Daily Prompt: Cinnamon

Jacob had had a very restless sleep in all his excitement, the night before his birthday was always a struggle for his older sister; to get him to stop jumping up and down in his bed and finally get to sleep. The boy would wake up early every year, before the sun was even out, but he wouldn’t leave his bed, or even open his eyes, until the sweet smell of cookies completely filled the small house. It was a constant in the boy’s life for as long as he could remember, on his birthday he would wake up and the air in the house would be warm and smell of cinnamon from his favorite cookies.

Jumping out of bed the boy ran barefoot out of the room, holding on to the plush dragon that was his bedtime pal, and dashed to the kitchen calling out excitedly for his sister “Jess… Jess… Jeeess… It’s my birthday today!!!”
“Is it, now?” The girl replied barely containing her chuckles as she faked surprise at the fact. “I was sure your birthday was next week.” She spoke matter-of-factly, only glancing at her brother with the corner of her eye from where she sat by the kitchen table. “Hmmm… Let’s see then.” She mumbled, standing up and walking towards Jake and giving him an inspecting glance. “You don’t look older to me, are you sure?”
“I’m older.” Jake confirmed, standing on the tips of his toes to make himself taller. “See?”
“Oh, I don’t know… I think you’re just trying to trick me for cookies…” Jess accused playfully.
“I would never do that! Lying is bad.” Jake mumbled, crossing his arms and pouting at the older girl’s accusation, the stuffed dragon dangling from his hand and disrupting greatly the ‘grown up’ image he was trying to get across to his sister.
Jess seemed unable to hold in her laughter any longer and exploded in a fit of giggles, finally giving in to the boy’s arguments. “Alright, alright, Jakey… You got me there. You would not lie to me for cookies, would you?”
“Of course not.” He frowned.
Jessica shook her head, her laughter slowly subsiding as she crouched to meet her brother’s eye level; noting that soon enough she wouldn’t have to. “Of course you wouldn’t.” She agreed, brushing a strand of black hair away from her little brother’s blue eyes and smiling sweetly. “Yeah, I think I see it now… How grown up you are.”
“Are you sad, Jess?” Jake mumbled, tilting his head to the side in question. “Why are you crying?”
“No, I’m not sad, Jakey, no…” The girl sighed softly, pulling the boy into a firm hug. “I’m just really, really, proud of you. You’ve grown into a great little man.”
“I know.” Jake stated proudly, hugging his sister, but eventually squirming his way out of her hold when it seemed like she wasn’t planning on ever letting go. “I smell cookies.” He pointed out, smiling sweetly at his sister. “I know you didn’t forget.”
“Oh, you know, do you?” Jess chuckled, standing up straight and pulling a chair for Jake to sit. “Very sure of yourself, little man.”
“You love me… You’ll always make cookies.” Jake smiled knowingly. A great many deal of things could change within the time span of a year; a year is a long long time in a child’s mind, but Jake new that no matter what happened, on his birthday there would be cookies.