If we don't look, they will go away....

Hmmm...with a title like this, I can think of many parenting moments I have thought or used this sentence. But this post is not about parenting. It's about Christmas, and the joy of giving homemade treats to neighbors (and if your lucky, friends because your neighbors have become your friends). This year was AWESOME because our nanny, Julie, has been bored since Thanksgiving. So she's been making all kinds of cookies. And I eat a few, then freeze most of them for cookie plates. Hmm..at the price we pay her an hour, they were pricy cookies!

So for the first time in years, my neighbors got yummy cookies. Chocolate chip cookies made in a muffin tin (like a cupcake made a baby with Mrs. Field's cookie); Jello cookies with lemon and apricot Jello, with chopped Mandarin orange for extra flavor. It was like a tropical smoothie in my mouth. And chocolate covered peppermint bark. And gingersnaps...sure they were really failed gingerbread men, but they made really good gingersnaps. I wish we still had some!

The girls helped get the cookies on the plates, and wrap them up. Then the boys happily put them on their sleds and we headed off. 14 houses. In 6 inches of powdery snow. Felt more like 8 or 9. And that all fell TODAY. Gotta love snow days! Oh, and did I mention I had been saving the cookies in the freezer? I hope they thawed a bit, but maybe the neighbors will think they got so cold in during the journey. That was our first (and perhaps only) year delivering treats by sled!

Here are the cookie plates, having their ribbons curled

Here we are going up the street, pulling the cookies (look for the brown paper bags). It was packed ice where the cars had been. And deep fluff in the ruts. Yes, this is going up hill. The boys would run, and belly flop on their sleds. Reminds me of the penguins during migrations.

Here we are crossing the street as Rachel yells orders to keep everyone together. It sucks when a doorbell is rung while half the group is down the street, and Mom is digging for the right plate!

Even Grant made it out for a few houses with the tiny one. Oh, and the extra kids? We had a few neighborhood kids join us. It sure made for great caroling, but confusing glances as doors were opened to our family and and extra 4 kids wrapped in snow gear!

Kate's the only one facing the camera. She was jumping along with the singing, "Jingle Bells" and trying to say Jingle bells at the right time. This happened to be her first house, and she was bursting with joy.

Afterwards, we gave the kids hot chocolate (second time today, both medically needed to warm up). Rachel tried to burn the house down when she didn't look closely at the stove before turning it on.

"Only to Christan." We didn't know a Christan, but Christina shared them with the cold carollers.

This is a note to Aunt Christina that was with a plate of cookies. A plate that was on the stove, next to the full pot of water. Still full from morning hot chocolate. So turning the stove on high and walking away seemed rational. I was in a hurry to get back to the front door and save my wood floors from the children's pants. The snow hung like velcro from their pants. Boots and coats can be left on the front porch, but not pants. That's something we only do at Grandma Z's. (ahhh, another story, another day)

Oh the title of this blog....if we don't look, they will go away

We have these neighbors across the street. Three boys, living together. Sometimes a serious girlfriends. But three dark haired guys, so I can never remember names and faces. I wanted to treat them, and give them a card from our family, so they know why our yard is so crappy. And maybe know our names.

So I tell the kids to stop, this house is one. The kids start singing Jingle Bells as we walk up to the door (this is house number 10, they have it down). I see heads bobbing on a couch. They just put in new windows, and there are no curtains.

As I get closer, I see faces. They see my face. They look away. Away from the TV, away from the door. In their own home, they look at the floor. We get on the porch, still singing VERY loud. Finally one of the kids rings the door bell. NONE of the guys gets up. Its like they think that if they just don't look, we'll go away. Hmmm...maybe they aren't people. Maybe they are mannequins, a high tech security thing. Finally nice guy (one guy who always cleans up after the fireworks twice a year) gets up. When, still singing, we hand him the cookie plate, he SMILES! Then we leave the mannequins alone to ignore us as we wander down to the next house. I was laughing so hard, I'm sure they heard me. I wonder if they thought we put poison in them. Because we really never talk to them. Maybe a "hi". But they never asked about my growing belly, or new born in my arms. (hey, where did you steal that one from?)

Three people gave us treats. One was coffee fancy cookies from Russia. One was applesauce (kids chowed on it). One was this trail mix....snack mix from heaven, dusted in yummy, high quality white chocolate. (I think) NOT cheap vanilla almond bark....SO YUMMY! After we took it from Emily's open hands, the adults hid it for the night. Shout out to Barrys for that refreshingly tasty holiday treat!

Hope you get some treats from somebody this year too.