The Christmas Baking Begins

It was raining when I woke up this morning. Not a good sign at all. It kept raining as I made Banana-Dark Chocolate Chip Pancakes for breakfast and listened to Christmas music. I slept late and didn't really have the time to call anyone, and I didn't want to drag anyone out in the weather, anyway. I just rode to work and got wet.

Work continues to be a madhouse. Probably due to the weather, people weren't in great moods, either. I don't know why it's this busy now; I guess it's due to the big 4-day sale Acme's having this weekend. Many people are starting their baking, too, including me. I saw orders filled with bags of flour, chocolate chips, and brown, white, and powdered sugar, canisters of baking powder, boxes of baking soda and cocoa powder, and packages of pre-made cookie dough. It was so busy, I stayed an extra half-hour. There were call-outs, and we were just short on help.

After I finally finished, I grabbed some more containers for cookies and a dollar bin notepad (mine finished months ago) and headed home in the rain. When I got in, I got the tins and containers together and started making cookies.

I always make five different kinds of cookies to give to various family members and neighbors as gifts. I wanted to start them now and have them ready by next Saturday for the Acme's Christmas party. The cookies I make are:

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip
Peanut Butter
Biscotti
Molasses Roll-Outs
Cherry-Coconut Bars

Did the Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies today. I used that wonderful Prevention Magazine recipe again. Other than mildly darkening the last batch, they came out just fine.

Watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation while finishing the cookies and eating a quick dinner of Lamb with Marsala Sauce and leftover Spiced Beets and Mashed Sweet Potatoes. Christmas Vacation is celebrating its 20th anniversary of holiday lunacy revolving around the slightly exaggerated tale of the Christmas of the Grizwauld family and the father of the clan, Clark. Clark just wants everything to be "perfect"...from the 20,000 lights on his house to the enormous tree he pulled down himself to the family around him. As usual, reality intrudes into his idea of perfection - his Yuppie neighbors think he's nuts, the two sets of grandparents do nothing but bicker, his huge tree barely fits in the house, his much-needed Christmas bonus is late, and his unwanted hillbilly relatives show up unexpectedly.

If nothing else, this movie always made me appreciate how comparatively quiet my family's Christmases were. We always celebrated Christmas with just the five (and after Keefe was born, six) of us, and that was more than enough. Sometimes we'd have neighbors and friends drop by on Christmas Eve, and more rarely, relatives might pass through in the week between Christmas and New Year's. Most of the time, however, it was just us Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, and we all liked it that way.