Coming Clean in Time for Christmas

The Story:

This is not a post about cleaning (thank goodness!).  It's a post about confessing.  I said before that I wasn't going to make excuses about not posting for a jillion years.  And this isn't exactly excuses... think of it as a confessional.  I haven't been posting because I haven't been cooking, because the thought of food has made me sick for weeks, because I'm pregnant!  And as sick as I've been feeling, I think I'd still rather be pregnant than posting.  Because I was born to be a mommy!  Cooking and blogging about it are just perks.  Sooo....

I still don't have a real recipe to post, but here are some other things about Christmas because I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!  So here's the skinny on some cool stuff I found, recipes I am going to try (I am feeling pretty good these last few days), and just celebration of the best time of the year.

(P.S.  I am sorry if I haven't called you or told you in person about the baby but this semester has been killin' me.  Not that that's an excuse.  Shoot!  Okay, it is an excuse.)



The Recipes:

I wanted to make treatsies!  Here are links to some promising recipes I found.

• Italian Wedding Cookies with rave reviews, direct from central Europe (I actually made these when I was putting off doing a research paper again--simple and very tasty! Made more like 60 cookies for me.)
• Peppermint Pie (I am obsessed with peppermint this year, but if this pie is as good as the kind at Village Inn, the obsession will be justified!) (Oh, yeah, and putting busted candy canes in a baggie and then smashing them a couple times in a tortilla press is a great--quick--way to get crushed peppermint candy!)
• Microwave Peanut Brittle  (I can't answer for this particular recipe, but MIL made some last year and it was really good.  Everyone says it is easy to make, and living at a high altitude, that's something I really prize when it comes to candy!)

Also, these!  I can't imagine how you would eat them, but they're so pretty, who stinkin' cares?!

This is just a cool idea if you have a little time, attachment to previous years' calendars, and are buying (sigh!) gift cards!

At my church, we have a program that has women team up in twos and go out and visit other women in the church every month, so everybody gets taken care of and loved on every single month.  The ladies I am assigned to visit don't particularly always want to be visited and loved on, but I think they need it anyway.  So this month, I decided to stop by and at least leave a little something on their doorsteps.  I recently heard this story for the first time and I love it!

I'd like to tell you a story my grandmother told me when I was six or seven years old. We had gone to her home for Thanksgiving dinner and the drive was rather a long one. I had filled the time with making a list of all the things that I wanted for Christmas that year.

Later that evening after I was ready for bed, I showed the list to my grandmother. After she read it, she said, "My goodness, that really is a long list!" Then she picked me up and set me on her lap in the big rocking chair and told me this story:

"Once there was a little girl who came to live in an orphanage in Denmark" (Now my grandmother was from Denmark, so this story might even be true.) "As Christmas time grew near, all of the other children began telling the little girl about the beautiful Christmas tree that would appear in the huge downstairs hall on Christmas morning. After their usual, very plain breakfast, each child would be given their one and only Christmas gift; small, single orange."

At this point I looked up at my grandmother in disbelief, but she assured me that was all each child would receive for Christmas.

"Now the headmaster of the orphanage was very stern and he thought Christmas to be a bother. So on Christmas Eve, when he caught the little girl creeping down the stairs to catch a peek at the much-heard-of Christmas tree, he sharply declared that the little girl would not receive her Christmas orange because she had been so curious as to disobey the rules. The little girl ran back to her room broken-hearted and crying at her terrible fate."

"The next morning as the other children were going down to breakfast, the little girl stayed in her bed. She couldn't stand the thought of seeing the others receive their gift when there would be none for her."

"Later, as the children came back upstairs, the little girl was surprised to be handed a napkin. As she carefully opened it, there to her disbelief was an orange all peeled and sectioned."

"How could this be?" she asked.

"It was then that she found how each child had taken one section from their orange and given it to her so that she, too, would have a Christmas orange."

How I loved this story! I would ask my grandmother to tell it to me over and over as I grew up. Every Christmas, as I pull a big, juicy orange from my stocking, I think of this story. What an example of the true meaning of Christmas those orphan children displayed that Christmas morning. How I wish the world, as a whole would display that same kind of Christ-like concern for others, not just at Christmas, but throughout the year.

My plan is to print out this sweet story and drop it off with one of those chocolate oranges.



The Verdict:

I plan to post my recipe for my world famous (translate: not very famous but super-delicious) cinnamon rolls soon.  In the meantime tell me about your traditions and recipes you will be trying, and I will be posting regularly, now that things are returning to a harried pace, rather than a tornado pace.

I hope all is well in your household and that you are having a wondrous and beautiful season filled with love and joy!