Buon Natale....Merry Christmas...Joyeux Noel....

...for the past couple of weeks, I have hardly been in a holiday or festive mood...in fact, I was no where near enjoying Christmas this year....I'm still not entirely sure why...I have spent a huge amount of time over the past few weeks just bursting into tears and feeling sad and depressed and just not having fun at all...even my baking wasn't really doing it for me...I think this season in retail has really been the last straw...I found people to be more rude and exuding their sense of entitlement attitude in full colour...I let it get to me and it's been a weird state of mind...

....so I was thrilled for the day off...no alarm...slept in until 10:30 a.m...Skyped with the family for 2 hours which was ABSOLUTELY amazing and fun and emotional...it put me in a better mood...made me look forward to dinner at a friend's and excited about making something fun to bring for dessert...

...the results were fabulous...and have now turned me on to checking out more of Alice Waters...which I haven't done before...most of my cookbooks are pretty generic...I don't have collections by any one cook or chef...but today's Cranberry Upside Down Cake...well, it's opened up a little spot of curiosity...

...more importantly....I enjoyed Christmas...