1.  One week to go ’til 2026…

2.  Anyone else finishing strong with plans to cause mayhem and madness?

3.  Anyone else tempted to wait it out safely tucked away under the covers?

4.  Flip sides of the same coin —

5.  Wait…nope, I don’t think that one works.

6.  Let’s just say two of hopefully many tools in the toolbox for surviving and thriving in these wild times.

7.  ‘Nuff said.

8.  I thought I might do a whole ‘Twas the day after Christmas motif but I seriously doubt that could translate into a 40 things post.

9.  Moving along.

10.  Except to say I had a lovely Christmas day.

11.  Oh! I know what I want to share.

12.  I made myself drool-worthy cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning.

13.  In our house baking Pillsbury cinnamon rolls has been a Christmas tradition for years.

14.  Sweet, warm goodness with a cinnamon-y aroma? I was a hero the year I started this activity.

15.  In the early days it was hard to score one because the kids gobbled them up straight from the pan.

16.  They were feral little critters when it came to gooey cinnamon treats.

17.  Then the dreaded gluten sensitivity descended and Pillsbury rolls were ruled out altogether.

18.  Could I have eaten one? Well sure, but who wants to have a headache on Christmas?

19.  Not me, man. Not me.

20.  Since I started baking with imported flour I’ve been playing with the idea of making cinnamon rolls from scratch.

21.  Getting to participate in Christmas morning yumminess was a powerful draw but those recipes were intimidating.

22.  Plus I’m usually spent by Christmas week so the idea of whipping up fresh baked goods felt like a little too much to take on.

23.  But a couple of years rediscovering my love of baking gave me gumption, I suppose.

24.  Gumption? Look at me channeling the language of a doddery grandma. Bless.

25.  Anyway, I wanted some warm cinnamon-y goodness, dammit, so I decided to take the plunge.

26.  This week I used Valerie’s Kitchen recipe for overnight cinnamon rolls.

27.  The idea of separating dough day from completing the bake made everything feel more manageable.

28.  It definitely helped because when I say a shit ton of things went wrong trying to make this dough…phew.

29.  Let’s just say there was a bit of Christmas Cussing bouncing around my kitchen on Christmas Eve.

30.  I choose to believe Jesus would understand because working with dough can drive one to drink.

31.  Anyway, by the end of the evening I’d popped a pan of decent looking cinnamon rolls into the fridge overnight for their second rise.

32.  I was feeling cautiously optimistic.

33.  Technically I wasn’t certain the dough didn’t end up with a bit too much flour but by that point there was no turning back.

34.  I figured worst case scenario I’d have terrible looking but decent tasting cinnamon rolls and that still felt like a win to me.

35.  The overnight rise went smoothly and I stuck those suckers into the oven on Christmas morning.

36.  First things first, we’ll cut to the chase. Those cinnamon rolls tasted fan-freaking-tastic.

37.  There was a bit of a technical glitch — you remember that cone bra Madonna sported on the Blond Ambition Tour?

38.  Well, most of the rolls’ centers had elevated during the overnight rise then popped upward as they baked.

39.  The completed version looked like a casserole dish filled with boob mountains but cream cheese frosting covers a multitude of sins including bulbous cinnamon rolls.

40.  Overall, a very tasty Christmas morning experiment. Now if someone can just teach me how to keep these things level…