Saying yes...

The cookie keeps on crumbling...

I, Cookie Queen of 2006, had an unusual job fall into my lap a week or two ago. I was minding my own business, was thinking of spring and the summer that will follow, when I was tracked down via email and approached with a job.

While I was busy living, the internets were networking for me. Someone out there needed holiday cookies and landed on my site. I'm not surprised, I am the reigning Cookie Queen after all... They needed winter holiday cookies for a photoshoot and they felt I was their girl.

I emailed images of my cookies (no, not THOSE cookies!) which were then emailed to the ultimate client. Hmmmm. Apparently my signature cookies would not do... they were too *classy*! All I could think of was Bill O'Reilly with his candy cane... oh yeah, pure class! It seems they wanted something more homespun, but still professional. I put on my best homespun yet professional hat and cranked out about 6 dozen holiday cookies. Yes, while daffodils were popping and birds were chirping, I was neck-deep in the feelings of Christmas. I was sitting in my kitchen making lovely Christmas trees and snowmen doing my best to ignore the signs of spring outside.

For now, that is all that I can divulge. I've been sworn to secrecy. Perhaps as that wintry holiday time approaches again, I will be able to share with you how these cookies were used, but for now, I can only say that the internets work in mysterious ways. I am grateful for any work, but I love the work that comes out of the blue. I love those jobs you don't hunt for, but that hunt for you. Call it kismet, synchronicity, or serendipity. It's those moments that truly make life fun, an adventure if you will. We all think we know what's going to happen, we all think we know what's around the corner, we all think that we are at the helm of our ship, but every once in awhile, life hands us a nice serendipitous surprise. And for those moments, I am always truly grateful.

That's how the cookie crumbles...

I'm Queen!!! I'm Queen!!! A plan a year in the making has finally come to fruition and I now get to reap the benefits of being QUEEN!!!

Holiday Bake-Off 2006 results have been compiled and posted. You can see them here.

And no matter how much I hate to say it, I think I owe a bit of thanks to Bill O'Reilly. He in large part is responsible for my win. How ironic... the man who declared that there was a war on Christmas, has enable me to win the *Holiday* Bake-Off.

Could I have won without Bill??? I'm not sure... every entry looked awesome and I'd like the recipes to all. In the meantime, I'm going to bask in my Queenliness and my first job as Queen will be to assist Grizzled in some emergency plumbing...

More later...

C'est finit!

I can't remember how to conjugate my French words anymore... is it fini? finis? finit? Whatever it is, the holidays are over! The tree is out the door!!!

We went to Grizzled's oldest sister's this past weekend. She has a whiz-bang 12th Night celebration that I finally made it to again this year. No one was sick, no dogs were ailing. I went. I am usually finished with that holiday feeling come 12th Night, but this year, I didn't mind. Our tree was still up and lit, I was going with it. I felt like I could have left the tree up for another month... I had a friend in high school whose father did that. He had an artificial tree so it wasn't a fire hazard. He merely removed the Christmas decorations and made decorations for President's day and then just kept on going until it was Christmas again.

Our tree was not going to last. It was *cripsy*. It was done. I took off ornaments and lights and this evening, I hauled the lovely 8ft Frasier Fir (Percival) out the door. *Hauled* sounds almost dainty. I dragged, tugged, coaxed the now rigid tree out the door.  A neighbor was arriving home while I was in the process. She was patting me on the back for my *manly feat*. I told her this was nothing. It's hauling the fresh tree in and putting it up that is dicey. A tree that's been in the stand, even if it's been watered, is no longer anywhere near fresh. It has lost most of its water-weight and could be hoisted with one hand. The issue with removing the old tree is getting it out without detaching every single needle. And the needles never fall onto the rug, they embed themselves into the rug.

Grizzled is always willing to help or to do it himself, but I usually want the tree up sooner than he is around and then when it's over, I just figure it's over. I want to get it out while the tree chippers are still making the rounds.

When we lived in the city, we had higher ceilings, a larger tree, and a couple of years when the weather was so bad that the tree-chippers could not get down the alleys. I was not going to let my trees go into landfill so I got out the pruning shears and clipped off every branch I could and stuffed it into a city-certified blue bag (anything that went into a blue bag was supposedly recycled... bottles, newspapers, Jimmy Hoffa...). I then figured we'd take the remaining trunk up to Wisconsin with us at some point and would toss it into a ravine.... Well, it was never convenient to take tree trunks up to WI (!!!) so they stayed in the attic of the lovely 2-flat we lived in for 6 years.

Yes, we moved and no, we didn't take the trunks... they stayed in the attic. The building was eventually sold... I always wondered who found them first? The next tenant? The next owner? The landlord never batted an eye at anything and had a preference for booze, so I could only guess that if he saw them there, he probably thought he had invited them in at some point. I always wondered what twisted story might accompany their finding them... did they realize it was someone who was trying to be responsible or did they think it was a nut? Maybe it was both.

But that's beside the point. The holiday tree (yeah, I said holiday!!!) is done and out of the house. It was a great tree... it still smells wonderful, but it's time to move on. Now if only we could tie up that little thing known as the Holiday Bake-Off... :)

I'm am officially out of thoughts for 2006

My brain is sans thoughts today. It is officially *done* with 2006. It promises to do some work tomorrow... or maybe on the 2nd, but for today, for the year, it is finished.

Happy New Year to everyone! Let's all have a very safe New Year's Eve and make it to the other side.

I'll see you in 2007!

Back in town...

I'm back in my home after a mad dash to my hometown and my past. It's always good seeing my parents, seeing the siblings who still live there, seeing siblings who might also travel there.

Even though my parents' children are all full-blown adults, their house seems even more crowded when we visit. I see not only my nearing-80 parents, but I see their ghosts of their former decades. I know I not only bring my present self with me, but somehow, no matter what I do, my 12 yr-old self shows up, my 23 yr-old self and various other *me's*. They run into my sisters' ghosts, my brothers' ghosts and a cast of many others.

It's always interesting to see who's in control at any given time. The dinner table can consist of my 79 yr-old father, my 60 yr-old mother, my 7yr-old self, my 18 yr-old sister and so on and so on, and sometimes during a meal, we all get up and change exchange seats so that my 50 yr-old father shows up, my 78 yr-old mother,etc, etc.

All in all though, it was a good trip... too short this time. I would have preferred to have wallowed in the various decades for a few more days.

Right now I am going to wallow in some coffee. I was up way past my bedtime and had to leave way too early this morning.

I'm not sure if I packed my various selves or if I left them in my old room at my parents'. In case they came along, I think I'll make enough coffee for all of us.

Merry Christmas to all...

To the left is this year's Christmas tree (for some reason the *star* ornament keeps tumbling off of the top which is why the step stool chair has become a part of this year's decoration theme... at least it's red!). It's a beautiful tree, but then I think all Christmas trees are beautiful... even the sad ones left in the lot of Christmas Eve!!! In order to not get too upset by the unchosen trees, I used to imagine that they were pop-up forests... spreading a little extra joy to those who pass by.

When I was growing up, my parents had two trees in the house. The upstairs tree was the more formal and the rec room tree was the kids' tree. They still do that even though their children have long been out from under.

My father loves Christmas trees and when my parents first built the house they would spend the majority of their lives in, there were no trees large enough outside to put lights on. My father would buy another tree to put in the yard for that very purpose.

He also used to take us Christmas tree hunting... we would drive around early in the season and would see how many trees we could find in people's interiors. It sounds so simple, but I remember it so fondly. I was never sure if my father was just trying to justify putting our own trees up earlier (his parents put theirs up on Christmas Eve) or if he, like us, just loved to see that light shining into the darkness.

I could go on and on about trees, but what I really wanted to do was wish all of you who celebrate Christmas, a very merry one. I hope you get what you want. I hope you enjoy the people you are with. I hope we are all, no matter which holiday we honor, the recipients of peace.

It's beginning to look a lot like cookies!

Okay, okay... someone asked me how the Holiday Bake-Off was going and I said, "You don't know??? You don't read???" Well, apparently they read what I write here, but they weren't totally hip to my wonderful judges.

My wonderful judges have been nothing less than wonderful. If you are interested in cookie reviews, you can see them here, and here. Midniter and Res are both at The Republic of Dogs.
 

If you are not interested in cookie reviews, take a look at their blogs anyhow, BG has a wonderful rendition (accompanied by none other than Neddie Jingo) of "Christmastime is Here!" up here. She has an awesome singing voice... smokey, soulful, you name it, you won't regret it.

And Res... I've been to his (where Midniter hails as well) site a number of times over the past year, but it has been through the goofy Bake-Off that I have come to know his humor, his depth, his wonderfulness. Whether I win the Bake-Off or not, I feel lucky having just had a chance to *meet* this goofy, smart, kind person.

In the words of Grizzled's scrappy Italian grandmother...

"Crazy! Crazy! I'LL show you CRAZY!!!"

Yes, it's been crazy around here as I am guessing it is everywhere. I'll see if I can't get something up later today... and if I do, it will probably sound crazy.

Cookie Update!!!

Updated below...

I have it on good authority that the *Men in Brown* did indeed deliver my package to BG today. I hope they were kind... I hope they were gentle. I hope Blue Girl will get to enjoy some whole cookies and not just cookie dust.

It is out of my hands now and into the mouths and hearts of others...

The Men in Brown say Res and Midniter should receive their cookie wonderment tomorrow.

To be continued....

The men in brown inform me that Res and Midniter's package is out for delivery!!!

A cookie for everyone...

As mentioned yesterday, I am finished with my Holiday Bake-Off baking. Packages are being sent today courtesy of my wonderful husband, Grizzled.

To your left, you see a kid-friendly version of what I sent... Below you will see the Limited Edition, Bill O'Reilly, "I Got Yer Holiday Package" cookie.

I thought long and hard about what cookies to include, but went with the classics, or those that are classics to me.

I had to include this less than beautiful cookie to my left. It is my Great Grandma H's, Pfefferneuse, or Peppernut cookie.

It is incredibly addictive which still surprises me to this year. I will look at them and will think, yeah... they're okay. But take a bite and before you know it, you're snarfing a handful.

They are reeeally good with coffee or milk.

The aroma alone is heaven.

One other cookie I knew I had to include was the classic sugar cookie. At some point back in college, I started painting them. At some point a number of years back, I sold them. I nearly went mad during those years so now I only make about 60 for special reasons. I figured the Bake-Off was a special reason.

The cookies are completely edible. The painting is done with icing and food coloring. Children love to eat them, but I've seen too many adults try to save them. The majority of the people prefer the snowmen and the skating penguins. I have also done people's pets, specific themes, you name it. If you can say it, I'll attempt it.

The other cookies that were included were a basic Christmas cookie that has 3 variations... one just a butter cookie dough, one with ground nuts added to the dough and the 3rd with ground nuts and chocolate added to the dough. Spritz cookies and rum balls rounded out the offerings.

And now, last, but certainly not least... the Holiday Bake-Off Limited Edition Cookie... It was inspired by none other than Bill O'Reilly and is entitled, "I Got Yer Holiday Package!" It did not turn out as I had envisioned and I had planned on making another just because I know I can do better, but frankly, I'm sick of looking at that face! Maybe next year... For now, this will have to do.

Holiday Bake-Off judge, Res, of the Republic of Dogs, is this year's recipient of the Limited Edition Cookie. Somehow, it seemed fitting. Other judges have received photos, but only Res will know what it's like to eat Bill O'Reilly.

So... there it is... my holiday Bake-Off contribution. I realize I pretty much focused on Christmas cookies, but in my heart, I was thinking "holidays"!

I hope everything arrives in one piece. If not, I'm hoping they all still taste good.

Oh yeah... and for those of you out there who will accuse me of CHEATING!!! I've documented the process... my sweat and toil is available for anyone who wants to question my integrity!!! :)

May the judging begin!!!!