Good times/Bad times

I was just thinking about Christmas cookies..  I have 6 Rubbermaid containers full of cookies, a tray stacked about 8 layers thick and a box of delicious cookies given to me by a friend.  I sent a tray to the neighbors and have been nibbling on my favorites for a few days (mostly the no bakes and rice krispie treats and the date/krispies).  For some reason, I always make way too many and then I'm trying to get rid of them after Christmas.  When will I learn to quit making double batches???

I thought back to a year when money was really tight.  I was living in California and the economy was going downhill really fast.  There was a gas crisis and I was on a very very tight grocery budget.  I almost have to laugh about it now, because I remember spending $35.00 a week on groceries.  Reminds me of my parents and grandparents telling me that they only paid $.05 for a loaf of bread.  I can't get out of Walmart for less than $100.00 these days.  I call it the One hundred dollar store, in place of the "Dollar Store".  But yes, I spent about $35.00 a week on groceries for a family of 4.  That was prior to my twins being born.

So one Christmas, sometime in the late 70's, we were scraping money to give the kids a nice Christmas.  Cookies were out of the question, but I did buy some candy canes.  I had been grocery shopping the week of Christmas, and when I got home from shopping, I realized that I was missing some items that I knew that I bought.  I can still remember...  eggs and taco shells..  So I called the Safeway Supermarket, most of the employees knew me by name, and they said "Yes, Sue, you left some groceries here, we put them in the cooler until you can come get them".  So, feeling pretty foolish, I waited til the kids woke up from their naps and we went back to the store to retrieve our lost eggs and taco shells.  I couldn't for the life of me think of anything I was missing, but they did say "bags", so I was curious as to how I could leave "bags" without noticing.  So, I went back to the store, and the clerk wheeled out a cart with 4 bags of groceries in it.  She nicely said "We'll help you out to your car", smiling all the way.  She put the groceries in the car and when I got home, I carried them in.  I was still kinda confused as I couldn't remember missing 4 bags of groceries.

So I carried them into our apartment, and started pulling the items out of the bags....  Oh, My.. wait..  these weren't my groceries!  I pulled out a bag of flour, sugar, walnuts, chocolate chips, oatmeal, brown sugar, confectioners sugar.  There was a ham, some potatoes, some rolls...  I immediately called the store and said "Oh, I need to bring these back, they weren't my bags".  They said, "nobody else called saying they were missing anything, so you might as well keep them".  I was flabbergasted, but looking at the notion of baking Christmas cookies with my kids kinda won out over honesty...

We baked all afternoon and had a really delicious Christmas dinner that week...  I still wonder if the grocery store employees did that on purpose, or if I got someone else's baking items..

Maybe that's why I always bake so many cookies that I have to give them away to anyone who will take them?  Guilt?  Gratitude?  I'm not sure which, but I sure love making cookies!!!