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Christmas Cookie Mishaps

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without something getting burnt! ~ Loki

The next day was Loki's baking day, where he baked all the cookies he had made dough for previously and frozen. He had defrosted the dough the night before and was now ready to make shortbread stars, Linzer cookies with lingonberry jam, snickerdoodles, peanut butter chocolate chips, mint chocolate chips, pecan balls, and other holiday favorites.

The table was set with baking trays, bowls of candy pieces to be used for decorations, bowls of milk or butter to secure the candy pieces and tubes of icing. Rolling pins and cookie cutters sat on the rolling mats and linen chef hats sat at assigned places. Odin and Mischief eyed the table as Loki shook his head and they went to sit in the corner. The sound of the doorbell made him look at the door then heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

"I'll get it!" Sam said as she ran to the door and opened the door. Peter stood on the porch and he removed his red and blue knit cap. "Hi!"

"Hi," Peter said and she moved back to let him in.

Loki finished tying on his apron which read I Cook What I Want and You'll Eat It and Like It. He made sure there were plenty of oven mitts and spatulas on the counter and racks to cool the cookies on also.

He glanced at the doorway as Sam helped Peter off with his coat and she placed the coat in the closet.

"Hello, Peter," Loki said.

"Hey, Mister Laufeyson," Peter said as he walked into the kitchen and sighed. He thought back to when he, Aunt May and Uncle Ben would make Christmas cookies and Loki saw the sadness in his eyes.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes. Just missing my Uncle Ben. He loved helping Aunt May with the Christmas baking."

"You should have asked her to come help us."

"I did, but she had something to do."

"Well, grab an apron and chef's hat and we'll get started."

Peter smiled as he nodded and picked up the chef's hat.

"Sam, go call your brothers and sisters," Loki said and Sam nodded, leaving the room.

"Guys! It's Cookie Time!" Sam shouted and Loki rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

"I could have done that."

"I know," Sam said, walking back in the kitchen.

The sounds of footsteps came from overhead as the kids came down the stairs and the door to the elevator opened so Nate could steer the wheelchair to the kitchen.

"Hi, guys," Peter said.

"Hey," Hunter said as he found his spot at the table and Loki helped Aleta and Max into their seats.

"What should we make first?" Loki asked.

"I wanna do the shortbread stars!" Aleta said.

"I wanna do the gingerbread men!" Max said.

"No! We do the stars first!"

Loki gave both toddlers one of his famous Disappointed Looks. "Do I hear children arguing over cookies?" he asked softly. "Because kids that fight don't get to eat the cookies I bake."

Max and Aleta gasped. "No! We'll be good!" his daughter cried. "You can go first, Max!"

"That's better!" Loki said approvingly.

Peter hid a grin at Loki's cleverness at getting his kids to quit arguing.

Loki pressed a button his phone and a Christmas station came on his Bose. While the music played, he rolled out some more gingerbread men and set them on the trays for the kids to decorate before putting them in the oven.

"What's my rule about the oven, Aleta and Max?" he called out suddenly.

"We don't ever touch it. Only you, Sam, Hunter, and Belle are allowed to," Max recited.

"Because why?"

"Cause we could get burned really bad or start a fire," Aleta chimed in.

"Very good!"

The kids decorated the gingerbread men when Max sat back and smiled.

"Look, Daddy, I made Uncle Tony!" he said and Loki looked at the gingerbread man decorated with red and yellow icing and some gumdrop buttons.

"Looks good, Imp," Loki said.

"I made Belle!" Aleta said.

"Me?!" Belle asked.

"No, from Beauty and the Beast!"

Peter noticed Sam had made a Spiderman gingerbread man as he tried not to smile and she gave him a shy look.

"Alright. Everyone back away," Loki said while opening the oven door and placed the first trays of cookies into the oven. He set the timer as they cleaned away the scraps of dough and he placed them in a bowl.

"Why do you save the scraps?" Peter asked.

"I make small gingerbread dots with them," Loki said and Peter nodded.

A few minutes later, the cookies were done as Loki, Hunter and Sam placed the cookies on the cooling rack and Loki looked at the kids.

"So, which cookies should we make next?" he asked, wiping his hands with the apron.

"Let's do the shortbread stars." Sam said. "They're fun but easy."

"Okay." He handed everyone star shaped cookie cutters and portioned out the dough. "You can decorate them with colored sugar if you like. Just brush the top with some milk first." Loki demonstrated, cutting out a cookie, using a pastry brush to brush the top, and then sprinkling it with red and green sugar crystals before putting it on the cookie sheet.

Afterwards. he made sure the oven temperature was turned down a little because the shortbread baked at a lower temperature for longer than the gingerbread.

The kids cut and decorated the stars and Belle used little stars to place their initials on some of the stars.

"Neat idea, raven," Loki said and she smiled.

Max put a smiley face on his cookie. "Look, Dad! The star is smiling!"

"That's very clever, Max." Loki chuckled.

Loki put the first two batches of stars in the oven and set his timer on his oven. "Okay, now shall we do the Linzers? I'll cut them out and you can put the jam on them. It's one teaspoon only. I don't want the jam overflowing or else it burns in the oven."

Loki used his special cookie cutters to make snowflakes and hearts and the traditional round ones. He placed the bottom cookie on a tray and let the kids put the lingonberry jam on them.

Serena looked up from putting jam on a cookie and cried, "Vince! Quit eating the jam! It's for the cookies!"

Vince looked up guiltily. "But I'm hungry!"

"I'll make you all peanut butter and lingonberry jam sandwiches," Loki said and summoned the peanut butter, bread, and another jar of jam from the pantry.

"Thanks, Dad!" his son called.

Loki made the sandwiches and used the cookie cutters to cut the sandwiches into shapes before putting them on a plate and setting out a gallon of coconut milk and plastic cups. "There you go!"

Peter stared at the tower of sandwiches. "Holy smokes!"

"I know that looks like a lot," Loki grinned. "But they will all be gone in a flash. So be quick and take some." He looked at his boys. "Guests first."

Peter took one of the sandwiches and placed the sandwich on the paper plate.

"You can take more than one, Peter."

Nodding, Peter took another sandwich when the boys reached for the others and Hunter handed one to Max.

"Thanks," Max said. The girls took the rest of the sandwiches as they ate and Peter admitted the sandwiches tasted amazing.

"I got to tell my aunt about these. They're really good!" Peter said.

"I'll send a jar of lingonberry jam home with you," Loki said and Peter smiled.

After they had eaten, they went back to making the cookies and Loki placed the trays in the oven.

When the Linzers were done, Loki had to let them cool on the racks before sprinkling them with powdered sugar. He then ate one and let the children each pick a cookie to have for dessert.

He placed the finished products on platters and then unwrapped the dough for the oatmeal peanut butter chip cookies. They were a drop cookie so no special prep was needed. As he began to do a tray and the kids did another his cell phone rang.

He looked at the caller ID and saw it was Derek, his CEO. "Kids, I have to take this. Just keep going until I come back."

He walked into the other room, answering the phone. "Laufeyson. Derek, what's the problem?"

"Sorry to have to call you, Sir, but there seems to be a problem with the art department," Derek said.

"What sort of problem?"

"It seems there are three different versions of the cover art and, well, one of them isn't family friendly."

"Hold on," Loki said as he went into the den and walked to the desk. He sat down on the desk chair when he powered up his computer and looked at the screen wallpaper. The photo was the kids making silly faces as he smiled then typed on the keyboard. He logged in to the company's main site as he searched for the art department then he looked at the photos the art department had in mind for the game. The first photo looked like the original cover art, but with the new characters included. He looked at the second photo and it showed the new characters fighting the new boss. The third photo made his eyes bug out and he leaned back in the chair. "Is this a joke?"

"No, sir, it's not," Derek said and Loki sighed.

"Who drew this?"

"It was some of the female animators. They said it was a joke, but it accidentally got printed."

"How many of the games have this cover?!"

"Only a hundred. We were able to stop them from being shipped, but we don't know what to do with them."

Before Loki could say anything, he smelt something and sat up.

"I'll call you back," Loki said as he ended the call and left the room.

Loki blinked down to the kitchen and saw smoke issuing from the oven.

"I didn't do it!" Hunter said automatically, because he was known for burning everything, including a tea kettle once when he forgot it was on.

"Calm down, Hunter," Loki said as he ran to the backdoor and opened it. The kids opened the windows while Sam turned the fire alarm off and Belle was calming Odin and Mischief, who were barking and hissing at the noise. Aleta and Max ran to Loki as he picked them up and gave them a hug.

"It looks like I had the oven on too high."

Sam and Hunter took Aleta and Max from him as they backed up and he carefully opened the oven door. He put on the oven mitts as he removed the trays and smoke rose from the burnt cookies.

Loki arched an eyebrow and said, "Well, Christmas isn't Christmas without-"

"-something getting burnt!" chorused Vince, Hunter, Serena, Nate, and Lucy.

"Aww! But those were my favorites!" Max pouted.

"Every cookie is your favorite, imp!" Belle laughed.

"But I really liked those!"

"Relax, scamp." Loki soothed. "We can always make more."

He cast an illusion charm to make it look like he threw the burnt cookies away but then Loki waved his hand over the burnt cookies and used his fire magic to remove the heat from the cookies restoring them.

Then he added them to the platter where some already were placed.

He placed the cookies in with the other cookies when they started on the chocolate chip cookies and Peter gave Sam a slightly confused look.

"Is it always like this?" Peter asked.

"Most days, yeah," Sam said with a nod.

"Cool."

Loki noticed how much fun Peter was having as he mentally made a note to include Peter and his aunt for Christmas dinner and poured the chocolate chips into the mixing bowl.

"Can we eat some of the cookie dough, Dad?" asked Vince.

"Fine, but only some," Loki agreed. He made small dough balls for all the kids to eat.

About halfway through the chocolate chips baking, Loki noticed that his youngest imps were struggling to keep awake.

"Aleta and Max, why don't you take a break and go watch Rudolph?" he suggested, knowing that once they went and laid down on the couch they would fall asleep.

"Okay, Dad!" Max agreed, yawning.

They ran into the den, and Loki turned on Rudolph from Netflix. The two small imps climbed onto the couch and shared the Got Mischief? Throw between them. Odin and Mischief came and jumped onto the couch and lay next to them.

As Rudolph began to play, Loki returned to the kitchen to supervise the rest of the chocolate chips being baked.

He turned up his Bose and the kitchen was filled with the sounds of Christmas tunes.

Lou Monte began to sing about Domenic the Donkey and everyone sang along on the chorus, giggling.

Loki had left the remote on the table while he went to check on his young mischief makers, and his black kitten decided to jump on the table at that moment. Her paw pressed the button on the remote and the station switched from a family friendly Christmas station to one that was more suited to adults with naughty imaginations which was also playing Christmas songs.

Eminem's song about Jingle Bells came on and suddenly the kitchen was filled with a song about "eating Donner and Blizten" and "roasting Santa's nuts over a big ass fire."

Lucy's mouth fell open in shock. "He said he wanted to EAT Donner and Blitzen!"

"And they were gonna roast Santa!" Serena gasped.

"Mischief, what did you do?" Vince scolded and the kitten trotted over and began drinking some milk that had spilled on the table.

Upon hearing the lyrics, Loki's head jerked around so fast he nearly got whiplash. "What the Hel is THAT?" he cried.

"Daddy, they said the A word!" a sleepy Aleta said crossly.

"Spark, put your hands over your ears," Loki ordered and went back into the kitchen, scowling. "All right, who changed the radio station to this-garbage?"

Meanwhile Eminem sang about "Have a drunk Mrs. Clause sayin' "Jiggle it, Baby!"

Give a new meaning to "Ho, ho, ho"

Shake that ass, girl, bumpin' booty in the snow."

"Turn it off!" Nate groaned, while Vince and Hunter began laughing.

Sam flushed red and eyed Peter, who gave an awkward cough and blushed slightly.

"Give me the remote," Loki ordered, holding out his hand. "This is totally inappropriate."

He flicked the button and changed it just before the song began swearing again. Then he put his hands on his hips and said in a tone dripping with disapproval, "So who changed the station?"

"It was Mischief!" Vince cried, pointing at the kitten innocently sitting in the middle of the table washing her face. "She jumped up and hit it with her paw."

"Did you do that?" Loki mewed, but Mischief gave him a bored look.

"I do what I want," she mewed and Loki arched an eyebrow. He gently picked the cat up when he placed her in her carrier and closed the door.

"Oooooo! Mischief is in kitty jail!" Nate said and the kids giggled.

"Yes, she is," Loki said as he dumped the milk into the sink and got a new bowl. He poured the milk into the bowl then put the milk away and placed the bowl on the table.

After checking on the little mischief makers, he saw they had fallen asleep and he turned the television off, kissed the top of their heads and moved the blanket up. He walked back to the kitchen as Sam removed the trays of chocolate chip cookies out of the oven and he smiled.

"So, what cookies shall we make next?" he asked, walking to the table.

"Peanut butter blossoms!" Lucy said. They were peanut butter cookie dough dipped in sugar and then had a Hershey's kiss placed in the middle of it.

They had fun making the cookies and then Loki had them roll the pecan balls and bake them then they were rolled twice in powdered sugar. He also made crinkle cookies and chocolate spice drops.

Finally all the cookies were baked, as well as sampled, but there were still plenty for Christmas. Loki fixed a tin with all the cookies and gave it to Peter. "This is your reward for helping me. You did a great job. And I want you and Aunt May to come for Christmas dinner."

Peter looked startled. "But Mr. Laufeyson, you have so many people already in your family . . ."

"Yes, and it's just me and my brother and the kids here to have dinner, because my parents don't live in the US," Loki told him. "I would be happy to have you and your aunt for dinner."

"If you're sure we wouldn't impose . . .?"

"Not at all. What's two more?"

"I'll tell Aunt May. She'll probably want to bring something," Peter chuckled.

"That will be welcome too," Loki said. "Now let's clean up in here and then you can go outside and have fun."

"Sure, Mr. Laufeyson," Peter said, and helped carry the dirty cookie sheets and bowls to the sink.

"You wanna wash and I'll dry?" Sam offered.

"Yeah. You know where everything goes," Peter said.

Loki went and opened Mischief's carrier, the kitten was asleep inside and he left the door open so she could leave when she awoke.

He arranged the cookies on trays while the kids cleaned up and then the children ran outside with Odin to enjoy the rest of the afternoon while Loki went into the den with a cup of cocoa, some cookies, and a book to curl up in his chair by the fire, inhaling the sweet fragrance of chocolate, pine from the wreaths on the mantle, and applewood from the log burning in the fireplace. The lights from the Christmas tree twinkled brightly.

He opened his book and began to read, listening to the soft sound of his little ones breathing , utterly relaxed. There really is no place like home for the holidays. The Norns have blessed us all. Tomorrow he would make one last trip to the grocery store to buy the last few items on the list for Christmas dinner. He just hoped it wouldn't be a madhouse. Then he would call Derek back about the risqué game cover and let him know what to do with them.

A/N: Hope you all liked! More to come soon!

So who wants to guess just what picture was made for the cover of the game that was not appropriate? And what should Loki do with them?