I want to post about how to get to know your neighbors on Christmas... Run out of flour.
My friend's husband suggested making Christmas pizza for Christmas dinner, to which I sort of smirked, but apparently my friend's homemade pizza is special pizza. She made ginger snap cookies yesterday, and I made banana bread with the 5 bananas that had gone downhill before we could eat them, and there were hopes of oatmeal-cranberry-raisin cookies. And homemade pizza dough!
But alas, none of that would be possible without flour! We scoured the cabinets to no avail. My friend was beating herself up for thinking she had more, but I said, "Hey, that's what neighbors are for!" Nobody turns down a door-to-door smiling person with an empty ziplock bag on Christmas! And I even had some extra champagne to use to barter.
I went to the first door and was greeted by a fluffy tailed orange cat and a guy who was a journalism student home from school. He needed some flour for some popovers he was making (I don't even know what those are!), but I got a cup from him. He said they didn't drink alcohol. I said I'm sorry, I also believe that Jesus turned the water into grape juice for that first miracle. ;)
We still needed more flour. I tried another door. No answer. Then I went to another house (thankfully my friend lives in a rowhouse complex). There was "Take These Broken Wings" blaring from inside. A very broad man with a bald head opened the door. He said he was cleaning. I proposed my barter- flour for champagne- and he said he'd love to give me flour and he liked champagne! I got a whole 2 lb bag!
So now I have met my friend's neighbors who she didn't know before. It was really nice for these strangers to open their door and invite me in, especially since I was taking flour handouts. It showed me another side of not being able to be entirely self-sufficient all the time- it creates opportunities to get to know the people around you.
Last year during the big snow storm I had to borrow a snow shovel from the house directly next door to the house I grew up in. I think my family has lived by those people for probably at least 15 years. They didn't know who I was. I said, "I live next door." They said, "Which house?" I said, "Uh, directly next door." That was sad.
How fun would it be to pick a cookie recipe, and intentionally NOT go to the store? You could do something like oatmeal raisin or chocolate chip. You could go around door to door like a scavenger hunt, asking people if they have different ingredients, but without telling them you're really just trying to get to know neighbors. I think it'd be fun. But then again I LOVE strangers!
I guess I don't have any deep new insight for you for Christmas, except for the fact that there are actually people who live in those apartments and houses next to you. And back in the day people used to know their neighbors, and do stuff with them, and even let them watch their kids. So maybe, for a new New Year's resolution or something you could try to meet just one or two!
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