Holidays coming fast -- maybe too fast

I’m never ready for the holidays this time of year. Oh sure, it’s fall and we just did Halloween, but the Christmas stuff was already competing with pumpkins and goblins on the shelves well before Oct. 31.

And Thanksgiving is caught somewhere in the middle, although it seemingly nets less emphasis than in past years. Maybe it’s just me, but the Halloween and Christmas decorations were dominating all the variety, grocery and department stores I’ve visited recently.

The good news is that I just got my oven repaired so I can at least bake some holiday foods.

I didn’t miss the oven during the summer months because the broiler was all I needed for the garlic breads that went with barbecued meats. In the summer months I live off the garden, but when winter approaches, it’s time to shift gears and indulge in more of what the seasonal recipes offer.

I recently found a few stray recipes in a box of old stuff from my parents’ house that I took to a charity organization. Fortunately the small index cards caught my attention and I salvaged them.

Of course these recipes were holiday desserts that I don’t really need to eat. But, they will make fine basket gifts for Christmas and somebody else can put on the pounds.

Holidays don’t help us lose weight, that’s for sure. But you can’t put off the fine aromas that turkey or prime rib gives off on a cold, winter day filling the home with memories of holidays’ past.

Every year I say I’m not doing a dinner.

It really takes an all-out effort to prepare the food and then clean up all the resulting mess.

The last few years, I have found myself gravitating to the notion that dining out and leaving the work to someone else makes a lot of sense. There are those people who are doing this after years of slaving in kitchens when nobody really appreciated it.

That would be discouraging.

But my mother’s holiday dinners were so superb, we showed the appreciation she deserved, especially if we wanted her to continue this tradition.

With the matriarchs and patriarchs gone, we are left in their shoes. Somehow each generation slips another cog.

Look at government. Few politicians can maintain what our forefathers fought to preserve — pure integrity. They weren’t in the kitchen, but in comparison, there are principles to uphold.

Look around during the holidays and you will notice so many people who are forced to work on those days because too many of us don’t want to be in the kitchen.

Back in the 1940s and ’50s you didn’t see much open on holidays. People stayed home and dined with their families.

Only in dire situations did hospitals, big hotels and a lone diner out on the road for travelers remain open, but only for so many hours.

Back then, most families were ready for the holidays. They all prepared and took care of matters into which they put much thought and planning.

So, what’s wrong with fewer items on the menu at Thanksgiving? Turkey and dressing are all that ever mattered to me, anyway.

I have discovered that some of the simplest things, whether at Thanksgiving or Christmas, can be the most satisfying to give and graciously receive.

I spent last Christmas Day surrounded by cattle. Don’t know what I’m doing this year, but at some point, I will cook a turkey for the holidays including the traditional dressing.

You can count on that.