Gina Calanni - How To Bake The Perfect Christmas Cake

The elf gives Jack his card back and a key chain. “You’ve got tractor number three.”

“Great, thanks.” Jack takes my hand. “How about some hot cocoa for our adventure?”

“Ooh yeah, count me in.”

Jack grins and we weave our way to the cocoa station. He selects two to-go cups and fills them up. “I don’t think we can pass up decorating our own cookies.” Jack cocks his head in the direction of the cookie station.

I laugh. “You’re probably right.” I follow him as we eye the different cookie shapes. There are sleighs, Santas, elves, reindeers, candy canes, and Christmas tree cookies. I grab a Santa and Jack grabs an elf. We sit down at a decorating table. It’s over flowing with an assortment of sprinkles and glitter, and icings in every color imaginable.

I select the red, white, blue, and black icing and begin to color in my Santa. I take a peek at Jack’s elf and notice he is using extra icing to create long brown hair and the eyes are green. Is Jack trying to make an elf version of me? I crinkle my eyebrows. Maybe I should make Santa into Jack? No, I don’t want him to think anything about the tubbiness of Santa’s belly and Jack looks nothing like Santa as a cookie or in pictures. I pick up my blue icing and squirt a drop on his hand.

Jack inspects the icing and raises his eyebrow in my direction. He makes the elf’s shirt a deep V-neck and pens in a cleavage line.

“That’s interesting, I’ve never seen such a voluptuous elf before.” I purse my lips to the side.

“Hmm…this is the way I’ve always imagined elves to look like.” Jack winks at me.

I roll my eyes and finish Santa’s white beard. Next to the trays of icing are plastic cookie holders. I put my Santa cookie in one and tap my fingers on the table.

“Good things come to those who wait.” Jack squirts the last of the green icing onto the boots he has created for his sexy elf. He lifts the cookie off the table and offers it to me to inspect.

“Really…nice.” I nod.

“I bet it tastes even better than it looks.” Jack says as he places the cookie in the plastic holder.

I chortle. “I don’t think it would take much.”

“You don’t like my sexy elf?” Jack jerks his head back in fake shock.

“No, Jack it’s great…really.” I laugh. “Come on, let’s go look at trees.”

Jack stands and we file out of the store with our cookies and cocoa in hand. The cold air immediately hits my face as we exit. I shiver. I’m glad I’ve got my navy wool pea coat on, but it’s got to be low forties, maybe even dropping into the thirties. Jack pulls me in close to him as we search for tractor number three. At the end of the row of tractors we find it. A hunter green tractor with a flatbed trailer attached to it.

“Hop in my lady.” Jack waves his hand in front of the vehicle.

“How funny, our first tractor ride together and it’s not in Texas.” I slide across the vinyl seat and put my hot cocoa in the cup holder. “Fancy.”

“Our first of many, I hope.” Jack guns the engine and we both bounce in the air.

“Many tractor rides? Are you planning on living on a farm?” I squint my eyes.

Jack moves his head up and down. “I could see myself living on a Christmas tree farm like this.” His baby blues sparkle at me.

“I didn’t realize you were such a Christmas guy.” I brush his arm. We are slowly moving farther away from the store and getting deeper into the forest. There are other people in tractors, group tractors, and some walkers with wagons.

“Yeah, my mom always made a big deal about traditions around Christmas and one of them was that our family would trek out to a tree farm and cut down our own tree.” He rolls his lips.

“That’s really sweet. My mom is big into Christmas too, well, she is big into all holidays.” The sides of my mouth pick up.

“I remember at Thanksgiving there were a lot of interesting decorations, what was it, a DJ turkey on the doorstep?” Jack cocks his head to the right at me.

I laugh. “Yes, it was. Wait till you see the Christmas décor.”

“I’m waiting with bated breath.” Jack gazes at me.

I laugh. “You won’t have to wait long, Christmas is only two weeks away.”

“When do you fly in?” Jack grazes his chin with his thumb and index finger.

“I’m not, I’ve decided to hire a bunch of different Uber drivers.”

“Lauren, I thought I was your only Uber driver?”

“Exclusivity in Uber transportation is not something to take lightly.” I turn my head and stare at his piercing blue eyes.

“Agreed, can I offer you a sexy elf cookie in exchange for all of your Uber transportation needs?” Jack reaches down and takes the cookie package from the floor.

I laugh. “I’m not really into sexy elf cookies, maybe you have something else to offer?”

Jack stops the tractor in front of a sign with several arrows pointing out the direction of the various trees on the farm. “How about my expert tree-hunting skills. Are you a Spruce, Noble, Fraser, or Douglas Fir kind of gal?”

I raise my eyebrows. I have no clue what type of tree to get. I usually buy whichever looks like it will fit on my car without too much effort.

“If you’re an expert than you must know the perfect tree for me.” There, throw it back on him without admitting my ignorance to the various types of tree.

“Fair enough.” He starts the engine back up and takes a left, we are either going towards the Fraser or Douglas Firs. We pass through what seems like endless rows of mint colored spikey trees, the grass is cut short. We haven’t really had any snow yet this year, so it hasn’t changed to pale yellow.

After what seems like an eternity of grass and trees, Jack stops the tractor. “I think we’ll find the perfect tree for you in this row.” Jack squints his eyes at the vast forest as he points down a path.

I take the final sip of my hot cocoa and climb out of the tractor. “Is your tree-dar beeping wild?” I laugh.

“Yes, I have tree vision and I know it’s here, I can feel it.” He grabs my hand and laces our fingers. Even through my leather gloves his warm hands are sending tingles up my veins. From the back of the tractor Jack takes out a hand saw and some rope.

“What kind of tree is it?” I peek up at him.

“A Douglas Fir.” He raises his eyebrow and the sides of his mouth pull up at the corners.

I nod my head. “Why not a Fraser?”

“The Douglas goes better with your evergreen eyes and the needles are softer, like your skin.” Jack treks us down the empty path as if he is telling me about the weather. I’m a puddle trying to scoop myself up off the ground. Pull it together, Lauren.

“I’ve never been compared to a tree before, I’m not sure if this is a good thing or not.” I rest my head on his shoulder.

“Why not a tree, would you prefer I compared you to a summer’s day?” Jack stops and examines my face. “A Douglas Fir is green and soft, with an intense fragrance, it’s strong and beautiful. Just like you.” Jack grazes my nose with his index finger.

I sneeze. “All right, well, we better get a move on or rough winds are going to shake the needles off this tree and she is going to freeze.”

“Are you cold?” Jack inspects my coat. It’s my casual wool pea coat. It has just the right amount of warmth, I’ve never gotten into the idea of wearing a puffed parka jacket, I don’t want to look like a polar bear.

“A little, it’s probably like thirty-something degrees out here, and in the forest I’m sure it’s colder.”

Jack unzips his brown coat, drapes it over my shoulders and pulls me into a warm embrace. I’m heated all over as if I’ve walked into a sauna, the sounds of wood crackling are popping all around me.