One of the things I loved about Christmas was taking to the kitchen with my grandma. We would both have hot chocolates sitting on the side, complete with all the extras, only I always ate my marshmallows first. We would make gingerbread men every year. She helped me to mix the mixture until it was the right consistency and then helped me to roll it out. She always kept her cookie cutters on the top shelf and, as always, I had to stand on a chair to retrieve them. I once dropped them all over the kitchen floor and we had gingerbread cookie cutters everywhere, but my grandma was a patient woman. She would laugh it off and rinse them under the tap. After she dried them off, we then began making the gingerbread men.
Once we felt we had enough or we had run out of dough the cookies were put into the oven. We would pick up our hot chocolate mugs and clink them together, "job well done," she would smile and together we took sips of our hot chocolates. We would sit by the fire as we waited for the cookies to bake, she often gave me one present to open and I had to wait until Christmas day to open my other gifts. But my grandma had taught me patience so I didn't mind waiting. About half an hour later the cookies were ready, "mind the tray, it's hot," my grandma used to say over and over, it was almost like her mantra. The smell always wafted around the whole house, filling it with spices and warmth.
I couldn't wait until the cookies were cool enough to eat, I used to fight through the burning sensation to eat it as quickly as I possibly could; and as you can imagine, yes I ended up burning both my fingers, throat and tongue. But when we were patient enough and they were cool enough we then decorated the cookies. We gave them their own looks and personalities each one varied, they were never the same. As the evening drew on and we had built the gingerbread houses and ate the 'supposedly' decoration, my grandma and I would enjoy our handmade cookies in front of a classic Christmas film with the glowing Christmas tree lights, these were my fondest memories and the ones I still cherish, especially around Christmas.
