From early morning our attention was caught (and distracted from work) by a huge box full of reindeer ears and antlers, Santa’s and elves’ hats, white Santa’s beard, Santa’s boots… you name it! Even the greatest of skeptics could not resist the temptation to see how they look disguised as an elf or a reindeer, causing uncontrollable bursts of giggles. But that was just the harbinger of the bustle that was about to come…

Of course, it was all Ula’s prank! This year she decided to spice up our annual Christmas tradition, which usually means we gather at her place in the second half of December to eat baked dumplings and beet soup. When she said for the first time: “We’re going to bake gingerbread cookies, it’s gonna be fun!” we responded with meaningful silence… But Ula knows us, so she kept repeating: “We’re going to bake gingerbread cookies.” After about a hundredth time, we started to believe it was a good idea (I think that’s called ‘change management’:)
We are down-to-earth people, however, so we called for help from Beata Połatyńska, author of recipes and cookbooks, as well as expert in food photography who has been cooperating with our agency for many years. As we always say: if you’re not sure how to do something, get an expert:)
And she was the only one who kept her head, managing our tasks as we stirred the dough together, added honey from a jug, stirred in sugar (“THAT MUCH?!” exclaimed Kasia Petruk with horror, when she was to add a whole bowl of sugar).
We also had a few pairs of small helping hands – we invited our kids to the office on that special day and they turned out to be irreplaceable in dusting the table with flour and decorating the baked cookies. The entire Aude smelled like heaven!
We also recorded the whole event, which turned out to be a huge attraction for the kids, who couldn’t wait “to be in a movie.”

It was a good day, full of good emotions, one of those days that make your heart feel warm even on a dark December evening. We’re getting sentimental, but once a year – why not:)