Grandma’s Thunder Cake

My first grader is fortunate.  His Grandpa and Grandma Kocsis live close enough that they are going to join him in his class for the morning.  I am filled with a sense of love.  Then at the same time I have a sense of some sadness.  My parents (his Grandpa and Grandma Kissinger) don’t live close.  They don’t get to see each other often enough in my book and this Thanksgiving does not involve a road trip for our family.

The holidays can be hard.  When we are apart from family, those that we love, our parents, our children, our own spouses, whatever the case may be, it can leave us feeling a bit stormy, filled with raging emotions of joy and sorrow all balled up in one.

“In Thunder Cake, a grandmother helps her granddaughter overcome her fear of thunder by baking a special cake while a storm threatens.”  I have not read the book but in a nutshell… Grandma distracts her granddaughter, afraid of the impending storm, by taking the time to bake cake together.

Wow, this resonates with me.  It is so much easier to wallow when we are thinking about what or who we are missing.  Instead of wallowing why not pull the kids into the kitchen and bake. Talk about great memories, memories they want to make.  Talk about your own childhood memories and memories you want to make with them.  Lick the beaters together.  Laugh. No matter what you are baking it is the recipe for joy. Before you know it you’ll be “living in the moment” not thinking about what you are missing.

Without further ado here is the recipe for Thunder Cake.  It is downright delicious! (We didn’t lick too much of the beater, I promise.)  If you aren’t sure what to cook up with your family try this one.  You won’t regret it.  You will be helping your family get past the storm.  What joy!

Thunder Cake