Christmas was 2 weeks away and we had just moved into a new house, the one we had spent the past 5 months having built. It had been a stressful but very exciting time. A trip to Bud’s family gathering was planned for Christmas Day, some 50 people were expected for a sit-down dinner. Sister-in-law, Barb, delegated the menu. My assignment was CORN.

I am not a person who is happy to just heat cans of corn. It was Christmas, a special occasion, it needed to be special!

After a bit of a hunt, I found the moving box with recipe books and started looking. A corn casserole seemed to be the best option – something to serve many, could be baked ahead, and was easily transported. The perfect solution was Paula Deen’s Corn Casserole. Five ingredients stirred together, poured into a casserole dish and baked for an hour — Perfect!

Bud and I had a leisurely Christmas morning and planned to leave mid-afternoon for the festivities. After mixing up a double batch of the casserole, it went into the oven to bake while we got ready.

Emerging some time later, we were ready to go, just pack up the casserole and hit the road. I opened the oven door — the door of my brand new, never used oven — and smoke poured out. The corn casserole had boiled over and burned on the bottom of the oven! My oven was christened!

After clearing our smoke filled house, cleaning up the mess, and reassessing the condition of the casserole, we finished baking it and were ready to go. With only a slight smoky flavor, no one seemed to mind our Burnt Offering.