Shake and bake

I don’t mean to rub it in, but I am ready for Christmas. The presents are bought and wrapped, the tree is decorated, the baking is done and the Christmas parties are underway. I got an early start this year with my trip home in November to visit mom and dad. I had to hurry up and do my Christmas shopping and after that everything else just kind of fell into place without any stress. Admittedly I have had a few hick-ups along the way, however. The lights on the tree crapped out in the middle of decorating. The Fly Girl misunderstood my announcement that there were now presents under the tree as the OK to start opening them even though it was a miscellaneous Thursday night. And despite my best attempts, my baking for our cookie exchange at work failed. The M&M's didn't stick to my thumbprint cookies so I practically had to break out the duct tape to MacGyver them back together. OK, I melted some chocolate chips and painted them on to act like glue, but this technique was not far off. Then in a panic that I was burning a square, I ended up undercooking it. And finally, after an emergency trip to the grocery store to exchange a can of condensed milk for evaporated milk in the middle of making fudge, I poured the entire can into the pot instead of just 2/3 cup. The fudge had to be eaten with a spoon. Now, I think of my mom as being able to make and bake anything, but she is the first to admit that cooking and baking do not come naturally to her and unfortunately they don’t to me either. I think it’s because I never had an Easy Bake Oven as a child. Needless to say, the Fly Guy will be cooking the Christmas turkey in our house.