You guys,
I take my cookie baking as seriously as Judy the Elf in The Santa Clause—it took her 1,200 years to perfect her hot chocolate recipe. It took me something close to that.
One sheet of chocolate chip cookies requires nine minutes in the oven and has to be turned halfway through, which means I can’t leave the kitchen during the 90-minute bake time. It takes another 90 minutes to prep the batter plus an additional two minutes to find Sam so he can lick the bowl clean. In between the batter and baking the dough rests in the fridge and then the countertop for three hours. It’s an all-day affair. A commitment that when it appears on my list of Things To Do that day means I will do little of anything else. It looms over me like a writer who loves to write but has just been hired to write and now it’s no longer fun.
Once the cookies have cooled I evenly distribute them into Christmas cookie tins from the Dollar Tree, then add different delicious Christmas chocolates like Reese bells, peppermint swirl Hershey kisses, and mint chocolate M&Ms. I gather my elves—one husband and two kids—and the four of us walk door-to-door, delivering holiday happiness to our neighbors. We are greeted with gasps of praise. “Your cookies! I’m going to have to hide these before the kids get home.” Later I receive texts. “OMG why are these so good??” I tell them—with a smug smile on my face—it’s the Maldon salt on top.
I started to think of my Christmas cookie baking on a warm day in October. My husband and I stood in the middle of our no-sidewalk street while the kids played when I suddenly turned to him. “I’m not baking cookies for the neighbors this year,” I said.
Sam let out a sigh as if he’d been holding his breath. “Oh, thank God,” he said. “When did you decide that?”
“Just now,” I said.
Earlier this year I learned about the Zones of Genius. Everything we do in life can be categorized in four zones: incompetence, competence, excellence, and genius.
Zone of Incompetence and Competence are the activities you’re either not good at or okay at but wouldn’t go out of your way to get better at them.
Zone of Excellence are the things you’re good at, and you maybe still enjoy doing them, but you don’t wake up in the morning and think, Hell yes, I can’t wait to do this! Here lives baking cookies. I am so good at baking cookies, and I love being good at things. I especially love when people tell me I’m good at things.
Zone of Genius is everything that puts you in a flow state so you forget to eat and you look at the clock and say, “Oh my god that much time has passed already??” For me, this is writing, reading, memoir podcasting, lip syncing, and playing field hockey.
Once I learned about these zones I became aware that much of what fell into my Zone of Excellence were things I thought I should do but didn’t actually want to do.
I should bake cookies because everyone likes them, and appreciates them, and it’s tradition. I also identify as an elf. If I stop baking cookies, what does that make me? And what will everyone think?? But I don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen on my feet. I want to be writing, reading, memoir podcasting, lip syncing, and playing field hockey.
I was standing in the street thinking of the upcoming holiday when I detected the dread. Cookies, time, neighbors, ugh.
Then I perked up. Oh, I’m feeling that? Baking cookies must live in my Zone of Excellence.
And my decision was made.
Bleecker Bombs
A new memoir deep dive is out!
What I learned from The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls has completely transformed my writing. NBD.
Listen to the episode on overcast.fm, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Google Podcasts.
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Merry Christmas!
Charlie
P.S. And Happy Halloween. George is a UPS driver and Layla’s a strawberry. Is there anything cuter than kids in Halloween costumes??
My wife dressed up our son as a mandrake from Harry Potter.
It IS the Maldon salt on top!!