It is Good

Making chocolate chip cookies is an enjoyable activity.  It is good.  Working with Audrey while Violet looks on, it is important to wash our hands first to make sure we don't get any germs into the cookies.  Then Audrey sets the oven temperature in preparation for baking the cookies.  Even though they won't go into the oven for a while, it is important to think ahead.  Next, we must collect the necessary ingredients and tools for the baking that lies ahead.  Butter, flour, sugar, vanilla, chips, cups, and bowls all crowd the counter within minutes.  We read the directions and add the ingredients, carefully practicing our measuring and pouring so just the right amount of things get put in.  It is very important to put the correct things in at just the right time, otherwise your cookies might not be very good.  Audrey locks the mixer down and begins combining the creamed ingredients and the dry, and soon a sweet aroma is rising from the silver bowl in front of us.  She wipes her hands on her pink apron and watches as the mixer mesmerizes us both with its infinite rotation.  We clean as we go, putting away ingredients and materials when we are finished with them, so we don't leave ourselves with a messy kitchen once we have finished the cookies.  Now that the dough is ready, Audrey scoops it out, spoonful by spoonful, dropping the chunky lumps onto the fresh silver baking tray.
We sing along to the bluegrass tunes or Chicago blues melodies on the CD player as we slide the full tray into the oven.  Audrey helps me put the rest of the dough into a plastic bag and we freeze the rest for another day when cookies will be a wonderful treat at a moment's notice.  We play and sing and dance and laugh together while the cookies bake, and finally we take them out, let the cool, and enjoy our oatmeal chocolate-chip creations with a cup of cold milk.  The cookies will be gone in a couple days, being eaten as snacks and treats between meals.  However, making the cookies, well that will stay with us for much longer.  And that is good.  Cookies are good.

-a