I love cookies, especially Christmas cookies: puffy cut outs, feathery Mexican wedding cakes, gooey caramel, and rich fudge. But I've never been a big fan of baking, what with it's precision measurements, sifting, greasing, and necessary adherence to recipes. With lots of room for experimenting and tweaking ingredients, cooking's more my thing. Still, it's hard not to bake at least something festive in December. Few things make as delightful a gift as a plate of homemade cookies and baked goods. I marvel at my friends who create vast selections of cookies. How does anyone manage to bake five, six, seven, or more varieties of cookies? It's a wonder that's long eluded me. Till now.

Because now, I have help! Two medium sized elves and two little ones. The medium ones are a whiz at rolling out dozens of peanut butter blossoms and chocolate crinkles.

They dip row upon row of dough balls in sugar, lining them up like sentries on cookie sheets, with nary a complaint. (Apparently it's more fun to have dough-caked fingers when you're 8 and 11, than when you're my age.)

And once the little elves see what the bigs are up to, they're eager to get in on the fun.

They were promising at first. (I should have paid attention to the binky, conspicuously not in mouth.)

But then ...

The sugar. The chocolate. It was all just too much.

Truth be told, I did a little dough tasting myself. All in all, it was an adventure in baking, resulting in yummy and good-looking gifts to share with friends (and enjoy at home.)

To date, we've made butterscotch haystacks, chocolate fudge with pecans, peanut butter blossoms, chocolate crinkles, and we're still going strong. What's baking in your kitchen?