Holiday Bakery ... How Much Longer?

The last few years--as Christmas has approached--I've told myself, silently, Well, this will surely be the last year for this!

The this I'm referring to is holiday baking, something I've done for quite a few decades now--well, "quite a few" in terms of, you know, life expectancy. I just looked: The estimated life expectancy in 2019 for a USA male? 76.9 years. I'm almost there, folks. I turned 74 last month; I can still do simple subtraction.

Each year, over the Thanksgiving break, I bake a batch (or more) of white fruitcakes from a recipe long used by my grandmother Alma Osborn, who died in 1978. This year I did only five. They are sitting in the refrigerator, awaiting distribution and consumption. (Or disposal?)

I also bake cornbread from the recipe my mother used--an old Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook version. Simple and good. (Okay, I vary a little from the printed directions--but not much: Taste evokes history and memory, you know?)

The Big Challenge each year is the sourdough "treebread" creation--a sweetbread (inside are dried fruit and nuts) twisted into the shape of a Christmas tree. My Facebook "memories" feed reminded me today that it's about time to do them. The pic below is from a year ago. Before I serve the bread, I warm it up, ice it, sprinkle candied fruit on top to look like tree ornaments. My mother used to bake this bread--though not sourdough. And I've modified the recipe somewhat (I like dried apricots in it--so I add them.)

I'll also bake a batch of maple-pecan scones (using Ohio maple syrup), and in a few days I'll send off to my younger brother in Mass. the following things:

• cornbread
• treebread
• scones
• multigrain sourdough bread
• a fruitcake

I assume they'll eat rather than clog the disposer with them.

So--as you can tell--I'm doing all this again ... one last time? The pic at the top of the page is one I took about five minutes ago: It shows the sourdough starter rising in its bowl. It will be ready about 5 p.m., and I will put some of the starter away for next Sunday's bread-baking, then save the rest in the fridge to use for the treebreads, which I'll bake on Wednesday.

You also see the cornbread that came out the oven moments before I took the pic. I'll send one to Mass., save the other for us.

Tomorrow will be scone day. And I've already baked the regular sourdough bread I'll send along in the gift box.

And by the end of the week--by the time I'm ready to mail all away (and save others for Christmas here)--I'll be telling myself, silently, This has got to be the last year for this ... right?