Sometimes I wonder about roles. I am pretty sure that without my wife's drive and urgings, much less would happen in our lives. Our greatgrandson is in middle school and doesn't have much money. About four years ago, the chief cook in my house and he got together to make cookies which could serve as Christmas gifts from him to those he loves. Every year since then, they get together and make cookies and candies. This year they continued their 4 year run. They worked without stopping for more than 4 hours, measuring, mixing, baking, tasting and cleaning over and over again.
If I were doing it, I would conservatively keep the plan limited but others see things differently. I actually suspect that each additional recipe that sounds good or unusual and deserving of a try gets added to the planned menu, regardless of the additional work involved.
Last weekend, the two of us wrapped gifts for the other ten members of our nuclear-ish family. We packed some large plastic crates with the wrapped gifts. Of course, this activity was conducted in the basement, requiring the crates and leftover boxes that wouldn't fit in them to be carried up the stairs in shifts this morning. Each shift means jiggling the doorknob while balancing the gifts to get into the garage and then into the car. Whew! Nothing was dropped down the stairs, nothing was stepped on or in.
Only one of us was available to carry gifts. The chief cook was engaged in making an asparagus and leek quiche and a bacon and cheddar cheese quiche. I slept late today, which meant there was limited time to put together and bake two quiche but we made our family gathering on time. Last night, on the same roads, a deer was spotted so we are on the alert to avoid crashes and such. But we got there, unloaded and later got back without incident.
Of course, the activities reported here are just a small part of the trips out of town, the searching for just the right color, the irritation of being informed that the gift is bogged down in the warehouse line and all the other exertions that are part of the season of love and warmth.
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