Don’t forget to link up tomorrow for Tuesdays Unwrapped, a chance to take a few minutes in the midst of bustling December to notice and record the gifts of the everyday.
will dance for rolls
December 6, 2009
Our family won’t be spending much money on gifts for each other this year. Instead, we are trying to be purposeful about spending time together. So this weekend, my parents and my sister’s family came to spend the weekend with us. One thing we wanted to do while we were together was to eat four sticks of butter.
I kid. Kind of. Actually, we wanted to make Pioneer Woman’s cinnamon rolls because they are the most wonderful, festive, fantastically delicious tin full of fat you will ever eat. So my kitchen was filled up with flour, sugar, tag-playing-kids and Bing Crosby’s White Christmas.
There was a lot of butter and a little dancing. The recipe makes seven tins of rolls. Pioneer Woman talks about making these and delivering them to friends at the holidays. What a great idea, we thought, as we finished off the third tin. Granted, there were twelve of us. But still. That’s a lot of rolls.
I did deliver one tin to my sister-in-law and it was extremely satisfying to show up on her cold doorstep with warm, maple, coffee smelling rolls. I assume everyone has heard of these, but if you are one of the three who haven’t, here is the recipe. And we only ended up using three sticks of butter, so they’re that much closer to healthy.
**I’m linking this post with Sandy’s Home is… party.
the gift of the funk
December 3, 2009
Sometimes I’m not thankful. There are days when I am so restless I can’t see straight. Days when the funk settles like a fat troll who made his way up from under the bridge and plopped his hairy, nasty feet up on my shiny coffee table. Days when dead mums on the porch aren’t a reminder of happy memories from autumn gone by or the beauty of the natural course of life. Sometimes they’re just ugly, dead mums.
How it is possible for a girl who is happily married, has three healthy babies and a beautiful warm home to be ill-content? How can I, a woman who doesn’t have cancer, a daughter with both parents living, a sister as a best friend and enough money to buy what she needs and some extra, how dare I feel ungracious?
I’ve heard people, when they are going through a struggle or a hard time, try to reconcile the hard time with the presence of God and say things like “Life is hard but God is good.” or something like that. But what about when life is good? My life is good. Still, it isn’t enough.
It’s because I wasn’t created to be healthy. I wasn’t created for a blessed life, a healthy life, a life that is overflowing with abundant goodness. I know that because I have all of that. And it isn’t enough.
It is important to notice and celebrate the small and sacred things like we do here on Tuesdays. But those small, sacred things do not a content life make. It no longer surprises me when I feel ungracious in the midst of abundance. It instead reminds me that the daily gifts are tiny shadow-like reflections of the Giver.
For in Him, all the fullness of Diety dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete. Colossians 2:9-10a
unwrapping the crazy
December 1, 2009
As I stood on a chair at my mom’s house and took in this scene, I knew before I snapped the shot that it would be my favorite of all the photos I took on Thanksgiving. And it is.
Do you have a favorite snapshot from Thanksgiving, in all its chaotic glory? Perhaps your gift is a quiet moment, a gentle touch, a thoughtful word, a man who loves you, a friend who gets it. Though official Thanksgiving has passed, let’s continue a lifestyle of noticing and celebrating the small and the sacred.
If you are new to unwrapping your Tuesday with us, please take a quick minute to read this post, particularly the part that explains how to link up using a permalink. Last week nearly 10 links were deleted because they were linked using the wrong address. If you have no idea what I’m talking about but want to join, feel free to email me: emily(at)chattingatthesky(dot)com.
As always, if you are reading in a reader, you will need to click over to the blog to see the lovely links. I encourage you to do so. Thank you for making Tuesdays my favorite day of the week.
