matilda oneshots i had to get out of my head

matildamas day 8: making christmas cookies

helloooooo welcome to day eight!! tasty lil chappy for y'all today!! i hope you enjoy!!

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"Mummy! Mummy!" Matilda yells, barreling full speed down the stairs.

"Heavens, Matilda, what is it?" Jenny replies, resting a hand over her racing heart and checking to make sure Matilda hasn't fallen down the stairs running so quickly.

"Look! Look what I found in the attic!" Matilda says eagerly, holding out a small box.

"Matilda, I've told you not to go up there on your own. It could be dangerous," Jenny chides.

"I'm careful!" Matilda retaliates.

"Careful doesn't prevent tetanus," Jenny says.

"I'm careful and I've had all my pokes," Matilda huffs. Jenny rolls her eyes lovingly, knowing she won't get anywhere, and takes the proffered box.

It's absolutely covered in dust, so Jenny turns away from Matilda's face and blows as much as she can off. The box is made of sturdy cardboard, and covered with a flower-patterned paper, yellowed by age. It's stained in a few places, but her mother's name is etched on the top in a dark ink.

Jenny opens the lid with a small creak, and has to bite her lip to hold back tears at what she finds inside.

Note card upon note card. Beautiful parchment cards, with pressed flowers adorning the corners and her mother's neat cursive in tidy little rows.

"These... these are my mother's recipes," Jenny says softly, gently flipping through them. The recipes range from things like waffle batter to Sunday roasts, handy casseroles to muffins, pasta dishes to delicious cakes and everything in between.

"Can we make some?" Matilda asks eagerly. "Please?"

Jenny smiles down at her own daughter, and she nods. "Pick one."

Matilda takes the box like she's just been handed the Ark of the Covenant and carefully flips through the aged paper recipes. She pulls out one towards the back and holds it out.

Jenny takes it to see what she's picked and smiles. Christmas Pudding, with small crocus blossoms pressed into each corner. Jenny reads over it, and her brow furrows ever so slightly.

"Oh dear, this is quite involved," she says.

"Can we do it?" Matilda asks softly. Jenny peeks over the card at her saddened little face, and feels a swell of determination.

"Go get some paper, please, we'll need to make a shopping list," she says. Matilda smiles widely and tackles her in a hug before running off to fetch one of her school notebooks and pens. Jenny has her rush about the kitchen to see what they have enough of already and adds the rest to their shopping list.

They button up their coats and head off towards the nearest grocery shop.

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"Christmas pudding, eh?" the cashier asks when they rest their purchases on the counter to be rung up.

"Yes," Matilda says, for once eagerly speaking to the person behind the counter. "It's my grandmother's recipe. We've never made it before and we're trying it for the first time ever."

"How lovely," the cashier responds as he scans their items. "No nuts in your recipe, then?"

Jenny chuckles as she remembers the small Absolutely no nuts!!! that had been scrawled just beneath the title in her father's blocky writing. "I don't think so, no."

"Everyone's got something different. Me nan always used walnuts, but my mum never used anything of the sort," the cashier says. He bags up all their items and hands them over once Jenny has paid for everything. "You lot have a Merry Christmas. Good luck with the pudding."

"Thank you," Jenny says appreciatively. She and Matilda wave and wish him a Merry Christmas as they head back out into the brisk winter air and start their walk back home.

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Matilda eagerly puts everything away in the kitchen and washes her hands. Jenny doesn't even have time to stop her before she's tying on her apron and looking at her excitedly. "What's first?"

Jenny reads from the recipe card as she ties on her own apron. "Soaking the currants, raisins, and sultanas in the brandy, lemon juice, and orange juice."

Matilda checks for the proper quantities of everything and happily adds it to a large bowl. She looks at it curiously. "For how long?"

"Overnight," Jenny replies.

"Oh."

"And the pudding also has to be steamed for eight hours and then sit for two to three weeks."

"Oh."

"Sounds like we'll have some tasty New Year's pudding instead," Jenny says with a chuckle, covering the bowl with some plastic wrap and resting it on a shelf for everything to soak in peace.

Matilda looks dejectedly up at it from her spot on the ground. Jenny smiles sadly.

"Should we make some cookies instead?"

Matilda beams at her and nods eagerly. Jenny keeps everything they need for that on hand anyway, so they waste no time whipping up a batch of snickerdoodles and getting absolutely covered in flour and sugar.

Matilda is delighted by rolling the dough into balls and rolling them in cinnamon sugar, and making sure they're exactly the right distance apart on the tray before they go into the oven. Jenny is delighted just watching her.

The pudding will taste delicious once it's ready, but for now, they're perfectly content to cuddle by a cozy fire, read a long book, and snack on their delicious cookies.

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thanks for reading!!

i'm not entirely sure but i'm almost positive this is the first one i wrote back in october when i was still trying to figure this whole thing out so sorry it's a bit short!! the rest should be a little more sustaining lol.

i hope you enjoyed anyway and i'll see you tomorrow!!