Obviously, I failed to write 50,000 words last month, but I did post an actual piece of fiction to the fiction journal yesterday. This is a more than minor achievement for a slacker like me. I tend to get distracted by upcoming holidays. I spent the latter half of last month cooking and eating what I cooked. I managed to finish off my pies this week, so now my mind is obsessing about making cookies. Who doesn't love a good cookie?

Luckily, most of our Christmas purchases have been made, so if I can just finish up the last couple of handmade items, I can focus on my ever important sweet treats. That is if Santa doesn't send out to all his hobbit helpers for some extra help this year. (You may recall my confession that the elves of the North Pole are really hobbits.) He already called in my help once this year. I think he was quite pleased with my speed and the final results of my endeavors. Hopefully, the little kiddie who receives the handcrafted gift appreciates how awesome the giver is. (Santa is pretty awesome after all.)

Much of November was spent dredging words from my sluggish mind. One would hope this would inspire me to keep writing. Sadly, Christmas turns many of us into present-obsessed louts. Whether we are giving or aspiring to receive, our thoughts continuously turn back to all that must be done before the great day of giving.

In preparation for this, I have wrapped most of the presents I plan to give and a couple I plan to receive. Candy and cookies flow freely from my kitchen. At least they will begin to in the morning. Otherwise, I will eat them all myself. No one wants that to happen.

I took time out of this to partake in the wondrous joy that is jury duty this week. My husband happened to be off work that day, so he dropped me off outside of the courthouse. Upon entering, I got to walk through some metal detectors. Apparently, they wanted to run my book through the x-ray machine, so I caused some gruff huffing from one security guard. Another waved me on as I paused in confusion after the second guard inspected my ankles. I didn't ask questions, I just meandered down the hallway.

For the next four hours, I was mildly entertained by the jurist sheepherders who gave directions and checked in on us from time to time. Luckily for those who went to trial that day, I spent the day waiting in the jury pool without being selected. I got to read a lot of my thick Robert Jordan masterpiece, so it wasn't a total loss.

Now that I have updated you on the most interesting thing to happen in a fortnight, have a wonderful night and some sugarplum dreams.

At least three of my friends are getting married today. For a change, I will not be in attendance, but I hope they know how happy I am for them. This reminds me that I have some cards to mail out when I get the chance. Holidays are hard for hobbits. We have so much on our plate and a limited number of meals to eat those treats.

Today marks the crossing of the midpoint of our first journey of holiday cheer. We've already seen over ten people. We started with Momma Bear, the Boss, and the Boss's Boss, who were able to join us for lunch. We caught up on crazy library happenings and enjoyed some delicious food. I rewarded them with a plate of cookies, but I am not sure of the fate of those holiday treats. Hopefully, they brought joy and sugary motivation into the world of books.

My nephews played with their gifts briefly before running around the house at top speed. This probably resulted from the bag of marshmallows that they dumped on the floor and then proceeded to eat. The eating habits of children continue to amaze and horrify me. They offered to share with me, but I waved off the specially seasoned puffs of mallowyness and stepped back in case they tried to shove one into my mouth.

Since then, our journey has brought us to a meeting of the great minds of Halloween. The youngest member was better behaved than our waitress. What is it about us that causes waitresses to hide in the kitchen and then disappear? I ate a monstrous pita which probably contained all the meat I should eat for a week. Yes, I have eaten more meat since then.

As we are currently visiting our real hobbit relatives, they do not want us to starve to death. This means all sorts of sugary goodness for me, and weariness for my love as he watches me bounce off of ceilings and try to swing around on the ceiling fan. Sadly, their adopt-a-cat refuses to be won over by my cat lady ways. It hissed at me for opening the door long enough to put some bottles in the recycling bin. Someday, maybe...

Another Christmas fades away behind us. Did we get everything we needed? Were we grateful for all the gifts we had already been given before Christmas morning? How many of us made time for church so we could be reminding of the true reason for the season?

My husband and I hit the road to spend a few hectic days with his family. We arrived midday Christmas Eve. This put us on their comfy leather couch to watch the final half of the Steelers game. Every one loves a home team win, don't we?

We attended a candle service at his parent's church. I always get a little anxious when a room full of people plays with real candles and real fire. Some of us really aren't meant to play with such things. To my knowledge, no one burned themselves. Luckily, the services only lasted about an hour because we did a lot of singing. I like to sing low so I don't horrify people. This tends not to be a problem if the people around me can sing. Sadly, the lady behind me was belting out notes so far from what they should have been that even my untrained ears cringed. The tall kid in front of me kept turning around to glare at me, so I fear he thought that voice was coming from me.

Upon arriving home, we decided to go ahead and exchange presents early since we didn't want to be too wound up for church the next morning. Needless to say, we all fell asleep covered in glitter and dreaming of sugar. Christmas day found us trundling into church. The pastor raced down the aisle a little late and reminded us all to be grateful for the greatest gift of Christmas. Should we need reminded?

The rest of the day was spent preparing for the traditional Christmas dinner. My mother-in-law prepares enough food for a small army. She needs to. seventeen people arrived for the festivities. The rest of the evening resulted in a sugar-induced state of happiness that can not be rivaled by any holiday short of Halloween.

Today found my husband and I slogging along in need of more sweet sugar as we packed up and headed back east. Now we're at home, recovering from our short trip to the North Pole, or someplace very close to it.

So how did Santa do this year? I scored some Tootsie rolls (and that was the extent of my chocolate!?!?),a fancy bag to carry my items around, a cat ring holder for my kitchen, three hand soap pumps for all my OCD needs, a light black coat, a purple shirt with a cowl neck (my internal jury is still out on this one), a mechanical monkey that burps and laughs and gives me five, Star Wars Monster Mash bobble heads (Yoda, Darth Vader, Chewie, and a Storm Trooper), a Faerie calendar, kisses (from the hubby, of course), a paper cutter (which is already earning its keep), three muffin makers (as if someone who recently got married needs more appliances), four sets of towels (see the previous, though one set is really pretty), a glass kitty statue, a Yoda knit cap (someone knows me), a donut cupcake tin, the gift of music (sweet, sweet iTunes), some skank stank in a pretty necklace and also in a bottle, some chap stick that my mommy says I have to share with my husband, a cupcake plunger, a cook book (anyone seeing some sort of theme here?), some ornaments (featuring sheep and penguins), Harry Potter cook book and candy kit, pajamas featuring cupcakes on the velour pants, butterfly push pins, body wash and lotion to make me smell like gingerbread, and probably some other stuff I have forgotten for the moment.

Some of the items on this list make me wonder if I should begin updating the wish list again and encourage people to refer to it to guarantee a happy recipient when they insist on buying me presents.

Another day dawned with more to be done than a professional couch potato wanted to do. As the new year approaches on lightning fast paws, my mind turns again to what needs to change. Sadly, I need to motivate myself to be less of a couch potato. That has been made obvious by the pile of unfinished projects accumulating around the house, my round cookie belly, and my advanced knowledge of too many television shows to count.

Today, however, has been dedicated to Christmas leftovers. I devoured some cookies to give me energy before trying to balance the watching of cheesy Christmas classics from the Hallmark channel and washing, sorting, and appropriating all the Christmas goodies I listed yesterday. While it is fun to open presents and see what people think of me while throwing paper around and being showered in glitter, finding new homes for all that swag can be a bit of a pain.

It is time to close the account of 2011. Did we use every second allotted to the passing year in the best way we could? Did we accomplish our goals? Do we find ourselves with even more resolutions for the upcoming year?

I like to entertain my readers with my assessment of how I did with the goals I set for the passing year, so I shall have to review them...

A quick review of the year's goals reveals that I did a pretty good job at keeping them. I should probably carry some of them over into the new year in some way or another since I did the bare minimum to meet my own requirements. What goals await me for the new year?

1. Respect myself, my achievements, and my goals as much as I expect other people to.
2. Learn to play my guitar!!!!
3. Sell some of my craft artistry (before it takes over my house).
4. Be a better friend to the people who are true friends...
5. Stretch out my cranky muscles (after working out, of course).
6. Keep writing, writing, writing.
7. Organize, weed, use, re-appropriate my craft supplies and other "trash".
8. Love my husband (we all need an easy goal).
9. Learn to accept praise. (Elder Wallace will be so proud if I accomplish this task).
10. Keep reading the items in my various "to read" piles.

Each of these goals could be accomplished by someone with my stature and affection for baking cookies, right?

Anyway, tonight's advice for my faithful readers? Take some time to dance with the one you love. Hopefully, you find yourself in someones arms, but if you want to dance with a cookie, a cupcake, a donut, a huge stuffed hedgehog, or even a mop, go for it. It's a brand new year! Almost!