Busy Beaver

Last week's departure put me behind on all the things I have to do this time of year. Thank goodness I got the decorations up the day before it happened. But I still had a bunch of cookies to bake, packages to mail, cards to sign and get out, and shopping to get done.

Over the past two days, I've been cramming and jamming like a mad woman. After this morning, the only thing I'll have left to finish is my shopping. The cards are stacked beside me, the packages are on the floor beside the desk, and the cookies are in tins all over the kitchen. The remainder of shopping is scheduled for Monday, so I can finally kick back and... Well, I was going to say rest, but I haven't written in over a week and I'm this close to getting Nano done.

Anyway, the cookies were the big job. I love baking, so usually this cookie-gift thing is a breeze. Every year I bake a ton of goodies for passing out to my friends and my hubby's co-workers. I like doing it, and they like eating the fruits of my labors. It's all good. This year it wasn't easy, but it was worth it.

This year we made*:

Spice cookies with walnuts and raisins
Chocolate cookies with pecans and chocolate chips
Strawberry cookies with white chocolate chips
Chocolate cookies with mini-chocolate chips and white chocolate chips
7-layer bars
Peanut butter fudge
Chocolate fudge
Creamy mint patties
Cream Cheese cookies
Coconut Rum cookies
Butterscotch Chewies
Mint-Patty cookies

Today I'll be packing them into tubs and delivering them around town. Plus slogging through the lines at the USPS to mail stuff. Ho-dee, ho-dee, ho. Then I can sit down and catch myself back up with Nano.

How are your holiday plans going this year? Have you gotten your shopping done? Baking anything yummy?

* Most of my recipes are available upon request. The first four cookies on the list can be found here.

(Note: If I ever secure an agent, he or she will, of course, be added to the cookie-receiver list. Not a bribe, necessarily, but I'm just sayin'. :wink:)