Bizzy bizzy bizzy. Got the teacher appreciation gift to school Friday, picked up the boy early to wisk him off to the airport, but of course we were still behind schedule because this is me plus bizzy season which means definitely late. But still on time and the airline staff were very supportive after only one chide about how early I'm *really* supposed to be there with an unaccompanied minor. And then the plane was late anyway.

Then book group with the husbands, which was a *ton* of fun. Lots of good bonding and conversation. And we got to talk about all the sex*, gender-bending, moose pellets, humor, bank robbers, and other hijinks in our book, to make any husbands who hadn't read at least part of it (three of the six) jealous. Cecelia is always a wonderful host, and her husband Mike was just as good if not better at hosting and making everyone feel welcome, valued, and interesting.

Most of the rest of the weekend I spent shopping, with bits of trying to get last food and craft projects in. I shopped my quota for the year. I even was dragged to shopping's (and Kate's) House of Horror** and survived. We have presents for E-boy, for mom and dad, for our sibling secret santas, for the nephews. From two malls, our preferred independent gift store, Target, and the science museum. Phew!

I made the cookie part of a double batch of chai thumbprints, except they're not thumbprints -- they look exactly like any other regular flat cookie. I think I'll go ahead and make the cream and spiced nuts, and just spread them on top, but for a while there I wasn't sure what I was going to do with this large mess. I remember that we always have trouble with spreading with these cookies, although not as much as this year.

I am back to plan easy on the holiday cards, and am well into that project, although it's possible not as many as usual will go out; it all depends on how much I get done tonight, and how many circles I have left. I had this abstract art card concept at the beginning of the month, and that is what I went with, even though my other design is more interesting to me. My goal for 2010 will be to make a single different holiday card design each month, and then I will know how hard each of my ideas are, and which I like the best.

Also made candied lemon peel and simmered clementines for a crazy new project I am trying. Actually, the recipe calls for clementines but mine officially are mandarins, so if I succeed I will get to put mandarin marmalade on the labels, which pleases my brain. Those little orange bits of tasty goodness look like a freaky evil science experiment after they have simmered for three hours.

AND, the cleaning crew comes today, so I spent yesterday evening and this morning straightening the house. At first I was ticked off at this -- I have so much to do, no time for straightening, that can come later like it always does for me -- but now I am pleased. The house will be clean and it will feel saner while I finish up the rest of the projects.

Still to do:

Glue lots of circles while watching my annual holiday movie with livsmama
Finish the chai spiced cookies
Finish the chocolate-cranberry florentines (which use the candied lemon peel)
Finish the marmalade
Organize presents, possibly wrap some
Clean out the car! (C-man adds, especially the trunk!!!)
Pack suitcase

I wanted to make another batch of poppy seed red currant thumbprints to take to Chicago. They are easy, but the other stuff may (okay, I admit it, probably will) take up all of my time. I also got the ingredients for peppermint bark -- also easy, but also may not get finished. With those, especially the bark, I am bring the ingredients and make them when we get to Chicago. The kids might like to help with some of it.




* There was passionate sex/sensuality, but this is a literary novel so it was more oblique than direct, although that doesn't come across when talking about a book.

** If you don't know, that would be the Mall of America on the last Sunday before Christmas.

I always know I've nearly reached the actual productivity stage of holiday card creation -- that actual work is imminent and achievable -- when I find myself in the paper store selecting the paper. I have a hard time committing to a project or idea, for lots of different reasons. With the holiday cards, it's always one of three issues: (1) I'm not sure how to make the concept fully functional -- i.e., I'm not sure I'll be able to do it, (2) I'm not thrilled with the idea,* or (3) the idea hasn't been fully fleshed and I don't know how I get it fully fleshed. I learned my lesson with a really cool half-fleshed idea several years ago, when I bought the paper and even started the project one night while I was all by myself, and discovered I didn't know where else to take it. Since that time, each year I've continued to mull over that same idea, which is stuck permanently to the side, dusty on a little-used shelf, and ultimately moved on through a bunch of new ideas before finally lighting on the idea of the year. The idea I know I can do, both skill-wise and commitment-wise. Usually, I compare it possible ideas to that long-shelved but still hopeful idea, and ask myself, will this be just as hard, either skill-wise or in terms of idea-finalization? If it might be, it too gets set aside and I continue mulling.

We've achieved lift-off this year. I've purchased four completely acceptable paper choices to mull over, I've got a design roughly sketched, and now I am pondering an imponderable . . . shall I use re-purposed paste paper, left over from a long-ago project,** or shall I use glitter?



* And sometimes I only know I'm not thrilled with the idea because I carry it around in my head for weeks or even months but never take any action. That is a sign.

** That is, presuming I can find the paste paper. Which is the way in which this choice may or may not be do-able. The other choice has its own do-ability aspects.

Well, I didn't really mean to be gone so long, and really I need to be gone longer because I have not enough to say, or too much to say but not enough time, or muddled head, or some combination of the three.

Thanksgiving has come and gone. E-boy and I went alone to Chicago because C-man couldn't get off work. We had Thanksgiving, just the family, and a wee bit of family angst as is appropriate for the holiday. We had a trip to the science museum and dinner, partly because we wanted to go out to dinner and partly to celebrate two of the three birthdays we always celebrate over the Thanksgiving break (mom and dad's, 26th and 27th). We had E-boy's family birthday celebration, which involved ice cream cake and great present-giving and a very happy boy. We had mom and dad's annual customer appreciation dinner.

We drove home.

I am at work where I should be working in a frenzied manner on the now never-ending sooper sekrit project and a few other almost equally important things. But I am having a hard time and have only accomplished a few key things today. The push will come later in the week, as my sooper sekrit deadline is Friday.

This week we have birthday cake planning, present shopping, and holiday card thinking and preparing. Thursday is E-boy's birthday, followed by a full weekend of my third and final writing workshop of the year, E-boy's celebration with friends who are not boys from his school, E-boy's birthday celebration with friends who *are* boys from his school, and holiday decorating.

Phew.

I think I know what I'm baking this year in the holiday cookie department. The old favorite, Gramma's frosted cutouts; the new favorite, chai-spiced thumbprints; the cranberry-orange-pistachio drop cookies that I like and that are reasonably healthy for a holiday treat; possibly some sort of chocolate cookie; and either triple ginger cookies or cranberry, candied lemon and white chocolate florentines, or both. The question is, will I have time to make other things as well? I always want to try candies, and I'd love to do a marmalade. I didn't do peppermint bark last year as I'd been having some trouble with it in recent years, which annoyed me because it is supposed to be uber-easy. So I eliminated the bark to eliminate some stress and frustration. I may add it back in if I come across the chocolates I like to use.

Don't freak out that I'm talking about the holidays. In practice, this week is all about a birthday, which only leaves about two and a half weeks for holiday stuff. I need to think holiday in order to be prepared for such a short timeframe and maintain enjoyment rather than stress and angst.

We had a very Merry Christmas, hope you did, too.

Lovely presents, lovely food, family the whole day, and lots of squealing from young boys. Good presents all around. No crowd at all for the mid-morning mass, but them maybe that's because everyone was there at midnight.

Now we will play games and not think about ice.

Glorious, lovely, fluffy white snow. This is when winter is at its best, right now. I shoveled before it got too cold, and managed to time it just right so we only got enough additional snow to cover the surfaces I'd shoveled in soft white, but no depth.

Then we went to a nearby home for a caroling party, where all the St. Paulites showed up, and all the Minneapolitans stayed home. Wimps! ;-) The wassail was warm, yummy, and plentiful, the conversation was good, and the whole family had a good time. We managed to deepen connections with neighborhood acquaintances/possibly future friends, and met lots of fun new people.

And it is confirmed. St. Paul is a small town masquerading as a city; Minneapolis is, too, really. I ran into people from at least four different circles: general neighborhood (owner of the local coffee shop), 4-H, UU, and work. And, of course, C-man also works with one of the hosts. We were the only ones representing E-boy's school, though.

To top it all off, I am 99% convinced to give backyard chickens a try, much to C-man's surprise and happiness. The biggest barrier, to me, was that I would need to be able to leave, to travel, to escape, to go somewhere semi-spontaneously. With cats, one can leave for a day or two or even a few more and the cats will be okay. Not so with other animals. But now we've got promises from at least two families here in our small corner of the neighborhood (west of the Big Street), to exchange chicken-sitting services. And the 4-H group may be participating in the chick-raising project again this year, so obtaining our chickens will be easy. Perhaps this will help with our slug problem for next year, and I won't have to go to the farmer's market for my eggs.

Cards have been made, but of course not nearly as many as I would have liked. I must remember that simple, for me, does not include any project that requires a lot of xacto knife usage, because I am slow and bad with the xacto knife.

They promised snow, round one starting just at the end of last night's commute and continuing through the night. Round two, tomorrow.

But this morning I looked out and there was no new snow.

What good is winter without snow?

[Of course, my husband, the guy who deals with transportation issues as the bulk of his job, is very happy at the lack of snow.]

In other news, the teacher gifts were finished and packaged last night. E-boy drew a cool snowman on the brown paper bag packaging of one, and I wish I'd remembered before just this second that I should have taken a picture of his cute snowman. He doesn't draw cute pictures, the kind that would be appreciated by anyone other than another 8-year-old boy, all that often.

And today I am wearing my holiday present to myself, my new red felt "coffee shop" shoes. More presents should be arriving by mail soon, this time not for me. ;-)

I've almost got the first card fully made. It's the hardest card, because all the fiddly bits get worked out on it. The design, the template, the finding of tools that unexpectedly need to be employed, the coming across problems, the choosing of words and colors and fonts. After that, the cards are all easy. I hope to get five done tonight, but I have not really been putting in much effort at all -- choosing instead to fall asleep on the couch while watching mystery dvds -- which is why the first card is still almost fully made.

I have looked at my list and checked it twice. I think if I get them all made over the weekend, I will have a total of 30 cards. That's my final list, 30 cards. If I get them all made, great, if not, I have to start crossing off names. I think I will not make any after Sunday.

E-boy and I already mailed the cards that go overseas, and hopefully those have already crossed water or will do so soon.

I've spent a lot of money this week. Ahem. A *lot*. Just today I've spent about $52, and I'm not quite finished with the spending for the day. Good gracious, I think I liked it better when we were either broke or on an uber-tight budget, because then I was never even tempted to be generous.

I've got one more person I must purchase for -- I've shopped, but no purchase has been made yet -- and C-man and I will be looking over the E-boy stuff tonight to see if we've got the right amount of stuff, and if we have sufficiently cool things to come from the big guy (because *we* want to give him this year's coolest gift, and that doesn't leave much for the big guy to give if we're trying to spoil him less this year). So, there might be one or two more smallish but cool things to get for E-boy.

E-boy and I shopped for small gifts for his teacher and the Amity interns who have worked in his classroom this fall, and tonight we will package them up nicely as well as make a simple edible gift to help round out the presents. It's a kid-friendly edible gift that he can mostly make himself, otherwise I wouldn't bother.

If I have time, I will make a batch of cookies tonight, and include a few in the teacher packages as well. The cookies I still plan to make include:

Grandma's cutouts
cranberry orange pistachio drop cookies
more of Mary Winslow's thumbprints
(possibly) chewy ginger chocolate cookies

I've also just been re-infected by the candy-making bug, which I'd managed to overcome earlier in the month. I ran across an article with some yummy and easy candymaking ideas, hence, I am automatically re-infected. I also want to make marmalade. I know. Most of this won't happen. Just sayin' what's on my mind.

My boss and coworker gifts will be given on Monday, my last day here at work. Depending on the person to receive a gift and what I get up to over the weekend, these gifts could include limoncello, cookies, homemade candy, tomato-ginger jammy spread, a handmade card.

C-man is getting an amazing gift this year. He gave me jewelry for our anniversary, and he got nothing, so he gets something extra nice. Everyone prepare to be jealous of C-man.

So, this weekend is the cookies, the cards, and any other crafty projects that time allows. I was hoping that E-boy could make ornaments this year, but that may not be happening. Also I would like to do gingerbread houses, either paper or graham cracker.

I'm here. It's cold. It's windy. It's snowy, but it's hard to enjoy the snow due to the cold and the wind. E-boy left his gloves in the car overnight, and they were frozen into a contorted, somewhat disturbing mass when I retrieved them this morning -- even though they were in the car, which was in the garage. Cold!

I'm behind as usual. Still need to get a couple of key presents, and make the cards I was supposed to make last week. I have a plan to make them in small batches, and send them as I go, following down the list of priorities so that I only make them for those who exchange cards with me, or who have requested them, or whom I truly love despite the lack of reciprocation. I remembered over the weekend that I've been planning to cut back on my card exchange list dramatically because I'm not getting nearly as many holiday cards as I used to, despite the fact that I've been pretty regular with my cards for a few years now. This isn't a petty, sullen response, just a practical response that it take a lot of time, energy, expense, and stress to make my cards and all of that would be less so if I sent fewer cards. So, since other people aren't sending cards to me, I don't need to feel guilty about not sending cards to them. Also, I think I'm going to buy cards for the overseas folks and send them off tomorrow. Thus, they'll get cards from us in time.

I am really upset with myself because I forgot to bring cookies to work. I was having trouble (a good kind of trouble, I suppose), because I thought my sweet tooth was gone and I didn't really need or even want to eat much in the way of holiday baked goods this season, but really it was just waiting for the right cookie. The chai thumbprints with honey cream and spiced almonds, my contribution to yesterday's cookie baking and exchanging extravaganza, are exactly my speed. Possibly the perfect cookie for me. Alas, they are at home, resting comfortably, far away from me and my tastebuds.

There were other good cookies, of course, because we got our traditional vanilla dreams, and there were pretty and tasty cherry tassies, which unfortunately frustrated the baker to no end. Too bad, because when they turned out right, they turned out great.

I came home to a mostly clean kitchen (it was a certified federal disaster zone when I left in the am), boatloads of clean laundry -- much of it sorted and ready for folding or even already put away -- and a magical TJ's frozen meal that we'd forgotten about, so no one had to cook. Hurrah for helpful, productive partners.

Also this weekend there was a fun party with yummy drinks (and other good cookies that I ate with abandon), and the popcorn ball making 4H festivities, which were fun once the kids warmed up and the adults gave up their expectations.

I forgot that we have the work potluck tomorrow, so I have to figure out something to make, and find time to make it. I predict something simple.

Well, we've got one cookie down, a few more to go. For the first cookie exchange, I couldn't figure out which cookie to make from the list of cookies I was contemplating. Then, all last week I kept ending up at the Starbucks in the bookstore (I know, Starbucks = terrible or evil for most of you, but I don't have a problem with Starbucks). There, I kept wanting to buy something that looked very yummy but very unhealthy, physically at least. Probably a bliss shot for the mental health. Since it is holiday season, I forced myself to avoid temptation.*

But then I realized, hey, I want to try that. I bet I could make that and then I would get to try it, and it wouldn't be in addition to anything else I am doing baked goods-wise this December.

So, my first cookie was Copycat Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars. They are good. They are very, very rich. Possibly almost too rich?? A gingery, cranberry white chocolate cake layer is the base. It is a very rich cake, heavy on eggs and butter. On top of that goes a cream cheese frosting. Based on my reviews of the various copycat recipes, I decided to add some orange zest to that. In the future, I'd add less. Then there is a drizzle on top of the bars. In some recipes this was a white icing, in others it is more white chocolate. Mine was white chocolate. Finally, more dried cranberries on top.

Next up in the cookie department? Chai Thumbprints with Honey Cream -- and a bit of chile seasoning for the tweak factor. I saw these in a Chicago magazine over Thanksgiving. They're from a professional Chicago baker, tweaked for the home cook, and they were apparently the favorite of all the cookies tried for the issue. Hopefully, they'll be tasty, and if anyone here *doesn't* want to see them in a cookie exchange, you'd better let me know (and then tell me your top two choices from the remaining options in this post -- don't worry, I won't be offended).

Of course, there's always Grandma's Cutouts -- a soft, mild cutout with nutmeg as the only dominant flavor. They're always frosted with simple buttercream.

And there's Cranberry Orange Pistachio Drop Cookies (which also have ginger and I think even walnuts), which satisfies my need for a stuffed-to-the-brim drop cookie.

If I have the energy, time, and inclination, I may also make Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies, and maybe a shortbread. And maybe Rosemary Lemon Butter Cookies. I thought about working on the peppermint twist cookies, which I made once before. It's a dough divided in two, one white, one dyed red, and twisted to make candy canes; very classic and kid friendly, my mom used to make them. I might switch to vanilla from almond flavoring, and then dip the ends in white chocolate and then crushed peppermint candies. But given my inability to acquire chocolate this year, maybe I will not do that.

There's the possibility of fudge and/or truffles.

I think that's it in the cookie aspirations department. The first four will definitely be made, the others are just maybes.



* Of course, the virtuousness of this act is diminished by the fact that I get a chai. But I've been opting for the smallest size, so that's better than nothing, right?

You know, when I started making our seasonal cards, it was because I got so annoyed at the cards in the stores. None of them had the exact message I wanted to share with my friends, or if they had a good message they lacked the image I wanted. They didn't convey me or what I was thinking about that year. And then after all that searching I'd still have to write personal little notes on the bottom so that people would know I was thinking of them.

Enter the homemade card. I can say exactly what I want to say, and hey look, I'm thinking of you because I took the time to make this card for you. Now, for the most part, none of them are particularly artistic. I don't spend my days creating art, so when it comes time to make the cards, I am out of practice and busy. In my head, the ideas for beautiful, artistic cards always come fast and furious. The card I *would* make for you if I had the time and, in some cases, the ability or the money, is gorgeous and unique and artistic rather than crafty.*

The last few years especially, the cards have definitely tended toward the crafty side. There were the felt mittens. There were the skinny triangular red and white Christmas trees with eyelet star toppers. But I figure, at least I made them myself instead of picking them out of the selection at Target. I am okay with the fact that they're not what I would create in an ideal world.

Having said all of that . . . I've got the idea for this year's card. I've shared it with C-man and he is down with the idea. And it is not any of the ideas that I accidentally shared with the world a few weeks ago. So there.

Even though this new idea also falls more on the crafty side of things, I'm quite happy with it. It reflects something I've been wanting to do for a while, and more than usual it is a bit of a gift that I can share with card recipients. The trick will be that I *must* get them made next week so that they arrive in people's homes in time for them to actually seem like a tiny little gift from us.**

I have never accepted an online invite to receive a holiday card from an lj friend, not because I don't want one -- I always do! -- but because I know myself and I know that I may not be able to reciprocate and then I would feel like a horrible person. Likewise, I've never extended the offer myself, even though I would love to exchange cards with many of you, because I'm never sure I'll be able to get the cards made in time.

This year, I've decided to take the leap. If you want a card from me and you've never before received one, feel free to respond to this post. I'll screen the comments so that you can share your info.

I also always mean to get pics of the cards taken and share them here. Maybe this will be the year for that, as well.



* In fact, it's sitting on a shelf in my living room, intimidating me with its half-made-ness and desire to be extra beautiful and fragile and artistic.

** The basic card concept shouldn't be that difficult to construct. But, getting the message on the card, and adding a bit of decoration, that could be the tricky part.

What is this oyster dressing? I have never had this nor seen this on any Thanksgiving table at which I've sat . . . and when I lived in LA, I never travelled home for Thanksgiving, so I sat at tables not in my family or even my region.

livsmama tossed out casually this weekend that of course she's making corn oyster dressing because That Is Thanksgiving. And justkimu says this is the Thanksgiving food that she most dislikes.

But I've never seen it or heard of it. [I've got a lot of cookbooks, and in my adulthood have subscribed to many years' worth of cooking magazines; I've probably come across it at some point but it never stood out. The magazines are usually trying to give us updates to old favorites anyway, so maybe that's why it's never really come up.]

Here's another confession. Not only have I never encountered oyster dressing, but my family doesn't eat green bean casserole for Thanksgiving, either. [Shudder.]

So, I'm wondering what foods are requirements on your Thanksgiving table that are not on mine . . .

At every Thanksgiving meal I've been at, there's been mashed potatoes, stuffing (we call it stuffing, folks, stuffing, even though usually now it's baked on the side in deference to me), turkey, pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, usually brussel sprouts. At family Thanksgivings, there often used to be a jello mold salad which I liked just fine -- it had fruit and red jello probably raspberry flavor and a sour cream layer, but mom hasn't made that in a while**. And there's always some other green vegetable, beans or a salad being the most common. But, regular beans, not some gross soggy beans in a goopy casserole. And yams sometimes turn up, but enough of us don't like them that they only come out when mom really craves them or there are non-family guests.

Once mom tried to introduce different pies to our holiday season, Thanksgiving or Christmas, I can't remember which, and was met with uproar. There must be pumpkin pie! Too bad if at least two people at the people don't like it, this is *Thanksgiving*! So, there is always pumpkin pie. Often something else, too, so that Kirk can enjoy dessert (C-man is the other freak who doesn't like pumpkin pie, but he'll just gorge on ice cream).

The one thing we have on our table, because for a certain person That Is Thanksgiving, that others may turn away in disgust at is canned cranberry sauce, straight out of the can retaining its love can-molded shape. Now we also make fresh cranberry sauce, but the "real" kind is still there, too.

This year, I've heard we're having eggplant. At Thanksgiving! Imagine that.




** sparing me the dilemma of whether to pretend I don't know what gelatin is.

I am close to done, and didn't feel too much stress until this morning, when the second batch of peppermint bark didn't turn out. How can one mess up peppermint bark? I can. The first batch, which already went to where it was going, looked awful but at least set reasonably properly. This second batch, which was destined for teachers and a couple of work colleagues, looked beautiful. Both layers of chocolate melted and spread easily, and the peppermint looked nice on top. But, when I went to break it up and put it into jars, the white layer 100% refused to stay on top of the bottom layer. I solved this by leaving it on the counter at home, while we drove off in the car. Because the real issue here could be -- not my lack of skill (though that is always a possibility) -- but my lack of sufficient time to dedicate to the process of makng the bark properly, paying attention to it, working slowly and carefully and focusing on that one thing [or maybe that one thing plus only one other thing] instead of also signing cards and making scrambled eggs with salsa and washing dishes and packing lunches and answering questions from a boy.*

So, oh well. The teachers got door friends** only, not door friends and peppermint bark. I've seen lots of plates of cookies heading into school this week, so I will just trust that they are not lacking in sweets and that the door friends are just fine as a small gift from E-boy. For colleagues, they will just know that I love and appreciate them, or maybe I will try something different next weekend and give them New Year's gifts.

The cards are halfway done. The greeting is written, the font compromise made, the interior printed, the cards sliced to proper size, and I've even signed them all. C-man spent his evening watching Star Wars and cutting tiny bits of paper using the three templates I made. This will be a very simple card, kind of similar to things I've seen out there on the market and in crafty places, but it will officially be made by us. And the greeting is based on something old, but no one will know that, probably, because I had to really explain it to C-man and even then I think he didn't see how I got my greeting from my inspiration. Not surprisingly, the greeting sounds a lot like the greeting I often end up writing, but I let that go too. The fact is, every year I pretty much have the same wishes for all my friends and family, and I really mean what I write, so if it's similar from year to year, that's okay.

Tonight will be scoring and folding, gluing and paper punching, and then banging.

I've purchased most of the presents I wanted to purchase. I might go out at lunch and look for one more thing for C-man, but it's not urgent. And tomorrow, E-boy and I will go out and get his present for his dad, but that is it. All done with that.

So, for the weekend, all there is left to do is wrap presents for those who live in my house, figure out what we want to eat on Monday night and Tuesday, and then we have our annual gingerbread decorating project -- which for the second year in a row will be Marthy's little graham cracker house version.

Four days when all I have left to do is cook and wrap and fiddle with bits of candy and hang out with the guys. Sounds good to me.


* No, I didn't leave all of the peppermint bark prep to morning, but I did leave part of it. My morning starts early enough that this shouldn't have been a problem.

** Salt dough cutouts of snow dudes and ginger dudes, with holes pricked in their hands prior to baking. Then, painted by E-boy, then strung with curly wire and jingle bells to hang over a door knob.

Okay. I think I've got the cookies decided. I was tossing around a fancy idea for one of the cookie exchanges, but have decided to go with sanity instead.

Usually, we do Grandma's cutouts, some sort of ginger cookie, some sort of chocolatey or pepperminty cookie, and then other stuff.

This year, we're not doing a gingerbread of any kind, but if I get everything else made, I'll make chocolate ginger cookies, as they are very yummy. I got out the other half of the Grandma's cutout dough, and we'll cut, bake, and frost those tonight (the first half made penguins for E's party). I am making a meringue for one of the exchanges -- coconut lime, but I may add a twist to it if I have the time and energy. For the other exchange, it's looking like chocolate cranberry spice cookies, though I may do a chocolate peppermint instead. Of course, there's the pistachio orange ginger drop cookies that I like so much. And finally, if there is time, I may make almond candy cane cookies again, as E-boy specifically requested them. However, I've got a plan to make them more interesting -- if I get around to making them, I'll tell you how it goes. That makes a total of six types of cookies if I make them all, but I may only make four of them.

~ ~ ~ ~

As for the cards, I've got my ideas set and drawn out. Now, to do some work and see how hard this will be. Otherwise, I'll toss in the towel again this year and figure something else out. In my head, the idea is very pretty and elegant and mostly white, and the execution shouldn't be too hard in reality. It's just finding the time and energy to do some finicky things.

The house did get decorated over the weekend, so there is that. I love sitting in the living room, with only the lights of the tree and maybe a few candles to illuminate the room.

I didn't get anything done related to cards yesterday, but I thought about them. Think, think, think.

I heard about the Holiday Train a few weeks ago, thought it sounded interesting but also thought I shouldn't add any holiday celebrating pressure or stress to my life in the middle of December. Then, spryte44 journaled about her amazing time at the Holiday Train last year. So, after much thought -- think, think, think -- I am persuaded. Our family will head off to the St. Paul stop of the Holiday Train this evening.

And then maybe I will come home to hot cocoa and actually spread the card materials out on the table to see how difficult a project I've given myself (these are the cards I started but set aside last year, in lieu of the simpler holiday greens cards I actually made and mailed).

Sorry, I can't help myself, but I had a really good Christmas this year. My excuse will be that knowing what kind of presents made me happy will give you insight into my interests and daily life. Yeah, something like that.

Not only did I get my pasta maker attachment, an addition each to my rubber duckie and cookie cutter collections personally selected by E-boy (and what wonderful selections he made), but I also got an electric blanket and and and AND . . .

this font whore got *2000* new fonts! Oh, happy happy day, joy and light and the sounds of heavenly choruses fill the air.

Not to mention the little (not) trip we embark on in just three days. My parents have been so generous lately, it just floors me. They continue to spoil their children, even though their youngest is quickly reaching the end of his 20s. Frankly, they spoil us a lot more now that they can afford it.

A full night's sleep has not erased the low grade headache I've been carrying around for at least three days now. Is it stress? I'm not sure. I think I'm getting enough water, so I don't know what's causing this. I did live with a constant low grade headache for many years as a teenager, and then one day in college I realized that it was just . . . gone. So who knows.

On Thursday, the lovely livsmama helped me cross an item off my holiday crafty wish list, by providing me with orange, clove, and ribbon to make a pomander. I did, and I loved it. I will do it again next year for sure (but I have a feeling she won't be, so thanks for being game to try it with me). Yay!

The cards are done, and will go out today. My winter holiday letters will be picture-free, as I have not yet mastered how to insert pictures that don't end up blurry, and it's just not worth the stress. The printer is new, and so we are only now learning how to play with our pictures, so I'm not too upset. I did have an adorable first day of school picture and a market picture to put in, but people will just have to use their imaginations.

Yesterday, we tried out Martha's easy no-bake mini-cookie houses and I can report that they were fun and worth it. Not to brag, but my two turned out quite cute. And we now have a small village of "gingerbread" houses populating our dining room table. My only recommendation: Do as she says, and assemble the walls of the house first, letting them dry while you decorate your roof pieces. If you don't, your house will collapse, which is fun for the observers of the crash -- we giggled away -- but probably not so fun for the builder of said house (although C-man remained cheerful, and eventually did produce a house to be proud of).

Today, we are off to the American Swedish Institute to observe the trappings of Christmas across Scandinavia, and then to Rice Park to see how our new city does the holidays.