We are now totally stress-free...or are we?
Baking holiday cookies
When I was a little girl no holiday would ever happen without a phase of feverish cooking-baking to fill the tins. We used to go into the tropical forests of the North Coast, far away from any shops and supermarkets, and had to stock up on essential resources like fishing equipment, bug repellent and cookies, more or less in that order of importance. No shop-bought cookie could of course be quite meet the standards. Home-baked oats crunchies would be chewier and shortbread more decadent, and no shop could ever match that homely aroma...there's just no comparison to freshly-baked treats!
When my kids were young we continued the holiday baking tradition, even if we stayed home. What, indeed would one DO if friends came over unexpectedly and there were no cookies in the house to serve with coffee? And what would one feed the troop of kids that played together every long summer afternoon and scavenged for treats from house to house? Cookies of course. And krispie treats and other simple, home-made treasures of homeliness and comfort.
So when times are rough and there's little time for recovery in between the demands of pre-holiday life, we'll just trick ourselves into getting a little bit of that holiday atmosphere...relaxing a bit, remembering that it's all not so serious after all...and whip up a few trays of domestic bliss.