A Christmas Memory: Day Seventeen - Baking

I think it should be obvious, given some of the comments made in earlier stories about Christmas, that the baking is a big deal. The rest of the year I don't do it. The rest of the year I am a health fanatic. At Christmastime, though, I have to bake. It has been instilled in me since my youth, by my mama. I can't go through the holiday season without a few of my mama's oatmeal chocolate chip peanut butter cookies; or those little powdered sugar cookies; or the oatmeal lacies; or the holiday fruit drops. I CAN'T. So I get a little fat during the holidays and I work my ass off to get the weight off. So what. The point is that it's Christmas and it's fun. I love the baking, the smell in my house, the taste of the cookies. I have to. Why, I remember last year, Guy and Rob came over on Christmas at about 8 pm so we could give them a little prezzie and the four of us polished off a plate of oatmeal lacies. It was decadent and fun! And we were all in a sugar coma after.

It just isn't Christmas if, almost every day in December, the kitchen doesn't yield something wonderful to eat. I usually do the baking on my own. I don't mind it. It's my thing. I bake the goodies and I fill every single tin in the house with delicious delicacies and every person who enters the house walks out, either having eaten some or taking a take out box with some. And if there is a party or if friends come over on Christmas Eve or Day, it all gets laid out so people can dig in at their leisure. I also fill take out boxes and give these things away to friends, the ladies at the bank, the post office employees and the ladies I see every day at Food Emporium and Rite Aid.

Every now and then I get a treat. A cohort. Two days ago our Mike Babel came up for a visit and found me baking and asked "can I make batter with you?!" So, on the spot, we made a batch of peanut butter cookies!

A few years ago, Laurelle and I were on the phone and she wanted to make Gingerbread. So a couple of days later, she came over and I made pies and she made gingerbread.

That was a fun Christmas memory.
It is true that I spend the year advocating eating healthily. I wear the mantle of health and fitness.

At Christmastime, though, all the bets are off.

And ANYONE who wants a recipe or a baking tip is welcome to ask. I will give it up.