A Year of Gratitude – August 25, 2024

I found my gratitude in a warm cookie tonight. I found myself in the farmhouse kitchen after dinner making a batch of chocolate chip cookies to surprise my family with.

I reached for a recipe I have used dozens of times. Like most good recipes, the paper is stained and worn from use. I’ve made notes on the original recipe, as I often do. Yet I almost always make the original recipe because we love it so much.

As the cookies were baking in the oven, the farmhouse filled up with the aroma of brown sugar and warm chocolate. It’s such a familiar and comforting aroma. It makes me smile now just to think of it.

It didn’t take long for that aroma to waft up the second staircase from the kitchen to the bedrooms above. I know that it didn’t take long because I heard feet coming down those stairs, saw children who were hoping that there might just be warm cookies cooling on the counter.

There were. They were happy to see the cookies. I was happy to see their faces light up. They may be grown, but I can see their younger selves in these moments. I can remember the same excitement when they were little children coming happily down the back staircase.

Years go by, but some things blissfully remain the same. I still love to cook and bake for the people I love. These children are grown, but the joy is the same both for them and for me. I’m incredibly grateful for that.

This post is part of our A Year of Gratitude Series. You can find the introduction, inspiration, and entire year’s gratitude’s posts here.