Why I Hate Sugar Cookies

My kids LOVE making sugar cookies.  I most definitely DO NOT.  First off, they're just not as tasty as chocolate chip cookies.  Second, you can't just plop them on the pan to cook.  You have to make a huge mess over and over and over again in order to fill the pans.  Third, and this is my biggest frustration, I ALWAYS burn at least one batch.  Sometimes I burn all of them.  I just can't juggle the rolling and cutting with the remembering to take them out of the oven on time.

Which is why we make them decidedly LESS than once a year.  When Santa comes to our house on Christmas Eve, he is not always greeted with a plate of perfectly browned and decorated sugar cookies.  More often, he gets brownies, or chocolate chip cookies, or even carrots & M&Ms. (That was the year the kids realized that the reindeer must get hungry, too.)

But this year, Santa was lucky.  He got sugar cookies.  And some of them weren't even burned.

Little R was all into helping with the cookies.  And she had a little TOO much fun with the sprinkles.

I was distracted by the rolling & cutting, as well as my little mess maker, which is why I burned the very first batch of nicely sugared cookies.  In retrospect, putting the red hots on before baking was maybe not such a good idea since they all melted.

I haven't even attempted to make sugar cookies for several years.  So my expectations may have been a little high.  It's been long enough that I had forgotten why I hate sugar cookies and I allowed myself to be fooled by photos of perfectly lovely samples.

So when the very first batch came out burned, I was extremely frustrated.  And I took it out on the kids.  I yelled at them and made them leave the kitchen.  Nice, I know.  Not one of my best Mom moments.  It really wasn't their fault at all, which they happily pointed out to me when I had calmed down, apologized, and allowed them back in the kitchen.  J informed me that I had been put on the half naughty, half nice list because I had yelled at them.  I suppose that was a fair punishment.

By some miracle, I managed to not burn any more batches.  So then we got to the business of decorating.  As you can clearly see, none of my children have grasped the "less is more" philosophy.  It's something we can work on in three years when we make sugar cookies again.

Nobody complained about the way the cookies tasted.  Probably because they couldn't actually taste the cookies through all the sugar & candy they piled on top.

We left the cookies out for Santa, and J insisted we also leave a VERY tall glass of milk. S wrote a note which she left by the plate of cookies.

Dear Santa,  I (but she crossed that out and put we) have been good (underlined 10 times) this year.  I hope you like the milk and cookies.  I made you the Christmas tree.  Also, I hope the reindeer like the oats and glitter (sprinkled on the front lawn before bedtime).  I hope you got us what we wanted.  Tell your elfs thanks for making the toys and working very hard this year!  Merry Christmas!