My mom is the best. When the kids visit, she always has an activity ready to execute. The things that make me cringe--like shaking sprinkles and icing cookies? She loves it! She always lets them help make sugar cookies, cut them out with fun cookie cutters then decorate. Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas...she’s got it covered.

I’ve tried it. I’m worn out by the time I shop for all the ingredients, bake the cookies, then clean up the first mess! By the time we get to the fun part (decorating, of course), I’m a grump. Then I start a whole negative self-talk soliloquy that helps no one. My cookie decorating time is usually sandwiched in between a full day at work, after school snacks, homework and making supper. Not to mention the fact that I at least need 15 minutes of down-time to preserve my sanity.

One day I realized my approach was all wrong. Why not take the best part and forget the rest? It’s like licking the icing off a cupcake and chunking the rest! I bought a roll of sugar cookie dough, bought icing and sprinkles. We cut the cookies into fun shapes and baked on disposable cookie sheets that cost $1. When the cookies were ready, we moved the party outside to the picnic table. The boys sprinkled and iced to their hearts’ content! Five of our neighborhood friends saw the excitement and joined in the fun. I took pictures with my phone, admired their work, and even decorated a cookie or two myself! Clean up? I hosed it down. Done and done.

Sometimes it doesn’t take much to elevate the ordinary to extraordinary. It’s the little bit of effort to do so that creates the best memories. Will they remember I didn’t drag out the flour and sugar? Of course not. They’ll remember how much I laughed and smiled as we decorated cookies together.