I try to bake choc chip and sugar cookies every christmas, mostly for gifts but end up eating way too many myself. This year I tried something different, I wanted to learn how to really decorate cookies, so tried a shortbread type recipe. It was awful. So then I tried my old sugar cookie recipe but omitted the baking powder (so they don't puff up or change shape). That was pretty good, but the icing...OMG. First time I ever tried Royal Icing. They make it look so easy on YouTube. You should see the kitchen. And trust me NOBODY will ever see the cookies. My friend Denise told me to stick them in the deep freeze and eat them myself in July. "Never let anybody see these." They look like the wrath of god.
One thing I miss is poppy seed roll, my mom and aunts used to bake it every Christmas and Easter. Nobody here likes it (I love it), so I don't make it anymore.

Annie,

I made sugar cookies for Christmas a few times, but they never really went over. One Christmas quite a few years ago I made a Tiramasu Cake from scratch. It was absolutely delicious ... BUT it would have cost me about the same amount of money if I'd bought it at a store bakery.

I watch YouTube videos, too. They make EVERYTHING seem easy to do! Gardening videos are "sometimes" helpful. I find some of them are way too long, and it's like ... hey, show me already!!! And some of these gardeners never seem to get dirty or sweaty. Whenever I do work in the garden, I always look like a mess when I'm done. I sometimes have more dirt on my face than on my hands! LOL

Any outside gardening tasks are done for the season. As for house plants, right now, I have a healthy blooming Thanksgiving Cactus (I've had it for 3 years) and a supermarket flowering Amaryllis to keep me somewhat occupied. Generally, I don't do well with "House Plants". I have a tendency to KILL THEM. I have a few fake (plastic) cactus plants for decoration. I put them on trays filled with stones and they look great! Never have to water or feed them! When they get dusty, just rinse them off in the kitchen sink!

Merry Christmas,
Jane

I usually make Krumkake for Christmas, this year will make mince pies also.

I'm not a big baker generally because there's just the 2 of us and neither of us are big eaters. I really like the sugar cookie recipe I have because you can "fiddle" with it, add cocoa powder, or whatever. I'm not too big on houseplants, but I do overwinter a lot of plants that I keep out on the deck/porch during the summer (ferns, etc.).

Crawgarden: I've never tried Krumcake or mince pies. I have always been intrigued by mince pies. Are they difficult? Recipes! We need recipes!