There is a light at the end of the tunnel! Let's see...I left off with the fudge...

Earlier in the week, I helped Grandma make some Spritz cookies. Spritz, short for Spritzgeback, are butter cookies shaped by being squeezed through a cookie press. They are traditional Christmas cookies in the Scandinavian countries. The name is derived from spritzen, which is German for "to squirt or spray."

Ellen brought chocolate chip brownies. You just can't go wrong with chocolate chips! Notice that the bottom row of brownies is missing from the front pan: A good baker always tests the product! One bar just wouldn't have been sufficient testing...no way, no HOW!

I feel the need to inject a moment of reverent silence. I am about to discuss the Chocolate Drop Cookie. A family favorite, they are my Grandmother's pride and joy. My father has many loves in his life, but Chocolate Drop Cookies just may have been the first. Here is a picture of the bare chocolate treats. After they have cooled, an assembly line of frosters forms. Step one complete, the next phase of this cookie's preparation begins—the thumb-twiddling...the picture-taking.

After the layer of vanilla frosting has hardened, the chocolate layer is smoothed about the top. Now, most people are of the school where your layer of chocolate frosting does not obliterate your vanilla layer. This is the stylistically correct way to frost the ol' chocolate-drop. See exhibit A. The specimen on the left is the traditional way to frost. The specimen on the left is my father's idea of cloud nine. Even after the mandatory taste-testing, our yield was impressive. I am certain that we all, in one degree or another, take pride in our frosting capabilities. I am also certain that none took more pride from his over-chocolate-frosting-slathering than my father. See him pose with this trophy.

It's times like this that I am grateful that my father is not internet savvy.

He neeeeeeever has to know that his goofy posing has gone public.
*exaggerated wink*

Dear Lord, I hope that's the end of it. Just watch, I'll receive a flaming email today saying, "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU FORGOT TO MENTION....." Sorry in advance!

Cookies completed and cleanup underway, it was time for the menial tasks of the counting and the divvying of the cookies. Ellen is our champion organizer in this event, distressing as it is. Of course, even Saintly Aunt Ellen has her breaking point. Now, if only she shared Dad's avoidance of the internet. *sigh*

Mother and I clasped to one another as the tides of upset receded.

We were silent as the cookies were divided. It was the end of a very tiring day. Here, Mike counts to make sure that Dad hasn't taken extra Chocolate Drop Cookies—Michelle looks on, devastated, as Ellen collapses.

Familial bliss is a taxing war to wage.

OH!

As I've been accused of being a weight-gain enabler with all of the cookie talk,
here's an extra special treat: