Five Favorite Decemberings - Part 4 - The Cake

Okay, it's past the middle of January, so I'm gonna get these out real quick - parts four and five of my favorite Decemberings. And you know why I want to blog so much about December? Well, it just has so many things that are worth remembering, all squished into one little month. Now that I've had a little distance from the happenings, and I'm almost done hibernating (recovering) from all the squishyness (busyness), I can close my eyes and let my mind's eye see what I enjoyed the most. This might seem non-special or trivial at first glance, but one of the things I personally enjoyed the most was making this thing...

It's name alone is great. It is called the Layered Peppermint Cheesecake with White Chocolate Frosting (Southern Living, December). I like cooking and trying new dinner or vegetarian recipes--you know, challenging myself in the kitchen--but more than that, I really enjoy baking. I always see these fancy, divine things in magazines that I want to make--for the art of it--and never have the time or opportunity. In my phase of life, easy wins, especially when it comes to...well...everything. I hardly get a chance to start all the projects in my head, much less finish any. So, normally, I would just pass right by this little "art project" saying yeah right.

But this time, I made it happen. It took nearly all day, and I really didn't have the time. I had to get up early before church that Sunday to get the cheesecake layers made, and cooked, and out of the oven, and into the freezer to harden all day before I could even have a chance at making and assembling the rest of it after church.  Oh, and it had to be ready before a Christmas get-together with the Williams clan at 5:00 p.m. that night. Yes it did.

I know I didn't have to do it, and the great part was that I wasn't doing it to impress anyone. For reals. I did it, racing against the clock, because I just wanted to (for once!) make the fancy, divine thing from the magazine - for fun. And it was fun, even though or even because it was challenging, and I didn't really have the time. But I set out to start and finish something artful (to me anyway) in one day, and that's why it goes down as one of my favorite things about December. And you know what the best part is...?

um...hello...