Gleanings of Wheat

Christmas style. Yesterday I took the kids to Navy Pier's Winter Wonderfest (so expensive, but fun) and when I got home I noticed something in my purse I'd never seen before. A cd sampler from Northern Light Orchestra  (MySpace link). Classic rock takes on Christmas carols? Yes please. This thing is really well produced, and I got it for free! No idea who these guys are, or how I got this, but I'm enjoying it a lot. You can check out their site here .

Ok, so she's not my Grandma, but since the girls decided to share I thought I'd pass this along too! Merry Christmas! 1 cup butter 1 cup sugar 1 egg slightly beaten ¼ cup sour cream ½ tsp. nutmeg 3 cups sifted flour 1 tsp baking soda ¼ tsp salt Work butter until creamy. Stir in sugar gradually, then beat until fluffy. Stir in egg and sour cream. Mix well. Sift together flour, nutmeg, soda, and salt; stir into mixture. Mix thoroughly. Chill one hour. Set oven for 350 degrees. Roll out a small amount of dough at a time, ¼ inch thick on a lightly floured board. Cut with Christmas cookie cutter. Place on greased baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool. Decorate with colored frosting and red-hots. Frosting: In a medium bowl, stir together until smooth: 4 cups powdered sugar 3-4 tablespoons water Adjust the consistency as necessary with more powdered sugar or water. Color as desired. To store, cover the surface of the icing with a sheet of plastic wrap. ...

You know, when I decided to start enjoying Christmas I really didn't expect it to be a huge change. Honestly, I didn't. I knew thought things might be a bit different, but I wasn't expecting a whole lot out of it. I guess that's me thinking God doesn't do big things, I guess that was me (unknowingly) believing a lie. It started small, when I'd hear "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" for the 100th time that day I just wanted to be able to grin and bare it while out in public. Now, I'm not saying I like hearing it - or anything - 100 times a day (and I swear, I doubt that's much of an exaggeration) but I'm honestly not just gritting my teeth trying not to complain anymore . Confession time? I've been having a bad few months, spiritually. Not gonna go into detail other than to say I've been struggling not struggling as much as I should be with certain areas of sin in my life. I've had these moments where I know God breaks thro...

Last month I downloaded JJ Heller's Christmas album b/c I could get it for free. She's got a wonderful voice, the album is marked with lots of acoustic guitar & piano, and a meshing together of her own words and traditional carols. Anyway, you can get it at her site for free till the end of this month, and I suggest you do. It is a wonderful album. From her site: WAKE UP THE WORLD (2007) **FREE THROUGH 12/31/09** This Christmas EP features a tasteful blend of JJ's voice, Dave Heller's acoustic guitar, piano by Ben Shive, and very light percussion. Recorded, mixed and mastered in Nashville, TN during the summer of 2007.

It is no secret to the people who know me IRL that I generally don't enjoy Christmas. Until today I would have told you I hated it, in fact. I'm not going to try and explain why, b/c that's not really what this post is about and frankly I can't explain it well enough to bother trying. This semester I started an internship that requires me to work on site three days a week - it is the first time in about three years that I've been surrounded by unbelieving coworkers, and it's been a bit of an adjustment. Not to say I don't enjoy the work, or the people, it is just a major shift from working in a Christian bookstore. Anyway, with Thanksgiving upon us (Happy Thanksgiving everyone in the US!) and Black Friday just around the bend - I've been faced with the fact that Christmas is just weeks away. If you've read my posts this month you see that I'm trying to be more intentional about being thankful, and I've been thinking lately that while I m...

So, I'm working on memorizing the 8th chapter of Romans - not really sure why I didn't just start at the beginning and memorize the entire book, but we all know I'm a little...off. Anyway, Romans is being interspersed with the following books I got for Christmas: I'm more than a little entertained by the fact that both books were written by men named John and have the word "sin" in the title. I'm beginning to think I have a thing for the name John - I was already a fan of Piper, Edwards, and MacArthur and I think Owen is going to be added to the list as well.

I doubt anyone will see this on Christmas, but either way I hope you had a lovely Christmas filled with the joy that is found in the knowledge that Christ has redeemed you with His precious blood. Now, on to a bit of business. I was driving to work yesterday and a car in front of me had bumper sticker similar to this: I don't have anything profound to say in response other than that I found it sad because Obama and Biden are just men. They burp, they are tempted, and yes they do sin - so I find it more than a little sad that Obama (or any other person for that matter) is being herald as the savior of our country. Will things improve under his leadership? I'm sure somethings will, but I'm also sure that other things will fail. Anyway, as I reflected on it Acts 4:12 came to mind and I did a couple quick designs for the CafePress store:

I wish I had found this before the holidays! I wonder if I can track down Spiderman cookie cutters for William's birthday next month? Hmm. 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 cup brown sugar 1 tablespoon molasses 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 egg 2 cups flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 3/4 teaspoon baking powder 30-40 hard candies (such as Life Savers), preferably in several flavors/colors Pre-heat oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugars until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add molasses and vanilla extract, mixing until incorporated. Add egg and mix until light and smooth, about 1 minute on medium speed. Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Fold dry ingredients into wet mixture. Use electric mixer to blend just until flour is incorporated. Divide dough in half and flatten into two disks. Wrap disks in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least an hour and up to 2 days. Remove any ...

No winter holiday (ahem, CHRISTMAS) would be complete without hot chocolate so here's the recipe I made today. Once you've got it made, why not settle down and reflect upon the glory of God by listening to this wonderful sermon from my church ? I'm particularly intrigued by the final few minutes of it. Finally, I pray each of you would have a beautiful, joyful, and Christ centered holiday this week. I pray your hearts, as well as my own, would be joyfully focused consumed with the very reason Christ came to earth - to bare the wrath of God for, and in place of us. Merry Christmas. 4 squares Baker's chocolate (**I'm assumed they mean 4oz) 2 cups milk, skim 3 drops of vanilla Cinnamon Ground cloves Break up the chocolate and melt in a saucepan with the milk and vanilla. Don't let it boil. Whisk until foamy and pour into mugs. Top with a pinch of cinnamon and a pinch of cloves.

I took my son today to see Julianne in her very first Christmas program. I'm not super crazy about the whole public school bit (it is a far cry from the homeschooling I had intended to do with them), but I know some people that work at her school so it makes it a little easier knowing they look out for her. Anyway, lots of kids. Lots of singing/ yelling/ mumbling. Very cute. Unfortionately I was way in back so the video quality isn't great, but you can hear Julianne singing/ yelling the lines of "Five Little Christmas Trees" slightly behind the rest of the class.

Note to self: Make Carla's fully customizable, super easy, Christmas fudge this year. 3 c. chocolate chips (dark, semi-sweet, milk, white, your choice) 1 300ml can condensed milk 1 t. flavoring (vanilla, almond, peppermint, maple, rum, orange, etc.) (optional: 1/2 c. chopped nuts, raisins, dried cranberries, crushed candy cane pieces) Melt chips & milk together, then quickly stir in the flavoring and any optional ingredient (it begins to thicken quickly) and press into a 8x8 wax paper lined pan. Let set, then cut into 1 inch squares. Keep stored in an airtight container. Carla's customized blends: dark chocolate & almond flavoring - no nuts white chocolate, maple or rum flavoring & raisins milk chocolate, orange flavoring & dried cranberries

I hate forwarded emails, everyone who knows me knows I detest them. Most people don't bother sending them to me because they know I won't even open them, however there are a couple people who regularly send me goofy forwards. Well, I got one last night with the title "FW: FW: FW: FW: Christmas Cards" and momentarily lost my mind...I opened it. This is what I found: Yes, Christmas cards. This is coming early so that you can get ready to include an important address to your list. Want to have some fun this CHRISTMAS? Send the ACLU a CHRISTMAS CARD this year. As they are working so very hard to get rid of the CHRISTMAS part of this holiday, we should all send them a nice CHRISTIAN card to brighten up their dark, sad, little world. Make sure it says "Merry Christmas" on it. Here's the address, just don't be rude or crude. (It's not the Christian Way , you know.) ACLU 125 Broad Street 18th Floor New York , NY 10004 Two tons of Christmas cards w...

That human life begins at conception is an implicit, but foundational doctrine of Christianity, according to this LifeQuotefrom Lutherans for Life: “To deny full humanity to a conceptus [embryo] is to deny full humanity to the Savior, ‘qui conceptus est de Spiritu Sancto, natus ex Maria virgine’ (Latin). We worship the coming Savior, we worship the ascended Lord, we worship the resurrected Son of Man, we worship the crucified Lamb, we worship the Boy in the temple, we worship the Babe in the manger, we worship the Conceptus in the womb of the Mother of God. Amen.” Posted on Cyberbrethren a Lutheran Blog. This is brilliant, decisive, and theologically unanswerable. The Son of God was incarnate when, in the words of the Apostle’s Creed, He was “conceived by the Holy Ghost” and later “born of the Virgin Mary.” If the fetus becomes a human being at some later point–when the soul enters the body, or when the fetus shows brain waves, or some other point–how does that apply to the Incarn...

I get frustrated pretty easily, especially around Christmas. I suppose it has a lot to do with the fact that you see our society's focus so clearly portrayed at Christmas. Yes, I know people give more and think more about the poor at Christmas, but when you put that in perspective and see just how much more it is focused on getting stuff it is rather sad. What frustrates me even more is that many people just don't seem to notice how selfishly they celebrate the holiday, "What did I get?" is on the hearts, minds, and lips of millions of people Christmas morning often with little, or no, thought of Christ. Even among professing Christians. I was struck this morning that for the world, that really is all they have. The focus on getting stuff, of making sure they've gotten everyone else exactly what they want (even if they can't afford it), even the less selfish people who seek to serve others during the holiday - all they have is that. Even if they cared nothin...