Baking Days!

Yesterday, the day before, and probably tomorrow are baking days!  With Christmas coming up, and our budget tight,  cookies and other eatables are going in packages tied up with string. (if you're on our list, please at least try to act surprised :D )

Thanks to Pintrest, I'm straying from some of my family traditional cookies of thimble cookies or Russian tea cakes. This years theme seems to be oranges and chocolate!  First up is the chocolate cookies from Sprinkle Bakes (here is the recipeYum! )  They are a little time intensive with all of the chilling, but it is worth it for keeping the shape crisp!  The baking of these is done, and the first steps of decorating complete! (the pictures at the bottom are steps one and two) ...I cheated a little bit, though. I realized that doing the double batch of these babies was going to either kill my hand with piping and take WAY too much time! SO! I dipped the tops in the left over syrup from the candied orange peel (oops, getting ahead of myself) and then dipped those in sugar - they are super pretty - they sparkle like fresh snow!

Next is going to be these!! The candied orange peel chocolate cookies look fantastic, don't they?! I made the candied orange peel yesterday with a trial run of lemon the day before. It really wasn't hard as I thought it would be - just lots of boiling and pouring off bitter water. The little jeweled slices are now ready to be chopped up and put into the cookie batter!  The leftovers will most likely be dipped in chocolate - yum! I've always been a fan of candied citrus peel...as long as it's done well and not TOO bitter..then yuck :(

I think I might also make some gingerbread men (or gnomes :] ) so I can decorate them with my kids, but we'll have to see how that goes. Little Red got her soothers taken away this last weekend and it has been a super traumatic experience for her. Poor thing was really attached to them, and has shown her displeasure by screaming...and screaming...and screaming. The lack of sleep has made me feel kind of out of control - so to attempt some measure of control - I decided to bake :)  The chaos of kids decorating might negate the delicate balance of feeling out of control vs. the feeling of controlled productivity. It's looking pretty good, though - we're starting to get a little bit more sleep!

Fudge will be made, too.  This is more for my father-in-law. He really likes it, and we'll put some of the surplus in our other cookie packages. It might end up being chocolate orange too, but who knows? I like messing around with fudge flavours - we might do hazelnut or almond raisin or, or, orrrr chili and cinnamon! The possibilities are pretty much endless.


Here's the pictures, as promised:

chocolate sugar cookies with their royal icing ring

same cookies, now with the middles flooded :)

Are you doing any baking?
xo,
J

soli deo gloria

This Cup of Coffee

On my windowsill is sitting an seemingly innocuous mug of coffee. It's in a lovely mug from a friend who visited me on campus in years gone by. It's cooling at an alarming rate next to the frigid glass.

This cup is accompanied by songs from White Christmas playing in the background. It is also enjoying the sight of a baby sitting up by herself playing with her own toys!

This cup of coffee is erasing last night.  Last night S and I were up too many times to count. A scream here, and tooth not coming through there. It was just a miserable night.  I'm hoping that this little (or rather big) mug of coffee will help me make it through a few more hours without bleary eyes and foggy brain.

This cup of coffee has a lot to ease.  Maybe I'm setting it up to fail. Perhaps I need to set it back on the stove and rethink it's goals. Perhaps it needs to be rewarmed, refreshed, and re-sugared.

Maybe my cup of coffee needs to be drunk the way it is and appreciated for it can do :)

xo,
J

soli deo gloria

On My Mind

Lately, there has been much on my mind. There has been much sorrow that I have been made aware of. There have been many attempts at articulating the noise in my brain.

But that's just it - it feels like noise. There isn't a melody or even a honking car.  It sounds similar to the white-noise machine that helps our family sleep. Static. Nothing so clear as to know what it is, but still dull and loud enough to drown out most else.

Through this chaotic roar, I have found the overwhelming desire to create - to give words or ideas to this noise - to bring some kind of order to it. I've written. I've dabbled with paint. I've sung. I've baked. Nothing was really tuning the static.

Yesterday, I started a new book.  It's called 'A Different Kind of Perfect".  It brought such a startling clarity that I found that if I really engaged with what I was reading tears wouldn't stop streaming down my face. It was crazy, instead of trying to articulate myself, this book gave a crystal clear voice.

Originally, when I was handed the book, I kind of brushed it off. It was touted as something that 'might, potentially, COULD be helpful.' Ha. So far, it has been excellent. It is real stories of families with kids who are a-typical mixed in with psychological explanations and personal experiences from the author.

The dull roar is lessening - it's becoming more of a fog, but that just might be due to lack of sleep and running out of coffee beans :)

xo,
J

soli deo gloria

A Sane Day

These last few weeks have been insane for my little family.

We are a combined family of Americans and Canadians, so we had the pleasure of celebrating American Thanksgiving on Thursday and then, following my family tradition, putting up our Christmas decor on Friday.

We also had the pleasure of hosting some of our dearest friends during the same time. We had grand times of hanging out, eating together, watching movies, playing games, just being friends. It was wonderful and needed.

With the busyness of the weekend, the littles were out of sorts. Actually, I think that 'out of sorts' is an understatement. Meltdowns and upsets were (and still kind of are) what we're working around. Little Red is pushing through her two year molars, which is not fun. Little Bird is pushing through her first teeth. All of the teeth together have made for some nights where sleep was just a dream. 

It hasn't all been kicks and giggles, but there has been some major lessons being relearned...for me. I need to prioritize. Is laundry the thing to be done, or an elaborate meal? The meal, for me, is much more fun and satisfying to do, but laundry is necessary (especially if I want my kids to not wear shorts out in -42!!). I'm also realizing that resting and resetting can be just as important, or even sometimes MORE important than the stacks of dishes. The dishes will always be there, but a happy momma/wife who is willing to engage and build up relationships is always better. ..(though there does have to be a balance, no?)

Last night we were only up 4 times with the kids. It felt glorious to have more than an hour at a time of sleep! I've been able to finish some of the last touches on our tree, drink a cup of coffee, and play with my kiddos. It's amazing how rest changes our ability to be!


Hope you are keeping warm this frigid day!

xo,
J

soli deo gloria