Well, Christmas is in the rear-view mirror now, and I, for one, am not terribly sad about it. Now don’t get me wrong; I’m not a humbug. I love Santa, the decorations, the classic Christmas movies I’ve watched for the last 50 years, etc. But what I’m not so keen on are crowds, traffic, people in a hurry, having too much to do and not enough time to do it. But unfortunately, I can’t blame anyone but myself. Hi, I’m Janet, and I’m a procrastinator.

Every year, I say I’m going to start earlier with my shopping and online orders. Never happens. I always think I’ll begin baking no later than December 1st. Nope. And that, my friends, is the crux of the matter.

Each year, I bake for our Marin Friends of Ferals volunteers and staff at Marin Humane. This year, there were 35, but I didn’t start the actual baking until December 20th. Feel free to roll your eyes, I wouldn’t blame you.

Anyway, my other mistake was making six things instead of four. What was I thinking? Apparently, I wasn’t. Here’s the lineup: Cranberry breads, Ritz crackers filled with peanut butter then dipped in chocolate, chocolate peanut butter candies from Christmas candy molds, cowboy cookies, English toffee, and pumpkin cookies. My coworker, Leanne, made a dozen vegan/gluten free cupcakes and cookies, as well.

First lesson: When baking, never be talking on the phone, and in the process forget if you put the third cup of flour in the bowl already. If you can’t remember, don’t assume you did and continue on, because it won’t end well.

Second lesson: Think twice about making four batches of English toffee while it’s raining. Apparently, precipitation keeps the toffee from hardening, so it becomes chewy…not exactly desirable. I tried filling the house with blazing hot furnace air, then started the gas fireplace to mimic being in Texas in July, but even that didn’t work. So everyone got barely crunchy toffee this year.

Third lesson: I’ve been baking for 50 years, so I know to go slow and low when mixing wet ingredients into flour. Unfortunately, being on the phone again is a messy distraction.

Fourth lesson: Don’t panic when, two days before d-day (delivery day), you prepare 124 peanut butter filled Ritz crackers, but your 3 lb bag of Guittard chocolate melting discs seize up during the melting process, rendering them useless.

I’m told my 30-second stirring intervals were 10 seconds too long. I, however, prefer to blame precipitation. Regardless, I drove 35 miles back to Nancy’s Fancy’s for more chocolate discs.

For added excitement, one of my cats who stubbornly won’t confess, ate part of my shopping list. My money is on Savannah, although she only has six teeth, but she’s excellent at gumming things. Fortunately, my horrible memory came through for me and I recalled what was missing from that nibbled section.

Fifth lesson: When baking something for the first time, follow the directions. If it says cook the pumpkin cookies for 15 minutes, don’t cook them for 17 because they don’t look done on top. THEY ARE DONE. The bottoms don’t lie. Trust me on this one so you don’t end up tossing a dozen, as I did.

Sixth (and final) lesson:
*Next year, make just four things.
*Assume wrapping 35 plates will take double the time you think it will, and most of the day delivering them.
*Expect your sciatica to act up in protest of you standing for 36 hours over three days, to where you’re hobbling like an old lady.
*Remind yourself you ARE an old lady.

But guess what? Next year, this will all be a distant memory and I, for one, will excitedly dive right back in; I’ll start too late, generally make a big mess, rush with deliveries, and secretly enjoy every minute of it.

Thank you to all of our volunteers at Marin Friends of Ferals and to Marin Humane staff. We wish you and yours many blessings in 2026.

Janet, Donna and Leanne