Annual Cookie-Baking Day

Bella and I enjoyed our annual holiday cookie-baking day as we have done for many years now. Sometimes our attempts have been downright embarrassing. We put on Christmas music and rock out in the kitchen in any case. But Bella will be 13 next month, and she has figured some things out. No refrigerator cookies. No rolling things out. She came with a recipe she has tried before, involving fresh raspberries and lemon zest, and I served as her sous-chef. Voila! 

When she was little, we talked up a storm. As she nears her teens, she has become a very quiet, private person. I ask a few questions. She answers with a word or two. Today she volunteered the information that the “smart kids” at school are called the “Summa” group. I said I’m surprised she’s not in the Summa group. 

“I don’t want to be one of the smart people,” she said with a shiver. “They’re snobs. They look down on everybody else. I’d rather be in the middle and have friends. Besides, nobody's better than me at reading in both Spanish and English." Then with a giggle, "The kids in the Summa group are all in  beginner Spanish.” 

I asked if they talk much about what’s going on in the world at her school. “One of our teachers turns on CNN for ten minutes every morning.” She shivered. I didn't pursue it further.

When it came to being photographed, she preferred to hide, but she finally yielded a TV-presenter-style smile (Extra).