It happens every year, but this year has been exceptional. Just as the holiday lights begin to twinkle, Santa prepares for his voyage, and the eggnog gets poured into the mugs, I lose the ability to remember why I am in a store. Inevitably, I will return to Target no less than 17,240 times to get the same gift I have been meaning to pick up for a month. It's always that simple little gift that is so easily obtained, i.e. a gift card. They're sitting right in front of me, at the checkout, but yet I will leave without it over and over and over.

Have I ever mentioned that I cannot walk into Target without spending at least $100? It's physically impossible. This is a problem.

The bigger problem, however, lies with the ridiculous amounts of cookie-baking that I do this time of year. I cannot manage to have everything I need in the kitchen at one time. It doesn't seem to matter how many lists I make, how many recipe cards I take with me shopping, or how many times I swear that I will remember everything I need, I'm always missing something. It's enough to make me wonder why I do all this baking in the first place.

I try to convince the world that I'm doing it for them by doling out tins of sugary goodness to pretty much everybody, but really it's for my husband. I'm pretty sure that when we got married, he added the line "But if you ever try to make me live through a holiday without massive amounts of peanut butter, I reserve the right to leave your butt" at the end of his vows. He can handle sickness, poorer, and all of that business, but do not deprive the man of his peanut butter. And guess what I have been out of for days, have gone to the grocery store to buy no less than 6 times, and yet still do not possess?

So, off I go for the 7th time. I vow to return with peanut butter because otherwise, there will be no Puppy Chow. Man cannot survive Christmas without Puppy Chow, I swear to it.

The recipe, in case you are interested, goes a little something like this:

Puppy Chow
8 cups Crispix
1/2 cup butter
1 cup peanut butter
12 oz. package chocolate chips
2 cups powdered sugar

Pour the Crispix into a large non-stick pot or large mixing bowl. In a separate pot (or bowl if microwaving) melt the peanut butter, butter, and chocolate chips. Pour the peanut butter concoction over the cereal and stir until well-coated. Carefully pour the powdered sugar into a large brown paper bag. Add the cereal mixture. Fold over the top of the bag and shake the contents until mixed. Scoop yourself out a portion and hide it where noone will ever find it (I find inside the dishwasher works well) because otherwise you will not get to eat a single piece of it.