Messy Memories

My goal this month is to post about a different holiday book each day, so I am doubling up today since my book fair post didn't actually mention a specific book.  There were quite a few holiday books on the book fair and I brought most of them home to read with Isaac before everything is shipped back to Scholastic.  One that he thought was particularly funny was Mrs. Greenberg's Messy Hanukkah by Linda Glaser.

I only occasionally bake with Isaac.  Baking is not my favorite thing to do and baking with a six year-old requires a level of patience that I do not possess.  The aspect of baking that frustrates me the most is the mess -- and I can never bake anything without there being a mess.  Add in Isaac's help and the mess is multiplied by ten.  Matt and Isaac have baked together quite a bit, even making a few things for me.  The mess doesn't bother them as much. I probably don't need to mention how I feel about the mess they make.

Mrs. Greenberg's Messy Hannukah is about the mess that is created when a little girl tries to help her neighbor make latkes.  Isaac laughed when the flour and the oil and the potatoes spilled all over the floor.  I could relate all to well to the frustration of the neighbor as she got out the broom and then the mop and finally gave up on the cleaning.

But this book reminds me that I used to tolerate baking enough that I would spend a weekend every year before Christmas making goodies and that some of my favorite memories are of baking with my grandmother.  Each fall Isaac and I (mostly me) make an apple or pumpkin pie from scratch, but the big Christmas marathon baking has been pushed aside by all of the other activities that have taken over our weekends.

I also brought home a Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Christmas cookbook from school.  I would like to take some time before Christmas to make at least one of the recipes from each of the books with Isaac.  We may end up with a floor covered with oil and flour, but we will hopefully have some good memories, too.