Cookies

During a recent consult with Joan's doctor, the doctor asked me if Mother was doing anything unusual like buying ice cream every day or organizing her closet by favorite outfits or scrubbing a surface over and over again. I smiled when her doctor mentioned ice cream because recently she was purchasing at least 1/2 gallon of her favorite Butter Pecan ice cream every few days.

Now it's December and of course Christmas cookies are showing up everywhere, but not as prevalent as they were last night following our church's Christmas program. Larry and I barely sat down when I noticed that my mother was lingering over the cookie table. I decided that she probably needed help and I headed her way to assist. To my amazement, she had an eight inch paper plate filled to capacity with sugar cookies, iced cut-outs, truffles, brownies, and caramels.

I helped her back to her seat and asked her what she was going to do with all of those cookies. Proudly she said, I'm taking them home, they're all so pretty! Mother has always been into bling. If it's pretty and colorful, shinny or sparkly, she loves it, and most of the time wants to personally own whatever it is.

Being the person I am to always be thinking ten steps into the future, I jokingly mentioned to my husband that I might need to be sure when we are shopping that she doesn't toss something sparkly into her purse and walk out the store without paying. My smile quickly turned into a frown as I remembered reading newspaper articles about such things,"80 Year Old Woman Walks Out of Store Without Paying for $10,000 Braclet. "Oh my!

I don't know what our future may hold, but tonight I smile and remember the tower of cookies that Mother so neatly staked four inches high on her eight inch Christmas plate. It made her happy last evening, and that's really all that matters right now, isn't it?