Pepparkakor Cookies and Prayers


I've made pepparkakor cookies every year for over 36 years.
This year the smallest batch ever. I merely doubled the recipe.


I use every ounce of dough down to the last small bit,
making bears and trees, stars, moons, hearts and trees...
Large and small cookies for various appetites.
I was alone this morning while baking them,
 but I was not alone in my thoughts.

My dear friend Annie and her husband Ron
have been waging war against his cancer for
 some time now and he was doing so well
except for a nagging pain in his arm, what
seemed to be a nerve issue.

Yesterday it became severe enough
 to head to the emergency room 
and today, in a few minutes actually,
 he is headed to surgery to have a
 tumor near his spine removed.
They discovered it late last night.
As you can imagine they are frightened
and bewildered by this sudden turn of events,
and the seriousness of the location.

So I baked and I prayed
and I prayed some more.

My dear friends
please send some more prayers up
or out into the universe if that is where your beliefs lay.
For Annie and Ron.

It's Christmas Eve and my
friends are hurting, and I pray and pray,
for these good people and their family.

I will hug my children even closer today
and give additional thanks for my many blessings.

May your families be blessed 
and healthy
this Holiday Season

with great affection from me to you

Suzan