Most of the baking is done and what is left to bake won’t take long. A good time for reflection.
The molasses cookies are now frosted and stored in a big, Tupperware cake tote. The tote has never been used to tote cake, mind you. Instead, is employed once a year for molasses cookies. The large lid serves as a bowl with the tray as a lid. It works famously this way and holds dozens and dozens of cookies. The very best part of it all is when the tote is opened; oh the scents that come forth are pure bliss.
I make the dough and refrigerate it, where it sits and mellows, sometimes for several days. Then, the dough is rolled and shapes cut and baked. The baked cookies sit until the next day to be frosted. There are so many to frost the job would never be done if Tom didn’t sit and help me. He remembers that Ethel used to bake the cookies and then Richard, her brother, would frost them the next day. I like to imagine them in the old farmhouse on the Ohio homestead, snug and warm within, baking and frosting the cookies.
I had trouble with the dough this year. The cookies are among the best tasting I’ve ever made, but the dough was hard to work with. It became too frustrating and I was losing ground, so, I made what I could and froze the rest of the dough for another time with plenty of Ethel cookies for the holiday.
Sometimes life is like cookie dough, isn’t it? You have to know when to keep rolling the dough, and when to call it a day.
As I was dusting the dust of memories made and to be made, this picture looked down at me. It is small. 2″ by 4″. Though diminutive, it is large in what matters and brings to mind Normal Rockwell’s paintings. It is Tom’s maternal grandfather taken at the local school in a small community in Ohio. He was the custodian. Grandpa is standing next to a tree. A Christmas tree. It looks like a fir and is atop a push cart that Grandpa is leaning on. Gone are the days when a live tree adorns a schoolhouse, of course, but the picture is sweet and of a bygone era. Tom’s grandfather has a big, pleasant smile on his face, in spite of the work it must have been getting the tree into the school. He is smoking a pipe, taking a break from his work.
On Friday, amid the hustle and bustle, the uncooperative cookie dough and diminishing pile of Christmas cards, I met a friend for a short chat over coffee. Then I had a date with a tall, handsome, and very bright young man, our grandnephew. Scott and I share the same birthday. It was with great pleasure that he and I took in an afternoon movie. The Adventures of Tintin. What fun it was to watch with an eager young boy, who laughed with glee and slurped his soda and was “wowed” by the action. Life doesn’t get much better than this; sharing in joy with a child.
It is Scott’s great, great grandfather pictured above.
The day was, indeed, a good time for reflection for me. It doesn’t really matter if the cookie dough is stubborn. What matters is taking time with family and friends, having pride in a job well done, and knowing when to rest – and spending time with a child.
A joyful time indeed! I can almost smell those cookies from here. Merry Christmas!!!
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Don’t they smell wonderful, Sallie? They are up on the highest shelf. A foil against temptation. Merry, merry!
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Those are lovely memories and the cookies sound yummy (have an extra one for me, please! 🙂 ). Hopefully now it’s time to kick back and relax–that’s what I’ll be doing very soon. Have a wonderful Christmas!
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I will Danielle. Tonight it is just the two of us and we are relaxing. Tomorrow, Christmas Day, or table will be full of family. I can’t wait. Merry Christmas.
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What rich Christmas memories you have, and you certainly have your priorities right Penny. Despite the cookie dough not behaving, all is well, all is bright, and Christmas is full of blessing when we have family close by.
Happy Christmas to you and much love!
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Thank you, Juliet. There is nothing like family and we take what moments we can with them, don’t we? Happy Christmas to you and yours as well.
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Important lessons for the holidays, Penny. It’s so important to know when to be Martha, and when Mary.
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Well put, Kate, well put.
I can’t wait to read your second installment of your Christmas ghost story.
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What a lovely post. The child I spent time with today was called Scott too – my grandson. We made the Christmas sausage rolls together and then he played with the left over lump of pastry. I thought he would want to cook something but instead he used it like play-dough and created all kinds of weird shapes telling me all about it as he went along. These are the memories we’ll treasure as we grow old. Merry Christmas to you and yours.
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Thank you, Cath. What a delightful time you must have had with your Scott. They will be memories, indeed, and will warm our hearts as time goes on even more so than now. Merry Christmas to you as well, Cath. I hope your daughter is healing well.
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Ah, this was the day I ran into you at Elijah’s ‘North’ and you were on your way to bring your grandnephew to see “TinTin”! I’m glad to hear you both enjoyed it! Kate and Kevin brought Eoin to see it a couple of days ago and enjoyed it as well. The were especially amazed with the animation.
This was a wonderful post and, luckily, I had some spice cookies on hand (not my handiwork but baked by Kirschbaum’s Bakery in Western Springs) to get me through your delicious description of molasses cookies! Tom’s family life sounds as cozy and rich as yours, no wonder you make such a ‘cozy’ couple!
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I’m glad Kate, Kevin and Eoin did as well, Janet. They were right about the animation. At times, I forget the characters weren’t real.
Thank you. Ah, Kirschbaum’s. They have the very best bakery goods, don’t they? I’ve had their molasses cookies and they are wonderful. Tom’s family does bring interesting history and stories – and cookies! Thank you, Janet.
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Coming very late to this, Penny, after so much time away. A lovely post, full of the right priorities. I spent Christmas Eve morning helping Grandson #2 finish decorating their tree. He’s nine and we had a lot of fun fitting in every last bauble in the box. 🙂
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Not late at all, Perpetua. Our tree is still up waiting for the Wise Men. It’s still Christmas as far I’m concerned. What a delightful way to spend Christmas Eve morning. I love that you were decorating it on Christmas Eve and such a wonderful memories to make with him.
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