Cookie Monster Control Measures

One of the true bellwether events of the Christmas season is now underway in the family – Christmas cookie baking. This usually takes place while I’m at work so I haven’t gotten the full experience. This year, however, (and standby because I’m about to say something nice about 2020) in my semi-retired state, I’m fully available to immerse myself in the experience. I’ve been soaking in the smells of cookie baking all week long as my Favorite Panamanian creates her usual boatload of cookies. She learned this from my mother so it’s no surprise that the smells can transport me back to a house on Valley Street where my mother plied her way through this same tradition all those years ago. I’m sure both my sisters are likewise employed this week, mom lives on.

Wife at Work Creating Magic

It is, of course, a double-edged sword. My availability to experience it also means I’m available for impressment into service. Since we’re both getting a little long in the tooth for extended time on our feet my Favorite Panamanian dragooned me into assisting her (with some close supervision, needless to say). I can now wield a cookie press! Who saw that coming? My son has already started his own cookie manufacturing session and created his usual batch of sugar cookies and peanut butter blossoms. One of the true challenges of this season is ensuring enough cookies survive until Christmas. I, needless to say, play a major role in this issue and am placed on my best behavior. My wife, not trusting to chance and my ability or resist temptation, has consigned the spritz, ginger bread, and peanut butter blossom cookies to the freezer until next week. The FBR was closely monitoring this to insure cookies would be available when she arrives. The BRS is no longer giving her parents a hard time about dinner because she is rewarded with some cookies afterwards.

My Son's Haul of Blossoms

We’re in the for a major snow storm tonight through tomorrow and for the first time in years it doesn’t carry with it the usual responsibilities and concerns. I don’t have to drive into work or worry about keeping the buses running. The drivers at my old job are all New Englanders and were true heroes for the most part during the storms, even when 2015 was throwing haymakers every couple days. Again, nothing I have to worry about this winter and my responsibility will only be to clear my own, blessedly short driveway (yes, Charlton I’m thinking of you!). This is what I used to look like in Charlton after the driveway from hell was cleared.

only Took 3 Hours This Time!

During one of the annual searches through the basement to locate all the cookie making accoutrement my wife and I stumbled across some old pictures, included here, that carried some great memories of some people and animals that are no longer with us. It is funny as I get older that I truly treasure seeing these departed faces staring back at me from the past and remembering them. Life really is a tapestry woven of the people who move through it and the attendant experiences – like Christmas cookie season! Now to calculate how long it would take kidnapped cookies to thaw!  

Wife's Grandparents With Their "Kids"
Moher in Law in Back on Left

Wife (r) and her Sisters

Our 25th Wedding Anniversary

Wife in Traditional Panamanian Folk Dancing Dress - 2001

Son with our Beloved Goldens - Skyla and Estrella

The Day They Met

Daughter's Demonic Beast - Mindy the Cat

The Fam - Early 2000s

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RECURRING CHARACTERS                                           

BR3 – granddaughter #3, BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete = my daughter in law; Wingman – my son in law; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Pittsburgh College Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd musquetera (musketeer); Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; PanaGals – female relatives /friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member, Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn