December Daily: Day 1, and whadda way to start!

There is a yearly project out in blogland called December Daily. It is the brainchild of scrapbooker/lifeArtist Ali Edwards; something she has done for quite a few years now, and every year, when she begins her preparation and invites blogland along for the journey, I say that this year will be the year I join in the fun. And then I don't, for whatever reason. And my kids get older. Life goes on. Memories fade away. And I find myself wishing I had done the project anyway, even though at the time I felt the memories were not 'special enough' for preserving. (In my world, 'not special' invites tedium...the same post dayafterdayafterday...hence the feet-dragging.)

I'm going to change that up a bit this year. One of the things I know about myself/my situation is that books are not really the way to go. They just don't get looked at. But my blog has become invaluable to me as a means for preserving the every day-ness of my life. I want to be better about posting, and preserving the memories. And after all, it doesn't really matter what form the memory-keeping takes; photos and stories is really the only important thing. I (usually) put a pretty serious filter on my blog posts, because there is the small matter of 'everybody-doesn't-need-me-to-air-the-dirty-laundry' but there are some pretty funny things that go unpreserved around here. Take today for example: I have a small chalkboard hanging on the wall near the entryway; It is a cute spot for a little message of welcome, or for proclaiming something about the season. Up until this morning, it had an adorable little poem on it. Or so I thought. My husband and I were discussing the holiday decorations, and he pointed out the chalkboard as a potential area for the wreath to be hung. He removed the chalkboard...we chatted for a moment, and he hung it back up. Backward. and this is what he saw:





It's not a very good image, but that's probably a good thing.

Yes. Chalkboard porn. From a 15 yr-old perspective. The look on my husband's face of course set off paroxysms of mirth...He: Mortified. Me: Glad we discovered it before anybody came over.

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The other thing I have been wishing for year after year is the motivation to bake holiday cookies. I am going to attempt to work it in this year; Gluttony-be-Damned. So I'm not going to call this section Cookie-a-day or even the 25 days of cookies. I'm just going to make 'em, and post the recipe if they turn out OK. (Gawd, talk about low expectations...) This recipe is a tried-and-true favorite, so I'm posting it even before I make them. I am using the cookie-cutter I got this morning for my Stiles Family 25 Days gift (more on that tomorrow) and lots of red and green sugar crystals so it qualifies them as Christmas cookies.

Classic Sugar Cookies:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
1/3 cup sour cream
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Cream butter, sugar. Add egg, vanilla, and lemon peel. Stir in sour cream. Sift and add dry ingred. Chill dough 1 hour. Roll, then cut refrigerator-cookie style or use a cookie cutter. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.