2012 - Putting Virtual Pen to Paper

This year, I finally decided to put Our Cookie Journal on the Internet as a blog. I don't know why I wasn't doing it before — just caught up in life, I guess. Anyway, I'm not working at the charity shop  and I've been talking about "publishing" the diary for years, so I started a blog today, Nov. 13. Some of my relatives have asked to read the diary over the years, and they seemed to enjoy it when they did. (That could be due to our being relatives, though.)

I don't pretend it's all about cookies either. I'm not just writing about recipes my sister and I have used over the years or how fabulous our cookies look or taste. It's the connection we felt through this annual ritual, whether we were together or apart, and how other family members are all part of our recipe for a happy holiday time. 

So Our Cookie Journal has been a reminder and recorder through these 25 years (and beyond!) of our abiding love and how we've shared it through baking and giving cookies. I've tried to be faithful and make good notes each Christmas; but life gets in the way, as I said. I've lost my dad; lost my sister; moved to another continent. I got married; had a son. And yet, there's always been some continuity there, with the cookies and the diary and my sister — and each member of my family, in some way.

All this reading and writing about Our Cookie Journal has made me hungry for cookies too! So Charlie and I whipped up a batch of Hedgehog Cookies, of course. The Choc-Oat-Chip Cookies are his favorite so we made a double batch. I'm out of parchment paper, so I had to do without, making the whole process take a bit longer (having to wipe the hot pans down after each use). I'll have to invest in some greaseproof paper and new cookie sheets this year, I think.