As anyone who has spent any time with me knows, food and
drink are an important part of who my family is. The holidays are no different. Although they can be a busy, stressful and
expensive time of the year, exchanging gifts is a must. My family came up with a solution years ago, which,
while not eliminating the work involved in gift giving or even the stress,
created a custom that works for us.
We give each other gifts of food or drink, usually homemade
though being homemade is not a requirement.
I should explain that we, my brothers and their families and I, don’t
live near each other. One of us lives in
San Francisco, another just outside of D.C. and I’m in New York. That means shipping can get expensive, but
we’ve been doing this kind of exchange for at least twenty years and have no
plans to stop.
It’s an interesting exercise in creativity to come up with something
that feels festive and generous and tastes good. Sometimes, we’ve relied on one of the
websites that specialize in food, fruit, and cheeses, and my brother in San
Francisco always has California wine as a default, but only in times of
desperation. Usually we go with
homemade. My brother in San Francisco’s
wife (who is the one who actually does the baking and the giving for her family)
is the most creative gifting homemade sun-dried tomatoes, vanilla extract,
infused vinegar or soap and candles from their own bees.
My brother in Takoma Park, the suburb just outside of D.C.,
has always baked though there was one year when we got a great barbeque meat rub.
I’m a good cook, but not much of a baker so this kind of
gift is always a challenge. I can’t very
well send a salad or casserole. But the holidays are the only time I do bake
and I like the challenge since it’s always seemed to me that a homemade present
is more meaningful. For years I baked
fruit breads including one that had apple and every healthy nut and grain in
creation. It was good, but I’m not sure
how festive. Then, for several years, I
was on a granola kick. I used the recipe
from 11 Madison Park, which is wonderful and guaranteed to be delicious and a
hit. But this year I’m thinking of
baking again. Maybe I’ll do shortbread
or some other reliably easy cookie that will be tasty and not impossible to
make look pretty since my cookies and cakes never look the way they’re supposed
to.
For some who do not like to bake or cook, all this may sound
like an incredible pain. But for me, it’s always been the perfect family gift. Because
we’re never together for the holidays I want to reach out and show the love I
feel for my brothers. The time it takes
to put together the kinds of gifts we exchange seems just right. Now that my
brothers and I are at the downsizing stage in our lives, food, wine or even
artisanal whiskey (which I’ll give if the shortbread doesn’t pan out) is much
more appreciated.
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