We had a Pride Month celebration in all of my company’s offices last week, and I was disappointed with what we had in the Chicago office. Here are the pictures that all other offices shared:
The Montreal office had a cookie decoration activity:
I assumed that our cookie decorating class would also be Pride-themed, as advertised, but it was not! They didn’t even have the right colors 😦
These are the cookies that I decorated. I could make the rainbow and the heart pride-themed, but they didn’t supply us with the proper color icing!
I feel left out! (Although I learned some decorating techniques, which I will use for my Christmas cookies)
And I missed the Chicago Pride Parade and the whole weekend of North Pride celebration in Rogers Park, and the next year will be even more challenging schedule-wise.
Sunday was our Art Institute Christmas Day: as anyone should, we went to see Napolitan Creche and Miniature Rooms, and then headed to the Ryan Center to do the projects.
The theme of the projects was a newly opened Bruce Goff exhibit. We missed it on our way to the Ryan Center, but went to see it after lunch, and then returned to the Ryan Center one more time to make more art.
We all liked the Bruce Goff exhibit. I previously mentioned that I was disappointed with the Symbolism exhibit, and Nadia said she didn’t like it either. She said that the Bruce Goff “Material world” was also “Strange realities,” but the funny ones. I agree.
We finally left the Art Institute close to 3 PM, returned home, and then spent the evening decorating cookies. Last Christmas, Nadia did a great job with cookies, and I told her I could use your help, but this year, it was on a whole new level, and Kira helped as well. They decorated all of the remaining cookies and said they could do more 🙂
I was super impressed with this rocking horse – that’s one of the most difficult shapes to decorate.
Now, I am definitely employing their skills next year!
Igor picked up my mom, and they both came to have dinner with us, to socialize with the girls, and watch them decorating cookies.
My mom was really impressed with the work the girls did “on their own will,” and said that she understood how much work I had to do with the girls staying with me, and that she “sympathized with me.” When I told her that I do not see anything to be “sympathized” about and that I only do the things I enjoy doing, she got very upset and went on one of her regular rants about “my generation not being able to understand hers”, but I honestly have no idea how this all got connected in her mind!
I need to count how many total packages I have already mailed; I think it’s more than twenty. Even when I have more than half the addresses in the USPS address book, it still takes time to weigh the parcel, click “does not contain,” enter the dimensions, print the label, cut it out, and attach it. To be honest, when I did it at the kiosk during the after-hours in Palatine, it seemed faster! Or maybe I am getting older and becoming slower 😂.
The last batch was shipped yesterday:
And if you look closer, you will see one more small cookie tin in the background: I received a parcel from Kentucky!
One more angel – or is it a firebird? – on my tree!One more card over my fireplace!… and the cookies will mostly go to my girls 🙂
Shipping update:
Most of my US parcels have reached their destination
The total mailed is twenty-seven.
Also, there are(will be) five that I am passing, not mailing, because I will see people in person.
And so far, six more I gifted, plus I brought cookies to work twice.
I am brewing this coffee almost every time I brew coffee at home, and I will soon run out of it. However, the person who came up with this recipe deserves a medal of honor!Working moments
It’s that time of the year again! It’s Christmas Cookie time! Same as last year, and as many years before, and hopefully many years to come: if you want my cookies this season, leave a comment or DM me! First fifteen from across the world/across all my social media, first twenty from the US, unlimited if you are in Chicagoland and can pick it up at my house (while supplies last :)). Unlimited Christmas Cards.
Come and bake/decorate with me Dec 6-7 or Dec 13-14.
As I already mentioned multiple times, this holiday season was challenging, and I knew what was coming in advance. First, when it was just the conference, I planned to bake cookies on the first December weekend, and I asked Lena to mark her calendar. But then Anna’s surgery was scheduled for November 28, and that weekend was not an option anymore.
Christmas cookies are very important to me. It’s not like “just because I promised” or because somebody forced me; it’s just that I really enjoy both baking and gifting; that’s why I wanted to find a way to make the cookies happen. I decided to take December 8 off, and Lena agreed to do the same.
I purchased all ingredients well in advance. I worked on my Christmas messages to friends. One of my European friends agreed to mail my cards to my friends in Russia from her country, so I prepared ten cards, printed the addresses, and attached them to the envelopes.
This season, more than ever, all I want is some additional time in my life, and nobody can give me it! There was a marathon of writing cards, packing and shipping, and finding the last missing gifts, and I didn’t go to bed earlier than midnight (and one day, it was 1 AM again!). So many things went wrong this season, that I can only hope it will never happen again.
To answer the question I was already asked: Hettie, why won’t you skip this season or just downsize – I can’t describe the joy of seeing parcels mounting on my dining room table, going into big bags, and then to the Post Office counter! It feels so good that I was not even tired the other night when I stayed awake until 1 AM. I just feel an adrenaline rush, and I am so glad I did it!
Hettie's Reflections 