catching up, part 1

The holidays proved to be a little insane, but I managed to get through my baking and pastry practical with near flying colors - a 97 on my written and 99 on my egg dough and puff pastry making. I'm not going to lie, I'd like to have 100 on both, but I committed stupid mistakes - basically going against my initial instinct. But at least I knew what went wrong... some people might not even have the slightest clue... I just didn't follow my instinct.

I was able to finish all the gifts I had planned and gotten supplies for. I ended up making ribbon belts, snow globes and scrapbooks - and IOUs! I also made a little wedding cake for my cousin and her new groom, complete with cute little meringue snow-groom and snow-bride. Grandma and my niece got scrapbooks - a family wedding book and a forget me not family scrapbook, respectively.




















We kept it simple on the desserts this year but I was deeply sorry that I couldn't find a few extra minutes in each day to make a batch or two of Christmas cookies. One year when I was in Boston I convinced a bunch of my friends to do a cookie exchange with me. It was so much fun! And we each had a wonderful assortment of cookies at the end of the night. I'll have to bring that back... I'll also have to convince everyone to come to the NYC area to do it again... yeah, I'll work on that!

It was a lovely family Christmas this year. My Mom, her husband, my brother, his wife and daughter all came from California. My Uncle, Aunt and two of their daughters, plus our newest member, my cousin's husband all came from Rhode Island. Add to that my uncle's parents-in-law and a few of my Grandma's friends and Christmas dinner proved to be a fun filled delicious event with lots of chitterchatter, giggles and smiles. Complete with hours of entertainment provided by my little niece who is a walking, talking, playing bundle of joy at 13 months. Just two days ago, the last of the family left and I got to sleep in. It felt good, but it was sad to see everyone go. My final assessment is that the holidays always go too fast!