The day before Christmas eve... Cookie baking day!

Also work out with the trainer day.  

My session with him was earlier than usual by a couple of hours, so there was lots of time to prepare for tomorrow.  The plan was to bake today and tell myself these are for the gather, to keep my mitts off them.

What are they?  My brother's favorite cookie:  classic oatmeal scotchies.  Interestingly, they are also my son's favorite.

Before I started in on the baking, I took Dexter for his fill up.  Dexter is my Honda Fit that is doing double duty as the sleigh this season. I'd been procrastinating.  I think this is only the fourth fill-up or maybe the fifth, this year.  It took 8 gallons and cost over $22 USD!  Ouch!  That's with a 42 cent a gallon discount, too.  As I drove by the grocery store I marveled at how full the parking lot was.

At the end of the day, Frosty the demented cookie jar has leftover cookies in his tummy.  You know the ones:  not quite company ready?  A little too burnt, or not taken out a little too soon?  They still taste fine but the best cookies go to the gather, of course!

I got a visit from my younger sis with her dog Benji along for the ride.  She left me a "fish tank" gift (yes, she declared it such, and I have yet to unwrap it at the writing of this blog entry).  I took full advantage of the opportunity to send her home with "red neck Tupperware", i.e. repurposed plastic containers, in this case filled with some of those cookies. 

Yesterday she'd dropped off another gift, that goes with the memory of the day before Thanksgiving.  The tiktok posting of the outing linked here.  The Ace was enthused enough to buy t-shirts - one for her, one for me, opposite colors.  We "mature" ladies don't need a whole lot to amuse us, do we?

A word about TikTok:  it is a medium, it does not create the content.  When I do go over to TikTok (and I don't a whole lot because I get bored with it fairly quickly)... I am generally shown clips of dogs, cats, birds, a hospice nurse whose content I like, a couple of folks that Ace recommended to me, and a hysterical teacher or two.  Somehow I have never seen the videos that make the news as challenges to violence or vandalism.  There is AI buried in this app that shows you things you have reacted positively to, not things you have scrolled on by.

After dabbling making the tiktok in the link above, I made another one on Thanksgiving morning, the making of the pumpkin pie.  Then I have pretty much given it up.  I have decided that video is not a medium for me.  Some folks are really good at this stuff, but for me, it's a lot of work, and not much reward.  It's just not a high or a thrill, other than to determine that if I wanted to do so, I could.  But as they say, never say never.  And I do enjoy the comic folks, including the Bone or No Bones pug, Noodle, and the aspirational Mrs. Space Cadet, who trained for and then ran the NYC Marathon this year, raising money for the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

Tomorrow's plan:  

Make baked cheese balls.  A family classic.  I already diced the cheese, which is only step 1, and am leaving it on the counter overnight to soften.  The plan is to make these close to the last minute, and carry them to the gather trying to preserve their heat?  Or... plan B:  make them early, and request to have them zapped in the microwave at the host home.  I've done both in years past.

Dexter has already been loaded with the wrapped gifts, just to make sure I don't leave any behind!  I even popped the cookie containers in his back seat.  

Christmas eve supper with son, his girlfriend, and her parents.  The same group as got together at Thanksgiving.  Then Christmas day will be at homne, quiet, recovery day... at least that's the plan!

The Pep Talk:

Even holidays are worth being smart about our choices.  Health is the best gift we can give ourselves, and that means following safe practices about how many people and which ones we surround ourselves with, in this time of surging Covid 19 cases, the second Christmas in a row.  At least this year we're not holding on for our fingernails waiting for vaccines to become available.  Many of us already have taken them, in my case three shots over time.  With the added transmissibility of the Omicron variant, better masks are a good idea.  

And with a small gather of fully vaccinated and boosted folks, I feel I'm doing what I can, and doggone it, I'm ready for Christmas!

Whatever your plans and choices, savor and enjoy however you celebrate.  It is the season of peace, good will toward all.  Let's keep that purpose in our hearts and do our best to show it in our actions, this special time of year!

Life is good.  Spark on!  Merry Christmas!  Happy Festivus!  Happy Kwanzaa!  And best wishes to last into the upcoming New Year.