An Eighth Shot of Espresso: Coffee and Creativity on Mum's Third Shift

Soft baked cookies smell fills the kitchen peanut butter and coconut gingerbread and lemon chocolate chip cakes and croissants gumdrops and brittle bowls pile up in the sink a tang of burnt edges powdered sugar like ground up snowflakes drifting on currents from the air conditioner and catch grains on the tongue. Gift boxes filled bundles set to go can't wait to see all the smiles and the joy the warmth and the rumble of tummies waiting to be filled with sweets from the sweet.

Gingerbread smell wafts through the house the oven is like a furnace pans of cookies come out little men decorated with colored frosting and googly eyes so Grandma can stare in horror and shout "they're looking at me!" Fudge with espresso powder and one batch with marshmallows several tries result in burnt black bottoms in the saucepans but the end result is worth it when it turns out just perfectly. Christmas carols from the TV defrosting Mariah Carey to the jazzy tunes and operatic orchestras as the coffee machine is kept forever warm hot water for cocoa and coffee as we wrap up cookie boxes for gifts. A tradition stretching back almost three decades some years just the basics: gingerbread, sugar, chocolate chip other years with cheese sticks, seafoam, crisp and chewy cookies always a hit with the families almost expected year after year but the kitchen is always warm with freshly baked goods.