Not One Cookie

This has been the oddest holiday season yet. I did not bake one single cookie. I did make a couple batches of peppermint bark, with one more to go, but not one cake, not one cookie, went into my oven.

I also haven't been on the bike in weeks. The main reason for both: exhaustion. It's amazing how tired you can get from standing on your feet for six hours and talking about kitchen equipment.

I love Sur La Table; it's my favorite kitchen store and I've been working there for the past couple months, part time to supplement a very slow healthcare pr practice. I look forward to going into the store. I can be having a lousy morning but when I get to Sur La Table, surrounded by baking sheets and good olive oil, my demeanor takes a decidedly turn upward.

By and large the customers are terrific. They want to hear my opinion and they are sincerely interested in cooking and setting a beautiful table. Of course, there are always the ones who don't like anything they are shown and no matter how hard I try, nothing makes them happy. But those folks are few and far between, and I really get a lot of joy from explaining how the Jura Capresso works or finding the perfect gift for a young woman's boss.

I refer to the group I work with as a happily dysfunctional family. They are smart, talented and by and large, energetic men and women. Lively senses of humor abound and we really do have fun. We laugh a lot and the hours really do seem to fly by. There are a few kids working for the holiday season and they are a joy. They don't take themselves or what they are doing too seriously, but they are killer workers. Oh, to have that kind of energy again.

But the job is taking its toll on my legs. When I get home all I want to do is get horizontal. First, the couch, and then some tv watching in bed until I fall asleep, which is generally early. While I might have had the time to bake, I have simply not had the strength or energy.

I am curious to see how riding the bike will feel. While I surely have been using my leg muscles, I haven't exercised them, and my fear is that the first big hill will be torture. But then, my hope is, the muscles will loosen up and remember what they are supposed to do.

Since today is Christmas, my guess is that after my six hour shift in the store tomorrow, I will no longer be working 30-plus hour weeks and I'll have some recovery time between stints selling Cuisinarts, and life will get back to a little more semblance of normal. But it's been fun and I hoped I helped a lot of customers have a little happier holiday.