‘Tis the Season for Baking
By Nicole L. Gill, CouncilMag.com
We all have our own way of getting ready for the festivities of the holiday season. For some, it’s decorating; others it’s gift buying; and for many, it’s baking.
I enjoy baking. When the holidays roll around, I want to make my great-grandmother’s cookies. My great-grandmother stopped baking when I was fairly young, but I have fond memories of those cookies. My mom has kept those memories alive by sharing them with my nieces.
Yet, every year, I run out of time to bake them. I don’t have cookie cutters. I don’t have walnuts. I don’t have the ingredients. I don’t leave enough time between returning to Virginia after Thanksgiving and going to New York for Christmas to bake.
This year, I decided to bake something seasonal before Thanksgiving. A couple of years ago, I found a pumpkin bread mix. The bread was so good that I wanted to make it the next year. I couldn’t find the mix, but I knew there had to be a recipe that incorporated pumpkin puree. I found one on the Taste of Home website.
It was an easy recipe – one that I’m sure I’ll make again. It even helped get me in the holiday spirit. As it turns out, I didn’t really need the pumpkin bread to get in the spirit. All I had to do was look around at the decorated homes and travel into D.C. at night. The city is ready for Christmas. And even though it’s cold and chilly outside, people are out and about.
The joy of baking promotes and lifts the holiday spirit.
Photo by: Jerald Council, CouncilMag.com
The sights of the city during the holidays, such as the National Christmas Tree, bring tourists in. When students have winter break, it’s also a good time for families to make the trip to the capital city. D.C. is a city of more than 702,000, according to the Census Bureau’s 2018 population estimates. But that population swells when you add in tourists. In 2018, D.C. saw 23.8 million visitors, according to Destination DC, the city’s tourism group.
Most of the city’s visitors in 2018 were domestic travelers, with 61% traveling for pleasure, according to Destination DC. It’s easy to see the appeal. There’s so much to see here and wherever you look, the spirit of any season isn’t too hard to find. It took pumpkin bread and Christmas lights for me to get into the spirit of the season. For you, maybe it’s the sailboats on the Potomac in warm weather. Whatever it is, it’s all yours.
Here’s to the joy and spirit of every season.
