If you love to bake and cook during the holidays, and love to write as well, here’s a writing prompt for you: use the five senses to describe … your Christmas kitchen.
My husband is a fantastic chef, and I’m the baker. So my Christmas kitchen is a bakery. Here’s a list of things I notice while whipping up my family’s favorite Christmas treats.
- SIGHT: Shiny silver mixing bowl. Sprays of white flour or sugar on the burgundy counter. Brown or tan batter. Oily film on cookie sheets. Glowing screens on stove. Black wire racks.
- SMELL: Cloves, cinnamon, chocolate.
- TASTE : Quick tastes of sweet chocolate or batter.
- TOUCH: Heat from the oven. Rumpled sugar and flour bags. Smooth utensils handles.
- HEARING: Swish as flour or sugar is poured into a measuring cup. Sound of spatula mixing batter. Conversations. Laughter. Banging batter off utensils.
Now I can take those observations and work them into a story. Like working ingredients into the batter!
*****
I viewed the wreckage as my niece and nephews sat beached on the couch and watching Charlie Brown and Snoopy figure out the true meaning of Christmas with the smug smiles of kids who’ve eaten way, way too much sugar and know it.
Flour and sugar sprayed on every horizontal surface. My silver mixing bowl dull under a coating of flour. Tan batter from the apple bread smeared across the counter with few stains clinging to the backsplash, a reminder of when Noah and Ollie dueled with batter-covered spoons.
Myla hopped off the couch and dashed over to me. “Did we make enough cookies for Christmas dinner?”
“We have a dozen chocolate spritz cookies and ten gumdrop cookies.” I wiped back my bangs and warm chocolate came off my fingers. “That’s not nearly enough for the whole family.”
Myla stared at the two plates of cookies. “I thought you said we needed to make six dozen.”
“You guys sampled a lot.”
Noah twisted around, looking over the back of the couch. “Mom and Dad aren’t coming to get us until after lunch tomorrow, right? Could we bake some more tomorrow?”
“Could we?” Ollie echoed, plopping down beside his brother.
I smiled. “I guess we’ll have to.”
*****
Describe your Christmas kitchen. Here are more Christmas writing prompts.