Most wonderful time

It's the most wonderful time of the year.

And dang it, it's the most stressful, too. Why is that?

I'm holding it together -- last night I went to the grocery store and bought tons of baking necessities. I do so love Christmas goodies. Here's what I plan to make and serve this year:
- Homemade Chex mix
- Hot spinach dip and chips
- Ham & cheese crescents (my sister Amy requested this)
- Sausage cheese balls (mmmmmmm!!!!)
- Egg nog cake
- Pumpkin cranberry bread
- Jerome bars

Yamy's bringing a shrimp ring and a veggie tray. YUMMERS!!!!!!!

I've never tried the pumpkin cranberry bread, but I came across a recipe that makes four 5x9" loaves in one baking batch. Now, that's a large yield! And the recipe sounds faaaaabulous. I don't even like pumpkin, but hey, I don't like egg nog, either, and egg nog cake is faaaaaaaabulous.

If y'all want any recipes, I would be happy to share. I'm not a big one for keepin' secrets. ;)

I'm thinking about making a pot of Brunswick stew to go with all of the above. I don't know why, exactly -- it just sounds right.

If my Harry & David pears arrive, it'll be a great Christmas just in terms of food! (I forgot to order the pears until last weekend. Fingers crossed!)

Now, in other exciting news, a contest I entered has postponed their choosing a winner until the end of January. So I can stop biting my nails or worrying. Now that I know for a fact that the response was *literally* overwhelming, I'm sure I lost. And that's actually a relief! Now I don't have to worry *or* be depressed through Christmas!

And the Sarah Bettens show that I saw Sunday night? Well.... the show was great. It turned out that it was part of a live radio show in Nashville. (Who knew Nashville has an alternative radio station?) The sound system was *incredible*, the guys running the board were miracle-workers. I did meet Sarah and she signed my CD, but... it was one of my more disappointing "meet the artist" moments. She was probably tired and overwhelmed by the crush of humanity. But she sang and played flawlessly, and I cried off all my make-up.

Then someone in the parking lot backed into my Prius, bent my Mickey license plate and smashed my Donald Duck license plate frame to smithereens. I'm just lucky they didn't crunch the bumper, too.

Today, I have to make green beans and horseradish glop for Wesley to take to a work party, and maybe I'll get very productive and crank out an egg nog cake. Emily wants to go to the mall. I would rather eat ground glass than drive to Knoxville, but hey, I could do with a couple more little things, anyway.

It's the most wonderful time of the year.... right?