Making Small Changes — in the Tradition-Bound Holidays

The change: last night I made a vat of fudge.

Ordinarily I don't cook. And this is not an overstatement. If I ever made fudge before, it was more than forty years ago and utilized a mix and an onsite advisor.

But the hint of a whim to do this touched me a few days ago and I'd put in my pocketbook the 3×5 card where I'd copied the recipe for Aunt Harriett and Uncle Luther's Fantasy Fudge, perfected by them after much experimentation. This stuff vies with ice cream as my all-time favorite food. I never expected to make it myself as long as I had a living relative with a working burner.

But last night on the way from the office, I braved the icy winds of the Kroger's parking lot and bought industrial quantities of butter, chocolate, vanilla, etc. (We already had in a Costco trunkload of sugar.) By one a.m., after much boiling and stirring, the fridge was full of fudge.

Holidays are famously heavy on tradition. Often staggeringly heavy for whoever does the shopping, wrapping, decorating, feeding.

Today I find my Christmas spirit lightened by my late-night chocolate adventure — by doing things a little differently.  I already gave away a few pieces of Fantasy fudge this morning and felt like a happy elf.

 

Categories: enhancing creativity