Thurs. Dec. 4, 2025: Baking Frenzy Begins
image courtesy of Erika Varga via pixabay.com
Thursday, December 4, 2025
Full Moon
Neptune, Chiron, Uranus, Jupiter Retrograde
Partly Cloudy and cold
You can read the latest on the garden here.
The sun came out yesterday, although it was very cold. Unfortunately, that meant the Sidewalk Chewing Demons were out there, causing both noise and chaos. Because they were so disorganized about getting things done before the weather came in, now we all have to deal with them causing even more chaos.
After breakfast, I headed out to shovel. There was a lot of snow, especially where the plow left it behind my car, but it was light and fluffy, so it wasn’t too difficult and didn’t take too long. My back only grumbled a little!
Once the car got cleaned off, I stopped at the library first, to drop off and pick up books. Then the pharmacy to pick up my mom’s prescriptions, then Big Y to get more baking stuff. On an impulse, I stopped at another store, where I had sourced a few things I wanted as gifts. One of the things I had hoped to buy was such poor quality that I skipped it, but I found some other really good options, AND I found a gluten-free baking product I need for some of the baking at a much better price than I’d sourced to get it shipped (it’s not carried in the local grocery stores). So that was a nice surprise. I have to hit up two stores in Williamstown in the next couple of days, and then I’m done except for our family stocking stuffers. We’re not doing an extravagant holiday, by any means, but we’re choosing things people will enjoy and sourced from stores we want to support. I am grateful we can do so.
Again, on impulse, I stopped at a thrift store. Well, that was a good decision! I found a large, lovely glass cat ornament for less than $3, a cute metal tree (but not the kind I can use for the ornaments from the advent calendar), and an addition to the Winter Village that’s a theatre. I mean, we can barely fit the village on the two tables as is (we have to re-think for next year), but it’s A THEATRE, so I had to, especially for the price. I put it on a bureau shelf overlooking the village, so it’s “the theatre on the hill” this year. Anyway, my total for everything was $10, so I was a happy camper.
I was, however, very glad I’m still masking in all the stores, because there are a lot of people coughing, sneezing, and spewing germs all over the place, and not masking. Honey, I don’t care if it’s “just a cold” or the flu. I don’t want your damn germs. Keep them to yourself.
Got home, happy that no one had appropriated my dug-out parking spot, hauled everything up the stairs, and unpacked, sorting things into the various bags and boxes, so I’m not scrambling when I pack things up this weekend, and get them to the post office early next week.
Then, I started to bake. I baked 10 dozen chocolate chip cookies and 9 dozen orange cranberry cookies. It didn’t take that long – a little over three hours. I have it pretty much down to a system, the way I prepare and bake, having tables set up for cooling, having tins ready to pack them when they are cool.
One of the cookie trays went AWOL again. I know I have 8 trays. I use 2 racks, and I have 4 sets of trays, so I can switch in the new trays when the baked cookies come out, I can put the cookies on cooling racks and prep the trays again, but there are already a couple of sets of trays ready to go in.
We had 8 trays when we moved to the Cape. One went AWOL during the baking years. I bought a replacement tray so we’d have 8 trays again. We’ve had 8 trays each baking year here. But this year – 7. I looked for the 8th, to see if it had been recruited for some non-baking assignment, but couldn’t find it in time. So I was rotating through only 7 trays, which didn’t work as smoothly.
But I got it done.
Leftovers for dinner, and a little reading until the cookies were cool enough to pack in tins.
Even with the anti-fatigue mat, my back was unhappy by the end of it all.
But I slept well, probably too well, since it was nearly 7 by the time I woke up. Tessa Was Not Amused. Breakfast was an hour and a half late.
Morning yoga helped my back a little, but the next few days will be. . .interesting.
Molasses spice cookies on today’s agenda.
Meditation with the group in Concord (Charlotte will be happy). I was going to head to Williamstown today, but we have more snow coming in (hey, I see a few flakes out the window already), so I will wait and add it to tomorrow’s errands.
Not going to Williamstown today will give me time to write and decorate, around the cookies!
Have a good one!
#baking #cookies #freelance #recipe #shopping #systems