Ebby carefully packed her red, canvas Going to Grandma's House bag. She put her most important stuff into the bag. Her favorite doll, new hair ponies, the nail polish with the shiny glitters that Auntie had given her for her sixth birthday. She went to grandma's house almost every Saturday, and always had fun.
Today, they had a lot of cookies to make, 'cause it was Cookie Baking Day. Grandma had to bake enough cookies for all of Ebby's cousins! There were a lot of cousins.
"Daddy, I'm ready. Let's go!"
"Hi, Grandma!"
"Hi, Ebby. I'm sure glad you came to help me make cookies. Did you bring your apron? We have a busy day ahead of us."
"Oo no, I forgot."
"That's Ok. You can use one of mine." Grandma said.
Grandma put an apron on Ebby. It was a big red and white one. It covered her from her neck to the floor! She held the sides out and danced around the kitchen, laughing.
Then Grandma put her own apron on herself.
"Let's get started."
Ebby saw a big bowl of cookie dough and a bag of flour on the table. There were two rolling pins. A big one for grandma, and a little one for Ebby. Well, Ebby got started. She knew what to do. Grandma had taught her how to make cookies a long time ago when she was little.
Ebby sprinkled some flour on the table. Then, she put flour on her hands so the dough wouldn't stick to her fingers. After putting a big, gooey glob of dough on top of the flour, she patted it down a little bit.
Then she put flour on her rolling pin and begin to roll the dough out flat.
The flour made her nose itch! When the dough was flat enough, Ebby picked out some cookie cutters. She wanted a Star for sure! And some little animals. Grandma had lots of different kinds of cookie cutters.
After she cut out the cookies, it was time to decorate them.
"This is the best part, Grandma!
"That's because this where you can use your imagination, sweetie."
Ebby sprinkled green and red sugar on the cookies. She made eyes with raisins. She put little candies on some of the cookies. It was fun to see what she could do.
Grandma helped her put the cookies onto cookie pans, then they put the pans into the oven. Ebby had to set the timer so it would ring when the cookies were done.
That was very important, 'cause the cookies would burn if the timer wasn't set right.
She was proud that grandma let her do that part.
Ebby liked to look inside the window on the door of the stove and watch the cookies cook.
While the cookies were baking, they cleaned the table.
"How come the flour gets everywhere when we make cookies, Grandma? It's on the floor and all over me too." And it was. Ebby had flour in her hair, and on her face.
"Well, flour flies, Ebby."
"It does?"
"Yes, it does."
I didn't know flour could fly. thought Ebby as she took both aprons outside to shake the flour out of them. As she shook the aprons, the flour flew away into the air.
"You're right Grandma, the flour is flying!"
When the cookies were all baked and the table was clean, Ebby and Grandma sat down and each picked out two cookies to eat. Ebby had a glass of milk with hers.
"They are very good Grandma. I am a good cookie maker."
"Yes, you are. They are very good."
"Let's put some into a bag for you to take home to your brothers."
Ebby was very proud of her cookies. She picked out some of the best ones to take home.
She couldn't wait for her brothers to see what she could do. Patrick thought she was too little to do anything, but Allen thought she could do everything good. She would give Allen an especially pretty cookie.
Ebby and Grandma took a walk around the neighborhood so Ebby could say hello to the neighbors. One of the neighbors had a dog. It liked to dig in the flower garden she had at grandma's house. She watched out for it.
They went all the way over to the next street and bought their favorite ice cream cones. As they wandered home they ate them.
"Yummy! Will there always be Rainbow ice cream Grandma?", asked Ebby.
"I hope so, Ebby."
When they got back home, Ebby saw her daddy's car parked at the curb. It was time for Ebby to go home.
"Bye Grandma."
"Bye Ebby. Next time maybe we will make necklaces."
"How Grandma?"
"I'll show you when you visit again. It's easy, and fun too."
"Okay."
So Ebby went home wondering how they could make necklaces. She thought only the stores made them.
February 27, 1997