Merry Cookies

The weather was now sunny and beautiful when I awoke. I began the beautiful day with breakfast, then started this year's Christmas baking. I make five kinds of cookies to give away to adults and groups as Christmas gifts - chocolate chip oatmeal, cake mix peanut butter, biscotti, molasses roll outs, and cherry coconut bars. I started with the chocolate chip. They're fairly easy and quick to make (though they do need to be chilled before baking), and they're my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Ran the 1951 British version of A Christmas Carol while I worked. Alistair Sim's wonderfully nasty Scrooge is the highlight, along with a lengthier Christmas past sequence. The DVD also comes with the 1949 Dave Fleischer Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer cartoon. This is a tad simpler (and closer to the original Montgomery Ward book) than the Rankin-Bass special. Rudolph is a cutie who is made fun of by the other reindeer. Santa actually shows up at his house to deliver gifts, sees his nose, and asks him to help out.

I got the cookies out just in time to rush off to work. Work was quiet for most of the afternoon. I wish some of the customers were more pleasant. There were a lot of grouchy people today who complained or fussed or wouldn't help bag. At least one guy did help with an older lady's order. Thankfully, my relief was actually early, and I had no problems getting out despite leaving during the beginning of rush hour.

Went straight home and right back into cookie baking. I first found what's now known as Cake Mix Peanut Butter Cookies during Christmas 2012. This was right after the whole incident with my broken ankle and being out of work for two months. I was really broke and looking to cut a few corners. As you can guess from the current title, this requires a yellow cake mix as a base. The resulting cookies were so delicious, this is now my go-to peanut butter cookie recipe.

Put on Arthur Christmas while the cookies were in the oven and I was eating leftover Chicken-Tomato Soup for dinner. The current Santa has two sons who want to succeed him, ultra-efficient Steve and bumbling but kind-hearted Arthur. When one child's present is forgotten, Arthur is determined to make sure she gets it and keeps her faith in Santa. Grandsanta, the current Santa's father, tries to help...but his sleigh is a relic and he has no idea of where he's going. Helped by his grandfather and a present-wrapping elf, Arthur discovers just how important the magic of Christmas is, to every child. A sweet story with some wonderful animation (from the studio that created Wallace and Grommit and Shaun the Sheep) that really deserves to be better-known.

Finished the night with writing. Lisa convinces Betty to go talk to Scott outside in the shoe's garden. This leads to a romantic scene and a kiss, much to the delight of the other kids in the shoe. Later, Lisa can't sleep. The cots in their grandfather's room are very uncomfortable. While she's trying to get settled down, she overhears voices talking in the street...and they may have some terrible plans for Scott Piper...