Getting Ready for Father's Day!
There weren't any holidays where Rose came from. Not the way there used to be before the Big Death. Sometimes people celebrated things like weddings and births or had festivals to honor a good harvest, but no one ever really remembered the stuff that bedtime stories were made of, like Christmas or Valentine's Day or Arbor Day.
Rose never knew that there was such a thing as a day just for Mommies until a month ago. Here in her new home, where the Big Death had never held sway, the old calendar still existed and all it's special days with it. Christmas was there, along with a host of other holidays she'd never ever heard of, like Mother's Day. And if there was a special day for Mommies, then surely there was one for Daddies! And Uncles and Granddaddys, too.
Rose wanted to do something special for her Daddies. Something all by herself. With the help of Samual and her Grandmama Brigid, she was learning how to cook. At six years old (almost 7!) she could find her way around the temple's very large kitchen and make simple things like scrambled eggs and cakes from a box. In the past few weeks, she'd been learning how to bake from scratch. She was a very smart little girl and grasped the idea of liquid and dry measurements in a twinkling. (She was a whiz at calculus and geometry, so the measuring part was easy.) Having been thus encouraged by the successful baking of several batches of sugar cookies and oatmeal cookies, she was now determined to make the very best cookie of all for her Daddies. Chocolate chip!
But she didn't want any help. These cookies had to be her very own, made by herself from start to finish. That way, they'd be gifts that were entirely hers!
Dressed in her little pink nightgown, Rose slipped out of bed and padded barefoot to the kitchen through the moonlight. It was very late . . . or early. The unicorn alarm clock beside her bed said it was 2:00 a.m. A perfect time because everybody would be sleeping and she'd have the kitchen all to herself!
Standing on tippy toes, Rose pulled down the big "Joy of Cooking" book from it's shelf and opened it to the chocolate chip cookie recipe. Then, with a very determined expression, she read the recipe -- twice! -- before gathering the ingredients. She preheated the oven (something her Grandmama Brigid had told her was very important) and then began to work on the very serious task of cookie baking.
She had a few mishaps. An egg that slid in a goop onto the floor when she cracked the shell and didn't get the contents into the bowl fast enough. There was flour everywhere, making her look a bit as if she'd been standing out in the snow, and several handfuls of chocolate chips wound up in her tummy instead of the cookies. Still and all, she managed very well on her own and two hours later, by the time the sun was thinking of waking up and rising, she had a nice pile of warm, chewy, (slightly burned around the edges) chocolate chip cookies!
Tired but thrilled with her accomplishment, she hurriedly rinsed all her pans and utensils and put them in the big mechanical dishwasher. She cleaned the counters and the floor, just the way she'd been taught, making the kitchen as tidy as she could. As tired as she was, she couldn't really be blamed for missing the few pieces of egg shell on the floor under the counter or the light dusting of flower here and there.
Rose divided the cookies between four gift boxes she'd lined with colored foil so they'd look pretty. Closing the boxes, she tied them closed with bright red ribbon and a bow. All that was missing was the home made Father's Day cards she'd made! She ran back to her bedroom and grabbed them from her little desk, then ran back again and slipped one card on each box.
She wasn't sure how to get in touch with Granddaddy Cupid, so she left his box on the kitchen table right next to the one for Uncle Bliss and Samual. They were all Daddies -- or soon would be -- and she wanted them each to know how much she loved them.
The last box . . . the one addressed to her Daddy . . . she picked up and took back to her bedroom. She had another gift she wanted to give to him, but that would come later in the day. She carefully put them down on her desk next to a brightly wrapped box. With a great big yawn, Rose crawled back into her bed and curled up next to her pink plushie unicorn. She couldn't wait until tomorrow -- later today! -- when the special Daddies in her life got to see the gifts she'd made all by herself, just for them.
Rose never knew that there was such a thing as a day just for Mommies until a month ago. Here in her new home, where the Big Death had never held sway, the old calendar still existed and all it's special days with it. Christmas was there, along with a host of other holidays she'd never ever heard of, like Mother's Day. And if there was a special day for Mommies, then surely there was one for Daddies! And Uncles and Granddaddys, too.
Rose wanted to do something special for her Daddies. Something all by herself. With the help of Samual and her Grandmama Brigid, she was learning how to cook. At six years old (almost 7!) she could find her way around the temple's very large kitchen and make simple things like scrambled eggs and cakes from a box. In the past few weeks, she'd been learning how to bake from scratch. She was a very smart little girl and grasped the idea of liquid and dry measurements in a twinkling. (She was a whiz at calculus and geometry, so the measuring part was easy.) Having been thus encouraged by the successful baking of several batches of sugar cookies and oatmeal cookies, she was now determined to make the very best cookie of all for her Daddies. Chocolate chip!
But she didn't want any help. These cookies had to be her very own, made by herself from start to finish. That way, they'd be gifts that were entirely hers!
Dressed in her little pink nightgown, Rose slipped out of bed and padded barefoot to the kitchen through the moonlight. It was very late . . . or early. The unicorn alarm clock beside her bed said it was 2:00 a.m. A perfect time because everybody would be sleeping and she'd have the kitchen all to herself!
Standing on tippy toes, Rose pulled down the big "Joy of Cooking" book from it's shelf and opened it to the chocolate chip cookie recipe. Then, with a very determined expression, she read the recipe -- twice! -- before gathering the ingredients. She preheated the oven (something her Grandmama Brigid had told her was very important) and then began to work on the very serious task of cookie baking.
She had a few mishaps. An egg that slid in a goop onto the floor when she cracked the shell and didn't get the contents into the bowl fast enough. There was flour everywhere, making her look a bit as if she'd been standing out in the snow, and several handfuls of chocolate chips wound up in her tummy instead of the cookies. Still and all, she managed very well on her own and two hours later, by the time the sun was thinking of waking up and rising, she had a nice pile of warm, chewy, (slightly burned around the edges) chocolate chip cookies!
Tired but thrilled with her accomplishment, she hurriedly rinsed all her pans and utensils and put them in the big mechanical dishwasher. She cleaned the counters and the floor, just the way she'd been taught, making the kitchen as tidy as she could. As tired as she was, she couldn't really be blamed for missing the few pieces of egg shell on the floor under the counter or the light dusting of flower here and there.
Rose divided the cookies between four gift boxes she'd lined with colored foil so they'd look pretty. Closing the boxes, she tied them closed with bright red ribbon and a bow. All that was missing was the home made Father's Day cards she'd made! She ran back to her bedroom and grabbed them from her little desk, then ran back again and slipped one card on each box.
She wasn't sure how to get in touch with Granddaddy Cupid, so she left his box on the kitchen table right next to the one for Uncle Bliss and Samual. They were all Daddies -- or soon would be -- and she wanted them each to know how much she loved them.
The last box . . . the one addressed to her Daddy . . . she picked up and took back to her bedroom. She had another gift she wanted to give to him, but that would come later in the day. She carefully put them down on her desk next to a brightly wrapped box. With a great big yawn, Rose crawled back into her bed and curled up next to her pink plushie unicorn. She couldn't wait until tomorrow -- later today! -- when the special Daddies in her life got to see the gifts she'd made all by herself, just for them.