my big girl turns 4 this week and my baby turns 6mo. All of it is worth it for them, even figuring out how to make new kinds of memories!

Jilli baking. She loved looking at the cook books. She also thought it was fun to wear the apron that Karla sent her

Happy Lydia!

Look at those legs!

Jilli asked to watch the Grinch last night and then she got scared so she watched most of it from right there! We only made it as far as when the Grinch comes to the jubilation and then she asked us to turn it off.