For one December weekend every year, I do almost nothing but bake. And what comes from this weekend is literally "lovin' from the oven". Baking is an expression of me. It's an expression of my joy for life, my love for the people in my life, and the gratitude I have for the fact that I have people in my life to bake for.
This year, I went a little overboard. I didn't want to cut anything from my gift boxes, but I wanted to add something new to the mix. So my ordinary gift boxes weren't quite big enough this year. I had to upgrade. This year I made:
* 8 dozen butterscotch oatmeal cookies
* 8 dozen snickerdoodles
* 6 dozen candy cane snowballs
* 5 dozen nutmeg logs
* 5 dozen salted toffee chocolate squares
* 8 dozen individually wrapped chocolate pecan caramels
* 2 batches of caramel Crispix
* 2 batches of peppermint popcorn
* 2 batches of muddy buddies (puppy chow)
I baked from the moment I got home that Friday until Sunday night around 9:00. I didn't stop for much (I did loads of laundry between batches, I washed dishes countless times, I monitored the kids' versions of "clean rooms", we went out to eat and had family time Saturday night, and we went to church Sunday morning). But aside from those moments, it was all baking-all the time...and I loved it! The kids helped with a few things, but they don't seem to enjoy helping as much as I did when I was a kid. They love the end result, but not so much the process.
Sometimes you have those "bad baking days", where nothing you try quite works out. But this year I did not have any of those days...everything worked out wonderfully. I made the best two batches of Caramel Crispix that I've made in years, I put a little too much butter into the snickerdoodles (which just made them better), and I made 1 1/2 times the recipe for the nutmeg log frosting (which, again, just made them better)!
Sometimes I feel bad when I bake for people. I feel like maybe I'm forcing my treats upon them. I don't ever want my stuff to be a burden (you know..."Great. Now what am I going to do with all this...on top of what I make, and what I get from my students, and what I get when I get together with my family). But this year, I tried not to focus on that. I figured that whether people eat what I make, give it to someone else, or even throw it away...at least they would know that I was thinking of them. As I was planning and baking, they were in my thoughts. I was thinking of the kind, helpful things they've done for me and/or my family. I was thinking of how hard they work and how much they deserve to treat themselves. I was thinking of how blessed I am to have them in my life. And as I was thinking of them, I was putting those thoughts, that love, that thankfulness right into everything that I was making.
So you could say that the goodies weren't even the real gift. The real gift was in the thoughts, prayers, and warm wishes. After all...it's the thought that counts, right?
And for those of you who didn't get to reap the benefits of my baking, please know that as I type this, I am thinking of you and being thankful for you. May you all get a little lovin' from someone else's oven this Christmas.
