Our grandson, Benjamin, just finished his last final for the semester at Butler. Physics was causing him some problems and he was worried about this three hour test. His other subjects were all A’s, so no problems there.
After he finished his test, he was going to a basketball game. We were informed we were picking him up the next morning and hauling him and all of his stuff home to Fort Wayne for the Christmas vacation.
At 8 a.m., we pulled up outside his dormitory.
Usually, we wait 15 or 20 minutes before he comes out, but this time, only a couple minutes went by before he showed.
We brought a folding wagon because he said he had a lot of things to bring down from the second floor. I included several bungee cords so his assorted junk could be piled high on the wagon and tied down. It still took several trips. Glad I drove the truck.
We drove him from Butler to Fort Wayne to meet with his mom and dad.
We met them around noon, and we all had lunch.
Then we went shopping for a while and got a lot of our Christmas shopping finished. Time to head home, a 100-mile drive. I was tired by the time we reached our driveway.
The Colts game was on.
Luckily, our kitchen counter is situated where I can watch TV while I am baking.
I have Snickerdoodles, chewy maple cookies, salted caramel cookies, chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies and white chocolate macadamia nut cookies already finished. I made a double batch of each so I have plenty to share with family, friends and neighbors.
I put a spice apple cake in the oven while the game was on and got a pan of brownies with a layer of chocolate chip cookies in the middle ready to go in when the cake came out.
I checked my notes to see what had to be done.
So far, we are only having eight people to our house for Christmas dinner.
The 23-pound turkey I have in the freezer will handle that many with no problem, leaving plenty of leftovers.
A double batch of my sausage dressing will supply us with some leftovers when dinner is finished and everyone takes some home with them.
All of the regular stuff will accompany the turkey: Mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, deviled eggs, corn casserole, homemade bread, turkey gravy, green beans from the garden, and other goodies should feed the group.
I will also make several pies if anyone has room left for dessert.
While I am in the kitchen keeping busy, Susie is in the dining room wrapping presents on the table.
Her job is to wrap them and put a small label on them, which tells me who the present if for and what the item is.
My job is to put the name tags on each package. I write the name of the recipient on the tag, then, I make up a clue about what is in the gift box.
The person who receives it has to try to guess what is in the package before opening it.
For example, we bought a calendar with a different outhouse for each month. The clue is “12 places to go”.
One time, our daughter put a tag on my present that said, “The Dolphin”. I could tell by the size and feel, it was a large picture of some kind. Half kidding, I immediately said, “It’s a picture of Dan Marino!” I used to be a big Miami Dolphins fan. She asked, “How did you guess that so fast?”
Part of the fun of opening the present is trying to figure out the clue.
As if I’m not busy enough already, I have all of my writing stories to keep up.
While I was baking tonight, my cell phone rang. It was from a prospector in Arizona who I am writing a story about.
I had emailed him a draft of the story I had just finished about him gold hunting with a metal detector. I had to get his approval on everything in the article before sending it to the publisher.
It tells about searching for nuggets for the last four decades, living in a tent and trying to avoid rattlesnakes, grizzly bears, cougars, hornets and two legged critters. For another publication, I wrote about ice fishing in Minnesota.
Next month, things may slow down. I can get back in my garage making pens, birdhouses, sewing items and lots of sawdust.
Rich Creason is an award-winning outdoors and travel writer whose work has appeared in local, regional, national and international publications for 40 years. Born in Anderson, he is a graduate of Markleville High School. He lives in South Madison County with his wife, Susie. He may be contacted at [email protected].
