In the Holiday Midst

This is my favorite time of the year and not just because my birthday and my son's birthday add something special to the season, falling one week before Thankgiving. There is Thanksgiving and Christmas, of course, with all our family present.  Nothing, not career, skills, talents (some of which helped me through difficult times in my life) can compare to the joy of family.  So, to prepare, perhaps in my giddiness, I actually baked thirteen pies this year.  Yes, thirteen.  It sounds a little goofy as though I just lost all semblance of good sense, but once I got started, well, it just went from there. 

It all began with the apples.  Once I saw those large, round and delectable looking Jonagolds piled high in the produce section of the grocery store at 77 cents per pound, I lost track of how many I SHOULD buy. They have the exactly right combination of sweetness and tartness that I look for in a pie apple.  Granny Smiths are too sour and Red Delicious are too bland, and most of the rest of the apples fall in somewhere in between the two.  But, Jonagolds are perfect, and I bought enough for six pies, not noticing (perhaps by design) that the beautifully rounded red spheres were three times as large as regular-sized apples.  At home in the kitchen, once the peeling and coring began, I ended up with way more apples which necessitated way more dough for crust and the result? Thirteen pies.

I planned to freeze most of the pies and serve two at Thanksgiving, two at Christmas, one each for my three children, and then we would eat the extras for the next few months.  And, if we had company, it would be nice to serve homemade apple pie with a large spoonful of frozen vanilla yogurt or a dollop of whipped topping.

To add to the holiday fun, our great grandson visited us for a week at Thanksgiving and in his seven year old eagerness, helped me decorate two Christmas trees, one for upstairs and one for downstairs.  So, we rang in the holiday season as soon as we could. 

Ray loves the holidays too, and I'm thankful for that.  I knew someone previously who was depressed by Christmas which was very sad for him and for everyone around him.  However, Ray and I are like two peas in a pod when it comes to family and festivities--we love indulging in it all, and we wish for you all a very, very joyful holiday full of love and good times!

Love, Patricia