Thankful Me

John's comment when eating this was, "Do you have some way to mark really good recipes, so that they get made again and not just forgotten?"  My solution?  Put it on the blog.

The visiting teaching message for January can be found here.   Though the topic is missionary work, it reminds me a bit of the idea behind the movie, "It's a Wonderful Life." 

New Year's Eve memories from my childhood did not include Times Square, noise makers, or midnight kisses.  They did include Scrabble games, popcorn, and getting to stay up late.

It's that time again, when one reviews the past and sets goals for the future.  Making resolutions can seem daunting and scary, or exciting and freeing, depending on perspective. 

Though cookie cutters come in various designs, it seems I only make sugar cookies at Christmastime.  And though I'm sure there must be more than one sugar cookie recipe, this is the only one I use.  If you still need cookies for Santa, this is a good recipe to try, as the dough does not need to chill prior to rolling out to cut.

I hope you enjoy this rendition of one of the most beloved of Christmas hymns.  Thanks for that beautiful silent night.

"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing," goes the saying.  Or in my case, a little knowledge is a drain-clogging thing.

I love reading comments, and I try to frequently make comments on blogs that I read.  My question for you is:  How do you like to receive replies to your comments? 

Instead of other gifts, my siblings and I exchange ornaments at Christmas.  (Siblings, spoiler alert! Continue reading only if you don't want to be surprised this year.) Nothing says the ornaments need to be homemade, but I do try to make a new one each year.  I make them not only for my siblings, but also for my children and others. 

Sometimes our to-do lists seem to grow during the month of December, and stress can build.  This short video reminds us of what is truly important. Thanks for Christ.

Dad always told us kids, "The worst mistake I made was marrying your mother before she graduated from college."  We would all laugh, because our parents are very happily married, but we also understood the expectation that we would all finish college. 

When I started this blog, I knew that I had experiences in my life that could be helpful to others, yet sharing those experiences might embarrass or otherwise cause distress to certain of my children.  This past week, however, my middle daughter gave me permission to share a bit with my readers.  I hope that this might give hope to any who might find themselves in similar circumstances.

Thanks for the fun of parades.

With Thanksgiving so early this year, I had grand plans of having my house decorated for Christmas by December 1st.  That didn't happen, but it's OK. 

Grandma would always bring her wonderful fruit salad to our house every Thanksgiving.  Though we called it a fruit salad, we should have called it a dessert. 

Beautiful words combine with inspired music to produce this masterpiece.  Enjoy! Thanks for Handel, and for the reason we sing Hallelujah.

Do you enjoy fresh pomegranates, but dislike the hassle of actually getting at the fruit?  Removing the edible parts seemed a tedious task, until I learned a simple way.

Sometimes in the hustle and bustle of the season, the true meaning of Christmas gets lost.  Please enjoy this short video which reminds us of the real reason for Christmas. Thanks for a tiny baby, born in humble circumstances, who changed the world.

Dear Sweet Granddaughter, After thinking about you for months, I finally met you on Monday night.  Your mom called me Monday morning to tell me that you were going to make your appearance that day, and asked if I would come be with her for your birth.

Most of the time, I don't give much thought to the gift of life.  This past week, however, I have been reminded time and time again just how fortunate we are to be allowed to be here on earth.  Three events have brought this realization home:

Thanks for my new granddaughter.

Big news:  I'm a grandma!  I'll be back to blogging, reading, and commenting in a while, but for now I'm busy with other things.  The baby had a bit of a rough time during the delivery, and will spend some time in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit), but I think she'll be fine.  Thanks for the miracle of birth, wonderful nurses and doctors, and medical facilities.

December's visiting teaching message can be found here .  I used one of the suggested scriptures for the handout: Thanks for the visiting teaching program.

I thought I'd share another one of my favorite songs:  Simple Gifts. It seemed appropriate today.  Happy Thanksgiving!

I just wanted to thank those of you who have answered my prayer request.  The latest update is that the man is now awake and can squeeze his wife's hand in response to questions.  The family appreciates all the thoughts and prayers, and asks that we continue to remember them.  This scary situation is looking brighter! To borrow my friend Debbie 's phrase, "Be sure to give your loved ones a hug!"  Thanks for faith, prayers, and miracles. 

I love the look of heirloom blessing dresses, but know myself well enough to realize the amount of time I could spend trying to sew from a complicated pattern. 

A family from our church is in need of prayers.  A father of 5 children--the oldest is 15, I think--collapsed while running this morning.  His heart arrested, for an unknown-as-yet reason. He is a cross-country coach, so this is very unexpected.  He is currently in the intensive care unit, and his wife would really appreciate prayers.  Thanks for the power of prayer.

Every Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember, dessert consisted of a choice between apple pie and my mom's pumpkin squares  (or both, of course--it was Thanksgiving, after all!)  This recipe captures the yummy flavor of pumpkin pie without the hassle of rolling out a typical pie crust. 

A week or so ago, I confessed that I have a hard time choosing favorites.  Let me be more clear:  I have a hard time saying that any one thing is my favorite.  I have a much easier time saying that something is one of my favorites.  

Who will ever forget the time I tried to help John and ended up e-mailing his boss John's new job offer ?  Though I hope never to top that incident, "The Time We Went to Utah to Celebrate John's 50th Birthday" certainly deserves its own page in our family history story.

I love this message.  I know sometimes all it takes is someone to ask, "How are you?" for me to release all of my frustrations, worries, and concerns.  This is a great reminder to count the blessing in my life.

   

I try to learn from the experiences of others, and that trait carries over into blogging.  Karen, from Sew Many Ways , has taught me so much about how to set up a blog.  (She also has great organizational ideas for craft rooms, great blog hops, and so much more.  I highly recommend visiting her blog.) Anyway, when I read this post of hers about how she had entire blog posts stolen, I thought I should probably do something to prevent that from happening on my own little blog.

While browsing pinterest, I found this recipe for baked egg cups.  I loved the ease and simplicity of the recipe, but ended up making an even lazier version--mainly due (we'll say) to lack of scallions and  cheese.  Leaving out the salt and pepper legitimately qualified as sheer laziness, however.  Anyway, this is a simple recipe that can easily be doctored up to be elegant.

I love traditional hymns, and this one is perfect for the season: Thanks for the talents of others, who lend voice to beautiful praises.

OK, so it's not quite tag, but it's the closest I could find.        Debbie from ::Our Old Homestead::  surprised me recently by tagging my blog.  Having never played blogging tag, I needed an explanation. So like usual there are rules;   - every tagged person has to tell 11 things about themselves - the person who tagged you asked 11 questions, answer them - ask 11 questions for the 11 blogs you're going to tag (the people you tag should have fewer than 200 followers) - mention the blog that tagged you but don't tag back  So . . .  Hello, I'm Kristi, and: I have a hard time choosing favorites, which made answering some of the following questions a bit tricky. I hate to cry. Every spring, I sentence more raspberries to death by optimistically trying to get them to grow in my hot, windy backyard.  (No need to remind me of the definition of insanity.  I know, I know.) I love old ...

Can anyone identify this bird from this blurry photo? Thanks for the beauty all around us.

For my friends in the United States, don't forget to vote today! Thanks for our system of government and the freedoms we enjoy.