Christmas 2025 took the cake!

I’ll always remember Christmas 2025 as the year I accidentally made three cakes (plus two pies and some cookies). I’ll remember it for a lot of other sweet reasons too.

We’re always so grateful when family comes to town, because it isn’t always easy for them to get here. Our poor daughter Molly said she felt like Odysseus as she battled a winter whiteout on a desolate Highway 29 and then had to hole up at our cabin for a few days to recuperate from the flu. Eventually she, like he, made it home and restored peace to our little kingdom.

In her absence, I resumed a role I had abandoned to her expertise years ago. I baked this year’s treats and I was so excited to be back in the holiday kitchen, I went a little nuts.

On Christmas Eve day, I offered to make a cake for the December birthday celebrants whose first names weren’t Jesus. Three of them joined us for dinner that night (I’d like to think the Big Guy did too, but he was probably pretty busy that night). The earthly birthday dudes wanted carrot cake, and I happily obliged. Carrot peels flew everywhere as I grated and whipped. The cake got good reviews so that was fun.

The next day, I really wanted to make my sister in-law a gluten free cake. By then, Molly was feeling better so she followed me around the kitchen offering helpful tips about how to avoid cross-contamination. I was so careful about the bowls and utensils I used, that I failed to pay close attention to the ingredients. (I vetted those so carefully in the gluten-free aisle of the grocery store that I could have claimed residency at Woodmans.) But, I digress.

As I smugly slid the gluten free cake into the oven, my son Vinnie wandered into the kitchen and spent a little too much time reading an empty cake mix box.

“Is this the mix you used?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “Isn’t that cool? I had no idea they made gluten free cake mixes.”

“Weird that it doesn’t say gluten free on the box though,” he said.

I snatched the box from his hands.

“It does say it!” I said. “It says it right here!”

It didn’t. I honestly had no idea we even had another cake mix box in the house. Turns out, we did. My gluten-fee chocolate cherry masterpiece wasn’t gluten free at all.

So, I unearthed the actual gluten-free mix and whipped up a third cake. After that, I tossed in a couple of batches of pecan chocolate chip cookies, and an apple pie.

Then, Vinnie baked a focaccia that was so full of flavor my tastebuds wept in gratitude.

The house smelled amazing. The kitchen looked like a freight train had smashed right through it. It was perfect,

So far, we have enjoyed five family Christmas celebrations (and are currently in the midst of a sixth). We pregamed on Dec. 23 with a couple of members who had to travel out of town for the holidays, hosted one of those crowded kitchen Christmas Eves in which delicious food just kept emerging from the chaos, enjoyed a cozy Christmas Day where our only actual commitment was mass, headed to one family Christmas party on the 26th and another on the 27th.

Then, I got to play an ass in the annual family Christmas play, and it turned out to be a mane role. What an embarrassment of riches!

We missed our little New Jersey bagel and her parents, but they had a great Christmas too and we loved getting updates from them through the week.

We hope you all had an equally sweet holiday!

Merry Christmas and Hee-Haw!