Over baked.
That’s how I felt yesterday afternoon when I came home from a first grade class party and realized I had dough that needed tending. There it stood, looking gorgeous, looking needy and ready for some heat. After two other baking events already that day, I wanted to flee to the hills!
I am just about through with my Christmas giving; the stack of bread bags is getting very short, and good thing! I’m tired of slipping my hands in and out of oven mitts.
Somehow, after grumbling, I mustered the energy to roll out the dough. I heated the oven. I scored and baked those rolls. My husband laughed at me. And armed with rosemary rolls and pumpkin bread,
I hit the streets!
But no one was home.
And this is where things got good. With no one specific to give to I drove toward people and prayed for guidance. I spotted a woman alone at a bus stop. I pulled in and greeted her; she was all wrapped in scarves and a coat, huddled against the cold. I have extra bread, I said. My friends aren’t home and I want someone to enjoy it while it’s fresh. Pumpkin bread or rosemary rolls? I smiled as convincingly as I could. She took the warm rolls and said in her thick accent: Thank you bery, bery much! Merry Christmas!
And the pumpkin bread traveled home with the guy ringing his Red Cross bell outside the post office. Another connection made, and Christmas cheer exchanged. He was wearing cowboy boots…
The giving was the cure to my grumpiness. Giving seems to be a wonderful cure to many ills and ailments, even for over baked suspects like myself, and I am thankful to be learning these good lessons still.
And today is a new day. For the moment I have resigned from oven mitt duty. Just one day off so I can gather steam and get ready for the Sunday grand finale, when I will fill up the last of my bread bags with goodies and pass out as much good cheer as I am able.
I pray you are finding the balance between sanity and shopping. And if all else fails, just find a way to share something, or your time, or your smile with someone, and all the rest will fall swiftly into its right and perfect place.
Cheers, friends. Cheers!
The Woman and the Wheat 