I am really curious about who came up with the saying "it's as easy as pie." Baking a pie is intimidating. The dough must be the perfect mixture to ensure a light and flaky texture. Not too dry. Not too moist. You must puncture the bottom to ensure a lack of bubbling, fold the crust in a perfect sort of way, cross your fingers that the crust doesn't burn and that the middle cooks through. Yeah "easy as pie?" is hard. Playing the pie game to make 11 pies to split between two households Thanksgivings? Hard. Limiting yourself to only a few kinds of pies rather than experimenting with each separate pie? Double hard. Keeping the integrity and deliciousness of pies 10 and 11 after making pies for so long. Triple hard. Maybe the "easy as pie" piece comes from eating them. They certainly are easier to consume than other things. The steps to eat a pie are simple: 1. Serve a slice on a plate. 2. Cover the entire surface of the pie with whipped cream. 3. Eat the whipped cream off the top. 4. Cover with more whipped cream because your pie is now naked again. 5. Eat pie. Yeah that's pretty easy and it works on any pie.
Pecan pie? Yup.
Pumpkin pie? Yup.
Mincemeat pie? Yup.
They all follow the same steps for consumption. Easy as pie.
Well, thankfully pie season is short lived and so my baking anxiety can remain low. Thanksgiving is quickly bypassed by Christmas and masses of cookies will roll in and out of my kitchen. I would like to say that I am already well into my baking season (being that it is the 11th of December), but a flooded kitchen can cramp a girl's style. I have even prepped with 5 pounds of butter that are currently chillin in my fridge, but they have remained untouched as I have awaited the kitchen to be returned to it's usable state. But fear not. I report that as of today I deem it usable and I plan on using every spare second at home baking up a storm. I will forget all of the store-bought items I had to bring to events in the mean time. The past is the past today is the present, and this present will be all home-made. I cannot WAIT!
So, now that I have mentioned that I will be baking masses of cookies, my future cookies are currently in search of homes. They will best be used in homes of people who do not guilt me for making them gain 10 pounds or do and show up to my Zumba fitness classes. I will be accepting applications from now until Christmas. You are in charge of crafting the application, as I will be creating masses of sweet treats and too busy to actually write one. But there you go. Now you have your chance to stake a claim.
I would like to make a plea for my cause. Taking my cookies has now become your necessity because I cannot eat them all. They have been pinned to my pinboard therefore they cannot go unbaked. I cannot consume them all because I am only one person and if I did then I would lose all of my credibility as a Zumba instructor. Can you imagine a fitness instructor gaining all kinds of weight and claiming that their program was effective? Yeah...not going to convince a whole lot of people. But YOU on the other hand could eat them, then come to my Zumba fitness class and be an incredible success story and get all the fame and glory. It is a win-win for all involved. So, go ahead, say you want some. They will come your way. You will enjoy. I will enjoy you enjoying. Life will be good. One first world problem will have been resolved. You will have helped me resolve mine, now if we could only solve the rest...
So. many. problems.
Problems. Whether big or small. First world or truly tragic. Prime baking season (aka Christmas) is the same prime season for heightened awareness of the things we lack both materially and relationally. Feelings of sadness, anger, or loneliness are often amplified. You might be in the midst of it, or you might be in a season of blessing. As we enter this special but often challenging season a greater awareness of our current state. Let us remember especially during this time to love our neighbor and to be acutely aware of their struggles and needs. If a cookie tray of mine comes your way, know that at least one of those cookies is reserved for sharing. Never were we promised a life void of struggles but we were promised an ever-present God in time of need and we were challenged as the body of Christ to love our neighbor and to take care of the widows and orphans. So, tis the season! Let's spread some love.
"Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you." James 1:27
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