Lauren laughs out loud and grips her stomach. “Miriam!”
Miriam runs around the table to her side and sees that Lauren’s water has broken. “Now I’ve done it! Me and my big mouth!”
Lauren grabs her hand, squeezing it. “Miriam! Get Travis!”
“Of course!” She turns to yell for Travis but looks back at Lauren. “I really don’t mind the fund-raiser being out here. It’s actually quite fun, but I could never let Gloria know that, you know. And I certainly don’t blame you for—”
“Miriam!”
Miriam jumps, turning again to run toward Travis. “Travis!” she says, running to where he is unloading more chairs from the back of a truck parked near the gazebo. “Travis! The baby is coming!”
“What?” Gloria says, snapping her head up from a conversation with Betty Grimshaw from Betty’s Bakery about a delivery of baked goods this afternoon. “Everybody get out of the way!”
“Nobody’s in the way, Gloria,” Miriam says, running back to Lauren.
Travis reaches Lauren’s side and puts his arm around her waist. “I’ve got you. The baby’s really coming,” he says, breathless and smiling.
“The baby’s cooomiiing,” Lauren says, her face grimacing in pain.
Andrea and her husband, Bill, honk as they pull up to a spot near the gazebo. As they get out of the car to begin helping at the fund-raiser, they stop when they see both Gloria and Miriam waving their arms like air traffic controllers. “Get back in the car!” Gloria yells. “Take Lauren to the hospital!”
Andrea sees Travis and Dalton helping Lauren across the town square, and she runs to the back car door, opening it. “Come on!” she says, waving them on.
The entire setup crew of Gloria, Miriam, Amy, Gabe, Stacy and her son, Ben, and Heddy rush to the car to help Lauren inside. “Gloria, I’m so sorry…” Lauren screams again as Travis helps her into the car.
“Sorry nothing!” Gloria says. “We’ve got everything under control here. We love you, babe! Andrea, call us as soon as the baby comes!”
And with that, Bill backs out of the parking space and heads for the hospital.
“The baby is coming early,” Gloria says, watching the car. She turns to look at Miriam, scowling. “What did you do?”
* * *
Gloria, Miriam, Dalton, Heddy, Gabe, Amy, and their daughter Maddie, and Stacy and her son, Ben, hurry through the hospital hallway, leading to the maternity ward. Andrea and Bill are waiting at the nurses’ station in the middle of the ward. “How’s Lauren?” Gloria says, rushing to her.
“She’s doing great!” Andrea says.
“A baby girl!” Gloria squeals, clapping her hands together. She realizes how loud she is and shushes herself, putting her index fingers to her lips in front of the nurses. “I’m so sorry! I’m just a proud grandmother who can’t wait to see her grandchild!”
“Whatever her name is,” Miriam says drily, looking at Andrea. “I don’t understand why you couldn’t tell us the baby’s name.”
Andrea holds her hands out in front of her in a shrug. “I don’t know the baby’s name! She wanted to wait until all of you got here.”
“Oh, come on!” Gloria says, tugging on Miriam’s arm. “No time to squabble! Take us to our granddaughter!”
Andrea and Bill lead all of them to a room at the end of the hall, where Lauren is propped up on the bed, holding a bundle of pink in her arms. “Theerre sheee iiss,” Gloria says, drawing out each word in a high-pitched drawl. “Have you ever seen a child so beautiful?” she asks the group, all craning their necks to see.
“Her face is kind of blotchy!” Maddie says, making everyone laugh, and Gabe puts his hand over her mouth.
“The doctor said that won’t last long,” Lauren says, grinning at Maddie. “Somebody tell me how the fund-raiser went!”
Gloria scoffs. “We will not say a word until you tell us this angel’s name.”
Lauren holds the baby tighter. “Not until you tell me how it went.”
“We raised more money than any other year, thanks to Ben’s great idea!” Stacy says. Ben looks sheepish, smiling.
“What idea?” Lauren asks, looking up at Ben.
“For ten dollars, people could guess if you were having a boy or a girl,” Stacy says. “We raised an extra $2,600!”
“But most people thought you’d have a boy,” Ben says, a bit disappointed.
“But they’ll be delighted to meet…” Gloria says, hinting that she wants to know the name of the baby.
“Glory,” Lauren says, beaming.
Gloria’s mouth drops open and Miriam gasps. “Glory?” Miriam says, confounded. “This sweet child has to go through life with the name Glory?”
“Actually, it’s Gloria Miriam. We’ll call her Glory,” Travis says, sitting on the edge of the bed.
Tears fill both Gloria’s and Miriam’s eyes. “I bet you don’t have anything to say now, do you?” Gloria says to Miriam.
“Oh, be quiet, Grandma,” Miriam says, serenely defeated. “A child named after us! I never would have imagined. A perfectly beautiful baby girl.” She sighs in happiness. “Gloria Miriam! Welcome to Grandon, little one.”
“And while you’re home with little Glory, we will be installing an oven, a sink, and a few cupboards,” Gloria says. Lauren looks up at her, surprised. “I told you we had generous donors. You can start that cooking class when the time is right.”
“I can’t believe it,” Lauren says.
“I can’t believe that we’re not going to have more of those delicious treats you were secretly delivering,” Gloria says, winking.
“Gloria!” Lauren says. “How’d you know it was me?”
Gloria smiles. “Well, you asked about starting a cooking class, for one thing. And then I saw a plate full of cookies in your locker when I got your purse, that day you had the false labor.”
Lauren looks at the faces around her. “Did you all know?”
“Not at first,” Miriam says. “But eventually we all figured it out. We just didn’t dare say anything because we wanted the treats to keep coming!”
Lauren throws an arm over her face, laughing, as Glory opens her mouth in a yawn.
“Look at that little lamb,” Gloria says. She strokes her cheek with the back of her finger. “What a Christmas! Glory, Glory, hallelujah!”
THIRTY
Christmas Day 2012
The sound of Glory’s cooing awakens Lauren and she looks over at Travis, who’s opening his eyes. “It’s her first Christmas,” Lauren says, smiling. She flings the blankets and comforter off, racing Travis to get to Glory first. They run to the crib inside the nursery and look down at the little life wiggling and whimpering on her stomach, and Lauren lifts Glory into her arms. “Merry Christmas, my sweet angel,” she says, kissing her face.
Travis bends to kiss Glory’s cheek and squeezes her hand. “Best Christmas present ever,” he says, kissing her tiny hand over and over. “Are you ready to see your presents?” They look at Glory, who stretches her arms over her head, and laugh. “The excitement is overwhelming her,” Travis says as he taps the baby’s nose. “I can call my parents and tell them we’re up.”
Lauren nods. “I’ll get some coffee on.”
Travis returns to their bedroom for his cell phone as Lauren walks downstairs with Glory. “Travis! Hurry!”
He bounds down the stairs to the kitchen, where he sees Lauren standing by a round, black walnut table wrapped in an enormous red bow. Lauren reaches for the card and reads it aloud. “For Christmas breakfast and all other meals that will follow. Merry Christmas, Larry and Meredith and John and Joan.”
Christmas 1972
Joan opens her eyes and looks at the clock on her nightstand: 7:30 A.M. “Oh my gosh!” she says, realizing that John is not in bed and that Gigi has probably been awake for two hours, waiting to open presents. She wraps her robe around her and races through the hallway, saying, “I’m so sorry I slept so late!” She stops inside the living ro
om, seeing John, her mom and dad, Gigi, and Christopher standing like guards in front of the Christmas tree.
“Merry Christmas!” Gigi yells as they all break rank, revealing the table that John has been working on for the last several months.
Her eyes fill at the sight of it. “I thought you were behind on the work,” she says, looking at John as she reaches out to touch it.
“Ed helped me. I wouldn’t have been able to finish it without him.”
Joan bends over, examining the table. “It’s just beautiful, John.”
“A lot of family meals will be eaten around this table,” Alice says.
“It’s my best present ever,” Joan says, kissing John. “Thank you.”
“Look, Mommy!” Gigi says, pulling open the drawer underneath. “My favorite part!”
“Oh, this is wonderful!” Joan says. “What could we put inside here?”
“Candy,” Gigi says with great Christmas cheer. “Can we open our presents now?”
* * *
As they sit down to breakfast around the new table that morning, Joan wonders if she will always remember the laughter and warmth and heart of this day. She wonders if she’ll remember the look in John’s eyes as he reaches for her hand to squeeze it during grace or if she’ll recollect her mom and dad’s voices or the squeals of delight from Gigi and Christopher as they marvel in the wonder of the day. She wonders if she’ll recount her gratefulness or feel more love for her family than she does on this day, and the answer is yes, she will. She most definitely will.
A Christmas Table Full of Recipes
There isn’t room for all of them, but these are some of the recipes that Joan, Lauren, or Alice made, plus longtime family favorites of ours that I pull out during the Christmas season. I use Einkorn all-purpose flour for the baked goods here but your favorite all-purpose will do and I always reduce the sugar at least by half, but experiment according to your taste. That is part of the joy of cooking! Merry Christmas!
AUNT DEEDEE’S PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE
This recipe was given to us by my husband’s great-aunt Dee-Dee Macdonald. It’s sweet … so sweet it might set your teeth on edge, but you can’t stop at one piece, and it is Christmas, after all!
2 cups sugar
⅔ cup milk
1 cup Marshmallow Fluff
1 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
Put the sugar and the milk in a saucepan and cook to soft ball. Take off heat and add the Marshmallow Fluff, the peanut butter, and the vanilla. Stir. Spread the mixture into a 9 x 11 baking dish. Let cool. Cut into pieces to serve.
CHOCOLATE CHIP CHEESEBALL
This is not the typical cheeseball. It’s great to take to gatherings or to serve if you’re hosting a Christmas party.
1¼ cups roasted, chopped pecans
3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1½ cups mini chocolate chips
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Roast whole pecans on a baking sheet in a 350°F oven for ten to twelve minutes. Chop the pecans and set aside. Mix together the cream cheese, the chocolate chips, the powdered sugar, and the cinnamon and form the mixture into a ball. Press the pecans around the entire ball. Chill for several hours. Serve with gingersnaps. So yummy!
SHORTBREAD COOKIES
These are the best shortbread cookies I’ve ever made, and they have only four ingredients. My friend Val Clemente gave me this recipe, and I always quadruple it for my family because the cookies store very well. I can’t tell you how long they keep, though, because we eat them too fast!
1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
⅔ cup butter, softened
½ cup powdered sugar
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Mix all the ingredients together and roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to about a quarter inch thick. Cut out cookies with a two-inch cutter and put them on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake the cookies in the oven for twenty to twenty-five minutes or until they are brown around the edges. Will yield approximately one dozen cookies.
TRUFFLE COOKIES
My mom had a friend who used to say about what she was eating, “This will make you want to smack your mama!” Well, these cookies are so tender they’ll make you want to smack your mama! But I don’t recommend that. Be kind to your mama.
4 squares (1 ounce each) unsweetened chocolate
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
⅓ cup butter
¾ cup sugar
3 eggs
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cocoa
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
Powdered sugar to sprinkle on top
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Melt the unsweetened chocolate, one cup of the chocolate chips, and the butter in a double boiler or in the microwave. Let the mixture cool ten minutes.
Beat the sugar and the eggs for two minutes in a mixing bowl. Beat in the vanilla and the cooled chocolate mixture. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt and then beat into the chocolate mixture. Stir in remaining chocolate chips. Cover the mixture and chill it for an hour or so.
Once it has chilled, roll the dough into one-inch balls (you may need to lightly flour your hands) and place them on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake the cookies for nine to twelve minutes or until they are lightly puffed. Cool the cookies on a wire rack. Once they have completely cooled, sprinkle powdered sugar on top. Will yield about three dozen cookies.
THREE-CHEESE EGG CASSEROLE
Guests rave about this casserole every time I make it because it’s tender and delicious. For ease, it can be prepared in advance and refrigerated overnight.
7 eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup Monterey Jack or Gruyère cheese, shredded
1 to 3 ounces cream cheese, cubed
1 cup small-curd cottage cheese
7 tablespoons butter, melted
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Preheat oven to 350°F. Beat together the eggs, milk, and sugar. Add all three cheeses and melted butter and mix well. Mix in the flour and the baking powder. Pour the mixture into a greased three-quart casserole dish.
Bake forty to forty-five minutes or until the casserole is firm and lightly brown on top. If baking directly from the refrigerator it will take closer to an hour to cook through.
PUMPKIN RICOTTA PANCAKES
This is a nice, heavy pancake with the flavors of fall. You can easily add ground flax for additional nutrients. Unlike some pancakes, these stick with you!
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable or coconut oil, melted
1 large egg
½ cup whole-milk ricotta cheese
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons canned pumpkin
½ to ⅔ cup milk (you may need more or less, depending on how thick your batter is)
White chocolate chips (optional)
Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, pumpkin pie spice, and sugar in one bowl. In a separate, larger bowl whisk together the oil, the egg, the ricotta cheese, and the canned pumpkin. Pour half of the dry ingredients into the wet mixture and whisk. Add a half cup of milk and stir, then add the rest of the dry ingredients and stir to combine. If the batter is really thick, add a little more milk till it reaches the desired consistency. If the batter is thick the pancakes will be thick; a thinner batter will produce a thinner pancake. Spoon the batter onto a lightly buttered griddle set on medium heat. If desired, add a few white chocolate chips on top of each. When several bubbles appear on the top of the pancake, flip it to the other side to continue cooking. Serve with warm m
aple syrup. Feeds five hungry eaters or six polite ones.
CINNAMON BREAD
We tried a loaf of cinnamon bread at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, once and have been hooked ever since. It is a buttery, sugary confection that truly is for a special occasion like Christmas breakfast. I make dough for dinner rolls and use that dough in this recipe, but if you don’t have homemade yeast dough on hand, it may be easier to buy frozen bread dough. Either way, it’s delicious! I don’t know if this is Dollywood’s exact recipe, but it’s pretty darn close!
BREAD
1-pound loaf of frozen bread dough
½ cup sugar
1½ tablespoons cinnamon
5 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup of roasted pecans broken into pieces (optional)
GLAZE
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon butter, softened
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ tablespoon milk or orange juice (optional)
Preheat the oven to 300°F. Coat two 8½-inch loaf pans with vegetable oil or butter. Combine the cinnamon and sugar on a plate or a baking mat and set aside. Cut the bread dough lengthwise into two pieces and then make four crosswise slits across the top of each. Don’t cut all the way through, but do cut deep enough for the cinnamon sugar to get pretty far down. Brush both loaves with butter, making sure you get deep into the cuts. Roll each loaf in the sugar mixture and pat it into the creases. If desired, cover each loaf with a half cup of roasted pecan pieces. Put each loaf in a bread pan and cover with a dish towel. Set it in a warm place to rise for thirty minutes. Bake the bread for thirty-five minutes or until it’s nice and golden on the top, turning the pans once in the middle of the baking time. Remove the bread from the pans.
To make the glaze, mix the first three ingredients until smooth. Add the milk or orange juice if needed. Since not everyone may like glaze, each person can drizzle the glaze over the top of their piece, but if you know that everybody likes it, drizzle away while the loaves are nice and warm! These are best eaten on the same day. Makes two loaves.
TOFFEE POPCORN WITH CHOCOLATE DRIZZLE
The Christmas Table Page 13