four: Christmas Cookies

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀The cold air nips at my nose as I wake from my peaceful sleep. My arms reach over my head stretching my muscles. As I open my eyes, I realize I'm not under the snowflake comforter like the night before. Yesterday's events flood my mind as I start to fully wake up.

I push myself off the bed and walk to the bathroom adjacent to the bed. I look at myself in the mirror. Though I slept well last night, my eyes are slightly puffy. My hair sticks out of my ponytail in a hundred directions. And the pajamas Mrs. White let me borrow are wrinkled. Mrs. White had said they were Harper's sisters, but there's no sign of another female living in this house. Maybe she's moved out?

Turning the shower on to hot water, I grab my jeans from yesterday and a sweater Mrs. White gave me to wear. The steam from the hot water fogs the mirror and heats up the tiny room.

I walk out of the bathroom and straight to the window. To my dismay, the snowfall hasn't slowed a bit. Looks like you're going to be here even longer than you thought, Blakley.

After my long, hot shower, I quietly open my door and listen for any sign of life. Downstairs I can hear the sound of Christmas music being played as the smell of blueberry muffins fills the atmosphere. Mm.

I slip out of the room and down the stairs to find Mrs. White sitting at a small breakfast table drinking coffee and reading a magazine. I walk towards her hoping she notices me so I can avoid the awkwardness of getting her attention. Luckily for me, Mrs. White looks up from her magazine sending me a warm smile.

"Good morning," she greets extending a hand offering me a seat.

"Morning," I smile back accepting the seat.

"How'd you sleep last night?" She asks closing her magazine and focusing on me.

"I slept perfectly, Mrs. White. Thank you for being so kind and letting me in your home. I could have stayed and slept on the couches in the lodge like everybody else," I reply.

"Nonsense," she waves her hand to dismiss my comment. "You are more than welcome to stay here, and, please, you can call me Kyla."

The alarm for the oven beeps startling the both of us. "Muffins are ready," Mrs. White stands up and retrieves the delicious food from the oven.

My stomach growls in response. I didn't realize how hungry I was until she pulled the food out of the oven. As Mrs. White places the tray of muffins on the counter, Harper comes running down the stairs.

"What smells so good," the boy enters the kitchen with wet hair. He has on a black tee shirt and jeans for the day.

"Blueberry muffins," I reply standing up and walking over to the counter. Harper follows me and quickly reaches for a muffin.

He pulls his hand back waving it around. I stifle a laugh as he adds,
"Careful. They're hot."

"Harper Kevin White, did you not see me just pull those out of the oven," Mrs. White scolds the boy. "Be careful next time, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am," he replies with his head down. He looks like a puppy who just got in trouble. I place my hand over my mouth to hold back the laughter. I feel as if this is an inappropriate time to laugh.

I carefully place two muffins on one plate and hand it to Harper. He looks up at me raising his eyebrows questioning my motives.

"So you don't hurt yourself anymore," I wink adding a laugh. He playfully rolls his eyes as he takes the plate from me.

"Thank you, m'lady," he bows slightly continuing the joke from yesterday. I laugh once more shaking my head before plating two muffins for myself.

Mrs. White must have left us alone after she scolded Harper. I take my original seat at the breakfast table except this time Harper accompanies me.

I glance out the window next to the table to find that the snow has ever-so-slightly slowed down. Not enough for me to travel back to the cabin, but there's hope.

"So, what do you want to do today," Harper asks me in between bites of his muffin.

I finish my chewing before replying. With my family I may have no manners, but I know when I'm around others I should. Well, technically I should have manners all the time, but it can be hard. I need to work on that.

"Hm," I tap my chin thinking. "I don't really know. I was planning on baking Christmas cookies while my family skied today," My voice trails off.

"We can do that," Harper's eyes light up. "I love making cookies. I do it every year and then hand them out to the guests out in the lobby. We could treat the poor people trapped in the lodge." In the short time I've known Harper, I haven't seen him light up like he just did. I mean, he lit up when we were in the attic with his books, but not like this.

He must have a heart to serve others. I like that.

"That's a perfect idea," I smile at the giddy boy in front of me.

We both finish our muffins and set straight away to baking cookies. We're too excited to wait to even start. We both start by making homemade sugar cookie dough. We're wanting to make lots of cookies for the poor unfortunate souls who are trapped inside the lodge away from their cabin and family members.

"Okay, where are the cookie cutters," I ask once my dough is rolled out on the counter. I pretend to wipe my flour covered hands onto Harper's back.

"You didn't," he replies taking a small handful of flour. Before I could react, he blows the white powdery substance all over my face.

Without even thinking, I grab a handful of flour and rub it all in his hair. His once brunette hair is nearly white as the snow outside. The sight causes me to erupt into a fit of giggles. "You think it's funny?" He smirks at me while I clutch into the counter for support.

He picks up an egg and smiles evilly at me. My laughter suddenly stops and my eyes widen. "No, Harper," I back away as he approaches. "I surrender!" I hold my hands up just as he's about to crush the egg over my head. "You win."

"What was that?" I hear the smirk in his voice. I crack one eye open and find him with his arms crossed and a smug look on his face. "Sorry, I couldn't hear you. Could you repeat that?" He cups his hand around his ear.

"You win, Harper. You beat me." I sigh in defeat. I hate losing, but I don't want to take an egg to the head.

"I am the king," he shouts jokingly.

"Yeah, whatever," I roll my eyes at the silly boy. "So, where are the cookie cutters?"

"I got it," he opens the cabinet above above the microwave and pulls out a box of different cookie cutters. "M'lady," he hands me the box.

"Thank you, kind sir," I grab the box from him. Opening the box, I find all sorts of shapes including a Christmas tree, a candy cane, a mitten, mistletoe, snowflakes and a circle. "Perfect," I whisper.

"Hand me the Christmas tree, will you?" I toss the little metal shape across the room to Harper. "Thank you."

After all the cookies are cut, we place them in the oven. Now comes the hard part: waiting. Harper and I play twenty questions, or however many questions we could fit in, during our wait.

"I'm first," Harper announces.

"Go for it," I reply cleaning up the flour mess we made.

"How old are you?" I turn shooting Harper a you're-going-to-waste-a-question-on-that look which he just shrugs in return.

"I'm eighteen," I sweep flour into a dust pan. "Where's the trash can?"

"In the pantry," he pauses. "By the way, that counts as a question," he smirks while mixing together powder sugar and water for icing.

"Nuh uh!"

"Yes huh!"

"Humph," I cross my arms.

"Besides reading and writing, what do you like to do?"

I push off the counter and contemplate the question. "Hm," I pause. "I sing," I reply slowly.

"Will you sing for me?"

"Hey, my turn to ask the question," I smirk. "What do you want to do when you're older?"

"Easy. I want to own my own photography studio." I raise my eyebrows. He likes photography?

"That's cool."

"Yeah. So, will you sing for me?"

I bite my lip. I've never really sang in front of anybody. "Uh, I'm not big on singing in front of people."

"Would you if I played the guitar while you sing?" This boy is full of surprises.

"You can play the guitar?"

"I dabble," he shrugs.

"I guess," I agree.

"Okay, I'll be back." He runs off upstairs to grab his guitar.

While Harper is gone, the oven beeps indicating the cookies are done. I grab an oven mitt and pull the cookies out. As I'm placing the cookies on the cooling rack, Harper walks in carrying a guitar case.

"Smells good. While they cool off we can have a jam session," he takes a seat in a chair at the table. I push myself up on the counter near the table.

"What can you play?"

"Just about anything. How about Mary Did You Know?" I nod my head in response. Harper strums his guitar and nods at me to start.

Taking a deep breath, I open my mouth and sing.

"Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy would one day walk on water?" I shut my eyes to remove all distractions. And to calm my nerves.

"Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy would save our sons and daughters?"

My voice picks up. "Did you know that your Baby Boy has come to make you new? This Child that you delivered will soon deliver you." I draw out the last word.

"Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy will calm the storm with His hand?"

My voice picks up again. "Did you know that your Baby Boy has walked where angels trod? When you kiss your little Baby you kissed the face of God?"

"Mary did you know. The blind will see. The deaf will hear. The dead will live again. The lame will leap. The dumb will speak. The praises of The Lamb."

"Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy is Lord of all creation? Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy would one day rule the nations?"

"Did you know that your Baby Boy is heaven's perfect Lamb? The sleeping Child you're holding is the Great, I Am." I hold the last word out.

"Oh, Mary did you know?"

Harper stops strumming his guitar and I open my eyes. Harper sits there just staring at me. Was I that bad?

My face reddens and I look down at my hands. "Wow, Blakley," he starts catching my attention. "That was.. You're amazing."

"Thank you," I whisper shyly. I've never sang for anybody. That was a whole other experience. I clear my throat and slide off the counter. "We have cookies to decorate."

"Right," he places his guitar back into the case before joining me at the counter. "I'm ready to ice the cookies."

We ice the cookies for the next hour and a half. I didn't realize that Harper is a perfectionist.

"This was fun, Mags," Harper says while laughing. I pause. Mags?

"Mags? Who's Mags?" Harper freezes realizing he called me the wrong thing.

"It's none of your business," he rushed out of the room disappearing to who knows where.

Well, isn't this frosty.

author's note

Another chapter published. :o
It's halfway over. :'( sad face. But it's getting good. (: (at least in my mind it is.)

Pictured: the cookies Blakley and Harper made.
Video: Tenille Arts.

Christmas Countdown: 4 days.

Hope you enjoyed. (:

.j