Around the Bluhmin’ Town

By

Judy Bluhm

How was your Black Friday? If you were one of the brave souls who headed out to shop, I hope you survived the ordeal. It may be the Season of Giving, but the spending happens first. So many presents to buy and so little money! Hmm . . . what are we to do? Evidently keep shopping, because the average American will spend about one-thousand bucks on Christmas presents this year! Guess inflation will not deflate us!

I do admire the disciplined folks who woke up at the crack of dawn on Black Friday, with the fortitude of a Marine, armed with a compulsively detailed list, marching through crowds for “special deals.” I am not good with crowds, or shopping. Too easily enticed by sales and distracted by all the “stuff,” I tend to do impulse buying. I ended up one year coming home with a lime green sweater for Doug. He laughed, thanked me and then asked, “What were you thinking?” I have no idea, but the color did look good on a mannequin.

Yes, the shopping has begun. And so has the baking. I might copy my grandmother, who as long as she lived, never missed a chance to bake Christmas fruit cakes and pass them out as gifts. No shopping (except for ingredients) required. A proper English woman, plus a teetotaler, she put enough rum in those cakes to get a family of four tipsy. One bite of Grandma’s cake (which was hard as a brick) and it could make your head spin.

I recently read that a fruitcake (one that is well-fermented) can last in a tin for more than forty years and still be edible! For the gift that might last a lifetime, perhaps I’ll start my own little tradition of baking fruitcakes. Oh, if you get one from me, please don’t eat and drive.

Getting past the shopping, the Season of Magic is here. There is so much more to the Holidays than simply packages under a tree. Of course, those packages do matter, especially if you have children or grandkids who are busy making their wish lists. I used to get little hand- written requests from the grandboys with items like, “truck, ball, power ranger” scrawled on festive note paper. Now I get a text that says things like, “camping, fishing or biking gear.” I used to love getting their lists. Now I just run (with my wallet) and hide when I see their texts.

Dear Readers, enjoy the spirit of The Season You don’t even have to spend much money. Bake something delicious. I am digging up my grandmother’s fruitcake recipe and will rekindle an old tradition. I will try to follow her directions, but I think I will skip her habit of taste-testing everything (a few times) before I mix in the ingredients.

So, if you get a little loaf, wrapped carefully in brown paper, please do not confuse this heavy object with a brick (although it could be used as a doorstop). Enjoy it now, or sometime over the next forty years. I promise, just one little bite and you’ll discover the “happy” in Holidays.

Judy Bluhm is a writer and a local realtor. Contact Judy at [email protected]or visit www.aroundthebluhmintown.com.