Twas the night before the night before Christmas...

And I am officially sick of sugar. Ugh.

Pecan balls, buckeyes, no-bake cookies, cherry cake, watergate salad..... Oh man, it's too too much. I've been a baking fiend lately, making more cookies and cakes this week than I have all year. Maybe in the last *two* years.

 It's been really enjoyable and nostalgic, baking all of my favorite treats from childhood. But, I've reached my limit. I'm so sick of sugar that by the time I finished my last batch of pecan balls, I couldn't even bring myself to sample one. I had to make Matt do it.

But, all is well. All of the sweetness will be headed down to Thornton tomorrow with us for our traditional Christmas Eve celebration. I'm really looking forward to it. We do a big spread of appetizers, have some wine, and watch Frankie run around excited out of her mind about Santa. This year, my dad & Olga are going to be in town for the holidays, and I'm really looking forward to that too.

It's funny... Being a parent really has changed my perspective on Christmas. Honestly, I don't care at all about my own enjoyment. I just want Frankie to have fun. I want to see all the Christmas magic reflected through her eyes. I'm so looking forward to her waking me up at dawn, and seeing the look on her face as she sees the presents under the tree for the first time. And all those darn cookies? Honestly, I made them for her. She probably won't even eat a bite of any of those goodies, but it doesn't matter. I still want her to be around all of the things I loved when I was a kid. I want to start building Christmas memories for her that stack up and overlap with my own.

Sounds sappy to say it out loud, but it's all true.

Or maybe it's just the sugar talking?