Page 34 of His Christmas Star
“If we’re having a meeting, we might as well be comfortable!”
Heaven raised a brow at Dawn before she joined the line of women climbing into the sleigh. Amity and Dawn helped her in, and I followed, settling onto the cushy riding seat. “Perfect. The town is going to go full-on Christmas nostalgia when they see this.”
“I hope so,” Dawn said, rubbing her hands together. “From what we hear in town, everyone is turning out for this event. To that end, we may need to question whether we have enough room in the barn and …” Dawn directed her next sentence at Cece and Amity. “If we have enough food.”
“We’re already ahead of you,” Cece said.
“Did you and Caleb decide what food you want for the reception?” I asked, leaning back against the sleigh’s seat. It was a relief to be off my foot for a few minutes.
Cece tipped her head back and forth a couple of times until Amity patted her shoulder and motioned for her to speak. “So, hear me out.” We all nodded and waited for her to continue. “We don’t care what food is at the reception since it’s less of a reception and more of a party, right?”
“But that’s the point,” I said. “It’s your party, so you get to pick the food.”
“I don’t think I’m explaining this well,” she said with laughter, and Amity held out her hand.
“What she means is, they want the food to be something everyone will enjoy, so neither she nor Caleb have specific wants other than one.”
“Name it,” Heaven said, “we’ll make it happen.”
“I want a special cake.”
“Done,” Heaven said. “Whatever you want. Do you have time to make one?”
“No,” Cece said, biting her lip. “That’s the problem. But Caleb and I will pay for the cake.”
“You’ll do no such thing,” Heaven said, sitting up straight. “You’ll order your cake from the bakery, and Bison Ridge will pay for it. Will there be enough for the guests as well?”
“We can attempt it,” Amity said. “Our thought was to order a small tiered wedding cake and then full sheet cakes cut and ready to serve for the community. We’ll also order Christmas cookies and goodies for those who don’t want cake, which will spread out the dessert options and require less cake overall.”
“I like it,” I said, nodding. “Maybe you could ask the bakery to do a swirl of strawberry through each sheet cake, so when it’s cut, it’s festive? I think the kids would love that.”
“Well, now, look at you,” Amity said, her laughter ringing through the beams of the barn. “The Grinch’s heart grew two sizes today.”
The peals of laughter drowned out my sarcastic huff, and I waited for them to get themselves together before I spoke. “Very funny,” I said, sticking my tongue out at Amity.
“I like that idea,” Cece said. “White icing with a bit of holly on each piece and strawberry cake swirled through vanilla. I’m going to ask for the same for our tiered cake. Poppy Rose will love it!”
I motioned at her. “Point made.”
Heaven chuckled, but she had her notepad out and was taking notes. “You still haven’t told us what’s on the menu. Whether you care or not, we need food for the people.”
“Oh, sorry, right!” Cece said, still laughing. “We’re going to do bison chili and bison vegetable soup, ham and turkey sandwiches on Texas rolls, chips, and dessert.”
“I like it,” Heaven said with a head nod. “All things you can make ahead of time and then not worry about having to make at the dance.”
“Exactly,” Amity said. “We have kids from the Family and Consumer Education Class who are going to man the buffet style set up with the food, and another group who will serve pizza to the kids in the kids’ room area.”
“How are you going to bake pizzas?” Dawn nervously asked. “We don’t want anything hot around the kids.”
“That’s my concern too,” Amity said. “I’ve been trying to figure out a way to make enough pizza in the bunkhouse at Bison Ridge, but it’s not set up for it like the one at Heavenly Lane. We just wanted something simple that the kids would like but would keep them out of the buffet area where they might get burned.”
“What about chicken nuggets and stuffed tater tots?” I asked. My question resulted in four heads swiveling toward me. “It was just a suggestion.” I held up my hands in my defense. “I was thinking you can make a lot of chicken nuggets and tots, keep them hot in catering chafers, and feed a lot of kids fast when you’re ready.”
“She’s right,” Amity agreed. “And we only have to cater to the ten and under crowd, so they’d love it. We could keep the hot food just outside the tack room to keep kids from accidentally touching it, and that makes it easy to refill as needed for the FACE kids as well.”
“Let’s do it,” Heaven said. “I feel better about that than pizza, both for ease and safety.”
“Done,” Cece said, making a note. “I’ll call my distributor today and make an order. I’m also getting gluten-free options as well. I don’t want to leave kids out. Everything on the adult buffet will be gluten-free or have gluten-free options.”
