There I was, waist deep in laundry and folding John’s dad’s undies when John walked through the door today.

“Presents!!!” he yelled.

“For whom?”

“You!  –  who’s Joanne?”

My friend Joanne from What’s on the List asked for my address last week and thinking she was going to send me a Christmas card, never gave another thought about it.  Well, it WAS a card but there was a delightful gift inside.  She sent me a shortbread mold.

That’s wonderful but there’s a story behind it.  For the past two weeks I’ve been harping on and off about wanting a shortbread mold for Christmas.  The other day after a doctor’s appointment I stopped by the local op shop and walked around and around their kitcheny stuff looking for a mold.

When I got home I told John I was going to have to break down and buy a new one because I couldn’t find one on the cheap.  He rolls his eyes at me when I say stuff like this.  He would never think of going to an op shop for anything much less a kitchen tool or dish.

Then something else crossed my mind and shortbread was no longer the big issue.  John’s mother is moving up near us and he’s been making all the arrangements.  She’s got the big A and the whole family is stressing.

So imagine my excitement when I opened the package from Joanne and it was just what I wanted?  How spooky is that?  Seriously spooky.

I immediately wrote to her and asked if I had told her I’d been looking for one.  Joanne wrote back and said no but Lorraine from Not Quite Nigella was looking for one and when she found one at a good price she bought all they had.  …And I got one!

Okay, now Lorraine and the others are going to post their shortbread and it’s going to be gorgeous.  Mine on the other hand was a first-time fail.  I think I tried to de-pan it too soon and maybe the lavender made a difference.  I’ll give it another try tomorrow.

Thank you, Joanne, my shortbread mold will be used a lot and I’ll think of you every time.  The recipe I used was this Lavender Shortbread Recipe