Holiday Baking Extravaganza!

So...as much as I love getting away and letting someone else deal with the mess and stress of a holiday, I also adore hosting.

I find it to be oodles of fun and infinitely rewarding—in terms of the memories you can make on your home turf—so long as I plan and parcel and space out my to-dos so I don’t turn into The Hulk the day or two before company arrives.

Now.

As we all know, this holiday season is so vastly different than any other, and all of us are missing time with loved ones in some shape or form, and we’re no different. But we do have a small bit of family driving—hopefully, safe and sound and germ-free—to see us, and I’m grateful for any time we can get with any of our loved ones. 

It occurred to me a few weeks ago that it’s actually been a hot minute since I’ve hosted. 

Two years ago at Christmas, in fact.

And even then, it felt a little zany as we’d just come to terms with the fact that we were moving from McKinney, and our house went on the market about two weeks before family came in town.

So needless to say...I was a bit frazzled and happy to delegate as much of the cooking and baking as I possibly could while we were actively trying to sell the house and have showings. Oye. 

Then last year, still reeling a bit from the official move, and a really heinous 2019 for our family, personally, I totally punted the holidays, and we didn’t stay in SA for anything major.

So, this year—despite the global events that have made it so—I’ve absolutely enjoyed the run-up to Christmas, and the nesting and cocooning, and the lack of contact with much of anybody or anything.

We’ve been jolly little holiday elves, container in our house, doing what we can to maximize the joy and gratitude—and that feeling absolutely extended to a day of baking today.

And by baking, I mean BAKING!

I blame the excess on Leaf, our house elf.

He must have had an inkling that I would be spending a ton o’ time in the kitchen, because he camped out last night on the corner of the island, making a snow angel out of sprinkles. ;)

So I let him hang there (because, of course we can’t touch him) while I prepped and hilariously set my mental baking intentions (something I never do) to maintain a happy spirit of joy and to not enter the land of exhaustion and frustration as my feet got tired and the mess grew.

And it totally worked!

I spent hours toiling away—with Leaf as my buddy—but I was happy to do so. :)

It started with sugar cookies...regular and gluten free...



Then I jazzed up my traditional chocolate chip cookie recipe with some holiday kisses...





And worked on the brownie base of some super festive (and also gluten free) holiday brownies I kinda sorta went off-recipe with. The batter was delicious.



Then I circled back around to icing the cooled sugar cookies...



And then—per a fun family request—did a test round of an ice cream sandwich using another batch of my chocolate chip cookies...



I think I can get the ice cream layer thicker next time...



And eventually did two layers of a mint icing and then a chocolate icing before throwing a bunch of fun toppings on my made-up holiday brownies...



I’m so tickled they actually turned out pretty fun! And majorly fudgy. These bad boys are gonna live in the fridge for optimum consistency. 





I mean...super festive.





Later in the evening, I also prepped a yummy, mostly-traditional lasagna for a couple nights from now...



And...eventually, after a couple loads of dishes and some massive kitchen cleaning, I threw in the towel and smiled at my stacks of sealed up baked goods. Some time well spent. :)

For the record, the kiddos were so well behaved today. We had a happy round of virtual church, and a project that was simple but fun. Some holiday shrink art. We turned them into both necklaces and ornaments.







Look at these cute sibling snuggles. These two—my twin/not-twins—are usually pestering one another, ha. But they had some sweet moments today.  



And during my bake-fest (when the hubby actually had to hole up in the study and tackle a bit of work), my three crazies were so content and chill upstairs in the playroom, living their best pajama life and watching television in that tuned-in way of kiddos on holiday break.

And it didn’t hurt that I trudged up the stairs every 20 minutes or so, delivered bits of batter or taste tests of various sweets. ;)

It was a good and productive day.

I hope everyone is staying healthy and sane as we prepare for this different Christmas 2020 of ours.

More mañana.

Over and out.