The week before Christmas

...Being sick put me behind and I had a lot of catching up to do. So, starting Monday, Dec. 21, I went into cookie-baking overdrive. I baked five kinds of cookies for our friends, neighbors and my coworkers: Orange buttercreams, chewy chocolate snowcaps, chocolate-caramel rounds, lemon cream-filled star sandwiches and two-bite gingerbread whoopie pies. They turned out fabulously but were a lot of work over two days. Definitely worth it, though!

THEN, on Friday Dec. 25, I ran the kitchen for our synagogue's "Winter Mitzvah Day," in which we prepared turkey meals for 300 people at homeless shelters, plus 75 turkey sandwiches. Our usual chef was on vacation, so I volunteered to take over. "You're all we've got," the organizer said to me, and I replied, "I'm so sorry that I'm the best you can do." I was there from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Drew offered to drive most of the food to the shelters, and Rachel stayed busy making potholders for the families and reading in the synagogue's library. We had takeout that night -- I was too exhausted to cook after overseeing the turkey and helping out with other side dishes as needed. But I was thanked profusely by the synagogue folks, and hopefully no one got botulism during my watch.

That Saturday, I had planned a "Boxing Day party" at our place for Charon and her 9-year-old son Cameron, and our friends Jeff, Crystal and their toddler, Julia. Julia came down with foot-and-mouth disease a few days before and Crystal had to stay with her, so it was just Jeff. And then, at 6:30, when I was wondering where Charon and Cameron were, Charon called in a total panic -- she thought the dinner was Sunday -- and, annoyed, I said, "I work on Sunday. I ALWAYS work on Sunday!" She apologized profusely; she was getting Cameron to bed and offered to come later, but in the end wasn't able to. So it was just us four, with enough goose and Yorkshire pudding and salad for many more, and Rachel aptly summed up my feelings when she said, "We did all that cleaning for ONE PERSON?" But we all managed to have a nice time, anyway, and I had a lot of goose to eat the following week at work, for dinner. But the next time I plan a holiday party, I'm going to be a lot more sure about who's coming and who's not.