With this the last weekend before Christmas, I have a few things to wrap up but thankfully it’s very manageable. Today I made a batch of chocolate chip cookie and molasses cookie dough (and froze both, to save until Wednesday’s bake-a-thon) but I still have sugar cookie and cardamom cookie dough to make as well. I’m very excited to have a special “auntie and nephew” day this coming week with my oldest nephew, where we’ll make some cookies and maybe work on a Christmas craft project together. For more to-do’s, I have a Christmas stocking to finish making for my new little nephew (but have finished the embroidery, so I just to sew it together). I also need to put aside a night to wrap all of my gifts, which thankfully aren’t too many. We focused on the kids in the family this year: on our niece, nephews, and several of our friends little ones. We also decided this year to sponsor a child through a non-profit and focused the majority of our gift giving on a little five year old boy whose family needed some help from some “Christmas elves” (and we were more than happy to contribute). I encourage everyone this year to give or donate in any way that you can during this holiday season, especially for those who need it most. I’m trying to remember the real importance of Christmas and get past the crazed, retail shopping race for everyone-you-know until four in the afternoon on Christmas Eve. Helping make Christmas special, mainly for the little ones that love it the most, and being thankful for the real gifts in my life (family, friends, my health) is my new frame of mind for this special time of year.