CHIMACUM — In the midst of Christmas dinner, Anita Schmucker got misty.

“I can’t see! My glasses are fogged up,” the masked cook told her fellow volunteers in the warm kitchen. She’d just taken an extra-large pan of scalloped potatoes out of the oven.

Her fellow volunteers calmly guided the spuds onto the assembly line as Schmucker’s lenses cleared. Then it was on with the show.

“We have carrots, green beans, potatoes, ham, rolls, cookies and lots of smiles,” said Schmucker, a longtime orchestrator of lavish holiday meals at the Tri-Area Community Center.

The center normally has a sit-down dinner on Christmas and Thanksgiving — free with donations accepted — but this season switched to a to-go system, with volunteers taking orders on one side of the parking lot and delivering meals on the other side.

“We didn’t get very many reservations, but we cooked for 300,” Schmucker said halfway through the two hours of curbside service.

The total reached 328 shortly after 2 p.m., with some small portions still on the kitchen stove.

“After we divvy up the leftovers, which wasn’t very much, we’re going to go home; my family celebrates Christmas tomorrow,” Schmucker said, sounding like she’d just finished a foot race.

“We are just thrilled to death,” she added.

Curbside business had been a bit slow earlier in the day. So Beau Young, a Tri-Area Community Meals board member, got out on state Highway 19 with his “Free Christmas meals to-go” sign.

“All right,” he said, pleased to see a car slow down and turn onto West Valley Road and into the center’s parking lot.

“We just want to help as many people as we can,” Young said.

Packaged dinners, which also featured a small red stocking full of candy, were handed to drivers with almost no questions asked. The one query: How many would you like?

The Tri-Area Community Meals board has had its final meeting of 2020, Schmucker reported. The upshot: Dinner will be served, one way or another, for Easter on April 4.

________

Jefferson County senior reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladailynews.com.