Congratulations to Billie, who has won the copy of Miracle On I-40! Thank you all for your kind comments about the book.

Are you scurrying around, as I am? Yesterday I meant to get some Christmas cards written, but baking a cake to take to a church women’s Christmas party took an inordinate amount of time. I baked a gluten-free chocolate cake. Not from scratch–thanks to Betty Crocker. I often bake a simple single layer cake for we simple people in this house and top it with a drizzled frosting. This can be whipped up in no time and looks rather elegant. I wanted to impress everyone with my non-wheat flour cake.

Well, the first thing to happen was the cake cracked all over the top. No problem, cover it with the drizzle chocolate icing that I make with some bit of  chocolate squares and powdered sugar, and usually orange juice, but this time I decided to use melted black raspberry jam. All well and good until I made the icing too thick, so it did not melt down the sides. I ended up with a single layer with icing smoothed on top. Looked like an unfinished cake.

So then I got the idea to make a drizzle of black raspberry jam. My efforts fell far short. Again no drizzle, only plops. I tried spreading. When I wailed that it looked horrible, Dear Husband came to see. He said he thought it looked fine, and delicious.  Of course, Dear Husband is like Mikey–he’ll eat anything, especially made of sugar. But I decided to believe him, because there was no time to bake anything else, and my only other offering was mixed nuts. I also took his advice and decorated it with a Christmas pick. I tore one apart and made this little one. I think it looked cute, don’t you?

Dears, this is a hectic, scurrying season, but when things you attempt don’t turn out quite right, don’t make yourself crazy. Patch it up and admire your efforts and go on to enjoy everything.  Don’t worry about how you will make it through this season. You always have, haven’t you? Just stick a pick in it, and keep on going–and Enjoy!

PS: the cake was delicious. And it made a memory for me, as well as something that may end up in a book.