Serious questions

Every year, I suffer the same Christmas conundrums and usually bail on finding an acceptable answer by doing nothing. Now that I'm starting fresh, I want to put these questions out for the general public to chew on and see what comes out of the process.

I should start off by stating that I'm pretty much an atheist and so don't buy the whole virgin birth story. For me, the Christmas holiday is...odd. I've mentioned a number of times that I don't really see my family and when we were kids the adults had a falling out and we all never really recovered from that. Therefore, while I enjoy my cousins (the non-racist ones) we never see each other. Since I've moved to Canada, I have one friend who will regularly visit me. I'll try to fix that this year, but everybody always has some bullshit excuse, so I'm a little cynical. I love to cook, so I use the holiday to indulge in that little hobby.

My first conundrum involves cards. I like the concept of cards. I love the idea of getting something in the mail that doesn't involve marketing and or bill paying. However, I haven't sent cards in a few years. I know, I'm a bad person. I am going to send cards this year, so here's the question: do people really want to receive a picture of other people's kids? I know that my son is absolutely the most perfect and handsome boy in the world, but do people really want his picture in the Christmas card? If yes, should it be a school picture or a more fun and spontaneous shot?

Second question involves that ages old problem, when are gifts exchanged in a new relationship? I'm not even sure I'm in a relationship, but I am occasionally sharing someone's bed. Does that mean I should get him a small gift? Am I off the hook if he's flat broke? If I even ask him, is that tacky? Too much pressure?

Final Christmas conundrum, the Santa issue. I never really cared if Andrew ever believed in Santa, but he does believe. I hate lying to him and I just wonder if I let it runs its course? Eventually, he will stop believing on his own, he is in second grade. How do I explain to my the-world-is-black-and-white son that the whole Santa thing is fake, or can I punt the whole issue to his dad, who was a little more pro-Santa than me?

Thanks for listening. If you've got any ideas, let me know.

12 year old boys

Every year, my gym places names of underprivileged children on a Christmas tree in its lobby. The name is accompanied by the age of the child. This year I chose a 12 year old boy because it was one of only three names left on the tree. All the younger ages were chosen because those are easy.

I need some help. Within reason, what should I buy a 12 year old boy? I'm thinking a couple of Manga books. But beyond that I'm stuck. Are board games cool? Any help you can offer will be greatly appreciated.

Cookie Exchange

Since last Saturday, I've been baking, and subsequently, eating cookies. On top of that, Andrew has fallen victim to pink eye. I'm thrilled to not be working. No papers to grade so I can just relax and enjoy the vacation that my boys will have. I thought that I would put up a cookie exchange to see what your favorite recipes are. I think that the best cookies we made this year were my mom's M&M Cookies.

1 cup of butter - softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups M7Ms (divided)

Blend the butter and both sugars. Beat in vanilla and eggs. Sift remaining dry ingredients together and add to the sugar/egg mixture. Mix well. Stir in 1/2 cup of M&Ms, reserving 1 cup to decorate cookies prior to baking. Drop a teaspoon of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Decorate unbaked cookies with remaining M&Ms.

Bake at 375 for 8-12 minutes.

My oven runs hot, so eight minutes is perfect. Also, do not overload with M&Ms. The cookies will come out too crisp and crumbly.

Share your cookies here.