So, the reason I needed that Winter Blueberry Mulled Wine Pie that I posted about last week was because, for the longest time, a close group of friends and I had been planning a Christmas Pie & PJs swap!
The idea came mid-November when we were chatting in our she-food group text thread (side note: we have affectionately dubbed our group “she-food” because we are a group of lady friends who, originally, started getting together semi-regularly to make elaborate potluck-style dinners of shrimp and other delicious seafoods to celebrate our deep love of this particular cuisine that our spouses/partners either didn’t like or were allergic to; we called these multi-hour dinner affairs “fish & dish” because that’s pretty much what we did – eat fishy foods, dish on all the latest topics to talk about and catch up on, and drink cocktails. Since the pandemic began almost a year ago, and even before then, the group evolved into a strong and tight-knit support system for us all – we keep each other sane, supported, social, and feeling special, whether it’s everyday things or big life events. In our new pandemic world, she-food seafood suppers have been put on hold, but we keep up virtually and with the occasional socially distant and masked outdoor bonfire with cheeseburgers galore). I think we were all craving some comfort that day, and the idea came up that we should do a Secret Santa swap of the two most comforting and cozy winter treats: pie and pajamas.
We got all excited, used a website created just for this type of thing to enter in our personal details (food allergies, sizes, style preferences, address, etc.) and to draw names secretively. Then we each found the perfect pair of pajamas for our person and thought of a pie that they’d love. Our plan was to porch-drop our goodies to each other a few days before Christmas. Alas, the best laid plans, right? Well, the US postal system had something to say about that plan (understandably; the world is a wild frontier these days with a lot different factors complicating shipping times – from holidays to Covid to political sabotage of the postal system). For several people, the pajamas ordered in November still hadn’t arrived by Christmas. One pajama item spent about 6 weeks vacationing in Iowa, according to tracking – which is more vacation than any of us have seen this year, by far.
And so we pushed back the date to “sometime in early January.” And then Covid struck down one of our she-food members who is a nurse, along with her family, and by the time she was recovered and her quarantine period was up and then her kids’ quarantine period was up, it was already late January. And so our Christmas Pie & PJs swap became a Midwinter Pie & PJs swap, which was honestly delightful and very much welcome during a bitterly cold, snowy, and gloomy month of the year.
But on the last Saturday in January, with much giddy excitement, we all ventured out to our person’s house between 1-3pm to leave a pie and wrapped PJs on their porch, and we all promised not to be by our windows or to look at our doorbell cameras if we were home during those hours so it would stay a surprise. And that night after everyone’s little ones were tucked away in bed, we all hopped on Zoom, showed off our delectable pies (and also ate them straight from the tins with zero regard for cutting slices or intention to share with our partners), unwrapped our jammies, laughed and ohh’d and ahh’d, took one guess at who we thought our gifter was and why, and then revealed ourselves to our Secret Santa. We stayed on long after the reveals were made, eating pie and drinking cocktails and talking for hours. It was such a fun evening and a real bright spot of the past several months – knowing we’d all picked something special for each other and keeping it a secret all that time.
Here’s what we all got:
I have worn my jammies constantly – they are so cozy and warm, and I love onesies and buffalo plaid. And that pie did not last long….turns out Ted liked my coconut-pineapple custard “Dang Good Pie” (from a rural east Texas church community cookbook circa 1950s – right up my alley!) just as much as I did. Fortunately, my Secret Santa shared the recipe, so I’ll make it for us sometime this summer. And I had a downright joyful time picking out the most plush, most Lisa Frank-esque from our 90s childhood cat jammies I could possibly find for my giftee (they were a raging success!), to go with her winter blueberry mulled wine pie.
And so that’s why I needed an awesome pie, and we already can’t wait until next year. Someone suggested swapping Mexican food and beachy Mumus, and I, for one, am totally on board.
