Well, hello December...

...November went by way too quickly!

Thanksgiving dinner went very well. I managed to get everything except the vegetables, salad, and turkey done ahead of time. That made things much easier on T-day.  Here's a peek at the stuffing/dressing:

and the table:

All the food tasted great and we  had lots of leftovers, enough to send home two care packages.  I asked my mom to bring one pie and she brought two, plus a jello dish. I had made pumpkin pies and a cranberry cake, so we  had an overabundance of desserts!  My mom made my favorite coconut cream pie plus a mixed berry pie. They were both yummy!

On Friday, it was off to the Christmas tree farm with the Daughter's BFF and her family. It was a clear day and there were lots of people out. We enjoyed a hot meal of lasagne and tons of munchies.  The traffic was a nightmare going home, so it was a very long day.

On Saturday, The Husband and I decided to lay low and recover from the previous 3 days. I managed to finish plying Sweetwater Spring. Pictures coming soon...

On Sunday, It was time to do my shopping runs for baking supplies. Of course, it rained like crazy! I didn't mind too much for the Trader Joe's run as I was buying nuts, chocolate, and butter--rain wasn't going to affect those ingredients too much. Nor would it be an issue for the cookie tins I bought at Rite Aid. However, I was not looking forward to trying to keep flour and sugar dry in a downpour.  Thankfully, there was a break in the rain and the Husband came with me to Smart and Final to help get things into the car quickly.

With that done, it was time to start baking. I made all of the fruitcakes (~16), lemon bread (8), and the pumpkin bread (~24). I'm not sure of the exact numbers for the fruitcake and pumpkin breads as it was pretty late by the time I got them into freezer bags and into the freezer.

I did have to send the Husband out on a grocery store run as I had forgotten how many eggs I needed to make double batches of the 3 breads. The double batch of pumpkin bread uses 8 eggs!

The next two weekends will be all baking-all-the-time. I'm going to need a lot of coffee!
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