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