the preperation begins

I learned from a very wise friend (thank you, Dave) to be better prepared for Christmas, it helps to have a schedule.

You can find one at Martha Stewart's website.

Then, when I get my new planner in January, I go ahead and write in when I need to send Christmas cards, bake cookies and decorate.

It makes the season a lot less stressful. I get to enjoy things like my birthday and baking.

Today I worked on my list of cookies to bake. When we lived in Jersey I baked several dozen cookies and then Bill and I delivered them around to our neighbors. Every single one of them looked at us as if we were from another planet when they opened their doors. We quickly learned to start out with the phrase, "we're from the mid-west". For whatever reason that explained away the unusual gift we were bringing to them.

Then, a few years ago, I made turtles and fudge and I delivered it to our neighbors here.

I enjoy this sort of thing. To me, it's a simple gift. If there's one thing I enjoy more than baking, it's gift giving. Combined it makes for happy neighbors.

I'm working to create the right balance of cookies; candy-cane topped, chocolate, nut-free, annual favorites, these are all being strategically planned so that it doesn't wind up as a plate full of chocolate cookies. Which, believe me, I wouldn't mind. But I want it to be a nice variety (without going overboard).

I've settled on six kinds. The last one is a new recipe and I need to go search for it, so please excuse me while I do that...