6 Cups of Butter Later

And this is what you have:

My neighbor helped me with some of the decorating:

All SEVEN kinds of cookies we made: 

And then the process of putting them on plates and into tins for the dozen or so people I give cookies to: 

 

Yikes! 

 

My weekend was insanely busy, but productive.  Saturday I ran some miles with my buddies that were way too fast for me.  I fell back from the group within 2 miles and they really dropped the hammer then.  But a couple guys stayed with me and we had a good time talking.  Then we had brunch at one guy's house.  He lives in a gorgeous house and always puts out an awesome spread when he hosts, so that was fun.  Then it was a lot of errands and Christmas shopping.  Then I went home and did all my wrapping and started getting organized to pack to go home in just a couple days!  I also managed to make 2 kinds of dough that required refrigeration and to make a breakfast casserole (it's called French Toast Souffle) to have on Sunday morning.  Then I ended Saturday night with an awesome dinner with a friend who was in from out of town (and staying with us that night, which is why I made the breakfast dish). 

 

We went to a souffle restaurant, which is a little tradition for us.  She usually comes to visit Dallas in December about every other year, and we always go to dinner there.  I had a creamed spinach souffle for dinner and a pumpkin souffle for dessert: 

 

 

Sunday was another intense day. I was up and running by 6 a.m. I had to do 4 solo miles before meeting up with a friend. I decided that I would literally run an errand, which is unique, particularly at 6 a.m. My husband had bought regular chocolate chips instead of mini, so I decided to run to the grocery store less than 1.5 miles away, buy mini chocolate chips, run home to drop them off, and then run to meet my friend.

I went to "ghetto Albertson's" and since I get screwed almost every single time I try to shop there, as I ran there, I tried to predict how I'd get screwed on this trip. Most likely scenario I thought was that they'd be out of mini chocolate chips. Second most likely was that their credit card machines would be down. Third most likely was a sole cashier working and someone from the Dallas Fire Dept in line in front of me buying their week's worth of groceries.

I was utterly shocked that my shopping trip went off without a hitch! I walked into the store and the baking aisle was directly in front of me. And there was no one in line to check out at the open register. And the credit card machine worked! I was in and out in less than 5 mins, and carried the bag of mini chocolate chips back home, and then set back out.

I went to meet my friend, we looped the lake together, and then she ran me home. I'd put my breakfast casserole in the oven on a timer, so I had a real incentive not to run any slower than my planned pace!

I ended up doing my 20 mile run. While the last 5 miles were ugly slow and I didn't have any "fast" miles, either way, it was 20 miles in the bank which means I should survive in Houston, even though my finish time won't be pretty.

At home, I had breakfast with our houseguest, then she left and I took a quick shower and got right down to baking. My neighbor came over to help, and we made 7 kinds of cookies as planned.

Then I rushed off to book club, had dinner there and a fun gift exchange. Then a quick stop at a friend's house to visit and share some tears and hugs (she's going through a very tough time right now). Then home to finish packaging cookies, and finally to bed around 10:30, which is WAY past my bedtime.

But considering all I got done this weekend, I'm thrilled. I have to buy my husband's main Christmas gift, a picture frame for my dad, 2 girlfriends, and something for one sister in law, and then I'm done, done, done.

Well, tons of wrapping when I get home for all the stuff I shipped there, and we still have to mail a couple packages and write out our foreign Christmas cards, but done on the Dallas end!