My wife has been baking gingerbread cookies for her family for more than 40 years. She personalizes the boys and girls. She also bakes Ginger Creams, Snickerdoodles, Monsters, and others, and makes old-fashioned, chocolate fudge (she adds peanut butter to it). She tells me this fudge recipe was once on the Hershey’s Cocoa can and she has been making it since she was 14 years-old. The aroma in the house at Christmastime is wonderful. One of her sons and two grandchildren live in the Northwest and she always sends a big box full of these delectable sweets. This year, she thought about sending the recipes to her daughter-in-law here, the one in Vancouver, Washington, and giving up the majority of the annual baking. As much as she enjoys personalizing all of the gingerbread boys and girls, maybe it was time to pass the tradition on to the younger generation.
Not only does she have to mix a very stiff batter, it has to be chilled and then rolled out to about one-half inch. She then cuts out the gingerbread boys and girls, bakes them, and when they come out of the oven and cool they have to be decorated. It requires a great deal of time. And, of course, there are the other cookies and the candy.
Several days before the baking was to begin, the shooting at the Clackamas Town Center shopping mall in Oregon occurred. My wife’s granddaughter, Michaela, lives no more than 20 minutes from there, so she picked up the phone and called her. She was relieved to hear Michaela’s voice. (No one in the family had been at the shopping center where two people had been killed.) And, as fate might have it, during the course of the conversation Michaela asked when the cookie box was being sent. She mentioned to her grandmother how much she enjoys the cookies, especially the Ginger Creams … which are also her dad’s favorites. My wife laughed and told her they should be there by Thursday, December 20th, or Friday, December 21st.
The next day, our Northwest daughter-in-law sent my wife an email regarding some of the presents that were to be opened early. At the end of the email was a question: “When is the cookie box coming?” Once again, the reply was, “Probably next Thursday or Friday.” Also, my wife’s eldest son and his wife live in the area and whenever Christmas cookies are mentioned, they always look at her and utter, “Yum, can’t wait.”
This year, in addition to the eyes, nose, mouth and other trim, the person’s first initial was written on each gingerbread boy or girl (she used to write full, first names). Then, a scarf was added around the neck. They look so cute and taste so good, but they are a lot of work! After the icing sets, each cookie is wrapped in plastic wrap and placed in a quart-size bag. When that is done, she frosts a double batch of Ginger Creams with cream cheese icing and dusts them with cinnamon and sugar. They are delicious! Meanwhile, Snickerdoodles and Monsters have been baked and placed in tins. And, lest I forget, the chocolate-peanut butter fudge, one of my favorite things, is cut into squares and put into a Christmas tin. (The fudge is also grandson Alex’s favorite.) After days of baking and cooking, everything is packed into a box and readied for shipping.
I must admit I, too, enjoy and appreciate all the baking, cooking and, of course, the partaking of holiday goodies.
Granddaughter Michaela called Christmas day to thank us for the gifts we sent and told my wife she was eating her gingerbread girl cookie. The tradition continues…
Ronn Mott, a longtime radio personality in Terre Haute, writes commentaries for the Tribune-Star. His pieces are published online Tuesday and Thursday on Tribstar.com, and in the print and online editions on Saturday.
Opinion Columns
Related Photos
-
Ronn Mott
Discussion
RONN MOTT: The cookie box
- Opinion Columns
-
-
RONN MOTT: Rabid Republicans
The so-called news people at Fox News can hardly sit still long enough to report on the latest gossip or untruth about our sitting President. They can hardly contain themselves.
-
LIZ CIANCONE: Smell of fresh air gave way to dryers
Remember when clean clothes smelled like fresh air and sunshine rather than fabric softener and dryer sheets?
-
STATE OF THE STATEHOUSE: Is it regulation that doesn’t make sense or evening the playing field?
I’m not much of a drinker, so I haven’t spent much time thinking about how Indiana’s alcohol laws personally impact me, but that changed last fall when my daughter got married.
-
Mark Bennett: High-profile mural connects historical dots from city to river
At 96 feet wide and 2 stories tall, the power, impact and value of the Wabash will be evident.
-
RONN MOTT: Mushrooms = Hoosier happiness
Someone wrote or said a few years ago a statement that would define the word “Hoosier.” According to this urban legend, a Hoosier is somebody dribbling a basketball around the Indy 500 while eating a fried, morel mushroom. It did not define me, at the time.
-
RONN MOTT: Israel’s Air Force
Recently the Israeli Air Force bombed and rocketed a convoy leaving Syria going to Lebanon with rockets that were going to be used to attack Israel. It did not get there. It was destroyed.
-
RONN MOTT: Media merry-go-round
Round and round it goes, where it stops nobody knows. That isn’t a unique phrase to this writer or to this era in time. But, when it comes to the musical chairs of broadcasting, it certainly applies.
-
LIZ CIANCONE: Courts see a different appearance than cops
Have you ever noticed the transformation between the arrest of an accused lawbreaker and the first appearance in court?
-
MARK BENNETT: Life at face value: Mom’s simple advice still presents a valuable daily challenge
Most moms don’t base their advice on scientific research.
(Unless, of course, your mother is a scientific researcher. If so, carry a No. 2 pencil and take good notes.) -
SUSAN DUNCAN: Advice to the kids on Mother’s Day
Just so you know, now settled firmly into middle age, I think of “kids” as anyone in their 30s and younger. I also accept that many of my elders view me as an upstart whippersnapper, though snapping even my fingers nowadays can be a chore.
-
FLASHPOINT: Again in 2013 General Assembly, middle class generally ignored
Last year, the people of Indiana entrusted the Republican Party with some of their most precious possessions.
-
RONN MOTT: ‘Raccoons II’
In the Algonquin Indian language, raccoon means “working with hands.” They are really cute little fellows until they injure a child, or a pet, or leave feces around where you certainly do not want it.
-
RONN MOTT: ‘NRA Convention’
At the recent NRA Convention in Houston, Texas, where the right-wing political hot air almost lifted the convention's building off its foundation, the NRA trotted out the forever yours political dame of the right wing, Sarah Palin. Sarah did not disappoint.
-
RONN MOTT: ‘Heritage gone’
The last high school I attended was being torn down just a few days ago. I didn't learn about it until I saw classmate Dick Mills on television and a display he had put together about State football championships in the middle 1930's. I began elementary school with Dick Mills. That was Matthew South Elementary School on South Sixth Street in Clinton, Indiana. After seeing Dick on TV, it dawned on me that all schools I had attended in Clinton have been torn down.
-
LIZ CIANCONE: We always want more than we need
Washington seems more preoccupied with the unemployment rate than they are about the constant stalemate. Still with thousands out of work and the unemployment rate hovering somewhere between 7 percent and 9 percent, it does deserve more than a passing nod.
-
MARK BENNETT: Should I stay or should I go?
Some have their Bill Clinton-era Cavalier packed (with the trunk bungee-ed shut), apartment cleaned (except for the fridge), and iPhone GPS locked onto the fastest route out of Terre Haute. Others are staying — until they find a better job, or because they’re starting a career here, or because this town feels like home. In each case, a new stage of life begins today.
-
College Class of '13 gets a little extra advice
Local college grads will hear commencement speakers offer life and career advice this month. We’re offering them an extra dose here from folks who’ve found success in various vocations and regions of the nation. Many have Terre Haute roots.
-
RONN MOTT: Things that go bump in the night
I live in a very old house. There are all kinds of noises that occur, especially at night, or so it seems. Aside from the various creaks and pops from old wooden floors and walls when the furnace heats up and sends warm air into the rooms, we, my wife and I, have heard other noises.
-
RONN MOTT: Around the dial
At lunch the other day with Terry Tevlin (First Financial Bank), I bumped into Dale Mahurin. I hadn’t talked to Dale in a long time and inquired about his wife, Julie Henricks.
Julie has returned to the radio microphone doing a weekend gig on Mix FM. For fans of Julie’s show on WTWO-TV, don’t worry, she’s not leaving … just multi-tasking. Welcome back to the radio airwaves, Julie! -
ANDREA NEAL: Newspaper journalists still make a difference
A recent survey ranked newspaper reporter as the worst career of 2013, just below meter reader and lumberjack, but you wouldn’t guess it from the stories told by journalists who gathered in Bloomington to see six of their own inducted into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame.
-
RONN MOTT: George Jones
I got to Nashville in the early ’70s, hired by John Patton, who had been a DJ for WBOW earlier in his career. Then, he was managing WMAK in Nashville and I was promised a top sales list and received the yellow pages (many a promise like this has happened to people in this business). I also did sports commentary for the morning man and would ultimately do a season of play-by-play and a short TV schedule for Tennessee State.
-
LIZ CIANCONE: Old age is in email of the beholder
My Best Friend isn’t much for writing letters, so email has opened a new world for him. He can dash off a few words to a high school friend or his college roommate — now living in Florida and Washington State,
-
MARK BENNETT: Spirited response to a rising river
The power within the Wabash revealed itself last week.
-
FLASHPOINT: Time has arrived for overhaul of TV news
Former FCC Chairman Alfred Sikes gave an address in 1992 in which he claimed television news was too superficial and too focused on visuals.
-
RONN MOTT: Remembering Pat Summerall
I don’t remember how I first became aware of Pat Summerall, but the first time I heard him was on a New York radio station (WCBS, I think). He was doing the sports for the morning man and exchanging some opinions about sports and such with him.
-
RONN MOTT: What I don’t know
I was watching a segment on the History Channel the other night while I waited for the end of “The Big Bang Theory” and a show I had seen before. It was “Sex in History.” And the two segments I watched were about Ben Franklin and Howard Hughes.
-
RONN MOTT: You, me, and the Muslim world
I don’t know how to do this. I’m a fairly intelligent human being, but the events of the past week in Boston have turned me emotionally inside out. It’s more than the people who died, it’s more than the people who were injured … some permanently,
-
LIZ CIANCONE: A memory test from the oldtime radio days
For some reason, I seem to be the go-to source for all sorts of obscure information out at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center.
-
MARK BENNETT: Littered with irony: Why do people callously discard their trash, and who are they?
Though they aren’t acknowledged by the U.S. Census Bureau, there are basically two demographic groups of people … Those who would dump their old toilet on the banks of the Wabash River or a rural roadside. And those who wouldn’t.
-
RONN MOTT: China
The recent blustering by North Korea and their weaponry, which now includes ICBMs, has pulled into full attention America’s involvement with China.
- More Opinion Columns Headlines
-
Raw: Massive Funnel Clouds in Oklahoma
Raw: Widespread Destruction in Moore, Okla.
Raw: Rescue Workers Search Oklahoma School
Raw: Tornado on the Ground in Oklahoma
Raw: Aftermath of Massive Tornado in Oklahoma
Huge Tornado Kills Dozens Near Oklahoma City
Active Search for Utah Missing Mom Ends
Raw: Rescuers Pull Tornado Survivors to Safety
Voters Could Elect LA's First Female Mayor
Raw: Japan's WWII Atrocities Under Fire in Seoul
Oklahoma Gov: 'Hearts Are Broken' After Tornado
Raw: Aussie Zoo Shows Off White Rhino Calf
Raw: Walking in a Flattened Okla. Neighborhood
MLB Hoping for Large Replay Expansion in 2014
Horse Saved From Slaughter, Goes on to Win Big
Raw: Aerials Show Path of Oklahoma Destruction
Raw: Suspects Butt Dial 911, Lead to Arrest
Raw: Witness Describes Scene After Okla. Tornado
Raw: House Burns After Massive Oklahoma Tornado
Pug Life on Display at Wisconsin Festival
RAW: Massive tornado strikes Oklahoma
RAW: Xbox One debuts
VIDEO: Teacher reunites mother and son after tornado levels elementary school in Oklahoma City
Jennifer Lawrence Gets Naked and Painted Blue as X-Men's Mystique
Okla. tornado survivor finds dog buried alive under rubble
VIRAL: Baby makes epic soccer goal
Pickler's Dance Moves Cause A Stir
Obama to tornado survivors: The country stands beside you
Reporter Cries Over Devastation
Sneak Peek: 'Modern Family' Says Good Bye
Trailer: 'The Last Stand' Available on Blu-ray Disc, DVD, Digital Download
IWitness Look at Moore, OK Tornado
RAW: Moore, OK tornado touches down near school
Robert Pattinson Moves Out
RAW: Russian dash cam catches car 20 feet in the air
Oklahoma tornado survivor: "Everything is gone"
Khloe Lashes Out at Kim Kardashian's Critics
Couple Argues As Woman's Lover Crawls Out Window
RAW: Brad Paisley Forgets Lyrics To His Own Song
Justin Bieber Gets Booed
