I thought for quite a while about today’s pie. Calling birds (really “Colly Birds”–it’s true! Look it up!) didn’t present an immediate idea for flavors. So I started thinking about calling.

Who ya gonna call?

Well, Ghostbusters are cool, but they have nothing to do with pie, as far as I know.

Who else gets called? Hmmmm…..

9-1-1

Yep. They get called every day in our county. In your county. All over our country. Day and night they wait for calls. And while the news is quick to point it out when they’re slow to respond, the truth is this: The people on the other end of those phones have helped save a lot of lives.

So tonight, those “calling birds” got pies. Little bitty pies with stars!

For the 4th Pie of Christmas, I baked Mini Apple Star Pies in a muffin tin. I’d seen the idea online, but I had to do a lot of guessing because it was new to me.

First, I experimented with biscuit cutters and mugs and glasses to get the right size crust for the muffin tin. I think I might have chosen one that was a bit taller if I’d wanted a top crust or a closed pie.

I planned to put little stars on the top instead of top crusts, so these little crusts worked out fine.

I made sure the filling had small pieces of apple so they would fit snugly into the mini shells. It also included sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and fresh lemon juice. Yep–fresh squeezed! Don’t know what came over me…

Anyway, the pies baked longer than I expected–it took about 25 minutes(I’d planned 15) for them to look done. I wanted to make sure the pies would lift easily out of the tin, and they did! My daughter made a cute thank you card, and we were ready to go.

I loaded up my kids and we headed over to the emergency communications center in our county. If you decide to do this in your area, please know that I called ahead to be sure that our visit was allowed. We had to wait for a big electric fence to open after using the call box.

It was about 15 minutes away from our home, and I was surprised to learn that only about 5 or 6 folks are working at one time. We did not enter the main room so as not to interrupt their important work. A very kind gentlemen received the treats and thanked us for our kindness.

We only stayed long enough to shake his hand and thank him for his hard work. A quick “Merry Christmas,” and we were on our way.On the way home, I talked with the kids about how thankful we are. We’ve never had to call these good people at the emergency dispatch station. But every day, every night, someone does. Even on Christmas Eve–when we’re at church or partying with family and friends. Even when we’re at school or work. We’re so thankful for these workers, and for the many others who are ready to help others–on special days and every day of the year.

When we got home from our “calling birds” visit, we put this pie in the oven:

I used the rest of the apple filling and the crust to make this tasty pie for them.

On this Fourth Day of Christmas, take time to remember the blessing of being safe and sound.

And who do you call when you need help? Whoever it is, be sure to thank them this holiday season!