I spent a good deal of time early this week cleaning out the fridge – not one of my favorite jobs to do. After the fridge being crammed to its limit with all the Christmas dinner, plus extra cheeses, whipping cream container, refrigerated desserts, etc. there is a lot to contend with. There are crumbs to be wiped out of the drawers, shelves that must be wiped down from dripping this and sticky that, and then the leftovers that have to be dealt with. Why didn’t we just eat the whole ham on Christmas day? Oh, yeah, I bought an extra big one because I wanted leftovers. The blessing is that I can make several good meals with those leftovers I came across. Why one evening we had ham biscuits using the last of the Angel Biscuit Dough and ham pieces. Yum! The ham bone is safely tucked into my freezer ready for soup beans in the future.

What a wonderful Christmas this was. Along with many others this year, we had a white Christmas. The snow began falling on Christmas eve. It snowed all day, then really fell early Christmas morning, cancelling church services. While we missed being with our church family, the day of Sabbath rest was such a blessing. In a little book I have of 199 Reasons To Be Thankful I read this on Sunday: In this crazy workaholic world we live in, rest is tough to come by. We run full steam ahead all day long and then struggle to sleep when we finally tumble into bed. God ordained rest. It’s one of His greatet gifts to us, and one we should be very thankful for!

So, when your world looks like this, what do you do?

had our own Bible studies, we played several games of Take Two (a shorter version of Scrabble, and a game of Sorry. We had a lunch of leftover Christmas dinner using the Christmas dishes and linens. We napped, journaled, played more games, then had a lovely dessert in the evening. It was a day of rest, and, it was truly a blessing to be able to be at home without responsibilities and things to be getting ready for – as we have been doing for several weeks.

Here’s the dessert I made for Christmas dinner and then we also had on Sunday. It is heavenly. If you’ve ever had Chocolate Molten Cakes at a restaurant you know how decadent they are, but you would choke if you knew how fattening each one is! However, this recipe for Hot Chocolate Fudge Cakes taste every bit as good (maybe better!) than those high fat and calorie desserts with only 1/3 the calories and less than half the fat content! The great thing is that you can make them up two days in advance, put them in the fridge, then bake them when you need them. You serve them hot with a scoop of ice cream – really necessary to off-set the chocolate. I made these for Christmas dinner just to have a new dessert. I will be making these again!

Did you have snowy weather too? What did you bake up for the holidays and your winter weather?

With love,

Isn’t it easy especially at Christmas to be focused on self? We can easily be consumed with all that we still need to do – buy, wrap, bake, write, attend, host and clean, that we become task oriented instead of people oriented.

The line of people ahead of us at the grocery store are delays while we wait instead of opportunities. The cashier is the end of our wait, instead of a person who needs the Good News that we have to share.

Our focus can even be turned so much to the small circle around us – our family – that we don’t see the opportunities that are at our fingertips. People are so needy at Christmas. Those that are hurting due to a loved ones’ death in the past year are even more desperate during the holidays. Those that are sick, or waiting on a sick loved one at the hospital, are even more lonely or anxious. Those that are financially hurting really feel the crunch now, when not only are they trying to make ends meet, but they’re also trying to come up with a little extra to purchase gifts for their families.

On Christmas Eve a few years ago, our family began going to the hospital to pass out bags of homemade Christmas goodies to the people waiting in the ICU. We go to be a blessing, and always came home having been blessed! Then that evening the girls always did a sister Christmas performance using the piano, violin, guitar, etc. That will not happen this year because Whitney has married and will be at her home for Christmas, which is as it should be! So, I’m praying about how the Lord would want to use me and my family to be a blessing to others at that time. It would be easy to say, “Things will never be the same now that Whitney’s married” and just sulk, but we would miss out on being used of the Lord. I’m looking for a new tradition to begin this year – something we could do for others – especially on Christmas Eve. It will take the focus off of changes and shine the light on others’ needs instead of my own.

So, tell me, what do you do that enables you to serve others at Christmas? Any thoughts about a new tradition we could begin? I’d love to have folks in our home in the evening, but know it’s time for others to be with their families. Hmmm…. I’m open for your good suggestions!

With love,