How times and habits have changed! For years and years, Wednesday before Thanksgiving was my great grocery shopping day. The store would be packed, but I'd persevere, pushing a load, checking off lists. In the evening, I'd fix a dismissive dinner of spaghetti or gnocchi (we never did takeout in those days) and I'd start in on baking.
Not so today. No trip to the grocery store, no baking. In fact, it was a sweetly different kind of day. Let me fill in a few details.
Early on, I left a sleeping Ed, did my morning stuff...
... and hurried to get to an appointment at my clinic. One of those tests where I'm supposed to track something annually to see if interventions are needed, only we had Covid, so I didn't bother. It's been three years of no tracking. No matter, I got my results immediately -- nothing needed, proceed as usual! Yay.
Then I hustled over to Clasen's. I love this bakery of ours in the holiday season! At other times, the cakes are too sweet for me and the breads too dense (you'd rightly compare it to German bakeries) and the location is too out of the way, but at Christmas time it offers the best chocolate covered gingerbread on either side of the Mississippi! Traditionally, I took kids, then grandkids there for a holiday snapshot. Clasen's made a huge gingerbread house and the kids would scramble inside and raid the plate of cookies there for the young ones. With Covid last year, none of that happened. Clasen's still baked the stars moons and hearts, but I had to rely on home delivery (which they did!) to get my fill. This year, they're open for business, though without the gingerbread house. You don't want unvaccinated kids from all over the place inside a tight space stuffing themselves with cookies. Still, I got an email announcing that the gingerbread stuff is baked an ready! I'm in the neighborhood -- why not go there today and stock up?
I know, I know, it's the wrong holiday!
I should be thinking about my Thanksgiving meal. Indeed, I should be making inroads on my Thanksgiving meal. Nevertheless, I'm here. And it smells like Christmas. And it's wonderful!
Clasen's is right across the street from Bruce's. Most of our Christmas trees have been purchased at Bruce's and again my thoughts run in the "wrong holiday" direction. I mean, they've cut their trees already and stocked their yard with the best ones now. Why not pick up the wee little farmhouse tree today? For this, I grab the kids. They live nearby.
At first I look at the wee ones that come potted already. But then I broaden my scope. Why not get one just a teensy bit bigger? Without the ready stand, which, after all, is one big waste of plastic each year? Like, why not this one?
Deed is done. Tree is tied to the roof of the car and we're off for our next errand and this one is more in keeping with this week's holiday: we pick up our baked treats from Batch Bakehouse. These were reserved and paid for weeks in advance, when I felt that I could not manage baking more than the three items tomorrow, all at different temperatures and one needing four hours of oven time. So, no dessert baking this year: I let the young family pick the pies and I get them from Batch.
And then the kids are at the farmhouse for lunch and play time. There's no school today which I'm sure is a pain for most parents, but a good thing from my point of view -- one fewer day for them to get exposed to one of the million bugs that are circulating at the moment. I know that's not the right way to look at school, but on the other hand, it's nice to keep everyone healthy for a very busy set of days ahead.
Dad and Sandpiper come to pick them up...
... and still I do not really cook afterward. Instead, Ed and I go out for a short walk, and then I reheat some leftover takeout Chinese for supper, and somewhere in there I make cranberry sauce. Is there anything on this planet that's easier to cook than cranberries, with some sugar, oranges and a knob of ginger? I'd add a splash of Grand Marnier but, you know, there are kids...
And the day is done. A good day, a happy day. I only wish it was thus for every being on this planet. Sigh...
With love...
