11 December 2009

My Melancholy Christmas

So, every year that we lived in Durham we would go to my sister's house and help her bake for her annual cookie plates.  See, she does these festive plates of buttery-sugary-spicey-chocolatey deliciousness for the people Jeff (her awesome husband) works with and for some of her friends at church.  It's an extensive project,  for everybody loves my sister, it's sort of impossible not to love her.  Anyway, it was just one of those silly fun things that we did every year.  Chris and I would trek up to her house and visit and bake and chat and stir and usually leave the actual assembly to her, but still!  It really was fun!



And this year I am MISSING IT!

And that makes M sad.  Very sad.

(Can I just ask you, How YOUNG do Chris and I look in this picture?!  We took these on our wedding day, it was MADNESS, but it was also hilarious!  My sister Susie (she's the lovely brunette there on the right), she and her family had flown through the night because of airline or flight craziness, I can't really remember, so her kids were exhausted and kept spontaneously falling asleep.  And Chris and I were FRIED from finals and well, it was just 36 kinds of chaos.  And we're in Sherry's dining room (she's the gorgeous red-head, and yes, I'm aware that we look a lot alike), I can't get over how YOUNG her kids are!  Surely it hasn't been that long ago?)

The Sad isn't helped by the fact that I'm continuing to morph into a younger more rambunctious version of my sister.  This year, I'm assembling cookie plates for people Chris works with and some friends from church and what am I putting on them?  Oh, the same stuff my sister does except for one (a Snicker bar type cookie that is delicious but SO not worth the effort of making them).  And so, I, in my chilly apartment (it's finally cooled off here and we're not turning on our heat, we're warming ourselves with LOVE), am mixing cookie doughs all alone.  Well, not all alone as the Boy is here but you know, he doesn't really get that making cookies is supposed to be fun.  And charming though he may be, he's not the most scintillating conversationalist.

I miss my sister.  I miss my family.  I guess I hadn't realized that in the course of 3 years they became my best friends again.

Burnstopia Cookie Plates:
  • homemade English Butter Toffee
  • Cherry Blossoms
  • Gingerbread Snowflakes
  • Lemon Sugar Cookies
  • a fat slice of Tupelo honey cake
(Does anyone want to guess how many sticks of butter I had to use to make all of this?  It's a SHOCKING and also AWESOME statistic.)

ANNOUNCEMENT:

In the event that you live in the general vicinity of Athens, GA--I'm going to be in town next week!  Visiting!  For FUN!  I'm meeting up with Sarah B., Sarah R., Ginny T. and Krista M.  and if you would like to get your own heaping dolop of M and the Boy love, please email or call or comment or whatever and I'll let you know where and when I'll BE and we'll try to get together (Swan and Rachel W. I am talking to YOU.)

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3 Comments:

At December 11, 2009 at 9:56 AM , Anonymous Sibley Saga .... said...

I remember that day. : ) It was a beautiful/crazy day. I'm just glad I got to be there. And yes, your sister is awesome. I still use her recipe for marinara sauce that I learned to adore while living on that side of the world. I am attempting cookie plates today, much smaller, less impressive ones. We'll see how that goes....for I am soooo sleep deprived and truly insane.

 
At December 11, 2009 at 2:03 PM , Anonymous Emily said...

I know! I can't stand songs like "I'll Be Home for Christmas" or "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas." Starting our own traditions has been fun, but I think in some ways it just helps to distract us from missing family.

 
At December 12, 2009 at 12:19 PM , Anonymous Swan said...

Hey!Yes let's get together! What days will you be there? email me at swanwhigham@gmail.com
Hope to see you!

 

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