Let me give you a little weekend recap.

I was doing two things all weekend long (really three, but the third is connected to the first, so we'll let it go at that): baking and grading.

The third thing was volunteering, but I was volunteering to sell the baked goods that I was baking. That's the connection I was talking about.

I graded three sets of papers, one set of annotated bibliographies, and about seven sets of discussions over the weekend, beginning on Thursday. I was in that situation because I am something of a procrastinator when it comes to grading, so although I was giving feedback on projects throughout, I hadn't exactly sat down to assign formal grades to things.

And yes, I know I posted on both the grading and the baking earlier on. I'm now providing the post mortem.

The grading was miserable. I hate it. However, I dutifully plugged along and took the punishment for those weeknights during the semester that I decided sleeping was more important than grading a bit here and there (it also didn't help that I went to Seattle toward the end of the first summer session to attend a wedding...traveling is not good for my grading motivation).

The baking on the other hand, while exhausting, was a joy. It was so enjoyable in fact that following Friday night, when my pies and cookies sold at a brisk clip, I went home and baked two more pies and a few more dozen cookies. This time I rose to the challenge of a friend and produced a vegan apple pie, which essentially meant I didn't use any butter or margarine, as that's the only animal product in a fruit pie. Instead of butter/margarine (margarine contains whey, which is made of milk, so it's not vegan...something I learned this weekend), I used Crisco baking sticks with "buttery" taste.

Mm-Hmm. If they say so.

Although I didn't like it nearly so much as the butter-laden regular dough, the all vegetable shortening dough was not bad (may I never say that loud enough for Julia Child to overhear me in the Hall of the Kitchen Gods). The filling is absolutely the same: apples, flour, sugar, salt, lemon juice, and cinnamon.

I feel a great sense of accomplishment today, having both turned in my grades and sold off the baked goods, and look forward to turning my eye to more important matters such as John Boehner's tan and Michele Bachmann's pledge to oligarchy.

Seriously, a little more shameless shilling.

Tomorrow, Saturday, December 8, marks the first day of my son's school's Christmas Tree Sale at Dupont Italian Kitchen, 17th and R. We have trees ranging from two foot tabletops to ten foot firs, and 50% is tax deductible, because we've built the school donation right into the price! Isn't that nice of us? The trees are beautiful -- we've got plenty of fraser firs that are the perfect size for many city apartments -- and everything goes to the school.

We'll be at the patio of Dupont Italian Kitchen, 17th and R Streets NW, from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and did I mention we offer free delivery to reasonable points in the District?

While you're at it, take in some of Dupont Italian Kitchen's great food -- I like the mussels and the chicken parmigiana, though for brunch I'm partial to the various flavors of eggs benedict.

It's fun for the whole family.

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So you haven't bought yourself a Christmas tree yet, have you? You really need one, though. And you want to feel good about it, you want to turn it into a symbol of your giving nature and bring happiness to others through your participation in the commodification of the holiday season. After all, it hasn't happened if you haven't bought something to commemorate it, right?

December 8th and 9th and again December 15th and 16th, from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. (or maybe later), you should come down to 17th and R Streets NW to the most excellent Dupont Italian Kitchen, have yourself some brunch, and buy a tree. My son's elementary school is selling trees at that location to raise funds and 50% is tax deductible. We even offer free delivery to those of you who reside within realistic range (we will not cross the Potomac or the Anacostia, nor are we interested in driving up through Palisades or beyond North Capitol for that matter, but Columbia Heights, Adams Morgan, Howard University, Georgetown, Mount Pleasant, etc., and of course Dupont Circle are all in play...maybe more, who knows...).

If you don't want a tree, buy a wreath. If you don't want a wreath, just leave some money. It all goes to the school.