I have a confession. Sometimes, I throw food away. Like, in the garbage can. Don't tell anyone, because actually, I think it might be illegal in Korea. (You have to recycle it.) (I'm not kidding.) Usually I do recycle it. (Like, into my mouth.) You know, just doing my part to make the world a better place and all. But SOMETIMES when that basket of home baked goodness has been staring you in the face for days on end and you cannot possibly will yourself to walk away and stop eating it... there is only one option. Look, all I'm saying here is -- don't be afraid to get rid of all those left over Christmas goodies so that you can make room for these delicious New Year's Eve treats.

FOR THE "CRACKERS" -- 

Find some type of squiggly edged cutter and using your favorite vanilla sugar cookie dough, cut out a bunch of cookies. Then poke holes in them with a fork. In case you are wondering, we have forks with only 3 tines. THREE TINES. I hate them. My husband loves…

I woke up this morning and saw that according to all the "x"s on the calendar,  it is now the END of December. WHAT?! How did that happen? I mean, I have some hazy memories of spending HOURS trying to decide what fun treats to make for my neighbors, but I don't actually have any memories of making any of those treats. I remember my child singing, "...jingle all the way...oh what fun it is to shoot yourself out of a cannon and into the house through a window..." (He's 4. What can I say? Oh, and you know what else? He got a pretend shaving kit for Christmas and the first thing he said was, "GAH! But the hairs don't come out of my face!") And there were some empty chocolate candy displays at the store and maybe a leaning shack of gingerbread in there somewhere.

But where were the carolers? And the MITTENS? AND THE SNOW? And... I don't know about you, but I certainly haven't had my fill of hot cocoa and soft lights and pretty music.

In fact…

I know its hard to believe that I have a life outside of cookies. I totally do though.

I also make cakes. 
(Sometimes.)
I used to make cakes a lot. And I used to post them here a lot. In fact, when I started this blog...I only made cakes. Cakes are a lot harder to give away to your neighbors or send with your husband to work though. And then I moved to South Korea. And now I am the proud owner of the smallest oven in the history of ever. Except that, I actually don't even own the oven. It just came with the apartment I am renting. So, I guess that makes me the proud renter of the smallest oven in the history of ever.  So now, I mostly make cookies. Except that there was this one event in my husband's life for which he recently desired a cake. A big ol' cake, actually. And he said that if I loved him, I would make him a cake. And if I REALLY loved him, I would put it on my blog.

So I said yes. You know, because I aim to please and all that. Can't say no. Except that, I act…

Okay, so a few days ago, I had the BEST dream. You know the kind of dream where you wake up and immediately you try to go back to sleep so you can have it again, except it never works that way and if you try to force it, weird things end up happening in your next dream and they totally negate the goodness of the first dream? Yeah, it was that kind of dream.

In my dream, I was funny. Like, really funny. Seriously, I was SO FUNNY that even super famous and attractive movie star type people wanted to hang out with me. (For the record, I don't usually dream about super famous and attractive movie star type people. So...that means I was really funny.) And in my dream it was the best day because everyone liked me and wanted to make me happy. And for some reason we were playing reindeer games, and...well, to be honest, things got kind of weird after that. And when I woke up, I had this un-explained NEED to make candy cane cookies. With sugar on them. So I did.

But I felt kind of weird …

My only male child is the BEST at hide-and-seek. Well, I mean, as long as the rule "If I can't see you, then you can't see me" applies and as long as hiding in the same place over and over is considered skill, then he's like a super hero of hide-and seek. World Champion even. A few days ago he was hiding behind the bassinet, under the Christmas tree while I was mopping the kitchen floor. (See what I did there? See how I managed to ever so casually mention that I was ACTUALLY cleaning my house? And then I made it seem like something that happens all the time and not something that was happening for the first time in a week...or three.) He talks to me all the time while he's hiding. As long as there is no visual contact, he's happy to be "hiding" out for a while.

We were talking about all sorts of important life things.

Male Child -- Mom, why are you cleaning?
Me-- Because its good for our house to be clean. It keeps us healthy and makes us happ…

Sometimes when I do a giveaway, I feel like I need to let the winner reveal take as much time as possible. But then I realize that its totally annoying when I click through to see the winner and I can't find who it is right away. And I get all excited, because somehow the longer it takes to find the winner, the better chance I feel like I have. Probably because it would be just my luck to win a giveaway and to have made a mistake typing my own email address and then never be able to find out that I was the winner... Actually, as a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure I've won a kitchen aid and no one told me and then they gave it away to someone else...So if any of YOU have it...you are welcome.

Gahh--- look what you've made me do. I'm all distracted and taking up your time and totally annoying at least, like, 7 of you. Okay, okay, here are the winners--- (PS -- Did you hear that Copper Gifts wants to give away two additional cutters?!? THREE winners!) (PPS -- You are d…

I made you some Korean Christmas trees. Ha ha ha. I'm kidding. I kid. Ahhh, I'm so funny. Actually, I really am. My son told me so. He said, (and these are his EXACT words) "Oh Mom, you're so funny. You're the only funniest person in the whole world."  So...there's your proof. I'm totally funny.

I guess, it's not really funny unless you live in Korea though. See, here in Korea, Christmas is more like Valentine's Day. You celebrate it with a significant other instead of your whole family. (Or hide at work all day hoping someone will send you flowers and then act all surprised when the flowers you ordered for yourself come with some cryptic "secret admirer" note.) (Hypothetically.) And kids generally only get a small gift from their parents, and usually only until they are about 8 years old. So you know...pink like Valentine's Day, trees like Christmas...Korean Christmas trees...I swear I'm funny.


In case you want to make these.…

 ~~~~~ GIVEAWAY CLOSED ~~~~~

Once upon a time in a land far, far away called South Korea, there lived a little bracket square cutter. And this little bracket square cutter was so sweet and beautiful that every loved it and wanted the cutter to come live with them and be their best friend forever. But this little bracket square cutter already had a best friend in the whole world, and wasn't looking for another best friend. Except that secretly, this cutter really did want another new best friend because her other best friend wouldn't take her to the mall or buy her chocolates or anything. And the cutter cried herself to sleep every night for at least like 3 days or something.

And then her fairy godmother, Beth (at Copper Gifts) took pity on the poor cutter and sent her not just one, but TWO new best friends. And they stayed up all night long talking and talking and giggling even though they promised they would go to bed by 10. And then they realized that three really is a crowd. …

Remember that one time that you went to see the doctor and he started talking to you and you just stared at him blankly because even though there were actual words coming out of his mouth you couldn't understand them at all and for like a whole 27 seconds you found yourself wondering if you were still in the same country and if he was really speaking English? But then you started to pay attention and realized that you could understand the little words like "if" and "the?" Why do they do that? I mean, I get that there are medical words that are just medical. You know, like "hemoglobin." But why do they use REALLY big, important medical terms for super normal easy to say phrases? For instance... every single time I've had a baby I hear this question --

"Have you been ambulating?"

And I'm thinking, "Are you kidding me? I don't even talk to my husband about stuff like that....oh wait...you mean WALKING? Why yes, yes I have. Than…