The Official Writing Challenge
BACK TO
CHALLENGE
MAIN
INSTRUCTIONS
how it works
submission rules
guidelines for
choosing a level
ENTRIES
submit your entry
read current entries
read past entries
challenge winners
Our Daily Devotional HERE
Place it on your site or
receive it daily by email.


TRUST JESUS TODAY

  • Share
  • how it works
  • Submit
Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Christmas Cooking/Baking (not recipes) (10/16/08)
I pulled the tattered cookbook down from the cupboard over the stove. Thirty-one years of use had left its pages splattered and worn. Folded over corners marked our favorites and page 57 stuck out from the rest because it had fallen out long ago and been taped back in.

I remembered the day Lee gave me the cookbook. It was the first Christmas after we were married. I had hoped for a diamond ring to go with my plain gold wedding band. In fact I had dropped so many hints in the weeks before Christmas that I was sure my wish would come true. Instead, I'd received this bright red and white checked cookbook. I was not a happy wife at that moment. I can laugh about it now, but back then I was ready to hit my husband over the head with it!

I flipped through the pages to find Grandma’s Rolled Sugar Cookie recipe – Lee’s favorite. As I mixed the batter, I thought about the first time I’d made them for him. I had measured each ingredient precisely, stirred the dough with shaking hands, and rolled it out to just the right thickness.

I opened the plastic packaging on my new cookie cutter, dusted it with flour and proceeded to cut out 3 dozen cookies - all in the shape of a baby bottle!

Lee came home from work to the smell of warm sugar cookies fresh from the oven. I can still see the puzzled look on his face as I waited for it to register that we were having our first baby.

I remembered making a Chocolate Cake (page 132) with Chocolate Butter Frosting (page 147) for our daughter’s first birthday, then snapping a million pictures as she demolished it.

Page 57 had been ripped loose because it contained the recipe for Homemade Egg Noodles, the key ingredient for Old Fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup. It was the cure-all for any sickness that hit the family over the years.

Among the pages of this book are recipes for Thanksgiving Turkey, Candied Sweet Potatoes and Pumpkin Pie, instructions for canning and freezing the fresh vegetables that grow each year in our garden and that one cantankerous recipe for Fluffy White Bread that never, ever turns out right.

Ah, page 181 – Grandma’s Rolled Sugar Cookies. As I run through the ingredient list, I am reminded once more of the many ways God has blessed my life – a wonderful husband, a beautiful daughter and a worn out red and white checked cookbook that holds as many sweet memories as it does recipes.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Right Now - CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
This article has been read 825 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Joshua Janoski
10/28/08
Sounds to me like the cookbook ended up being more of a treasure than the ring would have been. I liked how you referenced the different page numbers of each recipe throughout the story. Thank you for sharing this story filled with delightful memories. :)