Happy Birthday, Jesus!

The Light of the world

Merry Christmas!

Missing my grandparents and my husband’s mom, especially today. We decided to have memorial ornaments made this year through www.personalcreations.com. We also gave these as Christmas gifts to my mom and dad. 

To send you some cheer and smiles today, the first pic below shows you the cookies we made for Santa on Christmas Eve. The second pic shows the lucky cookies my daughter picked out for Santa. Our elf, Snowflake, and his fearless buddies, Sparkles (reindeer) and Spirit (St. Bernard) awaited Santa’s visit so they could return to the North Pole with him. We had to lecture them about not eating Santa’s cookies 😉

What a beautiful sight to behold this morning! Let heaven and nature sing!

Christmas baking

Can you believe there are less than 20 days until Christmas? During this time of year, I try to pace myself with all of the Christmas activities and to do lists in order to enjoy this time of good cheer. It can get hectic quickly. 

Today, I decided to try a new Christmas cookie recipe: Kris Kringle’s Christmas cookies. They are delish! I found the recipe at www.kimscravings.com through Pinterest. The recipe was super easy, and I substituted Splenda-brown sugar blend for cane sugar. This cookie has white chocolate chips and dried cranberries, is light, and is just the right sweetness. I boxed up several to give as gifts to family and friends.

Here is the recipe:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar (or 1/2 cup Splenda-brown sugar blend)
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup white chocolate morsels (I used Godiva)
1 cup dried cranberries (I used reduced sugar)

Instructions:
1. Heat oven to 375. Line a large baking sheet with Reynolds cookie baking sheets or something similar.
2. Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with mixer until light and fluffy.
3. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Add flour, baking soda and salt. Mix well. Stir in white chocolate and cranberries. 
4. Drop rounded spoonfuls (2 tablespoons) of dough, 1 1/2 inches apart, onto baking sheets.
5. Bake for about 9 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for about 1 minute, then remove to wire racks to cool. 

I made smaller cookies, about 1 tablespoon of dough per cookie, and I cooked them 8 minutes. Carbs for the smaller size cookie with Splenda-brown sugar blend instead of sugar is about 6 grams per cookie. One batch made about 60 small cookies.

Check out www.kimscravings.com for several other yummy Christmas cookie ideas.

Enjoy the tasty treats of the Christmas season and remember that Jesus is the reason we celebrate.

Merry Christmas! 

Holidays

I just finished a very hectic week and a half work schedule. I’m not complaining, though. I get the entire Thanksgiving holiday off work. Am I blessed, or what? I decided it was time to start stirring up some holiday cheer. I know that some of you will poo-poo my pics below, but I couldn’t stop myself. I know Thanksgiving comes first, then Christmas. 

Admittedly, I tend to run the two holidays into one huge blessed event. I think it’s possible to be thankful at Christmas and to have Christmas cheer at the Thanksgiving holiday 😜! This way, I get to have one, long, awesome holiday event until 2018 arrives. 

This year, I decided to go with simple, cozy, and heartwarming decorations. I chose ornaments that were made of burlap, wood, and fabric. The garland is made of burlap sprinkled with “snow,” and I also added some sparkly, glitter snowflakes. My tree lights rotate between white, bold colors, and light colors. I didn’t spend a lot of money on the ornaments, because I was able to buy them in bulk on www.ltdcommodities.com. Check it out. 

I’m hoping that sharing my festive tree brings you some cheer and makes you feel excited for Christmas. For me, it’s one of the special times of the year that I stop and reflect on God’s goodness in my life. I really stop and think about my many blessings. I hope that you’ll take a moment over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays to stop and look around at how blessed you are.

Unfortunately, many people go through sad and difficult times during the holidays. Last year, I almost lost my mother to the horrid effects of chemotherapy. Today, a year later, I am happy to report that she scheduled the removal of her port later this week. No more cancer. If you’re in need of prayer, please reach out to a loved one. I would love to pray for you, too. After all, the reason for the season of Christmas is Jesus. He came to this world for you and me, because He loves us. 

“An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.’” Luke 2:9-14.

So kick up your holiday cheer a few notches this week as we head into this season of thanksgiving, family, good friends, and lots of love! ❤️ 

Changing seasons

     I love the change of seasons.  Fall is one of my favorite times because of the cooler weather and the bold colors.  I love to put on a pair of jeans with boots and a sweater and sit out on the front porch with a cup of coffee or go for a walk in the cool air.  
     Over the weekend, I picked up some extra work, and that extra work will continue through this week. My two-hour commute to and from work gives me time to take in the beauty of the trees on the side of the highway.  I'm amazed at the vibrance of the oranges, reds, yellows, and rusts.  I don't tire of looking at them, and the colors take my breath away sometimes. God is quite the artist.
     During my last commute, I  noticed a sensation of urgency to take in the view.  I realized that it could be gone in a few days, since this beauty is on a timer. The rain will come and the wind will blow, and soon winter will descend upon us.  Seasons change. Soon, these beautiful leaves will be on the ground turning brown. My first thought about this was an unpleasant one.  However, I realized that their beauty will be replaced with another beauty.  The bare tree branches will be ready to capture the glistening, white snowfalls of winter.
     Just like the changing seasons, I thought about how our lives go through changes. Change can be uncomfortable, though it isn't always bad.  I see life's changes like many other people do.  We all have our hills where things seem to be going well, and we're coasting along feeling pretty content. Valleys tend to present without a warning, and they can be so trying and difficult.
     During the changing seasons in life, I remember that God is unchanging.  We will always encounter reasons to worry and to lose hope in this cynical world.  We hear those reasons daily from the media. I find it comforting that in the midst of the chaos in the world, God still reminds us of His presence through something as simple as the beauty of the seasons.  Acts 17:27b says, "He is not far from any one of us."  Take comfort in the changing seasons of your life, knowing that God is right there with you.

Good morning and Happy November! The winner of the Starbucks $25 gift card in October was Julie Odle from Evansville, IN. The winner of the 3-day sample of KETO//OS was Barb Borrowman from Pocatello, ID. Watch for more giveaways this month, as we prepare for the Thanksgiving holiday!

Hope is alive

     

     I have a two-hour commute to work. Thankfully, I only work about seven days a month for 24-hour shifts, so I don’t mind it too much. It’s usually a boring drive across I-64, but I’m grateful for the minimal traffic. I usually enjoy this commute as my quiet time to process life’s events. Some days I listen to audiobooks, because I also enjoy a good story to be read to me.
     This morning I felt sad, as another dear friend has passed away from a sudden illness. This is a friend near my age, whose family will have to go on without him, just as it has happened to many others. I didn’t feel like listening to a story or the radio, yet the quiet was too much. I started to pray, but I couldn’t get past my feeling of emptiness and sadness for his family. 
     I thought of Ecclesiastes 3:1-2, which says, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die.”  Verse four adds, “...a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.” It seems so matter-of-fact, doesn’t it?
     I looked at the gray clouds ahead of me, as the morning was seeing it’s first light. “What a drab day,” I thought, as I stared at the stark scenery. It really fit my mood, my emptiness, and my feeling of hopelessness in this matter-of-fact world. 
     I looked up and glanced at my driver’s side mirror as I had just done a few seconds earlier. To my surprise, I could see a cascade of beautiful colors filling the small mirror. The sun was rising quietly and slowly. Hues of yellow, orange, pink and blue expanded the sky behind me, as if God just took His paintbrush and painted a magnificent scene in just seconds. It took my breath away. 
     In that moment, I remembered that God promises to never leave us, and that our hope is in Him. He hasn’t forgotten any of us.  Matthew 10:30 says, “And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” God knows each of us well and cares for us enough to know every detail about us. This world may seem matter-of-fact at times, but God gives us hope.  His eyes are on us. Psalm 33:18 says, “But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in His unfailing love.”
     So I exhaled out my sadness, and then I smiled. My heart felt warm and full, because God reminded me that He stays close to us, and He is our reason for hope.  That hope will always be alive. 

Chicago

Chicago at night

Chicago from Michigan Street, 29 floors up

Very cold Chicago morning

My daughter and I spent some time shopping in Chicago over the weekend. What a fabulous city! Needless to say, the American Girl Place took up most of our time. That store is huge. My daughter picked out her first American girl doll, Gabriella. Gabriella got her hair done, her ears pierced, and she sat at the table in the American Girl Cafe with us for lunch. She even got her own plate and cup! It was quite the experience, and I have to say that I was amazed.