Brown paper packages tied up with string

those are not a few of my favorite things, but these are: holiday baking, black and white movies, cinnamon bun candles, cinnamon bun candles burning while baking and watching black and white movies….

By the first turn of leaf in August, I begin fantasizing about how much fun December is going to be, how wonderfully spicy and warm my kitchen will smell, and how joyful my kids’ faces will be after testing every baked treat I’ve lovingly pulled from the oven. I even wear an apron sometimes. I completely romanticize December, despite having successfully lived through 32 of them and knowing full well that even with best intentions, it’s not all baking and caroling…..

But it is! In my head! I want to bottle this time of year just so I can lift the lid mid-February and remind myself how wonderful snow can be, how refreshing and not-at-all irritating slush on the cuffs of your pants can be, and how fun it can be to wear another wooly sweater because your nipples have turned inside out and have practically fallen off from the chill.

I’d make every flavor of fudge, bake every style of cookie, plan every silly snowflake craft and let my kids stay up every night watching old Christmas movies if it could be December all through winter.

I like my kitchen looking like this.

I live and die for like licking boiled chocolate off my shirt, jeans, stove top fingers.

And no, I didn’t bother to wipe the crushed walnuts or condensed milk from the corners of my mouth. I’m keeping it real.

And when would I ever get another opportunity to smash candy canes with my rolling pin if not for December? Not only do I create minty sprinkles but I’m able to release little frustrations too. I like to pretend the curly ends are Dick Cheney’s decrepit, pasty legs. Total epic kitchen.

Die puppet! Die!