The Grandmas Have An Open House At Marleewood

 Grandma Lu and Grandma B were busy busy at Marleewood. They had invited a lot of friends to come to their open house to celebrate the upcoming holidays. Grandma Lu had been really closed mouthed about her Dude Ranch series that she was writing. B would question her every once in awhile about this or that, and she would always change the subject. Once she put K.R. in jail in her stories, the conversation changed to Josh and Allie and what was going to happen to the dude ranch. There was always the question whether Josh was going to leave town etc. Grandma Lu wasn't talking.

 Grandma B thought she saw her chance to get the inside scoop on the mystery while they were cooking. They decided to not actually cook, but to have finger foods, cookies, bars, and cold and hot drinks. Something simple, but festive and best of all people could come when they could. Grandma Lu loved having open houses. She found that she could visit with folks longer than if everyone came at the same time. She was so excited. Grandma B was a really good cook, but Grandma Lu held her own. She was going to show her friend how to make sandwiches like her mother did for her lady's club when she was the hostess. Aww, those ribbon sandwiches were so good and beautiful too. She grinned to herself, "It's really going to get to her when I tell her that I am going to make the coffee. She's a coffee connoisseur, but I will bet money that she will like my coffee better than hers. I should call Darrell and tell him what I'm doing. He will get a kick out of it. First thing I have to do is get my big old blue coffee pot out of the closet. I haven't used it in years, so it will need washed up. This should be fun."

Grandma B was in the back kitchen making and baking the sweets for the open house. "I love Grandma Lu, but she just should stick with making sandwiches and getting some cold drinks stocked and in the fridge. I've got the handle on the goodies here. I'm going to set the timer for 13 minutes. That's the exact time for these cookies that are my specialty. There, now I'm off to see what Grandma Lu is doing. Maybe she will tell me what Mike had in the envelope for Allie," she chuckled. "Probably not a chance."

Grandma Lu had gotten the old coffee pot all washed and was ready to mix the eggs into the coffee grounds when her friend peeked around the corner and said, "What are you doing? Oh my gosh, girl. You are making a mess that's for sure. What happened did you accidentally drop an egg in the coffee grounds? I'll make the coffee. You don't have to mess with it. In fact I have a pot going in the back kitchen." She looked at the counter and said, "What in the world is this? What are you doing with an electric knife? I thought you were making sandwiches for the party. Oh dear, I guess, I'll have to help you with this. What is Deviled Ham? You must have a dozen dishes with stuff in them. I thought we were going to do simple. This is definitely not simple. A crystal punch bowl? Oh my goodness. Where do I even start."

Grandma Lu laughed and said, "Oh silly girl. Remember you said once when you, Joann and I went to lunch we were the three decade girls? Well, in the 50's this is how my mother served her friends when it was her turn. No one ever stepped foot in the kitchen when you had company. If they did they always found it clean as a whistle. Now you just never mind. I have invited Meta to come and help me. She knows all about this too. Don't you have some cookies and brownies to make? I'll take care of everything here." 

About that time Meta came in the back door and said, "Hey there! Is something on fire! There is smoke coming out the back kitchen window."

"Oh no, my cookies! They are probably burnt to a crisp. Oh Meta, will you grab a fire extinguisher just in case? They are probably just black as coal. Hopefully nothing caught on fire.  Lawd! Just look at this mess. I'm going to have two messes to clean up now. It's okay, Meta. You can put it away. I will need some help putting fresh cookie dough on some new cookie sheets, though. Do you mind helping? Everything will be fine. There are extra cookie sheets in the pantry on the bottom shelf. There is a pie plate on top of them. That Grandma Lu why would she do that? But I know it was her because I keep things orderly. My old friend, not so much." She had a small smile on her face as she started cleaning and getting the windows open. "Burnt cookie smell is not what I wanted for my party," she grumbled.

Meta went to get the cookie sheets and there was a glass pie plate on top of the cookie sheets just like Bonnie said. She smiled, thinking of her old friend. For some reason the bottom cookie sheet was stuck. She gave it a good yank and a book fell on the floor. "Bonnie, come quick. Look what I found. You just are never going to believe it. Grandma Lu has hidden her journal with all the notes in it for her stories. Why would she do that? Do you want to look to see how the dude ranch story ends? Maybe it's in here. Here is the Enchanted Forest notes, and I see the pirate series notes. That was a good one wasn't it? Oh, Bonnie, remember the series she wrote about Marlee prospecting for gold? All the ice cream melted. That was a mess too, she laughed. Oh look! Propunzel. Marlee and she wrote that together. It was such fun. Marlee was just the perfect age to imagine Prince Charming. Well, maybe we shouldn't look. It would be almost like sneaking a peek at a Christmas present before Christmas. Really? You want to? There are people coming I hear them out in the sitting room. We'd better not." We have to get something for them to eat and some drinks out there. Do you want me to run home and get some cookies? I think I have some. Well, okay. People love Grandma Lu. They will just give her a hug and forget about it."

The two ladies walked into the sitting room and there were long tables set up for the holidays. There sat the crystal punch bowl with a frozen ice ring with fruit in it. How beautiful. There were cut glass plates filled with dainty little sandwiches adorned with cream cheese frosting and olives and little flowers on the side.

 On the other wall was a table with a coffee service and crystal cups for the ladies, and big old coffee mugs for the guys or for those that wanted a full cup of coffee. The plates were filled with He-Man size sandwiches of ham and cheese and roast beef. The best part that made both ladies smile was the children's tables. Each table had four chairs and paper plates. There were baskets of chips and coolers with boxes of juice. Grandma Lu had made them sandwiches out of silver dollar buns and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and cupcakes!"

Then the ladies heard their dear friend say, "Thank you so much, Darrell. I don't know what I would have done without you. I'm sure Santa will be extra good to you this Christmas." Darrell looked down and grinned and said, "Looks like we have company, Grandma Lu. What is your name young lady?" The little girl grinned and said, "I'm Paisley. I'm Marlee's friend." Marlee said, "Yes she is. She goes to my school. She wants to know if she can be in your stories, Grandma Lu. Can she?"  Grandma Lu smiled and said, " Absolutely. Have you ever been on a ranch or ridden a horse or would like to? That's what I'm writing about now." Paisley said, "Yay! Is Marlee going to be in the story too?" Grandma Lu said, "Of course, she is. I'll let you know when, okay?" The girls giggled and ran off to play. "I just love writing stories and little children. It's such fun to be able to put both things together. Have you tried one of my pretty little ribbon sandwiches? No? She laughed out loud and pointed to the big platter of the big ham sandwiches. Go help yourself. You have earned it."

Bonnie and Meta looked at each other and Bonnie said, "Quick, go put her notebook back in the pantry. I'm not going to ruin her day" Meta agreed and quickly put the journal back where she had found it, and barely rescued another cookie sheet of fresh chocolate chip cookies that were in the oven. They were perfect. She cut some brownies and put them on a pretty serving plate. When she got back to the sitting room she heard people say, "That is the best coffee I have ever tasted! Where did you get this coffee?" Grandma Lu's eyes sparkled and said, "My mother made egg coffee for her lady friends. I'm so glad you like it. Yes eggs. Have a ribbon sandwich, Bonnie. Hope you like them. There's a little devil in each one," she laughed. 

Grandma Lu watched Meta hurry out to the kitchen with her book of notes. "Gotcha, my friend. I just knew Grandma B would want to look, so I put that there on purpose. If they did, I planted the wrong notes in with the Dude Ranch series.  I slipped some from the missing doll mystery. That will get them so mixed up they will think Allie is going to Branson to the Doll Museum. Oh what a fun day this is. I love cooking, company, and children. Oh and a good prank once in awhile."

Happy Thanksgiving everyone from all of our friends at Marleewood!