SusieJ's Advent Calendar December 12, 2007

The recipe: Mürbteigplätzchen

Not just another sugar cookie, Mürbteigplätzchen are sweet like a sugar cookie, but richer, more like a shortbread. Renate, who gave me the recipe, makes a small, thick cookie, and usually makes a triple batch.

The surprise: A new obsession

It might look like a word game to you, but it's actually helping to feed starving children. I'm up to level 47 and have donated 1,840 grains of rice as of yesterday night. As my husband said (well after we should have been in bed) "Stop! The people who read dictionaries must stop! They found my weakness." But first, I just want to get to 2,000 grains...

Christmas on I-81

Just out of college and working 200 miles from home at a West Virginia newspaper, I had vacation time, so would be working Christmas, and not be going home until the weekend after. As much cameraderie as there was among the very young staff of the Martinsburg Journal, that first December away from all family was still disheartening.

My boyfriend (now husband) planned for his first visit, which would be right before Christmas. As a college student, Jorj certainly had the time. With no car, driver's license or money, he didn't have the means. In the college tradition, he did have Troy, a friend with a license and a car, a friend who lived near (enough) to I-81, the highway that ran right past Martinsburg.

We agreed to meet near an exit ramp or mile-marker of southbound I-81 Pennsylvania, maybe the Chamberburg exit. I arrived first, parked on the wide shoulder (thank your, President Eisenhower), and waited. Before the age of cell phones, I was trusting that they would make it near on time (this was a big if, knowing them at that time). Finally, they arrived and Jorj got into my car with his bag. Troy continued on to his family for Christmas.

First thing to do, before unloading his luggage, was to get a tree! The afternoon and evening would be picture-perfect: decorating the tree, drinking hot cocoa, the smell of the branches.

Live tree aquired, I snapped my hacksaw blade (the only saw in the apartment) cutting off the dried end of the stump to expose fresh wood. A co-worker would lend me her real saw while Jorj stayed behind.

When I returned, he was sound asleep on the couch. He had worked so many extra hours to be able to visit and still pay his rent that he was completely exhausted.