‘TIS THE SEASON TO BE MERRY
So have at it!
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Just when I was beginning to feel like the Grinch Who Stole White Christmas in my last post,
I was delightedly reassured by your responses that I’m not alone in loving snow from a distance. Thank you!
And unlike the snow, I’m totally for having a merry, jolly, wonderful holiday season, up-close and personal.
This time of year, my childhood home would overflow with the euphoria and utter headiness that comes of non-stop baking of all sorts of deliciousness.
Indeed, the preparations would begin back in September, when my mother baked several of her famous fruit cakes and set them to steeping in rum for the many months until Christmas.
But the baking-in-earnest, of course, commenced much closer to the big day.
There was a reason for the sheer magnitude of the project my mother would take on…
Throughout the year, my family would visit our friends of other faiths for their festival days. We’d gorge on sesame sweets and fight kites for the spring festival of Til Sankranti. Feast on steamed fish and semolina custard for Navroz. Drool over a spicy haleem—ground mutton and wheat—and a rich milk pudding with dates, vermicelli, and nuts, for Eid-ul-Fitr. Set off sparkly fireworks, and stuff ourselves with all manner of milk-based sweets fragrant with ghee, for Diwali.
So, come December, it was our turn to decorate the house, my father’s specialty, and lay out the spread for the friends and family who would drop by in the all morning-afternoon-evening Christmas Day open-house.
My mother took this responsibility very seriously, much to the excitement of the rest of us (and all the friends and family who would partake of this annual extravaganza and still remember my mother for it after all these years). Of course, as we grew older, we kids played our part in contributing to the gigantic, aromatic, mouthwatering bake-off too. There were crunchy cutout cookies (interestingly, the original cookie was created in ancient Persia!) and chewy date bars, heady rum-balls and crisp rose cookies, airy meringues and melt-in-your-mouth Swedish spritz cookies, butter cookies, sugar cookies, peanut butter cookies, oatmeal and raisin cookies, ginger cookies, chocolate cookies…
…and the pièce de résistance, the Christmas cake, unveiled after its long fermentation, ready to intoxicate your taste-buds with its intense fruity flavors melding smoothly together like a great wine aged to perfection in a brandy barrel.
Oh my, I think I put on ten pounds just remembering all of that!
So, before I head to the treadmill, let me say—
May the memories of and reflections on the passing of another year suffuse you with gratitude and warmth. May the promise of a new year inspire and uplift you with fresh hope, resolve, and above all, joy.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Love that snap of your parents