Thursday, December 18, 2014

Christmas Baking Memories

[Christy & Gurn - 1969]

Christmas baking is more than the sum of its parts,
isn't it?

There are memories involved,
not just cookies and candy.

[Zack & Defee - 1983]

There are memories among the mess on the table,
colored sugars and nonpareils on the floor.

[1986]

Memories of short attention spans
and preferring to get back to cartoons on t.v.


[1990]

And memories of the year they wanted
to do it all themselves.

[1992]

So many good memories of our four children
keeping me company while I baked,
before the day came that they grew up
and left home to make their own homes.

I hope to bake Christmas cookies tomorrow.
Some to mail to one son,
some to send with another when he travels
to a loved one's family,
and some to keep here for a son who is
also my neighbor,
and some for a beloved daughter coming home
for Christmas--
although she will be working her own
magic in my kitchen! Yay!

All of it makes good memories,
doesn't it?
All of Christmas is stored up for future 
roses in December.

[1992]

"Through the bleak December the thought of the coming festival is pleasant--like the reflection of a fire on our faces. We taste the cake before it is baked, and when it is actually before us we find that it is none the worse for the fond handling of imagination."

Alexander Smith, December 1951
Good Housekeeping magazine

6 comments:

  1. ' like the reflection of a fire in our faces ' . . . this whole post was like that!
    i loved it. little faces making messes! beloved messes.
    xo♥

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    Replies
    1. Yes, Tam, I miss those little faces and the big messes!

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  2. Replies
    1. Oh, they are, Amy! Now I have to put them back into my Christmas scrapbooks!

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  3. Your cutie patooties learned everything they know about baking cookies from their sweet mama, and now they will carry on those wonderful traditions, modelling rolling pin maneuvers à la Mimi, and sugar sprinkling techniques to their own tiny tots!

    My own memories of sitting in a toasty kitchen, painting Christmas cut-outs with Liberty, (hers were always so much more artistic than mine!), are mini, feature films that I play over and over again in my movie screen mind, for their plots are always fascinating and their settings, serene. I hope to recreate such dreamy scenes this holiday season, too, as soon as my leading lady arrives on set!

    Happy baking, my friend!

    xoxo
    Poppy

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    Replies
    1. Cute patooties! I love that, Poppy! And they are each one of them, and they still are. I'll be thinking of you baking away with Liberty. Please take pics of some of her baking! These daughters of ours, how creative they are. We're not proud of them, are we? Only a wee bit, that is!

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