The holiday season seems to come ever more quickly each year. Just after Thanksgiving, I start to get nervous and it’s not about buying gifts, decorating the house or deciding how few cards to send this year. It’s because the “Holiday Pot Luck” time of year is upon us.
As most people know, I am not a great cook. I can make some things that taste good, like homemade dog food. Not that I have tasted it, but my dogs seem to like it. When my kids were young, I cooked every day and even held holiday parties for family and friends. But “If you don’t use it, you lose it,” and I have lost it.
When the invitations to pot luck parties roll in, I start to sweat and worry that I will run out of aspirin before the season ends.
My kitchen appliances seem to agree that cooking is not my forte. My oven hasn’t worked for a couple of years, thanks to a pumpkin falling on the oven dial. I have tried to find replacement parts. Really.
Then my almost new toaster-convection oven started shooting flames the other day. I unplugged it, took it outside and sat it beside my trusty fire extinguisher. Intellectually, I know it can’t catch fire if it isn’t plugged in, but my brain asks, “what if?”
So I’m left with a toaster, a stove top that partially works and a microwave. Despite success with homemade dog food, I don’t think I can dress it up with enough parsley to take it to a pot luck. If people should ask who brought that delicious dip, what would I say?
I am agreeing with my appliances. Next time, I’m bringing the plates and napkins.
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