Every home should have one …
A Teresa
I love Christmas
I love baking
But I don’t do any Christmas baking.
Why, you might ask?
Well for the last about twenty years, Teresa does all my Christmas baking.
Teresa, great friend, married to a relative of Denis’ (to be precise, a step first cousin once removed!), ‘adopted’ grandmother to our three boys
Teresa lived beside us when we lived in Nenagh. When a child got sick she was the person I called on. When we went to America for six weeks for Tommy’s surgery in 2004, Teresa moved into our house to take care of Patrick and John.
Teresa is gifted at baking, scones, sponges, brown bread. You name it, Teresa can bake it. I learned a lot of my baking from Teresa.
The whole tradition of Christmas baking started when Teresa used to call in when I was doing Christmas baking. She would sit and drink tea and watch a much less able, a much less experienced person …
In the intervening twenty years we’ve evolved. The expert now does the baking. I do all the sitting and the tea drinking. We still both love this annual Christmas baking day, bakeathon.
Saturday was this year’s day.
My work for the baking day is to have all the shopping done and the mincemeat made in advance.
Teresa doing Christmas baking is now far more special though.
Two years ago I noticed that Teresa had to sit down a lot while we were doing the baking. I helped her much more than usual that day as she was feeling tired. Very shortly afterwards, she was diagnosed with bowel cancer. She had chemotherapy and radiotherapy and then surgery to remove the tumour. She went in for surgery in July last year but unfortunately didn’t come out of hospital for seventeen weeks. I visited her almost every single day. Patrick was in the US at the time and I remember him keeping in regular contact as to how she was. Teresa suffered complication after complication post surgery. For two of those seventeen weeks we kept vigil in intensive care. She battled but won this hard-fought battle.
You can imagine how special it was when she insisted on ’supervising’ me doing the baking last Christmas.
You can imagine how special it is when she insisted she was back ‘doing the baking’ this Christmas.
Photos from bakeathon 2009!
The line of mince pies getting long
Longer
Nine dozen long
We like our mince pies!
Now only 107 left for Christmas!
The plum pudding mixture
I did help with the heavy work of stirring the mixture!
Teresa filling the pudding bowls
The finished Christmas Cake which she had baked earlier (like in any good cookery show).
Yes, I recommend that every home should have a Teresa!
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Nyom nyom. =)
It looks like you both had a great day. And those mince pies look sooo tempting
Somebody dared say those words….. and show pictures!
Mince pies are my Chocolate! I would eat them for breakfast, dinner and tea! I know, I know, there is butter in the pastry. I actually now make mine with Filo pastry or put the mince in a baked apple.
Great post and a lovely story. It’s also made me impatient for my Mam’s Christmas Pudding
Wow! You sure like your mince pies!
Ever since I discovered the delicious Avoca Christmas pud, I’m afraid I gave up making my own. Your Aga must be great for steaming all those puds.
You’re right! I reckon every home should have a Teresa (and an Aga)
It’s great to hear that Teresa is back doing what she loves to do!
Grannymar,
Are you to blame for the missing mince pie on the first tray out of the oven?
Simon
Cathy, yes we both enjoy the bakeathon. I woudn’t have the patience to make mince pies like that. Teresa is far more particular than me
Grannymar, I’m like you. I like the mince, and do as you do. I too am not a huge pastry fan.
Helen
Will you get home for Christmas? I had requests from my two to send them cake and pudding
Steph, Patrick’s the biggest fan of mince pies! And you’re right – I’ve been steaming puds in the oven for the last two nights. Finished now!
To answer Steph’s question. Yes! and the the corner piece of every tray bake while they were cooling. Welllll someone had to test them!
What a really lovely christmas story Lily and the pictures bring it all to life so beautifully too. This gave me a warm glow reading it this morning
Grannymar, you’re right, someone has to!
Marie,
I feel like a squirrel stocking up for Christmas though some already eaten/given away!