Baking with Friends

For the past 10 years, a small group of friends and I have been getting together every December to make Christmas cookies. It started out as a "Hey, do you want to get together...." and has evolved into a favourite holiday tradition. Our lives have become so busy since we first met (when we were all single and child-free) that we often don't talk to each other for many months at a time during the rest of the year. But when the holidays roll around, we track each other down again and set a date. This year we made double chocolate brownies, shortbread cookies, peanut butter balls, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and cookies and cream fudge. Not bad for an afternoons work.
There were also lots of tea and cookie breaks - a chance to catch up on what has been going on for the past year and to share some laughs, and even the occasional tear.

As for the aftermath of such a day, well, I prefer not to dwell on that part...

Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.

- Tennessee Williams