Sweet Distraction
Full disclosure: this is not a post about writing. It is a post, rather, about the absence of it. Why? Because these have arrived by mail order over the past few weeks:

Yes, Thanksgiving cookie cut outs. Okay, you got me: the bat has nothing to do with Thanksgiving, but you may recall my bat love from earlier posts? My Mexican-Long-Tongued bats headed to Mexico, by the way, on Nov. 8. Click to enlarge. (Yes, that is Niña’s paw. She needed to see what I was doing).
And then I went and bought all of this:

On this year’s cookie list: sugar cutouts, chipples, chocolate surprises, white chocolate dreams, chocolate-raspberry thumbprints, cherry-chocolate chip-walnut, and black cherry & chocolate linzertortes.
And finally I got the good stuff – also known as “the ultimate distraction” – these:

I only do this “all-out” baking every few years, when my brother-in-law, The Cookie Monster, comes from New Jersey. Click to enlarge.
So, while others are participating in National Novel Writing Month (Go Julia, Go Natalia), I’m dreaming of sugarplums sugar cookies. And I’m cleaning my house in ways neglected for a year (Having family from the East coast coming to stay for the holidays always lights a much-needed fire). To be fair, though, amongst all the cupboard cleaning, baseboard dusting, vacuuming, outdoor weed-pulling and vehicle washing, I am researching away on my WIP.
But this time of year, the biggest distraction seems to be the one that snags my sweet tooth. Stay tuned for follow-up photos of the treats that will birth their way into my kitchen this week and next.
For Readers, For Writers: What distracts you from your writing and reading? Is this time of year as difficult for you as it is me?