Eat Drink and Be Scary!

Holiday – a day fixed by law or custom on which ordinary business is suspended in commemoration of some event or in honor of some person.

Some holidays. Like Christmas and Hanukkah are religious/spiritual, while others like Mothers' Day and Fathers' day are sentimental. Holidays like Memorial Day and Labor Day honor a specific group of people and Halloween, well Halloween is just plain FUN.

Okay, so it does have spiritual roots but for most of us it's simply a day to cut loose and have fun. Witches and goblins, black cats and pumpkins have lost their original significance and have become whimsical decorations.

In many communities schools or civic organizations sponsor Trick or Treating events where children can come together in a safe environment to have fun with rag shag parades, prizes, movies, lots of candy and other treats.

Even the family pets are getting in on the fun. Veterinarians and pet day care centers have parties and hold contests for the best Halloween costumes – dog and cat categories.

More and more adults are getting into the spirit (no pun intended) too. Costume parties are common with all sorts of themed foods and drinks like Black Cat Canapes and Candy Corn Jell-O Shots.

One of my favorite Halloween treats is Black Magic Cake.  Most recipes call for instant coffee but I sort of like it better with coffee flavor liqueur.  

Houses and streets are decorated in anticipation of kids out trick or treating.   Laconia, NH is hosting a huge pumpkin festival where they will try to break their record  of 10,000 lighted Jack-O-Lanterns and pumpkin carving has become an art form.

We don't have kids and don't live in an area with lots of kids so Halloween isn't so much about trick or treat but is more about the beginning of the Holiday Season... my favorite time of year. Halloween leads to Thanksgiving and I love Thanksgiving because, to me, it's all about family.

Thanksgiving leads to Christmas and Christmas is about Peace, Love and Friendship.  What's not to love?

So, I am looking forward to Halloween and all of the wonderful holidays that follow.
Happy Halloween,
Marie

P.S.  Check out our new website at www.laurelmtbasket.com 

What's So Special About October 15th?

At Laurel Mountain Basket Co we pay close attention to traditional Holidays. After all, supplying gifts is pretty much the business we re in.

I've always loved holidays and enjoy finding gifts for people. It's October already and I was just thinking that I am way behind on my Holiday shopping. Really, I don't usually stress around the Holidays because when I see something I think would make a great gift for someone, I pick it up and keep it in my “gift chest”.  This year the gift chest is only half full.

Unfortunately, I'm finding that more and more people don't enjoy holidays. I was saddened a couple of Christmases ago when a tradesman I do business with refused to accept a token gift I brought him. He said he didn't like the idea of HAVING to give a gift and that people have forgotten the Reason for the Season.

I didn't offer the gift because I had to. I offered it because I love giving gifts to people I value and I like that there are special days like Christmas and Birthdays set aside for celebrating and giving gifts. I do see his point though. 

Take Valentine's Day for example.  I wonder how many husbands really give their wives luxury cars and expensive jewelry on Valentine's Day. There was a time when I thought I was the only wife in history that didn't get a Lexus or BMW or February 14^th.

Once upon a time, back in the Stone Age when we sent our newsletters out via USPS, we had a column dedicated to weird Holidays. I have decided to resurrect that practice using our Facebook page. For example, did you know that February 5th is Bubble Gum day or that May 15^th is National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day? Now there's a holiday I can get behind! Think about what fun it would be if you brought a big place of home baked chocolate chip cookies in to work on May 15^th to celebrate! Spreading joy around the office sounds like a good idea to me!

So if you think life would be a little more fun if you had something to celebrate every day. “Like” our Facebook page and we will do our best to keep you in the know.

In case you are wondering, October 15^th is National Grouch Day.

Happy holidays,

Marie

P.S. Check out our new website at www.laurelmtbasket.com

The Cookie Monster

Did you know that the average American will eat 35,000 cookies in their lifetime and that Chip Ahoy! Is ranked number one in store bought cookies?

I'm not surprised that a chocolate chip cookie ranked number one since chocolate chip cookies have been around since 1930 when Ruth Wakefield baked her first Tool House cookie. Ruth and her husband owned the Toll  House Inn, so named because the structure, built in 1790, served as the toll house between Boston and New Bedford.

Toll house were where travelers paid their tolls, rested or changed their horses and got a home cooked meal. In the tradition of the earlier toll house, Ruth cooked and baked for her guests. One day, while making Butter Drop Do cookies, a recipe that dates back to Colonial days, Ruth decided to cut up a bar of Nestles semi sweet chocolate into little bits and add it to her cookie dough.

The chocolate did not melt like she thought it would. It only softened and held its shape. The cookie was a huge success and her recipe was published in the Boston paper.

Ruth was approached by Nestles and they eventually came to an agreement. The company could print the recipe on the wrapper for their bars and Ruth would be supplied with chocolate for the rest of her life!

Samoas, Trefoils, Do-si-dos and Thin mints If you recognize these cookies, you've provably bought a package or two from a Girl Scout. The first Girl Scout cookies were baked at home with moms volunteering as technical advisers. It was a way for the Mistletoe Troop of Muskogee, OK to finance troop activities. Being true entrepreneurs, the troop sold their home baked cookies in the school cafeteria. That 1917 troop project went national and today the Girl Scouts sell about 200 million boxes of cookies a year. Amazing what a couple of million girls can accomplish.

Oreos (ranked #8) used to be my favorite cookie until I tasted Brent and Sam's Triple Chocolate Bliss. Okay, so it's not “technically” a store bought cookies but you can buy them on Amazon and we used them and other Brent and Sam varieties in many of our gift baskets.

What is your favorite store bought cookie and which Girl Scout cookie do you buy and keep for yourself?

Marie

P.S.  You can see lots of our gift basket designs by visiting the Laurel Mountain Basket Co website.

When Words Are Not Enough

What do you say to a parent who has lost a child. Even if that child is an adult it is a devastating loss. How can words comfort a brother or sister who lost a best friend or a wife who was looking forward to enjoying a quieter life with her spouse without the strain of jobs and children? And the children. What on earth do you say to the children who have lost a parent?

Our neighbor passed away earlier this week. We haven't lived in the area long but had gotten to know Ron and Cindy a little. Ron had been fighting his battle with Cancer since we fist met him but he always had a good word and smile no matter how poorly he was feeling on any given day.

As I sat down to write Cindy a note I realized, yet again, that I didn't know what to say.

At Laurel Mountain Basket Company making and delivering sympathy gift baskets is a big part of our business. Often the sender will ask us for suggestions as to what to write on the care. “Thinking of you during this difficult time”, Keeping you and your family in our thoughts and prayers” or “With deepest sympathies” have always seemed appropriate but this time, they didn't work.

I think it was because I was too close to the situation and was forgetting what condolence wishes are all about.

1. They are not about you, not about how you feel. They are not even about the person who has passed. Messages of sympathy are about the ones who are left behind.

2. Messages of sympathy are not about “fixing it”. There is nothing you can do or say that is going to take the pay and grief away. Time will change things but it is NOT your place to point that out.

3. Actions speak louder than words so if you are in a position to help, here are a few things you can do.

4. Remember that everyone grieves differently. Let them know you are there if they want to talk or if they would like your help but don't push or hover. Respect their need to grieve in their own way.

5. Offer to run errands or do chores like picking up people at the airport, baby sitting, cutting the grass, or picking up some groceries.

6. If you are not in a position to personally help out, send prepared meals or a gift basked filled with fruit or other easy to eat foods.

7. Don't question them about the details of the death.

Sympathy may be one of the most difficult emotions to convey and there is not easy way to approach someone who has just suffered a significant loss. Offer what you can whether it is an ear to listen with or a shoulder to lean on. It will be the right thing.

Marie

P.S. For more information or to view some of our recent designs, check out laurelmtbasket.com or call us at 413-527-1243

What If....

When I was six years old I wanted to be a cowgirl, just like Dale Evans or a pioneer like Daniel Boone.

The other day we were watching one of the Jason Bourne movies and I thought being a spy might be very cool profession.

I go to the gym 4 or 5 times a week so I'm sure I could jump from roof top to roof top and swing from bell ropes and utility wires easy enough. I've had my driver's license since I was 16 and only have had one fender bender (the time I backed into my husband's tuck while it was parked in the yard) so I'm sure I could drive 100 mph through foreign streets during the running of the bulls and not pile up.

I haven't field a gun in years but I'm sure I could handle any of the new fancy firearms available today (as long as someone disengaged the safety for me).

Other than sneaking into dark places to photograph secret documents (I get jumpy walking to my car in a parking lot at night), the only problem I see that would prevent me from being a first class spy would be remembering which name I was using on any given day.

In a lot of spy movies the spy has a bunch of passports all in different names. I have been Mrs. Lisewski for almost 40 years and the receptionist in the dentist office still has to call my name three times before I realize she is talking to me.

Come to think of it, I probably don't have the skills or temperament to be a very good spy. Gift basket designer is a much more suitable career choice for me. In fact, I love what I do and I am very good at it so gift basket designer is definitely the perfect career choice for me.

How about you? What would be your fantasy career?

Marie

P.S. Check out some of my custom designs at laurelmtbasket.com and see if you don't agree that gift basket designer is the right choice for me. 

Opportunities In Disguise

While unpacking a distributors order, I noticed that a carton of cookies was crushed on one end and several of the individual boxes were damaged. That wasn't a big deal because I knew my distributor would credit me for the damaged goods (which they did). The problem was that I had a dozen boxes of cookies that I couldn't use in my gift baskets.

I like almost any cookie. I've been known to buy a package of Oreos out of a vending machine on occasion but Brent & Sam's chocolate chip cookies are in a league of their own. They are to die for. So you can see my dilemma. A dozen boxes of my favorite cookies that I can't use, what to do?

As difficult as it was, I chose not to eat all of those delicious cookies myself but I did need to get them out of my sight as quickly as possible. I gave a couple of boxes to my mother, another couple to my husband, who loves to taste test our products, and the rest I dropped off to clients around town. Okay, I did save two for myself but they were small boxes.

The wonderful thing about Brent & Sam's chocolate chip cookies is that they are all about the chocolate chips. My husband couldn't believe the number and size of the chocolate chips in each cookie. The cookies are made from scratch with no added preservatives. Everyone who received a box commented on how delicious they are.

My mom and husband both wanted more….. I created two cookie monsters! I bet my clients were tempted but since they aren't related, they probably felt it would be inappropriate to take advantage of our relationship.

My point, I do have a point, is that not all cookies, coffees, or chocolates are created equal and at Laurel Mountain Basket Company we choose our products very carefully. Not that we don't use Oreos and Pringles. They are practically a staple in our College Survival Kits, but our gourmet gift baskets are filled with wonderfully delicious, quality treats.

When we create a gift basket for you, you can be assured that it will

It doesn't happen often but occasionally we are forced to make sacrifices for our craft, like having to eat a couple of boxes of the best chocolate chip cookies anywhere. (They really were small boxes.)

Marie

P.S.  See lots more Laurel Mountain Basket Company designs at laurelmtbbasket.com  

What Dad Really Wants

After many years of being a daughter and many years of being a wife, I finally figured out the perfect Father's Day gift,

Looking back, I feel bad for my Dad. He's been gone now for 40 years but the poor man got a tie and a bottle of Old Spice Aftershave just about every year for Father's Day. He was a mechanic most of his life and wore a green shirt and green pants to work six days a week. But every year my Dad got a tie and aftershave from his girls and a new shirt from my Mom. I guess it was Mom's way of making sure he looked presentable for Sunday morning Mass.

Although Father's Day was started by Sonora Smart Dodd to honor her father, Civil War Veteran and widower William Jackson Smart, who raised six children as a dingle parent, Father's Day has grown to include all men who love and support their families.

When it came to buying a Father's Day gift for my husband, I thought I'd be smart and just ask him what he would like. That didn't quite work out the way I thought it would. There was no way our budget would cover a new truck or a two week deep sea fishing trip to some place warm. Yup, he got shirts and ties until the year I discovered what all men like.

Food. Add a good adventure flick to to mix and you have the perfect guy gift.

Going to brunch is Vic's favorite Father's Day gifts and this year we might add one of these other great guy gifts to the mix.

1. Book a tee time at the local golf course. You could make it a family affair or not. For those with young children, miniature golf is lots of fun too.

2. Take him out to a ball game. Can't swing Red Sox tickets? There are some really good minor league teams like the Blue Sox in Holyoke, Mass or the Fisher Cats in Manchester, NH. You can take the whole family to one of their games and not bust the budget.

3. Go bowling or fishing. Both are fun activities that children can enjoy. Pizza goes great with bowling and a picnic goes perfectly with fishing.

4. Take a bike ride or a hike. Hiking with the dogs is one of our favorite family activities and living in Northern NH means we'll never run out of fantastic trails.

5. Go to the Movies. Taking in a matinee and stopping for ice cream on the way home brings us back to the gifts that men love…. Food and a movie. You can't go wrong.

However you choose to celebrate Father's Day this year, we wish you the best.

Marie

P.S. If you can't be with your Dad this Father's Day, a gift basket from Laurel Mountain Basket Co is the next best thing.  laurelmtbasket.com