There’s a story there, @Mz_Lizzy. When my older son was three, he had observed that there are special things we do for each holiday, and that’s kind of what makes it a holiday. When Valentine’s Day came along, Christmas was still pretty fresh in his mind, so he said, “What do we do for Valentine’s Day?” Unprepared for the question, I answered on the spur of the moment: “We make heart-shaped sugar cookies with red sprinkles on them.”
Quick-quick, I sent my mother a call for help. Her sugar cookies were one of the perfections of my youth. Hadn’t I watched her and helped her scores of times? Back came her recipe in short order.
Sugar cookies. My gosh, what a hopeless battle of wills that was, with sticky dough, sticky rolling pin, sticky cookie cutter, and everything utterly resistant to my bidding. Grrrr. My three-year-old watched solemnly as I tried not to cry or swear. Somehow we got through it. And I promised myself, “No more sugar cookies until I’ve forgotten the pain of this time.”
The following year as Valentine’s Day neared, he asked me again, “What do we do?” I answered brightly, “We make cupcakes!”
And we’ve been making them ever since. He’s 27 now.