Carol Inducing Christmas Cookies Trump Baby Vomit Everytime

All last week, Joseph had a cold. His nose was stuffy, he had a cough, and a frog had taken up residence in his throat. Poor guy! Even more unfortunate, though, was the fact that Joseph has not yet mastered the fine art of coughing, eating, or crying with a stuffy nose. In other words, there was a lot of gagging, puking, and subsequent showering. He could keep food down no problem, and frequently did... It was just that pesky stuffed nose. The good news is that Joseph took the vomiting in stride and remained very cheerful throughout the whole ordeal.

Don't worry, I didn't take any pictures. Of the puke or the naked showering. Lucky you.

Instead, I discovered that a tiny jar of baby food looks like a gallon of baby food when it's coming back up. I did a lot of laundry, changed a lot of beds & outfits, and scrubbed a few carpets. I came to the realization that I would much rather catch baby vomit in my hands then clean it off of the furniture and I became very adept at pulling Joseph's head forward so that the vomit would travel from his bib into his high chair tray instead of his lap. These are necessary life skills, people!

BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY...

I learned that Christmas cookies make everything better after having been puked on. Covered in regurgitated carrots? Drenched in finely ground Turkey Tetrazzini? Frustrated beyond belief because this is the 11th time today? Eat a Christmas cookie. Or two. Or three. Or twenty. You instantly feel better. It's because they are infused with Christmas spirit.

Luckily, for the sake of my sanity (but maybe not for the sake of my hips), we spent a large part of the Saturday before the Reign of Regurgitation baking piles of Christmas cookies. It's a family tradition. We bake loads and loads of cookies during the Christmas season. We fill up tubs with them. If we run out, we bake more.

For me, nothing says Christmas quite like a molassas cookie rolled in raw sugar. Mmm mmm. I'll be making those this weekend. Stephen's family, on the other hand, has always made Spritz cookies for Christmas.

Of course, one can't undertake a baking expedition without the baking expertise of the fabulous Theresa. She's something of a bake-aholic.

Baking with Theresa has it's downsides though... She always challenges people to cookie dough jousts. She claims it's a real sport. I still have my doubts, but it's hard to argue with a person who attacks you with a spoonful of raw cookie dough..

She's quite fierce-some. I was forced to surrender.

Thankfully, we were under the supervision of Captain "sticks-his-tongue-out-at-all-times" Joseph and he was able to put a stop to the jousting from his kitchen command center. He's very strict about staying on task. Can't you just see the air of leadership around him?

Cap'n Joseph is an expert on Christmas cookies. It's a direct result of all those years he spent working for Pepperidge Farms. It says so on his resume.

Naturally, Joseph insisted we use broken candy cane pieces in the chocolate chip cookies. Any self-respecting seasoned Christmas cookie baker would!

Oh, wait... that was me...

But the best part of our whole Christmas cookie baking adventure was that it was interrupted just as we were taking cookies out of the oven. BY CAROLERS!! How perfect is that?



Yeah. That's right. Carol at our house, get a cookie. BOO-YAH.

Come one. Come all!

And remember, Christmas cookies always triumph over baby vomit. Trust me.