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It was Christmas Eve, and Jimmy had woken up early to make a special Christmas recipe for Jenny and Ollie. He loved baking and he'd wanted to surprise them. Besides, Jennifer had been feeling more tired lately, so him taking charge would hopefully help her rest.
There was a bowl, a recipe book and a few jars with different ingredients in front of him; brown sugar, cinnamon, honey, ginger, cloves, and baking soda.
He dipped what he called his ‘tasting’ spoon into the mix, a yellowish-brown goop, and brought it to his mouth. The taste and smell was still a bit off, not quite what he'd expected. He’d mostly followed the book recipe, tweaking some of the amounts and adding his own touches here and there, but he’d added a little too much of one ingredient. The strong, spicy taste of ginger overpowered all the other flavors.
He was so focused on his baking that he'd failed to notice the new presence in the kitchen.
“Daddy?” A soft voice called, as he felt a tug. Jimmy looked down to see Ollie's little hand gripping the bottom hem of his checked dark blue button shirt. The child was wearing a light blue pajama top and bottom, and white bunny slippers. "What're you doin'?"
Jimmy's friends said Ollie looked like him in his younger days, with tanned skin, and similar but longer brown hair falling in messy curls down to just above his shoulder. Jimmy was happy, however, that Ollie had also inherited Jen's eyes and easy character, plus a cute little dimple that formed on his left cheek each time he smiled.
That little dimple was showing now, as Jimmy laid a knee in the dark-tiled floor, blue eyes meeting brown. He grinned back, ruffling Ollie's sandy-brown hair affectionately. "Morning, Ollie-Pollie! I'm baking cookies for Santa. Wanna help?"
The excuse of why he was baking came easily. Ollie loved hearing about Santa, the reindeers, and the elves from the North Pole, and Jimmy cherished those moments of childish innocence and happiness.
Ollie nodded with enthusiasm, raising his arms up high. "Sure! Santa loves cookies!"
"All right. Give me one moment, little one." Grabbing a chair from the kitchen table, Jimmy carried it to the counter next to his own taller one and helped Ollie climb onto it. Once he was standing up on top of the chair, Ollie could see the bowl and ingredients and help with the baking.
"Now you need an apron."
"Why?" Ollie's eyes opened wide.
"Well, we don't want your pajamas to get messy, do we?" Jimmy smiled and playfully tickled the kid's tummy. Ollie giggled, squirming. The sound reminded Jimmy of the cheerful tinkling of jingle bells.
"All right! All right daddy, stop!"
Jimmy laughed and released Ollie who gave him a wide, toothy grin. Going into the pantry, Jimmy grabbed a small-sized apron just for this occasion, a red-and-green checked one with a Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer face sewn to the top left, like an insignia.
When he turned around to give Ollie the apron, the child was licking his finger and scrunching his nose. Jimmy figured Ollie hadn't been able to resist getting a taste and chuckled.
"What do you think, too spicy?" he joked, placing the apron over his child.
Ollie, who'd been worried for a second about getting a reprimand, giggled. "Uh-huh. I like it much better when it's sweeter, dad."
"Right," Jimmy agreed. After a moment of thinking, he took some of the jars next to him, opened them, smelled their components, and passed them to Ollie for him to smell, letting him scoop a bit of cinnamon, honey, and sugar with the tasting spoon so he could taste them for himself, too.
"This one! Golden sweetness." Ollie pointed at the honey, his face alight with glee at the flavors. Jimmy beamed.
"Great choice, Ollie! You have great taste."
Ollie poured a spoonful of honey into the bowl, while Jimmy sprinkled some cinnamon powder. Ollie mixed the new ingredients with the dough, and both of them tasted the result with their spoons. This time, the combination was just right. Jimmy offered his hand for a low high-five and Ollie immediately clapped his own to it.
“Do you think Santa will like these?” Jimmy asked.
“He will love them!” Ollie exclaimed. But then something seemed to bring him down, and Jimmy frowned with worry. Was his child sick?
“But will he eat all of them? I want some, too!”
Jimmy laughed, relieved, and ruffled Ollie’s hair. “Don’t worry, Ollie-Pollie, Santa only eats one from each house. We’ll definitely have the rest for us.”
“Yay!” Ollie clapped happily.
Just then, Jennifer walked into the kitchen. She was dressed in a long, loose beige skirt, a red blouse, and red sandals. "Oh, there you are. I thought I heard the sound of your lovely voices."
Ollie turned in his seat, raising his arms with pride. "Look, mommy, we're making cookies for Santa!"
Jen's own smile brightened the kitchen. "That's great, sweetheart! I'm sure you did a great job." She wrapped her arms around her husband and her child, placing a soft kiss on Ollie's forehead and another one on Jimmy's lips, her eyes promising a bigger reward for later. She covered her mouth and yawned.
"You didn't wake me up?" Her statement sounded like a question, but her smile told Jimmy she was grateful.
"I thought you needed the rest. You seemed tired, dear."
“You're right, I was. Thank you, my love.”
Ollie looked between them. Before he could ask anything, Jennifer returned her attention to him. “May I have a taste, sweetie?"
Ollie nodded emphatically. “Of course!” He passed her his tasting spoon with a bit of the mix.
As she ate it, she hummed in delight.
“The two of you are the best bakers in the whole world,” she declared.