ExclusiveBest Present

Hello my friend. My name is Aurelia. When I was small, my grandpa used to tell me all kinds of stories. But now I'm a little bit older. So now I have a lot of my own adventures to share. Mama's here! Mama, don't open the door until I finish Grandma's present. I know it looks like I left Grandma's birthday present to the last minute. But that wasn't my fault. I had the perfect gift yesterday. Here's what happened. We got mail! Mommy, this big one is for you. Oh, perfect! They came on time. What are those? These are cookie cutters. Your grandma loves to make cookies, so I thought this would be the perfect gift. Actually, Mommy, I think Grandpa won't like your present too much. Why not? I can't tell you, but it's going to be a secret, so don't tell anyone. One time when I was at Grandma's place, I saw Grandpa in the middle of the night go into the kitchen and eat one of her gingerbread cookies. So these would be perfect then. No, Mommy, you don't get it. She does not like to make cookies. She likes to eat cookies. But it's okay. You can try on your present harder next year. But I'll get the best present of all. Yes, shape of a heart. Yes, royal icing. Oh, you can write something on it? Please write, best cookie ever. And I'll get it tomorrow, yes? Um, credit card? Mama? Grandma, I got the best birthday present for you. Oh, thank you. And yes, we're throwing you a surprise birthday party for you. Wow, thank you. So please wear your favorite dress. Okay. See you tomorrow. See you, bye. Bye. I had no idea what I just got myself into. Oh no, the cookie? It came on time the next morning. Mommy, the cookie came. My cookie is broken. What a strange taste. My grandma makes way better cookies than this. Aurelia, you better get ready. I'm gonna go get Grandma now. But, but, but, I can't give this to Grandma. I promised her the best, best present ever. What am I going to do? What if we make the cookie ourselves? It can't be just any cookie. It has to be Grandma's favorite cookie, the gingerbread cookie. Then we need Grandma's recipe book. I bet the gingerbread cookie is in there. Grandma's recipe book? So this is what happened. Daddy went to distract Grandma and Grandpa dropped off the recipe book. And then I realized it was Mission Impossible. Daddy, how long can you distract Grandma? 25 minutes. Over. Roger that. Mama, did you find the recipe of the book? Recipe acquired. Thank you. We have to bake the cookie super fast. What? How come there's no pictures? In Grandma's time, people used to write by hand. How do we even read this? See the numbers? They tell you how much of each ingredient you need. Do we really need all this stuff? I think it's important that we follow the recipe. We have no time for this. Grandma always says that to bake good cookies, you just need love and creativity. Uh, really, Ascension? Maybe you should use measuring spoons? No, Mama. We're done. Start the oven. The cookies are ready. Great. Grandma will love these. Look. Tastes like that french fries that I found in the car last week. Maybe there's something wrong with this recipe book? There's way too many spices in here, honey. You have to respect the tools. Let's do it again. You do it, Mama. I need to get this awful taste out of my mouth. Change of plans, Mama. We won't have the cookie at this rate. I'm going to make my own recipe. To make a great cookie, you have to have pictures. And you also need great ingredients. Grandma loves french fries. And lollipops. Everything pink and teal. And a little bit of sugar mist. Yes! Love and creativity. So, for how long do I put it for? Um, ten minutes? Grandma's almost here. Mama, make the oven super hot. I promised Grandma the best present, but it's the worst present. Don't be sad. It takes a lot of trial and error to perfect a recipe. You just have to respect the process. I can't take disrespect. Respect? Respect this, respect that. I don't know what that word means. But it's about to ruin Grandma's birthday surprise. Mama, what do respect mean? That's a big question. I think when you respect something, you understand how precious it is. But it does not have any pictures. When your grandma was a little girl, she learned this recipe from her grandma. So, by the time you came along, this recipe went through many mommies and many grandmas. And each one put a little bit of her heart into it to make the perfect cookie. So, how do I show respect? Do I bow to it? That's funny. But if you really want to show respect, you have to have some patience with it. Mommy, but we're out of time. Let's try it anyway. Okay, let's try it. Mama's here. Mama, don't open the door until I finish Grandma's present. It's just mail. Daddy and Grandma must be running late. Mama, hurry. Put this in the oven. Making the best cookie ever was a lot of hard work. It looks great, Aurelia. Keep going. But now I understand why Grandma stays up so late in the kitchen. It's because she loves making cookies for me. Mommy, can you help me spell something out? Sure. Surprise! Happy birthday, Grandma. Thank you. Wow, this cookie is beautiful. Come, let's try it right away. Is this the best birthday present ever? Definitely makes the top list. Actually, Grandma, I respect your recipe, but I really don't like your recipe book. What makes you say that? It just doesn't have any pictures, Grandma. So how about I take all the pictures and you teach me all these recipes? Now that, that would be the best birthday present ever. What a strange taste.