As a baker, you deal with multiple deadlines, whether it’s to make a wedding cake or make 20 dozen donuts for a birthday party for tomorrow. There’s a lot of pressure and feelings of urgency to deal with. However, there was a time where those feelings disappeared despite it being the busiest time of the year, Christmas, which inadvertently became my proudest moment as a baker.

The day before Christmas Eve in 2019 was an incredibly busy day for me. It was the longest workday of the year, as I was working over 12 hours that day. It was the evening and the bakery was closed for the day. Most of the staff had already clocked out with the exception of myself and Century Bakery owners Barb and Wayne Ernst. There was still much more to do to prepare for Christmas as there were still many pies to be baked, inventory to be sorted, sticky buns to be prepped, and orders to be packed. It was a huge task for the three of us to take on ourselves. But we were not alone.

The kids of the Ernst family visited for the holidays and were around to help. Their two sons, daughter, and their daughter’s husband. It was family tradition. I was getting ready to sort out inventory when my boss Wayne approached me and handed off a big task. He wanted me to oversee all areas of production. That meant explaining their task and how to do it and checking up on everything, while I also sorted through all of our fridge, freezer, and ingredient inventory. He even said if there was anything I wanted HIM to work on, to assign it to him. I agreed, but then I started to think.

Not only did I have to sort through our biggest inventory of the year, I also had to check on the Ernst family and assign tasks to the boss himself! Wayne didn’t need assistance and Ernst kids were already familiar with the tasks given, but they only do it once a year so they needed a refresher and I had to check to see if they needed any help. On the inside, I was starting to get worried. I wasn’t sure if I could do it. There was a lot that needed to be done.

But I had to try.

And then the gears started turning in my head. I don’t know where these thoughts came from but it’s like I instinctively knew what to do. I had thought of a plan to make sure everyone was set up for success and for all areas of production to be running smoothly. To the best of my ability, I explained and showed everyone what they needed to do. Periodically, I would pause my own tasks and check up on everyone. To my delight, everyone worked on their tasks without any assistance! Regardless, I kept checking up on everyone until all tasks were completed.

I had a huge sense of accomplishment that night and I was amazed by how smoothly everything was running. It could not have been a better night and we managed to fulfill all tasks in time for our Christmas Eve bakery day. Everyone did excellent and I was happy with how I handled all managerial duties that night. I surpassed my own expectations and was a very proud person that day. Even with a huge backlog on our hands, everything went incredibly well.

It was bliss. Everything felt right. The perfect ending for our night.