I wait for this night every year!

Tonight's the night of the Third Annual Christmas Treat Exchange. I can't wait! Chelsey & I attended our first treat exchange four years ago and it was a bust, but it gave us an idea....why not host our own?! You see, we'd learned some things at our first exchange. We took these lessons and created our own rules, with the primary one being it must be home made. Yes, I'm totally serious. While we'd tediously whipped up our goods and then baked and wrapped them, other in the group had used imposter store bought cookies. But at least those were baked. The real deal breaker was the 'truffles' (no lie, I swear!) that were nothing more than balls of Pillsbury chocolate chip cookie dough placed into mini cupcake wrappers...and 'served' as  rum ball-like treats. Now, some might think "hey, Tanis...I thought you said you loved cookie dough...whatchu complainin' about, foo'?" and to you I say this: Pillsbury has a funny flavor. I don't know if it's something to do with the preservatives or what, but their dough has a tang that is distinguishable from a homemade dough...and it's not the same.

So now, I look forward to our exchange with glee. I've invited 14 wonderful women over for supper (individual pizzas this time around), visiting and of course, an exchange of baked goods. Well, that's not even true, really. There's nothing truly baked about the Cranberry Pistachio White Chocolate Bark that I know is coming, but I will not be denying anyone of it's deliciousness. I know there's shortbread and Rolo cookies on their way. There's Mint Nanaimo bars, pecan tarts, mincemeat tarts and fudge. I'm also praying for a repeat of last year's Mint Thin cookies that are the most gloriously minty bites of heaven. Goodness...I can feel my hips calling for a visit to the gym now. Good thing I can help 'em out - I'll be hitting the gym around noon and taking the afternoon off from work so I can get all the pizza fixings ready, make sure the house is presentable and maybe even relax a little.

MrP has a scotch tasting tonight at Aligra and I'm so happy this is finally happening - I bought it for him about a year ago and after five postponement/cancellations, it's actually happening. So after I do a little tidying up from the treat exchange, I'll be heading to West Edmonton Mall to drive him and two friends home after an evening of drinking. I hope they have fun!

Yesterday was my amazing friend Rose's birthday and I hope it was great (I know she was going for a pedicure at some point and I called in and paid for half of it so I hope they applied that!) I had a wonderful night - miserable horse, but it ended well - we were jumping about 3 feet! That's about the height you actually feel the real wonder of flight on a horse and I just love it!

Anyways, have a wonderful day - I hope to have some pics to share tomorrow, as well as maybe have some crafting time soon...because your winter creations have me INSPIRED!

Oh - and if you want to whip up some really fabulous cookies (now known as Palmer's PB Cup Cookies in our home after four years of glorious baking - just don't really look at the ingredient list for nutritional info), give these a try!

(photo credit: SPAZZ41 on Allrecipes.com)