Bake-a-thon

Dear Reader,

As you know, I am woefully behind on updates to this blog. I have a number of half completed posts, waiting for a good moment for me to finish them up. I am still here. The holidays are upon us, and life seems to be moving rather speedily.

In 2009 I took the month of December to post daily descriptions of our Christmas preparations. I loved documenting everything, but decided that a less intense approach would be good this year (maybe a bit more honoring of Advent and making space to prepare for Christmas?) We've followed some similar patterns of activities this year though, and my son is more engaged in the season than ever.

Yesterday I decided to begin a holiday bake-a-thon. We are all aware of my deficits in the baking arena (see here for an example), but I am determined to be a diligent direction-follower, so probably some of the cookies will turn out, right? My son and I baked snickerdoodles and a pistachio bread in the afternoon, and my husband joined in the fun last night to prepare peanut butter blossoms. More to come in the next days. I'm freezing all of this in hopes that these sugary treats make their way to a few holiday gatherings.

What prompted this embrace of holiday baking? I have fond memories of cookie plates at my grandma's place and at one of our close family friends' home during the holidays. It seemed so special to have such a variety of choices from which to decide on a favorite. I hope that perhaps this will become a nice memory now for my son as well.

More to catch up on soon, like my son's disappointment that his name doesn't include the letter M. We never know what's coming next.

Sincerely,
Abi