Alison Lawrence Sugar Cookies

These are Alison Lawrence Sugar Cookies. I first made them December 2003 with Alison and Anthony. Alison and I both enjoy baking and it isn't really Christmas without sugar cookies, right? Alison, Anthony and I assembled in the basement kitchen of our dorm to bake these cookies. The recipe yields 5 dozen large, round cookies. We were using cookie cutters so it made even more.

We spent the entire afternoon in the dorm kitchen baking on borrowed cookies sheets, taking cookies out of the oven, putting more in and making mounds of powdered sugar icing. We let Anthony use the food coloring so our Christmas trees were neon purple and our bells were hot pink. We turned up music up and danced around the kitchen. Eventually we got bored with decorating and started sprinkling them with colored sugar before we baked them. It was actually, if there is such a thing, too many cookies. We spent the next few days giving Christmas cookies to everyone we knew. It was a desperate attempt to spread Christmas cheer and get rid cookies.

We continued this tradition every year afterwards. A few years ago, Alison and I got together to bake. I was very pregnant and we both admitted that we just didn't really feel like baking. But we told everyone that we had. Because we had to, it was a tradition.

When I first baked these bookies eleven years ago with my friends I never imagined that I would be baking them with my own son. We made these yesterday for his class party at school. Who knew this special sugar cookie recipe with sour cream and nutmeg would have such staying power? Who knew it would become such an important fixture in my life? It all started with dancing in the dorm kitchen.

I dance every time I make them.

New Theme Song

She took my heart. I don’t know how it happened.
We took the floor and she said

[Chorus]
"Oh don’t you dare look back.
Just keep your eyes on me."
I said, "You’re holding back."
She said, “Shut up and dance with me.”
This woman is my destiny.
She said, “Oooooh, shut up and dance with me.”

"Shut Up And Dance With Me" by Walk the Moon

This also might be new my life philosophy.

Don't you dare look back. Shut up and dance with me. It's an invitation into the dance, bringing people in. Don't worry about the past. Come dance with me. Don't worry about looking silly. Don't worry about the past.  I said, don't worry about the past. Dance. Stop thinking. Stop talking. Dance with me. Take my hand. Join me. You know this dance. You've always known this dance. Now, rock it!

Don't you dare look back. Just keep your eyes on me. Shut up and dance with me.

Word Count

I'm working the parallel plot lines and things are happening. I have 25,000 words, which in NaNo Land would be halfway but since I'm aiming for a real length with the sequel it's not even close. But! It's words on the page. Words on the page is the hardest battle.
Yesterday I read a blog post by a writer who keeps track of every single word he writes in a spreadsheet. He's written a million words this year. How motivating! I love word counts but I hadn't thought of having a running word count that included every project. I need that. I'm starting that today.
 And with minimal effort I've already written 114 words today! Bam! 115!