My 9-year old daughter asked she could help me bake Christmas cookies last year. I give homemade cookie gifts as tins, and take pride in my decorating and baking ability. My daughter had never cooked and the cookies I’d let her ice in the past weren’t suitable as gifts- purple frosting 3-inches deep on a pumpkin cookie cut-out.

My daughter’s cookies wouldn’t qualify for the cover of Martha Stewart’s magazine, but they were the best cookies I ever tasted. My daughter and I had so much fun together, choosing cookie cutters and listening to holiday music, I proudly gave them as gifts to family and friends.

It’s the time you spend together that matters, not necessarily the activity.