Scout posed for me with next year's Christmas tree. Ha.

I love New Year’s Eve.  It’s not about going to parties, drinking champagne or wearing glittery dresses to me.  It’s all of the wonderful possibilities, the dreams, the aspirations for the new year and a new improved me.  This year, I must confess that the end of 2009 has caught me off guard.  This week, I was really hoping to get out of the house and do some shopping, see a movie and enjoy the benefits of being off work!

Instead, I have been snowbound.  We did not get a ton of snow, but it drifts on our gravel roads, and they stay slick for a long time.  My hubby comes home from work with any essentials I think I need from the grocery store, and during the day, I have been working on preparing for the spring semester.  I am happy to be getting some work done.  Even though I miss civilization, I can’t deny that I have plenty to keep me busy right here at home.  Besides my class plans, I need to give the house a thorough cleaning, and I would like to organize my files and get all of the 2010 folders ready.

Even so, it’s not all work.  I received a pumpkin cobbler kit for Christmas, which I would like to try.  I’ve never made or tasted a pumpkin cobbler.  I also have a beautiful shortbread pan I received last year that makes some very fancy looking cookies.  Baking relaxes me, so I am looking forward to playing in the kitchen and making some goodies.

But, here it is New Year’s Eve, and I haven’t paused for much reflection.  Here is one of my favorites though,

Forget the former things.  Do not dwell on the past.  See, I am doing a new thing.  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? (Isaiah 43:18-19)

I love making new year’s resolutions.  I love planning the new me and setting short term and long term goals and anticipating little rewards if I am successful.  However, I must confess that it seems like I make some of the same resolutions every year, so…this makes me thoughtful.  I have to either set resolutions that I really want to do or I have to find something to love about the resolutions I just feel like I really need to do.  One thing that has helped me in the past is making resolutions that are fun!  That way, I will certainly achieive some of them!  You may laugh, and that’s okay, but in past years, I have made some pretty goofy resolutions just for fun, to try something new, to get myself thinking outside my comfort zone.  I also find great comfort in the fact that God alone makes all things new.  He makes us new creations in Christ.  His mercies are new every morning.  He gives us a new day and a new opportunity every 24-hours.  As a result, if I don’t have my act together and my resolutions all mapped out by January 1st, that’s okay.  January 1st and the New Year are markers created by man.  God is the real creator of the new, and he is able to provide new whenever we are ready to ask and receive.

With that said, here are some of my goofy, but fun resolutions from year’s past:

• Take a sewing class
• Try new makeup shades
• Try a different bath product
• Go to one yoga class
• Go through underwear drawers–discard & replenish

So, you get the idea–resolutions shouldn’t be something that you are going to dread doing!  Sometimes, I’ll admit–I have to trick myself.  One of my serious resolutions is to start exercising regularly again.  Now, I think this is more likely to happen if I phrase it as “walk with a friend for thirty minutes three times a week” or “listen to i-Pod thirty minutes every other day.”  Both of those options add an element of fun–I love visiting with friends and I love listening to music; the walking/exercise becomes incidental.

I still feel a bit unprepared for New Year’s Eve.  I know everyone had different traditions–my grandparents used to eat oyster soup and then go to bed at their regular time.  One lady I know has a very elaborate ritual with candles and writing down disappointments and on paper and then burning the papers in the fireplace.  I think my ritual will simply be meditating on Isaiah 43:18-19.  Wanna join me?

In the weeks before my semester ended and Christmas vacation began, I made big plans!  I am not talking about Christmas plans; I am talking about all of the stuff I was going to accomplish over break–design a new class, write up new assignments for my existing courses, get a big jump on spring class planning, etc.  Then, I got sick.  Then, I got snowed in.  Then, I got snowed in again.

So, the first few days of my break, I spent on the couch with a blanket, drinking 7-up and reading novels.  I got to feeling better, but it’s been a long haul, and so as it turns out, the most strenuous things I have done so far on my break are bake and do dishes.  And, you know what?  Not only is the world not coming to a screeching halt because I am puttering, rather than accomplishing, but I don’t think it’s going to put me behind next semester.  My new mantra is: be on holiday when you’re on holiday.  Work when you’re at work.

So, besides baking and reading, I have done some rearranging and organizing to make room for Christmas gifts.  I changed the comforter on our bed.  I started wearing my new jammies.  I learned to use my coffee grinder and have been enjoying coffee in green and red mug.  I used a new bath bomb.  Took time to watch all of The Sound of Music.  I made homemade pasta with my husband, admired his sledding pictures, and made a homemade sugar scrub.

I am getting much, much better at relaxing, and in the back of my mind, I know that it is just what I needed.

Hello!  Merry Christmas Eve!

The tree lights are on, the Christmas Day cheesecake is in the fridge and the last sheet of raspberry and almond shortbread thumbprints are in the oven.  Gifts are stacked on every flat surface.   My in-laws are en route from Virginia and we are expecting seven inches of snow tonight!  My Sweetie is off to buy a sled once he finishes mail delivery today.

We’re ready!

I want to wish everyone a happy Christmas and a blessed time of fellowship with friends and family this season.  May the joy and peace of Christ fill your life to overflowing!

1. Hug everyone in your family and smile at them.  If they act shocked by this behavior, you should probably do it more often.

2. Open your Bible and read parts or all of your favorite book aloud.  I love to do this with Psalms.

3. Mindfully cook dinner.  Take time to set the table as nicely as you can and focus on the simple pleasure of serving your husband and/or children.

4. Take a bath (add some bath salts or bubble bath) and enjoy the steaming water.  Relax and count your blessings.

5. Bundle up and go for a walk on a winter’s day.  Winter walking can be cold, but the beauty is underrated!  Enjoy taking in the landscape of the season.

6. Drink a mug of something hot and delicious–coffee, cocoa or tea.

7. Bake a batch of somebody’s favorite cookie and deliver them as a surprise.

8.  Take the time to write an old-fashioned letter to someone who will delight in hearing from you.

9. Thoroughly clean the house–or a room, or organize a drawer.  Mend something.  Polish your shoes.  Sew on missing buttons.

10. Get out your camera and take pictures!  Take pictures of your friends, your family, your pets, your favorite things, rooms in  your house–whatever catches your eye.  Print and post some of your shots where you will see them often and be reminded of these blessings.

What is peace?  What is security?  These are the questions I have been chasing in circles today.  I know that God is our peace and that our security, our only true security comes from him, and yet…sometimes life happens, I am shaken, and I realize I haven’t been fully trusting in God.

My soul finds rest in God alone;

my salvation comes from him,

He alone is my rock and my salvation;

he is my fortress, I will never be shaken (Psalm 62:1-2)

Oh, to be a woman who is never shaken!  That is what I want.  Sometimes, I really think, that if there were just one more comma in my checking account balance, then I would never be shaken–I would rest secure.  We know that is not the case.  People with millions in the bank may still feel financially insecure, and everyone can be plagued by feelings of fear and anxiety in regard to money.

The only peace is in Jesus Christ.  He is our security.  He is our peace.  There is nothing else in this world that can keep our minds in peace and put our hearts to rest.  Peace and security cannot be accumulated or purchased in a worldly way.  The peace of God transcends all that.

I want to make a new commitment today to trust God, to know that he is my salvation, and he gives my soul rest…not another accomplishment, not a certain book everyone’s reading, not a certain jacket that I think will transform me.  God alone.  Amen.

I seem to have an annual freak-out during the week after Thanksgiving.  I become stressed and overwhelmed in planning and scamming for the “perfect” Christmas.  I want to bake everything and have my cookies turn out magazine-cover beautiful.  I want to find everyone on my list a gift that will change his/her life.  I want to make gifts.  I want to decorate creatively.  I want to find unique ways to tell, show, and demonstrate the meaning of the season, and let the important people in my life know how much they mean to me.

This only lasts a few days to a week.  Then, I come to my senses.  I realize that Christmas is a special day, but it is just one day, and I am not going to single-handedly make or break anyone’s Christmas.  The pressure fades.  I have also been thinking this year about some of my favorite memories of Christmas past–and you know what they all have in common?  The moments that are most memorable to me were all unexpected, unplanned, and spontaneous.  That really takes the pressure off!

I would like to share a few of those memories with you.

• A few years back, my grandmother lost her brother just a few days before Christmas. This was especially difficult for her because he was her last close living relative.  On Christmas Eve, I was on my way to see my boyfriend (now husband) and decided on a whim to stop and see my Grandma first.  All of the family would be with her on Christmas Day, but she was alone on Christmas Eve.  She was so happy to see me!  We had a nice visit at her kitchen table, eating her Christmas cookies and candy.  We sang some Christmas songs together from her hymn book, and I watched her open her the gifts my mom and aunt had put in her Christmas stocking earlier.  It was good for both of us, and a good time–one of those special moments when I knew that I was exactly where I was supposed to be.  This visit was also nice because on the actual Christmas Day, she is busy preparing food and serving 30-40 family members dinner, so a moment to visit is rare.  This special Christmas Eve we had together is one of my favorite memories.
• Another favorite memory goes back quite a bit further.  I was seventeen and my older brother and I were having Christmas with my dad.  My parents hadn’t been divorced for very long, so holidays were still a little difficult and awkward as we tried to find our way between old traditions, new traditions, and a new way of being a family.  I remember the three of us were gathered by the fireplace in my dad’s newly finished house.  My dad had a bottle of sparkling grape juice (it might have been champagne–not sure) that he opened, and the three of us had a Christmas toast.  That year, my dad had carefully shopped and selected special Christmas gifts for my brother and me.  This was a great surprise because my dad is normally one to give money, and I was touched that he had taken the time to think about what we might want and to go shop for us himself.
• One more to share–this was especially a fun one.  When I was single and renting a house by myself, my mom bought me an artificial tree one year before Christmas.  It was so exciting to me to have my own tree and own decorations!  I didn’t have very many Christmas ornaments, so I went on a shopping trip to some special stores and bought the ornaments that I thought were especially beautiful to adorn my tree.  I still have those ornaments, and when I see them they bring back the joy of that first Christmas tree I decorated on my own.

God has such neat plans for us, even when we are unaware.  Let’s not get so caught up in our own plans and holiday doings that we miss the wonder and joy of unexpected moments of joy.  I was reminded when watching the news the other day, that for many, many people, the Christmas season is a time of depression and loneliness.  I pray that we will all be sensitive to how God might use us to strengthen and encourage others during this season.

I must confess, I was a little bummed out when Thanksgiving passed, and I faced the fact that I wasn’t going to be able to do much Christmas decorating this year.  This is our second year of living in an “under construction site” and it just isn’t practical to try to decorate this much.  I did drag out a box of the sparse decorations we used last year, mainly consisting of a couple of strings of lights that my Sweetie hung around an evergreen in the front yard to surprise me.  I remember the night he hung those lights, I had supper all ready, and I was waiting for him to come in.  I looked out the window, and saw his truck sitting in the driveway, for a really long time, but I didn’t say anything.  Finally, he came in the house, and told me to look outside.  What a surprise it was to see those Christmas lights on our little tree.  All through the season, I enjoyed looking outside and seeing that tree ablaze with twinkling lights, and being reminded of my husband’s thoughtfulness.  This year, my Sweetie convinced me that finishing the roof on the addition was more important than hanging Christmas lights. So, I relented.

Then, I remembered these little Christmas ornaments I had tucked away in a bag.  My Sweetie brought them home the weekend before Thanksgiving from a craft fair in town.  I put them way, not even looking at them very closely.  When I got them out again, I noticed the details of their little faces and outfits, appreciating their hand-made details, and realized how cute they were and how much I liked them.  They will go on next year’s tree, and they are more special now because they have a little history.

Lately I’ve been telling myself that the trouble with getting everything you want all at once is that you have nothing to look forward to.  It’s nice to count a tree decorated with my Sweetie’s ornaments among the things to look forward to in 2010.

I have been struggling with stress and worry this week, and I shouldn’t be–don’t tell my colleagues, but I have been working about a week ahead of schedule all semester, and I’m in pretty good shape.  So, what is the source of my stress?  After a few moments of contemplation on the couch, while listening to Scout the puppy’s soft snores, I am convinced that the source  is the fact that I am not living in today.  I am living in the two and half weeks after Christmas in which I fear I will be overwhelmed with spring class planning, and fulfilling the demands of a contract to create and deliver a new course by February 1st.  I am reminded of the quote–maybe you have seen a version of it?

Worrying about tomorrow doesn’t solve any problems

it only robs today of its strength.

I want my today to be strong–that’s all I’ve got to work with right now–to enjoy, to appreciate, to bless, and be blessed.  Praise God for this day called today.  I am pulling my emotions back to this moment–I cannot live in the future any more than I can live in the past.

My favorite method of refocusing is by giving thanks for the special blessings of today.  Here goes:

• I am thankful to live fairly close to all of my family and to be able to stay in touch with them via email, texting and phone calls.
• I am thankful for a thoughtful husband.
• I am thankful for safe travel to and from work.
• I am thankful for Christmas lights and Christmas music and sugar cookies!
• I am thankful for rediscovering all of my favorite sweaters.
• I am thankful for the sounds of home–the hum of the heater, the click of my fingers on the keyboard, and again, Scout’s snoring.
• I am thankful for my Heavenly Father, who hems me in on all sides–going before, beside and behind–what a comfort!
• I am thankful for good books and the ability to read, and the time to read.
• I am thankful for all of the lovely, upbeat people that I work with.
• I am thankful for my coffee maker!
• I am thankful for the beauty of changing seasons.
• I am thankful for my little mini Christmas tree and for the little Snowman who sings “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas” when you squeeze his hand.

Let me emphasize to myself and to you–today is precious. Absolutely priceless.  We have got to train ourselves to savor and enjoy the moments we’re given.  That’s what gives today its strength.

In the midst of the holiday frenzy to shop, bake, wrap, decorate and generally be jolly and keep up with the usual tasks of work, house cleaning, and laundry, I have been sneaking minutes here and there to finish another great holiday book, Knit the Season, by Kate Jacobs.  This is a “Friday Night Knitting Club” book–the third in the series, so it has a familiar cast of characters and includes both knitting patterns and recipes!  Yay!  I love these books.  I am not a knitter, but I know how to crochet.  After I read the first book, The Friday Night Knitting Club, I actually made the long journey to town and purchased a “teach yourself to knit” kit.  I have sort of taught myself to cast on, but that’s as far as I’ve gotten…So, I am not a committed knitter, but I am a committed reader of Kate Jacobs’ books.

The book is divided into four parts around four major holidays–Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Year’s.  Here’s the opening to the section on Christmas:

Somewhere, under the flurry of tearing gift wrap and devouring chocolate bells, is a day about family and connection and thoughtfulness.  Just as every hand-stitched item–every knit, every purl–encodes a secret message about devotion.  Knitting is simply an expression of love.

Sigh.  Makes me wish I knew how to knit and could cozy up to a fireplace with a cat curled around my ankles and a cup of hot chocolate nearby.  This book, at least, conveys that same feeling of comfort, and as with the other Friday Night Knitting Club novels, the story deals with an ensemble of women, and follows the individual path of each, as well as how their paths intertwine.  And if four major holidays aren’t enough celebration in one little book, this one also boasts a double wedding!

I have a passion for the details of life–mine and those of other women, and Kate Jacobs provides great details–so much so that I even enjoyed reading her “acknowledgments” at the end of the book.  I admit that this might be a little odd.  At my next baking opportunity, I plan to try out the recipe for “Gran’s Scrumptious Shortbread.” I wish you happy reading–a few minutes of solitude with a good book, something tasty to nibble, and something hot to sip.

I love to bake year ’round, but there is a much greater joy in baking during the holiday season…There’s the Christmas music playing in the background, and there’s a hum in my heat because I am baking with purpose!  We love making treats to share with neighbors and friends and to bring to holiday gatherings.  For years, my mom and I made her special sugar cookie recipe.  Then, a few years back, I started trying different recipes for cut-outs, and stumbled upon one that I love and keep coming back to.

The dough is easy to handle and roll out, and I stick with cookie cutter shapes that won’t be too difficult to decorate.  For the batch in this picture, I used the icing recipe that goes with the cookies, and then added some decorative touches with store-bought icing.

Brown Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened (2 sticks)
2 cups packed brown sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger

Icing:
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 to 3 tablespoons half-and-half cream
food coloring, optional

Steps:
1. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add the eggs and lemon peel; beat well. Combine the flour, baking soda and ginger.  Add to other mixture and mix well.   Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or until easy to handle. Note:  If you refrigerate the dough overnight, you may have to let it sit out a little before you can work with it.

2. On a floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with 2-in. cookie cutters. Place cookies two inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool. (Note:  my cookies took exactly 8 minutes.)

3. For icing, in a bowl, combine powdered sugar, vanilla and enough cream to achieve spreading consistency. Add food coloring if desired to some or all of the icing. Decorate cookies.

Yield: depends on cookie size.  I used small cookie cutters and had about 92 cookies.

Note:  I don’t have wire racks, so I let the cookies cool on wax paper.  This is also handy for catching any icing spills when you are decorating.  Let the cookies rest until the icing is set before packaging them.

2^nd Note:  If the dough is hard to work with, try either refrigerating longer or adding flour.