Christmas Baking - The Early Stages

For the first time in years I didn't start my Christmas baking the weekend after Thanksgiving. In fact, I didn't start until yesterday. And even then it was only a few dozen Spritz cookies which I whipped up because Christopher's grandmother was spending the night. And, really, how hard is it to crank out (literally--I have a crank-style cookie press) 5 dozen wreaths?

Okay. I'm sure I sound kind of obsessive to many people. After all, there have been years where I made over a hundred dozen Christmas cookies of various types (yes. more than 100 dozen. my top was 113 dozen, to be exact, which works out to 1,356 cookies, bars, and scones), but the past few years I've maxed out around 50 or 60 dozen. I know... I've become a slacker.

Well, this year I've been putting off starting because I haven't wanted to trash the house when Christopher is around. You see, I bake Christmas cookies with a certain amount of abandon. Although in some areas of them I'm pretty particular (just ask my friend Jen about sprinkling colored sugar on Spritz cookies...), I still tend to end up with flour on my shirt, powdered sugar on the floor, and chocolate-coated oatmeal stuck to the table. 

And although Christopher has some idea of all that has happened in my kitchen around Christmas the past few years, he's mainly been around to see the sweet goodness of the "aftermath." He hasn't been there when the pans were going in and out of the oven. Or when the table was covered with waxed paper for 4 hours to let chocolate "no-bake" cookies harden.

So I'm starting slow. I figure if I work it right I'll be able to do them all when he's not around, and he'll simply come home in the evenings to see more cookies magically appearing. I might even be able to carry it off, if I can keep the flour and powdered sugar explosions and chocolate-oatmeal shrapnel to a minimum. (Wish me luck!)