cookies
most years i try to shirk kitchen duties as much as possible. but this year i baked two batches of cookies. notice i didn't say two batches of christmas cookies. apparently, chocolate chip cookies don't count as christmas cookies. even if they're cookies made at christmas. i protested vigorously until i realized that if they're not christmas cookies, they weren't subject to the regular rules for christmas cookies. at which point my mouth snapped shut. christmas cookies have to make it to christmas day. normally one has to carefully ration christmas cookie consumption so there's still enough left on christmas day to make a pretty christmas cookie plate. but since chocolate chip cookies aren't actually christmas cookies, they're totally fair game to the cookie monster treatment. needless to say, they didn't make it to christmas. they weren't even close. but by their noble sacrifice there will be more of the "real" christmas cookies on christmas day. i also made a batch of cream cheese cookies. i failed to decorate all of them. and i accidentally made too many blue cookies. my mother doesn't eat blue food. she's got some sort of mental block. so the excess blue cookies end up consumed during subjective rationing phase of christmas cookie eating. which works out just fine.