I have all these great ideas for teachers gifts and cookies and cakes and baking in general and then Wham......time always gets away from me and I never end up doing in of it... It's like my poor kids...every year I have this grand cake in mind for their birthdays and I get so busy with customer cake orders I never end up doing the cake I want ...Do you any of you ever feel like this?? I feel like I am letting everyone down because by this time I just want a break ..No baking,No decorating and "Please don't ask me to bring dessert for Christmas dinner""


Laurel

I never get all the baking I want done.

Part of my issue is my youngest's birthday in the middle of the month.

I put an end to the holiday baking madness of cookies, candies, themed cupcakes, etc. about 5 years ago. I decided that since I bake all year long, the holidays are a good time for me to give it a rest. Besides, there are a lot of people who only bake during the holidays, so now I get to sample everyone else's treats.

I felt a little guilty the first year, but on the other hand my holidays were a lot less stressful and a lot more happier. I never looked back!

Yay, Snowboarder, I agree with you!! I bake all year long, so when I go to pot luck dinners, I DON'T bring dessert! I'm going to one on Saturday and bringing an appetizer and a salad!

And another secret...I **GASP** bought frozen cookie dough from my daughter's school fundraiser! When I need a quick batch of cookies for something, out comes the dough...

don't get me wrong...I love to bake and cook, but something has to give at this time of year!

I do that with EVERYTHING. Make big long lists of all the X I'm going to do (where X is baking, gardening, decorating, cleaning etc). Then when I get halfway through and am exhausted, I'm annoyed with myself because I only got half done!

Take a break - I'm sure you've earned it.

When it comes to potlucks (or "covered dish dinners" as we call them around here), I often bring something savory instead of sweet too. If I do bring a dessert, it is DEFINATELY an undecorated one and often it is a pie. This year, kick your feet up and bring green beans to those dinners.

As for my kids' birthdays, I do whatever cake they want. I mark off that date on my cake calendar/planner and refuse any other order for that day. In my opinion, they sacrifice their mom all year to other people's orders so they deserve a great cake for their birthday. In June, my 6-year-old wanted three cakes and guess what she got......three cakes. I would do it for a paying customer and my children pay their dues, just not in monetary form. My youngest will turn 5 on 12/19, DH is 12/25, and my niece is 12/26 and all those dates say "reserved" for me.