In the fall of 2007, in response to Val’s pleas, we acquired a foreign exchange student from Portugal. Ines (pronounced E-nish) joined our family the day before Thanksgiving. Though she had already been in America for several months, she still had lots to learn about our country and a whole lot to learn about how we did things in my house.
The Christmas cookie baking started the end of November as scheduled. Ines was in awe. She had never baked cookies in her homeland, and apparently no one else did either. She had only ever eaten store-bought cookies in Portugal. That was impossible for me to believe, but c’est la vie. (She also found cupcakes fascinating and couldn’t believe that they were just cake made in
cups.)
The cookies went into the freezer as normal, but Ines couldn’t understand why.
“We save them and bring them out for Christmas.”
“But, why?” That turned out to be her favorite phrase.
December 24 arrived and I went down to the basement to fill a plate of cookies from the freezer. Most of the containers were still pretty full, but I did pull out a large Ziploc bag with only one Peanut Blossom remaining.
“Ines! These cookies were for Christmas!”
Her answer was “But, why?”
I wasn’t really angry, but I always try to learn from my misfortunes. By May I was busy planning the graduation party for both Val and Ines. I wanted to have some chocolate chip cookies on hand, so I baked a batch to put away for Memorial Day weekend. It dawned on me that the freezer wouldn’t be safe, so I hid them in a cabinet in the far corner of the basement.
Sometime, in mid-August, I was going through said cabinet and made a discovery. The chocolate chip cookies which I had hidden and completely forgotten. C’est la vie.
Nick, Ines and Val Christmas Day 2007
Nick, Ines and Val Christmas Day 2007
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