“Yes. We’re all having dinner together.”
“Unless you two are too tired,” Doc added quickly.
“Not at all,” Hannah reassured them. “Ross? You’re not too tired to have dinner with everyone, are you?”
“No. And I’m getting a little hungry.”
“Then we’ll eat just as soon as you see the rest of the condo, and everyone else gets here,” Delores decided for all of them. She turned to Andrea and Michelle. “You girls set the table and Doc and I will show Hannah and Ross everything else.”
“Wait,” Hannah said, glancing down at the beautiful carpeting again and noticing that it appeared to stretch all the way down the hallway. “Did you carpet the whole condo?”
“Everything except the kitchen and the bathrooms,” Andrea told her. “I had them stretch it nice and tight so that Moishe can’t hide anything under the carpet anymore.”
“That’s good,” Hannah said, remembering the old green carpeting that had come with the condo when she’d purchased it. Moishe had torn it loose in several places so that he could hide his toy mice in a nice, safe place to retrieve for later enjoyment.
“Wait until you see the master bedroom,” Doc said, slipping his arm around Delores’s waist. “Your mother picked out the bedroom set, but I put my foot down when she wanted to give you a delft blue bedroom with puffy white curtains and French Provincial furniture.”
“That furniture was beautiful and you know it!” Delores contradicted her husband. She attempted to glare at him, but her lips turned up in a tiny smile that let everyone know she was teasing. She turned back to Hannah and Ross. “You two should be very grateful to me.”
“Why is that, Mother?” Hannah asked, noticing that her mother looked even more amused.
“My dear husband wanted you to have a bed made out of logs with grizzly bears carved on the bed posts. They looked like they were ready to tear someone into little pieces and I just knew you’d have nightmares every night if you had to sleep in that bed!”
“Come on, Lori,” Doc Knight gave her arm a pat. “It wasn’t as bad as you’re describing it. The whole bedroom set was designed by a renowned chainsaw artist! It had acorns for knobs on the dresser drawers, squirrels chasing each other on the mirror frame, and that bed was unique, not another one like it. It was one of a kind.”
“I heard the salesman tell you that, but one of a kind doesn’t mean it’s good. It just means the man with the chainsaw didn’t think he could sell more than one of them!”
Doc laughed and put his arm around Delores again. “You could be right, dear. Those bears were a bit menacing.” Then he turned back to Hannah and Ross. “We compromised and went for a Mediterranean look. Your mother saved you from marauding bears and I saved you from spindly chairs and gilt-edged curlicues.”
“Not to mention the horrors of the French Revolution,” Hannah said, getting into the spirit of things. It really was good to see her family again and the wedding gift they’d given her was truly amazing. It was almost too much to take in all at once, but she knew she’d have plenty of time to appreciate each and every thoughtful touch they’d made in the days to come. And tonight, after everyone had left, they’d sleep in a new bed, in a new bedroom, to start their new life in Lake Eden together.
SPUMONI WHIPPERSNAPPER COOKIES
DO NOT preheat oven yet. This dough has to chill.
1 box (approximately 18 ounces) white cake mix, the kind that makes a 9-inch by 13-inch cake (I used Duncan Hines Classic White)
1 package Instant Pistachio pudding mix (I used Jell-O, the kind that makes 4 half-cup servings)
1 large egg, beaten (just whip it up in a glass with a fork) several drops of green food coloring, if desired 2 and ? cups of thawed Cool Whip (measure this— a tub of Cool Whip contains a little over 3 cups and that’s too much!)
? cup chopped pistachio nut meats (measure after chopping)
? cup chopped dried cherries (I used Mariani brand)
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? cup powdered (confectioner’s) sugar small jar of red maraschino cherries, cut in half vertically and without stems
Hannah’s 1st Note: Notice that the measurement for the Cool Whip is different in this whippersnapper recipe. That’s because of the added dry pudding mix. It’s 2 and a HALF cups of thawed Cool Whip.
Hannah’s 2nd Note: If you can’t find pistachio nut meats, don’t bother cracking all those pistachios. Just use chopped pecans, walnuts, or almonds instead. The taste will be different, but it will be good.
Hannah’s 3rd Note: If you can’t find dried cherries, you can use cherry-flavored Craisins instead.
Pour the dry white cake mix into a large bowl.
Add the dry pistachio instant pudding mix. Mix until the dry ingredients are well combined. (I used a fork to do this.)
Use a smaller bowl to mix the two and a HALF cups of Cool Whip with the beaten egg. Add the green food coloring, if desired. Mix until everything is combined, but don’t overmix.
Fold in the chopped dried cherries and the chopped nuts. Mix well, but very gently.
Add the Cool Whip mixture to the cake and pudding mixture in the large bowl. STIR VERY CAREFULLY with a wooden spoon or a rubber spatula. Stir only until everything is combined. You don’t want to mix all the air out of the Cool Whip.
Cover your bowl of dough and place it in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. This will make it less sticky. If you try to form the cookie dough balls right now, they’ll stick to your fingers and be very difficult to roll.
Hannah’s 4th Note: Andrea said she sometimes mixes whippersnapper dough before she goes to bed on Friday night, sticks it in the refrigerator, and bakes her cookies with Tracey on Saturday morning.