People leave things in their shopping carts now days. If I find myself forced to choose a shopping cart with leftovers I usually pick up whatever it is with a tissue and drop it in the nearest trash.
But that wasn’t the case this past week when I had an urgent hunger for a pumpkin pie and grabbed the nearest shopping cart at Walmart. The cart contained a former shopper’s Thanksgiving shopping list.
I declare now I want to go to this woman’s Thanksgiving dinner.
Always inquisitive (otherwise known as nosy) I took a peek at that piece of paper in my cart. It had to be the forgotten list of a female shopper. The handwriting was too neat. No man writes a grocery shopping list in handwriting that is neat as a pin.
Reading her list, it was apparent this woman was the dessert cook for her dinner. She had to buy SIX (count ‘em) SIX graham cracker crusts. Next on the list was (oh good grief) cream cheese times 12. . .12! Right behind that was six cans of condensed milk. Oh Yum!
Then she had to buy blueberry, cherry, lemon and pineapple pie fillings! That was followed by dried beef times 3 and green onions times 3 and five pounds of potatoes.
Obviously this woman was making my kind of Thanksgiving dinner . . . cheese balls, maybe mashed potatoes and a whole bunch of pies. Pies! I love pies!
Where is this woman!?! I need her! Yes, I kept her shopping list. It is so much like my own (except for the number of pies) I thought gee, I can save time using her list. And we all need more time at this time of year. And this neat-writing, super Thanksgiving cook, I thought, must have lots of time, or maybe a whole lot more energy than me. Because at this time of year it’s run-run-run and do-do-do. There’s so much to do on the to-do list!
Then I felt a little guilty about my bakery-made pumpkin pie. Didn’t make it from scratch, but I had awoken in the middle of the night with an overwhelming need for a pumpkin pie, and I’m not too good at making pies at 3 a.m. I always have a hunger for a pumpkin pie at this time of year. It’s just once and just at this time of year, at Thanksgiving.
So I lined up in the check-out line with my pie and Cool Whip feeling a bit wanting, not up to the chores ahead, that is making a family Thanksgiving. And, as so often happens in a small town, I knew the checker. Everyone knows everyone in a small town. That’s why I live here.
And as I put my not-homemade pie in the cart I wished her “Happy Thanksgiving.”
“Happy Easter,” she replied.
“Uh,” I responded. “Are you getting a little ahead of time on purpose?”
She broke out laughing. “I’m sorry. I mean Happy Thanksgiving!”
Think my friend was feeling the stress and pressure of the holiday too.
“That’s OK,” I said. “If you want to skip winter and move on to spring and Easter, that’s fine with me. In the meantime, Happy Thanksgiving.”
So here’s to all – Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, have a Happy Easter, and we’ll throw in a great Fourth of July too. And may all your pies be perfect!
No comments:
Post a Comment