Wed Dec 18

Bobby opened her fridge to take out the cookie dough that she made the night before. Her flu was over but while she cooked, she wore gloves and a mask just to be sure. She was going to share these cookies with her whole family. She surely didn’t want to make them sick.

She got the chilled dough rolled into balls and placed on the pans. She had 2 large pans and 2 dozen cookies fit on each. She was making six dozen all together and her oven only cooked one pan at a time so it would take some time.  Maybe it would be better to cook them in the restaurant ovens but it was still really early and nobody would be in the restaurant. Also, she couldn’t safely leave the still sleeping Maddy on her own so she just decided to do them one pan at a time in the oven. She would get all the dough ready and have them all cooked in no time.

Maddy was up and wandered into the kitchen as she pulled the last batch of cookies out of the oven. “I peed all by myself.”

“Good for you sweetie and good morning. I just finished making cookies to take to Gramma Greats today.”

Bobbie put Maddy into her high chair and wondered if it was terrible to have cookies for breakfast. “Maddy, the cookies are too hot to eat right now, I have some scrambled eggs ready to go, how about some bacon and eggs for breakfast?” She poured herself some coffee and gave Maddy some milk.

After breakfast they washed their hands and packed all the cookies into their boxes. They filled six. One for Charlie and his family, one for Eddy and his family, one for Jamie and Jarrod, and one for her mom.  One box would be for the afternoon party and everyone was joining in on the cookie exchange. The last box was for Johnny but he wouldn’t be at the cookie exchange. Bobbie made gluten free cookies and she wanted to make sure he got some. She put all the filled boxes into a big Tupperware and tried to put them out of her mind. She didn’t even try one.

They finished their breakfast and got ready for the day. Bobbie wanted to touch base with her staff and have a short meeting with Will and Frank. She was going to drop Maddy off at Charlie’s and Maddy was excited. She was feeling better after her 24-hour flu and June had some crafting plans for the kids. They got ready and piled into the car. They pulled up at Charlie’s and Bobbie could see Suzy in the window. She disappeared when she saw them and the front door opened. Bobbie got Maddy out of the car and she raced up the stairs giggling to see Suzy. Bobbie followed them in.

“Hi June. Hi Suzy, has Niko left for school yet?”

June came around the kitchen Island and Bobbie clapped her hands in glee, “June your belly is beautiful!”

June grinned. “Hi Bobbie I don’t feel very beautiful; I feel like a tank, I hardly know which direction my body is going half the time.”

Bobbie came over to hug her. “Your skin is clear and healthy looking; your hair is thicker. I think this pregnancy becomes you, Sweetie. Thanks so much for taking Maddy this morning. I have a couple of meetings that she really wouldn’t enjoy.”

“You know it’s not a problem. Suzy and I love to have her. We’ll make sure they have a nap after lunch and when the kids get home from school, we’ll meet you at Florence’s. Charlie and I got our treats ready last night.”

“Well, have fun today girls, I love you. Thanks again June and I’ll see you later this afternoon.”

Bobbie put her driving gloves on and went back to her car. She thought for a moment. She pulled out her phone and Texted Barb and Trixie about meeting them at the condo building site for an update. She got 2 thumbs up and Trixie said they were already there.

After about 20 minutes, Bobbie was pulling into the job site. She got out and looked up. Both condo buildings were framed up now. They were quite tall. She could see the future front parking lot staked out. She was amazed at the progress. She walked into the building and headed through the unfinished building to the makeshift office. “Hi guys. A lot has changed since the last time I was actually on site.”

Trixie came over and hugged her and handed her a coffee. “We are moving fast. The city is very pleased that we’ve improved the roads and made them wide enough for bicycle and bus lanes. To sweeten the pot, we’ve even built a bus stop and are donating enough land for a bus transfer station at the foot of the hill.”

Barb nodded, “The permits are processed and the inspectors are at our beck and call, it seems.”

Bobbie laughed. “Well, that’s good. I guess.”

“Oh, it is Bobbie, come sit down and we’ll talk more.”

They sat down and Bobbie looked at the architectural drawings again and flipped through the budget print outs and building plan. She smiled as she read how many people were buying the condos on speculation. “I’m surprised we have sold so many and they aren’t even finished.”

Trixie nodded, “I know it was a really good idea to build these condos. I like that there are lots of affordable ones. We have the building shell now and we just need to finish the roofs and windows so we’re weather tight. That should be there next week and it can’t be soon enough. They are predicting a bad winter.”

“Have we been able to pay everyone?” asked Bobbie.

Trixie nodded. “Absolutely we are able to get bank funding now that we’ve got a good start. We don’t have to borrow against the motel at all.”

They chatted and discussed construction and money and personal issues too. After about an hour Bobbie stood and took her mug over to the sink. “It was so good to touch base, I have a meeting with Frank and then Will and I want to check on the staff this afternoon.”

The meeting with Will was a walking tour and mostly just appreciated the decoration around the site. The meeting with Frank was a lunch meeting at the restaurant and he updated her on her ranch land. Mark came out of the kitchen and said he was using their own beef. He researched how it had to be aged and was making all the chili with it. “After turkey season, we’ll get back to beef.”

Bobbie laughed. “I’m amazed we got the logistics all worked out for that cow.”

Frank smiled. “Hey Bobbie maybe we should get a few alpacas for the ranch too.”

“Oh, Frank don’t even tease me about that. It is something to think about though. Ok, this meeting has gone on long enough. That’s the case when Frank starts to suggest ways to spend my money. I’m off to my cookie and ornament exchange. So Frank are you and Belinda staying g around here this holiday? We have pretty good parties and you and Belinda are most welcome.”

“Thanks Bobbie, I’ll mention it to Belinda.”

Bobbie checked her phone and went back upstairs to get cleaned up for her mom’s party. Florence had a lot of Christmas ornaments and they were all arranged in big bins by colour. Every year they picked the colours they want to use on their trees. They all had their own bins of silver and gold ornaments and lights. What Bobbie always did was choose two or three colours and then accented with silver or gold and Charlie and Eddy just carried on. She wasn’t sure about Jamie.

She got to her mothers around 3 o’clock. She carried her big bin into the house and saw that Florence had a big table set up in the dining room. “Bobbie just put them on the big table or the dining room table. The sharing box can come in the kitchen.”

They were chatting and heard Charlie and Eddy and all the kids coming in the door. Maddy raced in. “Mamma can we try one of the cookies now.”

Bobbie pretended not to notice that she called her Mamma. Maybe she had even misheard what she said. “Just a little while longer Maddy, we’re going to bring some trays with all the cookies on them and you can pick your favourite.”

Maddy nodded and raced out of the kitchen back to the living room.

Florence was standing with her arms crossed. “Did that child just call you Mamma?”

“Oh, I don’t think so…well maybe…I don’t know. I think she should stick to Gramma. I think that’s what she meant to say.”

The Boys came in with the rest of the cookies and Bobbie and Florence put them on the platters. Florence got Wally to take some paper side plates into the living room and gave clay a pile of napkins. Bobbie and Florence followed.

They had many cookies. They had Vanilla refrigerator sugar cookies that Eddie had brought from the restaurant. Bobbie had given Jane the recipe and she was perfecting it. Florence made molasses cookies, Charlie brought date balls, Bobbie brought pudding cookies, that she made with gluten free flour and Jamie and Jarrod brought Maple walnut fudge.

Wally carried one platter of treats up to the den. Clayton was putting on a Christmas movie on the DVD player.  The rest of the kids followed Wally like he was the pied piper. Bobbie rolled her eyes and looked at Charlie. “They are going to ruin their supper,” then she laughed. Then she took a piece of fudge.

All the cookies were great. Florence already had all the boxes properly piled up. Eddy said, “So Gramma are we going to pick our tree colours now?

They came out of the dining room. Florence sat and said, “So this year, I’m using the brown, champagne and pink coloured ornaments and I’m going to use my gold ornaments to go with it.”

“Wow Mom, that is going to be a great tree,” said Jamie. “Jarrod and I were thinking Black and white and red and we’ll use our silver balls to go with them.”

Charlie said, “Ok it’s my turn all the good colours will be gone. June and I want the baby blue, dark blue and the dark pink balls. And we’ll use our silver balls too.”

Eddy took another cookie. “I think we’ll use orange and purple with gold. Jen never liked orange.”

“There are a lot of purple balls Eddie that will be so cool. Maddy and I are making some nature inspired ornaments. We want the rust-coloured balls and Mom can I have Gramma McNally’s homemade flowers?” Florence nodded. “I’ll probably use the gold ornaments but I am buying a few more wooden ones and that kind of thing.

Florence stood. “We’ll all have to take pictures this year. I like to see all the different trees to give me good ideas.”

Bobbie stood up too. “Thanks for the cookies everyone. I’m going to take some fudge off the tray for Johnny. I’m dropping some cookies off for him next. Maybe I’ll take the rest for Marla and Kirby if that’s OK.”

Florence got up and gave Bobbie all the fudge and then put the rest of the cookies in an empty box from the kitchen.

Bobbie carried her tub of cookies to her car and added the fudge to Johnny’s gluten free box on the front seat. Then she went back in and carried the 2 boxes of Christmas ornaments to the car. Then went back in to check on Maddy. “Hey Maddy, I think it’s time to go. We’re going to go see Uncle Johnny and Marla and Kirby.”

Maddy stomped down the stairs singing, “You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch!” She smiled and went over to Florence and hugged her and said, “Good-bye Gramma Great, thanks for all the cookies.” She turned and said, “Good-bye everyone, thanks for all the cookies.” Then she wet to the front door and sat down to pull her boots on.

Florence hugged Bobbie, “That grand daughter is too charming for her own good. You should bring her over a bit more.”

“You can come over and visit us too, Mom.”