I use the word Ball a lot in this entry.

Did someone tell on me? Did someone on the internet call my Mom and tell her what I said? It's the only reason I can think of to explain her behavior on Friday. She called me, asked me a question about deviled eggs and Christmas and as we are chit chatting she suggests that we all have dinner soon. No lie. She actually asked us. Sweet Lord Baby Jesus it's a Christmas miracle! So, next week, we're all meeting for dinner. Yea!

Christmas baking has started. Last year I made these Red Velvet Cake balls and they were such a hit with my coworkers that they asked me to make them again. So I did. This time I doubled the recipe and covered some with white chocolate and some with regular chocolate. Honestly it was a lot of work, mainly because I had issues with the white chocolate (as a result there are less white chocolate balls compared to the number of regular chocolate and this is making me a little nuts because I enjoy symmetry and evenness so much that I want to have equal numbers of both but I am not making more and I am trying to LET IT GO) and because I only have one cake pan so I couldn't even make both cakes at the same time which was a pain in my arse! I'd forgotten we threw out my other cake pan during our move because it had a teeny, tiny, hole in the bottom and I've yet to replace it so there I was with cake batter for two cakes but only one cake pan. I made other things while waiting on the cakes - made a batch of peanut butter balls and some thumbprint cookies that did not turn out AT ALL so I am going to throw those out and start over. But seriously, the red velvet cake balls took me all day. I started baking around 11am and finished covering those cake balls at around 8:00pm. I look at the time I spent baking and don't feel like I have enough to show for it. But seriously, that white chocolate almond bark was giving me FITS and I ended up running short and just throwing away the last five balls because I was in NO MOOD to go out to the store and buy another package of bark for five stupid balls. I had grand plans for baking this year but I think that I'm just going to keep it simple. Make the peanut butter balls that everyone loves and wants more of and that's it. I was going to try and make all sorts of balls - but after yesterday I don't know if I'm up for it. I'm also going to whittle down the list of people I'm handing out baked goods to and just keep it small. This is another reason I wanted to do the baking on my own. I wanted the freedom to change course mid-way through. If The BFF and I were baking together and committed to a list of people I would have to do it whether I had the time, money or inclination. This way I can scratch people off my list, bake what I'm comfortable with and be done. Even with all of the set backs yesterday I had fun doing it and that has been missing for me the last few years. The process of making these things just wasn't fun anymore, which, hello? what's the point in baking if it's not fun? At one point yesterday I was so happy - baking my cakes and cookies and watching Love Actually - I wanted to bust. It felt so much like Christmas inside my heart.