a good old dose of rambling...

In another of those "It can't possibly be so!" moments, we find ourselves in the month of December. December, already.

I don't know about you, but despite the good intentions of having most of my preparations done before December arrives so I can sit back and just relax during the holiday season, again it just hasn't happened. Not that I haven't been hard at work, just that I put way too much on my Christmas plate once again. But you know, I'm not sure I'd be content to have it any other way. Because, yes, it's stressful to have so many added things on the to-do list, but really these are the things I find such happiness in doing. Making gifts and handmade cards and wrapping paper, baking more than an entire town should probably eat, wrapping, wrapping, and more wrapping, decorating all the nooks and crannies...

There's a monkey wrench in the system this year. A good monkey wrench though! Our house officially went on the market Monday, and thus there's now a necessity to keep the house as immaculate as possible. Hard enough with three kiddos and a multitude of other animal friends, but with so many projects in process...*sigh* it's exhausting.

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Our internet has been on the flake for the past couple weeks. That's putting it mildly. It has been driving us freakin' crazy. As in it's out far more often than not. As in it often stays on for only minutes at a time, and that makes it hard to actually do anything, like respond to an email or read an entire blog post or do certain homeschool activities or watch anything on Netflix streaming... I'm simply going to have to use that "mark as read" button, as sad as that makes me. Today, they are delivering a new modem, which they say *must* be the problem as they've tried everything else. How it took them two weeks to come to this conclusion is beyond me, as it's what I, computer moron extraordinaire, suspected from the start. Good news being that hopefully today will finally bring an end to this particular annoyance.

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Why, hello again internet connection. Nice of you to pay another visit. (Particular annoyance not yet resolved.)

So...December 1st. Today brings so many fun things with it. The start of our Advent goodies that my Mom prepares for us. She even makes an Advent bowl for Baker. :)

Tonight we shall be putting up our Christmas tree--an event Gray proclaims to enjoy as much as Christmas day itself. (Our traditional drinking of eggnog as we decorate the tree may just have something to do with that. :P )

I'm also hoping that this will be the year that I finally make our first December Daily album. Well, my album itself is already made--I made it back in November of 2008. But December 1st of that year was the day I learned that my dear friend Dewey had died. Needless to say, the album didn't get filled that year. So much didn't get done that December... Anyway, I hope this is the year I finally fill the album with a snapshot of our lives in December.

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Cookie baking has begun. Thus far, I have tried two new recipes--one for Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies and one for Cinnamon Crinkles, both of which are yummy but not ones that will break into the favorites list.

I've also baked three batches of the base part of our all-time favorite holiday cookie--Fairy Drops. Our freezer is fast filling up. (I'll share the recipe for these when I get to frosting phase.) These are the cookies that I give to all our neighbors, the library staff, the staff at the kiddos' dentist office, etc. They're both pretty and ridiculously delicious. Anyway, I have several more kinds to whip out over the next week and a half (today is Snickerdoodle day...mmmm...), and then I shall move on to snack mixes, and then candy... December is a busy kitchen month. :)



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Okay, I really ought to shut up now... How about a kitty pic instead?