Food and Personal Goals of the Month - December

December, the end of another year.  And time to tie up all the loose ends.  I have to admit I didn't put much thought into December's goals...until just now.  They are a little scattered.  This year December is kind of my catch-all month...what still needs to get done.  Not to mention the holidays...that will be a big factor...just managing :P  I am very motivated to stay on top of things and get everything on my list done in the next few weeks.  We'll see.
For food, I need to use up the rest of my apples.  I thought that was going to take a long time.  But I went through them and got rid of the bad ones.  Plus I made and canned a batch of applesauce yesterday.  And I made another batch of applesauce this morning.  So there really isn't that much left.  I thought it would take a few more weeks to get through them, but I may be done with them by the end of this week!  I'm hoping to make one more batch of applesauce this week.  That might be all the applesauce I make.  I am planning to do some baking as well...dutch apple pie (yes, finally make one!) and apple crisp.  And maybe some bread or muffins.  The pie(s) and crisp might be yet this week.  Anyway, all apples must be gone by the end of December :)  Aside from our golden delicious eating apples that is.

I also want to do some baking this month.  Christmas is coming.  Lots of family parties.  I definitely want to make Christmas cookies again with Rebecca.  Hopefully that will become a tradition.  She was able to "help" just a little bit last year...mostly just stick her fingers in the dough and lick some frosting...but it was still fun.  This year she'll be able to do a lot more.  And I bet she'll love the decorating part...if she doesn't eat all of the decorations ;)  I want to make some pies.  I have to make some kind of dessert for a youth group party this Sat. (not sure what yet).  I don't have all of my baking planned out yet.  But it's definitely a baking month.  And as a side note, I used a homemade frozen pie crust yesterday to make quiche.  It seemed to work just fine.  So I'll be trying to stock my freezer with more pie crust.

For personal goals I'm mostly focusing on Christmas stuff.  First on the list, Christmas shopping!  I've hardly started.  Next week is going to be my shopping week.  I'm hoping to get a good portion of my shopping done.  Next, decorating.  I have to get all of my Christmas decorations out yet...maybe sometime this week.  Next Saturday we will be getting our tree.  Decorating that may be a little different this year with a curious toddler :)  Next, Christmas cards.  I'm actually somewhat on the ball with that this year.  Our cards will be arriving any day now.  Then I just have to address them and get them in the mail.  I also want to make sure I take time this month to teach Rebecca about the Christmas story.  She's young, but that doesn't mean she can't understand why we celebrate Christmas.  She loves to read about baby Jesus.  So I think she'll really get into it.  We're hoping to take her to our church's Christmas program this Sunday too.  And hopefully I can do some simple Christmas projects with Rebecca...maybe even create some of our own traditions.  And finally the big one...travel.  I hate traveling.  But that's what happens at Christmas.  Some years more than others.  This year we will be going to Grand Blanc on the 20th.  Then again on the 25th/26th.  And then we'll be heading to WI the last week in Dec.  As usual I set my standards pretty low for travel...my goal is to get through it.  If I enjoy myself too that's a nice bonus :)  I have my own issues to deal with when I travel.  But having an active toddler adds to it.  Not sure how she'll handle a drive to/from WI...she didn't even like our 2 hour ride home on Sunday, and that's with her sleeping over half the trip.  So I'm nervous about that too.  I'm sure we'll have fun while we're with family.  But I'm very nervous about the traveling part.

Finally my continuing goal of just getting out and doing more social stuff...MOPS, nursery cmt, BLAST, Kindermusik.  We are hoping to take Rebecca to a local gymnastics place in the next week or two.  She's really into climbing over and under things, balancing on things, doing somersaults, etc. right now.  So that will be so much fun.  We're also hoping to see my BIL, SIL and nephew and go to FM Gardens.  And we're working on getting to know our neighbors and some friends better.  Hopefully we can spend more time with them...although there may be more of that in the new year since everyone is busy in December.
I have a lot to get done this month.  But I am very motivated and ready to go!  I think every day is going to be busy, but it'll be a good busy.

So, here's the recap:

~ Use up apples
~Bake
~Christmas - shopping, decorating, cards, projects/stories/traditions, travel
~Social stuff/outings