DECEMBER?!?!

When the hell did THAT happen? Thank goodness I canceled the Christmas knitting, or I'd have lost my mind by now.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, and there are no other holiday projects going on, it's time to start fooling around with the Christmas baking. It's been a lot... less, since I had the Goober. But this year I'm going to try to send out cookies again, like in years past. Which means I've gotta get moving.

Part of the fun every year is finding new things to try, adding them to my list of old favorites, maybe taking an old favorite off the list. For that, each year at the beginning of the holiday season, I sit down at the kitchen table with a cup of tea and my stack of holiday cook books (not all of them, mind you... just the holiday ones). I spend hours going through, making lists, and having a fine old time.

It'll take a little longer this year; I found a couple really good used book stores in the last five years.

Then comes the grocery shopping, which is nearly as fun. Hunting down weird, exotic ingredients is like hunting, only more fun and with less blood. Then I bake. That's going to be interesting this year, because the Goober's old enough to want to help, now. Knocking out a batch of cookies in half an hour? Doesn't happen when she's involved. But I've got to let her help on some of it, for sure.

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I've finally shaken off the last of the seasonal migraines. It snowed on Thanksgiving, and again today. (We were awakened by the Goober at seven AM, running into our room shouting "IT'S SNOWING! IT'S SNOWING!" Who needs the National Weather Service?) Usually once the snow hits, this late in the year, the temperature stays fairly stable until spring. With luck it'll work that way this year; we're in a new place, but only one county over from where we were last winter. Of course, it's a county closer to the mountains, so that'll make things a bit more interesting.

While shopping for Christmas gifts today (and snow pants, and Christmas froo-froo dresses), I finally found a copy of Vogue Knitting. The gang over on Twitter requested I do another review where I draw all over the pictures, so I guess I will. That's tonight's plan; climb into bed with my current sock, my computer, and the TV remote, and start drawing on pictures. It'll be a few days, but I'll get to it as soon as possible. It should have been done a month ago, but I couldn't find the damn magazine; no one around here sells it any more.

Now, to go chase the Goober back to bed, and swoon over the fact that it's 25 days until Christmas and I've already got every weekend overbooked. Anyone know how I'm supposed to be at two parties in two states at the same time?