I was outside running around the yard behind the house I grew up in. The yard wasn't as big or nice as the palace rose garden, but it was sufficientt enough for 6 year old to run around in.
I heard my mother call for from the house. Although the house not as big and opulent as other noble's homes. It was my home and I was glad to have it. I ran into the house, and saw my mom had pulled out ingredients to bake. She was known for her cookies she would bake.
"Anna, how about you help me out with the cookies I'm baking. We are going to bring these with us when we go to have tea whith empress Rici tomorrow." Said my mother with her gentle voice.
"Yes, mama." I replied
My mother pulled up a chair to the counter for me to stand on. I climbed on top of it and we both got to work. We mixed together the sugar, butter, and eggs, and then added the flour and salt as well as any other ingredients we used for the various cookies we were baking.
Part way though our baking session I spilled flour all over myself. Luckily, I was wearing a pinafore that protected my dress, but my face and hair was not as fortunate.
"Oh my, Anna you have gotten flour all over yourself." My mother said to me.
She reached for a rag and soaked it in a bucket of water and wrung out the excess water. She then proceeded to wipe me down. Doing her best to clean the flour off my face and hair. Her strokes were gentle and although the water was cold I felt warm. After cleaning me, we started to place our cookies on the tray. One by one we formed our little balls of dough and evenly spaced them apart as we placed the dough on the tray.
When every tray was filled. The sheets were then placed into the oven. We had made many dozens of cookies so we had to cook them in batches. While were waiting for our cookies to bake. It was now time to clean. This was always my least favorite part. I just wanted to eat the cookies we made, but my mom always told me a young lady never leaves any messes behind.
While we were cleaning the sweet smell of cookies began to fill the air. Soon, our first batch was done cooking. We set another tray in the oven to bake. I reached my hand to a cookie and just about grabbed one before my mother intervened.
"No Anna you can't have those now. They're hot and you could burn your self. You need to wait for them to cool." My mother said to me.
I pulled my hand back with disappointment. As a 6 year old I had no patients and just wanted that cookie.
"How about when we're done with cleaning and the cookies have been baked and cooled we can reward ourselves with a cookie." Said my mother.
A smiled filled my face and I was filled with joy. I got back to helping my mother clean. Just as she had promised, once we were done she handed me a chocolate chip cookie. I took a big bite. I savored the sweet flavor and the creamy chocolate.
"There you go again making a mess out of yourself." My mom said to me.
She leaned down and took a rag and wiped off the chocolate on the corner of my mouth. She then took a bite of her cookie and spilled some crumbs on her dress.
"Mama, you're messy just like me." I said to her.
She laughed and said, "I suppose, you get your messiness from me."
We both laughed and enjoyed the rest of our cookies together. After eating we started to pack the cookies we baked into a container. We carefully placed every cookie we baked into the container. The chocolate chip, sugar, snickerdoodle, ginger, and shortbread all went inside the container. Our cookies were now ready to bring with us tomorrow for tea with empress Rici.
…
It was now time to leave to go to the palace. My mother grabbed our container of cookies. We all, including my father, climbed into our carriage and made our way to the palace. When we had arrived my father split from us to go and do his job as the palace physician. My mother and I were escorted by one of the empress's lady's maid to the rose garden.
We made our way over to the garden. We walked through the narrow paths made by rose bushes until we arrived. Now in sight my mother walked up to ther table where the empress was sitting and placed the cookies on the table. My mother and I then greeted empress Rici.
"I see you brought your famous cookies today, I'm sure they will be delightful as always." Said empress Rici.
"Thank you, I had some help from Anna this time with baking the cookies." My mother said to empress Rici.
"We'll then I will have to taste them and let her know how good her baking skills are." Said empress Rici.
Empress Rici then reached into the container and pulled out a cookie. She carefully took a bite making sure no crumbs would fall on her. After finishing eating her bite she looked towards Anna and said, "Anna this cookie taste delightful. You did a good job of helping your mother."
My mother nudged me signaling me to reply.
"Thank you empress Rici." I said.
We all took a seat around the the table and distributed the cookies. We had our cookies with our tea. When I was finished eating Angela and I asked to be excused from the table. As usual we were granted permission. Angela and I lept out of our chairs and started running around the garden. Looking back this was one of the happiest moments I remember of my mother.