Columnists
Cookies make it all better
Well, wasn’t October a party? Now we’re looking forward to the depths of winter. The USA is on the cusp of making either the biggest mistake of their independence or making a move in the right direction. Here, in Ontario, we’ve got a Premier who struggles to make a decision, and when he does he’ll often reel it back the moment he realizes he’s lost a lot of his followers. What the H E Double Xs on the Ballot kinda world are we living in? I keep looking at real estate adverts for remote places to hide out, away from the maddening, madding crowd. It’s really difficult to know whether the crowd is mad or the situation is mad. A bit of both, I suppose. Maybe I’ll just dig a trench around the barn doors and hide out there until the whole world’s political storms pass by. In the meantime, I’ll look forward to the coming winter as a time to hunker down, blame the weather for my avoidance of politics and debates, watch cheesy made-for-television movies and read books. Likely I’ll drink a bit of wine and, most definitely, drink a lot of coffee. Kidneys be damned.
November, in my mind’s eye, is usually a bleak, gloomy and overcast month. I am committed to being a lot more creative and productive during November 2024. LOML and I will likely share ideas about holiday gifts for our friends and family. If you know me, and let’s face it few of you do, in 2004 our family decided on a home/handmade kinda Festive Season. Our oldest son actually came up with the idea because he felt we were spending far too much time, money and effort buying gifts for people when the spirit of the holiday should have been “gifts from the heart”. Essentially our holiday time means, “If you didn’t make it yourself or put it together yourself or bake it yourself or brew it yourself, you shouldn’t pass it along as a holiday gift.” Over the last twenty years we’ve seen a lot of wild and wonderful homegrown prezzies under our festive trees. Occasionally some family members haven’t had the time or inclination to make gifts, and that’s okay too. Those are the people who get to do the clean-up after the meals or mix the drinks or pass around the coffees or make a treat run to the local coffee shop. If you’re new to our brand of holiday giving, you might be thinking, “But what about buying, and supporting, local businesses at this time of year?” And that’s not taken lightly by any of us. Almost all of the things we make, bake, brew or create are made, baked, brewed and created with locally sourced stuff!
I can’t tell you how much we’ve all laughed, smiled and cried over the years unwrapping some of the things our family has made for our Handmade Holiday. It’s totally worth the hard graft that goes into gift making. Some years even the gift wrap has been handmade. While LOML and I don’t inflict our handmade creations on our grandchildren, we do encourage them to get involved in the baking of holiday treats and often supply them with pens, pencils, paints, markers, glitter, blank card-stock, fabric, yarn, crochet hooks, knitting needles and canvases—just in case the mood strikes. We have already marked a Holiday Cookie Decorating Day on the calendar. And if you think all of this sounds too Hallmarky for you, our family’s get-togethers are never like that. Think Sassy-Cheeky Seasonal Cookies.
Did I say November is a bleak, gloomy, overcast month? Weather-wise, November tends to be a bit depressing. However, the bright light in November will be getting all of us together to bake and decorate those cookies, watch the parades in Bloomfield and in Picton and smirk about the gifts that should be underway.
November! It’s coming to a community near you, this week!
Thank you, Theresa. Due to all the commercialism for Christmas (at HH and Cdn Tire – August? Really?), I’ve lost all heart for the season, despite making fruitcakes and gingerbread houses for everyone in our family. every year, for decades. I used to really enjoy doing that, and it’s gone – this year I have zero interest. You, my Lady, have just helped bring back a little of the old spark. So, let’s see what transpires. As my mother-in-law used to say, “Bless Your Little Cotton Socks”!