Seven. Hundred. Twenty.

Sunday I started Christmas baking.  It was 11 days until Christmas and our  first Christmas get together is this weekend.  If you are wondering:  No, it hasn't escaped me that I'm late in getting my baking done this year, but this isn't your typical year.

In October Michael and I joked about opening a dog bakery and pet specialty store. A week later we said it again and found we were serious.  Now 2 months later we are in the midst of remodeling the storefront we are leasing, have many of our fixtures bought, and are anxious for the remodeling to be done so we can get in there and start getting the store stocked and ready to open. 

 

The last two months have been busy. That is likely the understatement of the year.   Both Michael and I worked full time and spent our evenings putting a business plan together, researching suppliers, finding a space to lease, and getting estimates from a long list of contractors to get that space retail ready.  When we weren't working our day jobs we were focusing on business details.  We took a brief break from business thoughts at Thanksgiving, then were back to it again.

I resigned from my job, one I had done for over 20 years,  in order to be available to supervise the remodel and to continue to check off items on our list of business tasks that need to be done.  Last week was my first week "off", but it may have been one of the busiest weeks of my life.  With the remodel underway I knew I had to get busy doing some Christmas baking and Sunday was the perfect today. 

 

 

Each year I say I am going to bake less.  I don't decrease the number of things I make... but try to decrease how much I make of each item so we don't have so many leftovers.  So far I have made:

Chex Party Mix

King Mallows (recipe on my blog)

Peanut Clusters

Vanilla Crunchies (recipe on my blog)

and Dipped Pretzels. 

 

 

There is still a lot to do: 

 

 

Frosted Sugar Cookies

Chocolate Star Cookies

Dipped Ritz Crackers & Peanut Butter

 

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups in Peanut Butter Cookies

 

and/or Butter Cookies/Pecan Sandies. 

 

 

Sometimes the holidays can get overwhelming.  We put so much on our to-do list. There is the tree to put up, decorations to be hung, gifts to buy and wrap, baking to be done, Christmas cards to be sent, gatherings to plan, and amidst that craziness it is so easy to forget what Christmas is really about.   

 

When the holidays get really bonkers I am reminded of the year I made 60 dozen sugar cookies.  There was a period of 3-4 years where I took orders for and sold frosted sugar cookies at the holidays, and the last year (you can probably guess why it was the last year), I had orders for 60 dozen cookies.  That is right, 720 sugar cookies mixed, rolled, cut out, baked, frosted, and delivered.  I was very fortunate that my kids were willing to help.  I'm guessing it wasn't tops on their list of things to do that year, but they were a huge help and I couldn't have done it without them.  By the time Christmas came around my fingers were literally aching.   

 

So if there is anything on my list that doesn't get done, it will be okay. 

Christmas arrived the first time around without all the craziness we have made it.  I'm pretty sure it will come right on schedule this year too.

Thank God.

Literally.