In Which I Lament/Praise My Own Planning

Another thing I excel at, since you asked, is planning. I am a planner. I like to plan things.
So, back three or two weeks ago or whenever, I decided (for reasons which are now lost in the haze of my brain) to schedule four days of un-interrupted, hellish consultations with students. Oh yes, I planned it. For myself. Of my own free will. For myself.
What this means, in practical terms, is that for each day of this week I had to read two drafts for each student. That's right, TWO. This I also planned. Which means that the days leading up to this week, and IN FACT, this week was the definition of No Fun.
Luckily I discovered the joy and ease of copy and paste commentary, because, I discovered, even though each student wrote their own draft, they all faced the same challenges. So I wrote very detailed comments, and then I pasted them for each student, customizing them for a students draft. This made my life EASIER.
So what I did I learn from this marathon, no holds barred, few breaks in the schedule, schedule?
First, NEVER DO IT AGAIN!! I say this knowing I will forget the pain and that I will, in fact, construct for myself a similar hell. What can I say? I vacillate between boundless optimism and hard-edged cynicism.
Second, for some students, it actually does work. (Dammit!)
ALSO, re:planning, I was a super-genuis this weekend and prepped food for both breakfast and lunch, therefore making the morning/day portion of my eating life a BREEZE.
The upshot, therefore, is that while sometimes my planning bites me in the ass, sometimes it is an asset.
Thereby, the theme of my planning = ass.
The end.

Current Obsessions

Since I got back from Vegas, I have been thinking about the menus for the various days and meals we will or should be eating in the coming days. I have also been trying to pick and choose from among the traditional cookies my family usually makes, asking Son for his input of course.
I haven't made much progress, but I have made some decisions (sort of?). To wit:

• Christmas Eve: MB has decided that this year, instead of making tamales, we will buy them from Victor's. We took a research trip out there. Delicious!
• Christmas Day: We'd like to have some local, organic meat, baked potatoes and Caesar Salad. Easy!
• Appetizers: On Christmas Eve, I'd like to have a selection of appetizers, like the obvious veggie platter, perhaps with our traditional cottage cheese dip or maybe something new, like this herbed goat cheese dip? Or perhaps these Spanish style tapas, such as shrimp or tortilla?
• What about Christmas morning? I think I'll make the cranberry maple cake I made this year. See these pics from last year.
• Cookies? I already made the peanut butter chocolate bars. Son demands the 7 Layer Bars. I bought stuff for the peanut butter kiss cookies, but might not make them, because we have to make sugar cookies. Those are required. I'm trying to draw the line there, but I will miss the oatmeal butterscotch chip cookies. But oh well. I'm trying hard not to gain too much weight over break.
• Drinks? Red wine of course, and maybe some Claus-mopolitans. And perhaps some more bubbly wine. And egg nog, with rum of course. And maybe some Baileys to add to the coffee. Yum....
  

I would love to hear what you will be eating, especially ideas for appetizers. I think I would rather eat lots and lots of appetizers and save myself the trouble of making any big meals.