Christmas Baking 2012

I just got back from a three week trip to Australia. It was one of my "must go" trips that I have wanted to take for about 5 years.  Steve hated to fly and certainly would have freaked out at the length of this trip. My friends Mindi and Aaron were kind enough to move their 8 mos. old baby into their bedroom so I could have his room. Did I mention that he was teething and an insomniac? His older 2 yr old brother was having sleeping problems as well.  Come to find out his little back teeth were also coming in. We all managed to keep our wits about us as they are adorable little boys.

I took about 500 pictures. Do you want to see them?  Seriously, I can't even begin to take the time to go through them although I did put them in labeled folders in my "pictures" file in Windows. Therefore I will get my act together and probably blog more about my wonderful trip in January.

It is the Christmas season so I must bake for my peeps. Missing the main guy terribly but knowing he loved all of the cookies and other goodies I used to make.  This is what I intend to do in the next 10 days, minus one for the Christmas party I am going to and staying overnight.

-Brandied Persimmon  mini breads I made these in 2010
-Maple Sugar Cookie cutouts and I intend to decorate them! ( dough is made)
-Chocolate Filled Hazelnut shortbread-like cookies ( again dough is made)
-Rocky Road, simple and love, love it!
-Chocolate Crackle Cookies, another fav.
Spiced Nuts
Oatmeal Cranberry cookies -DONE!!!

Plus I am going to start my Christmas Plum Pudding as it needs 8-10 days to cure. This one might be a little harder because we used to douse it with it's daily splash of Cognac and give it a stir. It is supposed to be a family participation event. Maybe I'll call in a few of the neighbors.

I had a little setback as I had a "nodule" removed from my arm that required stitches so I need to give it a little time before welding the rolling pin on those roll outs.

I'll keep you posted.