Making Cookies

After a very long day and being out of the house for over eleven hours, I was very excited to get home because while we were all at school, Dave went out and got our tree today!!  Hooray!  We decided to all get into our pajamas early and decorate the tree!  Then, it was time for me to make cookies for our Annual Cookie Swap at school.

I love to cook but baking is just not “my thing.”  It is to precise.  When I make dinner, or whip up a new recipe I don’t measure ingredients.  I just throw things together and most of the time, it comes out pretty good!  This just doesn’t work with baking!  This year, for our Swap, I wanted to try and make a recipe for cookies we had all the time when we were younger.  I don’t know if they have an actual name, we always called them, Ricotta Cookies because they are made with ricotta cheese.  My mom’s best friend, Aunt Joyce made them every year and they were my favorite!  I have made them once or twice before, but I could not find the recipe.  I searched Pinterest and found a few and was able to make something that came out almost like hers but still not quite right.

I was thinking about Aunt Joyce a lot while I was making them.  I would have normally called my mom, and asked her get the recipe from her so that she could help me with it.  The day of my mom’s wake, Aunt Joyce had a massive heart attack and her recovery has been slow.  Her daughters JoyLynn and Tricia, who were our best friends growing up, aren’t on Facebook and I am almost ashamed to admit how infrequently we talk now.  Our lives are so busy it is hard to keep up.  We text now and then but we haven’t seen each other since May.

I had sent Aunt Joyce a message on Facebook earlier in the week to see if she could give me her recipe but I had not heard back.  Tonight, after the cookies were done, I sat down at the computer to write my blog and there was a message from her.  She told me,

Hi Claire. I was so happy to receive your card. The boys are getting so big how time flies.  I know this is a difficult time for you and the family all I do is keep thinking of all the good times we had all those years it was never dull. That’s when we felt good. Getting old is a bitch. I am doing well trying to get ready for Christmas. I know you will be getting ready for Christmas eve keep up the tradition your Mom loved it. I want to wish you and the family a Merry Christmas Tell your father to have a Merry Christmas and that I am thinking of him.

It was almost uncanny.  Months and months have passed since I heard from her and as I sat thinking of her the entire time I made the cookies, she was sending me a message.  Things work in mysterious ways and this is one of those instances.  Another one of those “signs” I keep writing about. and it really made me happy!

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Tagged: aunt joyce, baking cookies, cookie monster, cookie swap, Cookies, secret recipe, what is a friend