Kieron, like most kids can be super-hyper Christmas Eve. Up extra early for a morning cuddle before racing round like a whirling dervish, followed by a fever of impatience while I try to get started in the kitchen to save time and energy tomorrow.
I always make sweets to put in jars at Christmas, so that the kids can just dip into them and I set Kieron little jobs to do to help. One of these is helping with chopping. He cuts up marshmallows ready for Rocky Road...cut one, eat one, cut one, eat one, oops been caught by mum! He breaks up the chocolate, remembering too late that he forgot to wash his hands, so we can be assured that there may be some rather grubby bits of chocolate in the mix. Oh well, it's dark chocolate so no-one will notice and we won't tell anyone. Break some, eat some, break some, eat some. Caught again! Once it's made, he gets the bowl to scrape out and ends up a delightful chocolatey, sticky mess.
Millionaire's Shortbread next and he hovers waiting for the caramel saucepan. Then he gets bored and vanishes for a while to kill off a few World of Warcraft bad guys.
A sudden reappearance with concern on his face..am I going to do Pigs in Blankets? Will I make enough? Are they ready as he's STARVING!? I give Kieron the task of brushing egg and milk on the sausage rolls and he then grabs something to eat before going to vanquish more virtual baddies.
Kieron returns and starts on the Celebrations, his favourites disappearing at an alarming rate along with his tooth enamel. Invariably I realise I've forgotten to buy some essential food item and leave Kieron with his big brother while I rush to a shop, returning to find that the cooling sausage rolls have reduced in number. This is deemed to be Molly's fault. Molly is Kieron's cat and that reminds him that I haven't put treats in the cats' stockings. Another job for Kieron.
Boredom with kitchen related tasks sets in again and off he goes...more baddies to exterminate and sugar levels rising rapidly. I carry on cooking and wish for a quiet evening.
No cooking this year and I know I'll have a quiet evening but I desperately want to cook. I desperately want a sugar-laden 10 year old making lots of noise. I desperately want Kieron.
Ahhh... Catherine's favourtie was millionaire's shortbread. What a pity we can't slip into a parrallel world, where you're getting ready for xmas with Kieron and we can pop round to see you.
ReplyDelete2 chocolatey children. How wonderful that would be.
ReplyDeleteParrallel world, that would be so nice :)
ReplyDelete