God bless Cool Whip!

What can I say about the blessings of Cool Whip? There it sits in the fridge in it's pristine white container--so easily accessible. You can drop a dab on your chocolate pudding cup, peaches or Jello, then sit back and revel in the sensuality of it all.

Back in the "pre-Cool Whip" days, having a creamy, fluffy white topping on your dessert was a luxury reserved for special occasions like having company or Sunday dinner. It required planning ahead and precise timing.

First, you had to remember to buy the whipping cream. You had to keep it cold in the refrigerator and keep the family from sneaking it into their coffee.
Then, when you made your special meal (probably mashed potatoes with chicken or roast beef) you had to remember to wash the potatoes off the beaters right away. If you forgot, the dried-on potatoes would screw up the timing to the point of desperation.
So, you had the beaters clean, the bowl and beater at the ready, the cream in the fridge.
You could sit down to eat with your guests. When the dinner started winding down, you had to jump up to make the whipped cream. (If you whipped the cream too far ahead of time, it would "weep"and collapse.)
After you put the chilled cream into a deep bowl, you could start the process. If you had an electric mixer it didn't take too long, but if you only had a manual "egg beater" it was a lot of work.
The tricky part was to whip the cream to just the right consistency without doing it too little or too much. Too little and you wind up with sloppy topping or too much, you have extra stiff topping larded with bits of butter.
After you had achieved the optimum of beautiful fluffiness, you added the sugar and vanilla.
If all went as planned, it was ready to serve at this point. The servings of dessert (say pumpkin pie) had to be lined up and ready for the piece de resistance--a dollop of whipped cream and trotted to the table immediately.

The memory of it leaves me breathless!

Now, with our ever-ready tub of Cool Whip, we enjoy the extravagance of beautiful white fluffy stuff without all that stress. (OK, so Cool Whip will never replace the epicurean delight of real whipped cream, believe me, I can deal with it!)