A New Tradition!

Last week while I was making my gingerbread nativity the thought kept rolling around in my head, "Wouldn't this be an awesome activity with the grandkids?" I knew that the kids needed to be old enough to actually participate so that ruled out the littles. (As it turned out, Jude came to hang in the highchair and eat copious amounts of fruit and beans while Mama went to see if she could get her 2-week migraine under control)

(You know what I love the most about this photo? Yup, that family sign that proclaims- THIS is my family!)

I knew that I needed to have the gingerbread baked and ready when the kids got here to keep this from being an all day affair. My plan was to have the icing ready too... but it wasn't so I had some champion frosting tinters on the job.

Once the frosting was tinted it was time to start decorating. I love how self-sufficient and creative these kids are. I gave them some general instruction and a demonstration and they were good to go.

Well, all except Sophie. It's hard when you have tiny hands.

(I just love her pixie hair!)

I told them about my black sheep and explained how the Savior's atonement cleanses us from all our sins when we repent. I'm so grateful that I can share my testimony with my grandchildren.

When it was time to go home Christian stayed for one last photo op!

(I do love this boy!)

Now can I just say a couple of things?
(Yes, yes I can! This IS MY blog after all!)

I am one of those lucky women who got to live my dream. As a child, when I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, my answer was, "I want to be a Mommie, just like my Mommie!" I wasn't always able to be a stay-at-home-Mommie (just like my Mommie) but I got to love and enjoy my children. It is the hardest and most fulfilling job I've ever had.

But you know what? This being a Grammie is perhaps even more satisfying. (I am the Grammie-spoiler NOT the Mommie-enforcer) I recognize just how blessed I am that I can be a part of these darling children's lives!

I'm in hopes that next year I will be able to include more of our grandchildren. I do love this new tradition!

Ris'n With Healing in His Wings

Church today can only be described as a spiritual feast. It was the most wonderful blend of words, music, testimony, thoughts and hymns.

It all came together singing the closing hymn- Hark! The Herald Angels Sing. When we got to the words of the second verse,

"Ris'n with healing in His wings."

 

it was all I could do to not sob. Because that is what I pray for, not only at Christmas time, but all year long.

I've talked a lot here about grieving and healing. I'm so grateful to be at this end of that path. I've experienced so much healing in the nine years since we moved to Utah.

As I contemplate other's journey on this difficult path it is always my foremost prayer that they will feel the loving arms of our Savior encircling, protecting and pouring in that healing balm of Gilead.

I bear fervent testimony that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. He came as a tiny baby, lived a perfect life and then willingly accepted all of the sins, pain AND grief of His brothers and sisters. He willingly descended below it all so that He would know how to succor His people. He loves us with an infinite love... I can't really comprehend it; but I feel it deep in my soul. I know that my Savior loves me. I know that He delights to bless me. I know that our prayers on behalf of others can call down the powers of Heaven to heal and comfort them.

How grateful I am for that healing...

Gingerbread Nativity

Our Ward Christmas party is tonight. The theme is an old-fashioned Christmas. Several weeks ago they sent around a sign-up at church asking for the obligatory *funeral potatoes* or dessert AND something new... a gingerbread house to be used as a table centerpiece. I thought, "I can do that!"

Now I don't remember what came first: the sign up OR seeing a gingerbread nativity on Pinterest. But as soon as I saw the nativity I knew that is what I wanted to do. My first thought was to make a gingerbread stable and then use the little figurines from my Playskool nativity (and trust me I didn't pay what Amazon wants when I bought mine years ago). Then I saw a set of nativity cookie cutters (again, on Pinterest) They were so cute and... HOW HARD COULD IT BE?

(Are you ready to be amused?)

The cookie cutter set arrived late Tuesday so first thing Wednesday (yesterday) morning I contacted a Facebook friend to get her recipe for royal icing (the kind that flows and then dries hard and shiny). She generously shared her recipe and tips with me. I'm so grateful for that. I took my shopping list to Wal-mart to get the things I needed, came home, made and baked the gingerbread piece (my house smells so good!). I was aware, while shopping, that I was having some minimal-brain-disfunction, but that isn't a new occurrence for me.

While the gingerbread pieces cooled I mixed up the frosting. I decided that the first thing to do was ice the two triangle stable pieces and cover then with Wal-mart brand shredded wheat so it looked thatched and set them aside to dry. Now onto the figures. I had a few problems with the learning curve working with the royal icing, but finally figured it out. I'm sure it didn't help that I only have two small tips.

After the stable pieces were dry I decided to put them together, with royal icing, just like the instructions say. Ummmm, problem- the ginormous triangle cookie cutter is not a perfect triangle, but a triangle with convex sides so there was only about one inch of contact along the side.

OK, DESIGN CHANGE- get out the serrated-edge knife and saw them straight. Now how do I get it to stand up while the icing SLOWLY dries? I ended up propping it up with some canning jars and went back to the little figures.

Hours later I carefully pick up the stable and the icing-glue immediately breaks! I'm sure it doesn't help that the frosting and shredded-wheat cover walls now weigh approximately 40 lbs!!!

DESIGN CHANGE (again)- Maybe someone else could have made this work, but after fooling around with this for the better part of 6 hours already I WAS NOT THAT PERSON! I reverted to my original two-walls-with-a-flat-roof idea. I got out my saw serrated edge knife again. Ahh, much better.

Even with the design change the royal icing wouldn't hold things together and by now I've realized that this gingerbread nativity was never going to be eaten... Bring on the glue gun! (I think that if I'd used the glue gun with the triangle pieces it may have worked)

When I was doing the last of the decorating, after Primary presidency meeting last night, I mixed up some black frosting for the the sheep's legs, noses and ears. That is when I had the idea to make a all black sheep. My mind started to roll that black-sheep idea around and I knew that little black-sheep had to be closest to baby Jesus, the redeemer of the world.

Because when it is all said and done aren't we all black-sheep in need of our Savior's atonement?