The baking should start soon.....

I am intending to do some Christmas baking soon. It was supposed to be today, but the kitchen is still orderly and untouched by the dusting of powder it will be decorated with once I start. We can pretend it is snow. I have been doing Other Things.

How many days till Christmas?

7?

Piece of cake. And speaking of cakes, cinnamon cake and carrot cake are on the list. And mince pies. And custies. And peanut butter biscuits. And maybe gingerbread. And......

Tomorrow. I will start tomorrow. The good news is that I already have all the ingredients. I am just waiting for the baking fairy to touch my shoulder with her wand and get me going. I could also make a crumble, couldn't I...... and Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls. Mind you, I would have to quarter her recipe, I think. Or not.

My blogging friends appear to have been baking up a storm all over the world, and their photos are mouth watering. Such clever ladies! And everything looks wonderful. I want all the recipes, and then I also want to try them all out. And then, my friends, I will be a close relation of the Goodyear Blimp. But it is Christmas, so we will ignore that possibility.

I am reading a new Chicken Soup book right now. (For any new readers, the reason I love these books is that I can actually read them. There is a slight problem with focus and an inability to concentrate and a 2 page story is absolutely perfect at the moment.) Where was I ......... my new book. Well, it is a Christmas Magic one, with stories re Christmas. Perfect. And one I read last night (and remember, please note!) was about a cookie party. I have never heard of cookie parties. Guests are invited to bring a batch of homemade cookies to the hostess's home, and then everyone samples them, and then everyone is handed a bag, and they go around the room, taking a few of each home with them.

Now.

I think this is wonderful. What a great idea. The story actually revolved around one guest - the author - whose skills were of the basic level, and in the end, she crept in with a batch of her mother's chocolate chip cookie recipe. And amidst all the fancy selections, someone asked who made them, and then said the magic words - how simple, and how wonderful. They remind me of home, and my mother.

I have mentioned before that my recipe book is full of recipes from friends. And I am absolutely sure that somewhere in all of our baking - each and every one of us - there is at least one recipe which we always make, which reminds us of home, and mothers and grannies, and friends.

I made gingerbread for years simply because my Dad's Mum - my Moregranny - made it. I made it first for him, to remind him of his mother, and then I kept making it, even though not many of my family wanted it, because of the memories the sight and smell of it triggered in my mind.

This is such a perfect time to remember, isn't it. There is a chain, and we are simply the links. And now, my children are baking cinnamon cakes or custies, and maybe one day, their children will too. It will remind them of home. Of growing up. Of me, I hope. Of the love and laughter and of licking the bowl.

That is one of life's great mysteries, you know.....how do children know exactly when the bowl will be ready for scooping out the last dregs of the mixture? Mine, even now, appear at exactly the right moment!

Ah well, enough rambling on. I am going to go and ponder what I am going to bake first.......