Reason to SMILE #348 – Christmas Edition: The CHRISTMAS SWEETS

Reasons why we all make the resolution to loose weight every new year:

Sugar cookies shaped like Christmas Trees, Reindeer, Candy Canes and Santa

Chocolate Chip Cookies made from the Nestle Tollhouse recipe on the bag

Gingerbread men

Peanut butter and Hershey’s Kisses cookies

Pecan Crescent Cookies

Shortbread cookies

Divinity

Candy Canes

Peanut butter balls (or Buckeyes)

Chocolate covered cherries

White Chocolate Peppermint Truffles

Boy, oh boy! I’m gaining weight just thinking about all these delicious Christmas treats.

There are so many treats to choose from at Christmastime and everyone has their own special sweets that they look forward to making or eating during the Christmas season. For me, it’s peanut butter cookies and strawberry candies. I don’t make either but my mom does. They are my favorites of all her wonderfully delectable creations. (I did try to make the strawberry candies last year but we’re just gonna leave that experience in the past. 😉 )

Now, here’s what you need to know about peanut butter cookies. Unless they have the criss-cross on the top, they are not worth eating. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? After the cookie dough is prepared, it’s rolled into a ball and placed on a cookie sheet. Then, the back of a fork is pressed down onto the ball and then again in another direction to make a criss-cross pattern on the top of the cookie. Kind of like a culinary hashtag!

As for the strawberry candies, you really have to try them! They are very sweet, though, so you should probably only eat one or two at a time. However, they are addictive. Eat at your own risk!

Ingredients:

3 packages strawberry gelatin
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup coconut
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients.
Mix in condensed milk and vanilla.
Cover and chill for at least one hour.
Shape into berries using about a teaspoon each.
Roll in red sugar.
Dip top of berry in green sugar to create the leaf.

Enjoy!

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Reason to SMILE #346 – Christmas Edition: The MOVIES

 

My Christmas Movie Marathon begins the day after Thanksgiving and lasts through Christmas Day. I watch as many Christmas movies as possible in these four weeks to keep me in the Christmas spirit and the first movie in the line up is always Elf. I love that movie! It’s ridiculously goofy but it makes me laugh every time I watch it – every. single. time.

Buddy the Elf, what’s your favorite color?

-Buddy, when answering his father’s office phone

 

Santa!!! Oh my God! Santa’s here? I know him!

-Buddy, when hearing the news of Santa’s arrival at Gimbels

 

You sit on a throne of lies.

-Buddy to the Gimbels’ Santa, when realizing he’s not the “real Santa”

 

This movie is chock full of funny little treasures that make me SMILE.

After Elf, I work my way through what I consider the best Christmas movies ever like Disney’s A Christmas Carol, Disney’s The Grinch, The Santa Clause trilogy, the classic “claymation” Christmas specials like Rudolph, the Red-nosed Reindeer and Santa Clause is Comin’ to Town and other children’s classics like Frosty the Snowman. But of course, my Christmas movie marathon could never be complete without watching Ralphie’s crazy family Christmas antics in A Christmas Story – because Christmas just isn’t Christmas without hearing “You’ll shoot your eye out, kid!” at least once. 😉

“What about the Hallmark movies?” you ask. Are you kidding me! I cry enough while watching the silly Christmas movies (You know they always get you with those happy endings of love and hope!). There’s no way I could handle those sappy Christmas love stories.

So, what about you? What Christmas movie makes you SMILE (or cry -it really is okay to admit it 😉 ) ?

Reason to SMILE #339 – Christmas Edition: THE MUSIC

 

All I Want for Christmas
Is to hear the Sleigh Bells Ring,
And smell the Chestnuts Roasting,
Cause these are My Favorite Things.

I want to Go A-Caroling
And pierce the Silent Night
With Jingle Bells a-clanging,
“Ding, Dong! Merrily on High!”

I Want to Deck the Halls
With The Holly and The Ivy
While Jolly Old St. Nicholas
Plays on the radio beside me.

Oh, and a White Christmas -
I really want that, too!
I also want my loved ones close
So Christmas won’t be Blue!
 
But most of all I want to hear
The music soft and low
Tell of the night – O Holy Night!-
Christ was born so long ago.
 
For Away in a Manger,
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks,
The Savior of the world was born –
He’s why our Jingle Bells Rock!

P.S. I love to sing Christmas music, too! If you click on the link below the picture, you’ll get to hear a very  special performance from a Christmas Eve service a few years ago. What makes it so special? Well, I was accompanied by my son on his guitar. Best Christmas present ever!

O Holy Night – KJ Smith & Corey Smith

Reason to SMILE #344 – Christmas Edition: The LIGHTS

There’s a house on my drive home from work that is decked with a huge display of Christmas lights. Glowing holiday characters and flashing trees fill the yard. And if you tune into a particular radio frequency, you can even hear Christmas music playing along with the blinking lights. This house is a bright and cheery beacon of Christmas spirit on an otherwise dark and quiet stretch of road.

The lights of Christmas are beautiful and whether it’s a simple string of white bulbs draped over the azalea bushes or a grandiose exhibit of colorful luminaries dancing wildly to Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s “Carol of the Bells”, you cannot deny the cheer these lights bring to a dark and dreary world. And for the few brief moments we are enjoying their brilliant display along a neighborhood street or basking in their soft glow around the family Christmas tree, we find a sense of comfort, peace and joy. We forget our worries and we find a SMILE.

Then we drive down the road or unplug the tree lights and the darkness surrounds us once again, stealing away our security and contentment.

Oh, but the respite we find while enjoying the lights of Christmas does not have to end when their gleam can no longer be seen. The darkness does not have to overrun our lives. For there is a Light that brings unwavering joy and everlasting peace. This Light reaches the darkest crevices of our lives, drives out the shadows of our hopelessness and despair and brings hope to a weary world, to a weary soul, to a weary you and to a weary me.

This True Light of Christmas is Jesus. He is the reason for our celebration, the reason for our joy. He is the reason we can SMILE in the midst of our darkest nights.

The people walking in darkness
    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
    a light has dawned.
You have enlarged the nation
    and increased their joy;

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:2-3a, 6 (NIV)

A tiny baby born in Bethlehem pierced the darkness of a dying world more than two thousand years ago. Though the shadow of death followed Him, the Light of the Son of God could not be extinguished, even on the cross.

That Light still shines brightly for all to see today. Though the shadows of darkness threaten to overtake us, we’ve no need to fear. The True Light of Christmas has conquered the darkness so you and I can have life – a life filled with hope, a life filled with peace, a life filled with joy!

Reason to SMILE #335 – Christmas Edition: The CHRISTMAS TREE

I’ve always thought it strange to sing a ballad to a tree.
You know the one, don’t you, about the fir forever green?

We hear it playing in the stores while we’re Christmas shopping.
We hum along to its tune in movies that we’re watching.

As it’s sung, sweet voices raise with fervor and great passion
For the object of their joy and holiday affection.

Friends, families, strangers even, the tree they gather ’round
As hand-in-hand, they sway in sync to music’s mellow sound.

I see these scenes and wonder “Who on earth does this so?
It’s a tree, for heaven’s sake, not a sacred shrine — although…’

I do love my Christmas tree. It’s first to bedeck my halls.
I love to see the twinkling lights drape branches stretched so tall.

Its smell wafts through the air and prompts frequent inhalations
Made with eyes closed up tight – Oh, the mem’ries it emblazons!

Its beauty, natural and God-made, is cheerfully adorned
With ribbons, stars of gold and red, and strings of air-popped corn.

Oh, how could I have Christmas if I did not have my tree!
For more than decoration this fir tree is to me.

This evergreen reminds me of a life everlasting.
Hope springs from its branches and the shadows it is casting.

For one day, the One whose birth we joyously celebrate
Did give His life upon a tree for you and me to save.

The precious gift of Christmas gave His life for all the world
So we could live forever in the presence of the Lord.

Yes! I love my Christmas tree; to its sign of hope, I’ll cling.
I’ll praise God for its message and for all the SMILES it brings!

 

Just don’t expect me to hold hands in a circle around the thing and sing to it!

It seriously ain’t happenin’. 😉

 

A Year of Smiles – Day 357: The SMILES of Christmas

Christmas SMILE #23 (Reason to SMILE #357): THE TRADITIONS

Every Family has their own special traditions at Christmas. Some open presents on Christmas Eve; some open them on Christmas Day. Some eat a huge meal on Christmas Day while others eat their celebratory meal on the night before. Some families participate in religious activities such as candle light services and communion while others spend the holidays in the quiet of their homes surrounded by family and close friends. Though many traditions are specific to the season such as the tree, the stockings and the presents, other traditions are as unique as the different families that observe them.

For as long as I can remember, my family has gathered together on Christmas Eve to begin our celebration of the Savior’s birth. For many years now, we have gathered at the house of my oldest brother. My sister-in-law prepares a delicious meal of salad, lasagna and garlic bread but before the main course, there’s always the yummy appetizers of shrimp, crackers and cheese, black-eyed pea salsa and tortilla chips, pickles wrapped in cream cheese and corned beef (De-li-cious!), cookies and all sorts of goodies. I don’t know how any of us have room for dinner!

After dinner, we gather together in the living room to exchange gifts. Before the presents are passed around, however, my dad opens the Word of God to read the account of Jesus’ birth from Luke 2. Some years, he has his grandchildren read the scriptures. Others, he reads the verses himself. Whoever reads, the goal is to remind us of the reason for our celebration – the gift of God’s Son to the world. This precious time of reflection on the meaning of Christmas ends with a prayer of thanksgiving and praise for God’s great love for us.

Our Christmas Eve continues with a few games and more of those yummy goodies that began the evening. It is time I hold dear, a time I cherish, a time that replenishes my store of SMILES and the cheer in my heart. It is a time of Christmas tradition that I pray will continue for many more years to come.

A Year of Smiles – Day 354: The SMILES of Christmas

Christmas SMILE #2 (Reason to SMILE #354): THE CARDS

Rarely do I ever mail out Christmas cards.  I know it’s awful but can’t seem to get this simple task accomplished. Life moves too fast for me and by the time I think about it (which is usually when I receive the first Christmas card in the mail from someone who must have life all figured out), it’s too late. Yep, I’m a Christmas card failure.

For the past several years, though, I have been able to distribute a few Christmas cards without the hassle of standing in line at the Post Office. And it’s all because of a unique way of raising money at my church. Each year, the church sets up it’s own Christmas Card post office of sorts. In the main hallway, a big box with lettered slots is displayed. The idea is to bring the Christmas cards you would normally mail to various church members and place them in the appropriate slots for distribution (which means that church members check the box to see if they have any cards!). After “mailing” your cards, you drop the money you would have spent on stamps at the Post Office into a collection box. The money collected each year is donated to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering which is collected every year by the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.

It’s a pretty nifty way to send Christmas cards, if you ask me. I don’t have to go to the Post Office and my money is supporting the spread of the Gospel around the world. Christmas card giving success! SMILES all around!

There is one down side to this ingenious Christmas card distribution. It’s limited to my church. So, unless you plan on stopping by to check the box at my church, I suppose this digital card will have to do…

A Year of Smiles – Day 350: The SMILES of Christmas

Christmas SMILE #16 (Reason to SMILE #350): THE NATIVITY

A blanket of white velvet covered the earth as snow gently drifted in the brisk night sky. Houses, adorned with twinkling lights and shiny bows, were aglow with a brightness exceeded only by the umbrella of shimmering stars overhead. The lullaby of carolers took wing on the gentle breezes of winter, filling the air with a song accompanied by the jingle of bells, the whistle of winds and …

… the shrill of a screaming choir angel being chased around the classroom by a shepherd carrying what seemed to be Joseph’s mustache and beard while a clean-shaven Joseph was following closely behind.

Leaping from her chair (and back into reality), Mrs. Jennings scrambled to rescue the angel in distress only to be stopped short by a whining wise man as he tugged at his collar and struggled to keep his crown atop his head.  Switching gears from rescue heroine to seamstress, Mrs. Jennings attempted alterations on the magi’s royal robe which she found to be wet along the hem line. Examining a little further, Mrs. Jennings, now detective, found a trail of water leading all the way to the stable where Mary sat whimpering as she held baby Jesus by one arm over a puddle of water on the floor. Swabbing the stable floor, Mrs. Jennings longed for the peaceful winter night of her earlier daydream but reassured herself that practice for the first grade Christmas pageant couldn’t get any worse.

Then it happened. A loud crash echoed through the classroom and the little town of Bethlehem was at last silent. Mrs. Jennings slowly turned to find a choir angel, a shepherd and a clean-shaven Joseph with heads held low and a pile of broken ceramics at their feet. The teacher’s heart sank as she realized that the reckless trio had broken her grandmother’s nativity set, now a precious heirloom. Mrs. Jennings approached the rubble and her students shuffled to take their seats. As she picked up the pieces, she quietly began to speak.

“When I was a little girl, my family and I would spend Christmas Eve at my grandmother’s house. I loved Christmas Eve at Grandma’s. She always baked Christmas cookies and played Christmas music. We had a wonderful time but my favorite part of Christmas Eve was the time just before opening our presents. Grandma would gather everyone around this nativity set. She only displayed the stable stall filled with all the animals and the empty manger until Christmas Eve. As we gathered around, Grandma would tell us the story of Jesus’ birth and display the other pieces of the nativity set as she went along. Like these pieces,” Mrs. Jennings said as she held up a damaged Joseph and Mary.

“Joseph and Mary traveled a very long way to get to Bethlehem and when they arrived, there was no room for them in the inn. The innkeeper led Mary and Joseph to the stable stall because he knew Mary needed a warm place to stay. You see, Mary was going to have a baby.” Mrs. Jennings carefully placed Mary and Joseph in the stable and picked up one of the shepherds.

“That same night shepherds were in the fields watching their sheep and an angel of the Lord appeared to them.” Mrs. Jennings searched for the angel amidst the broken pieces. “The angel told the shepherds that a baby was born in Bethlehem and this baby was the Savior. The shepherds quickly left their sheep and found the Baby Jesus exactly where the angel had said – wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in the manger.” Mrs. Jennings placed the Baby Jesus in the manger and continued, “The shepherds worshipped the Baby Jesus because he was no ordinary baby. Jesus was and is the Son of God. Just as the angels proclaimed, Jesus is our Savior. He came to forgive us for our wrongdoing, and misbehavior,” added Mrs. Jennings slyly. “God wants us to someday live forever with Him in heaven but because of our sin, we can’t enter heaven. So God sent his only Son as a baby to grow up in our world and to show us His love by dying to pay the punishment for our sins and rising from the grave to give us hope. Jesus is God’s gift to us and all we have to do to receive this gift is believe.”

Mrs. Jennings smiled as she remembered her grandmother’s ending to the Christmas Eve story, “As Grandma placed the complete Nativity Set on the fireplace mantel, she would always say, ‘One day, I’m going to celebrate Christmas in Heaven, are you?’ ”

With this question, Mrs. Jennings looked up from the priceless Nativity Set to see a precious miracle. As she was telling of the Savior’s birth, her students had made their way to their places in the stable stall.  The choir of angels began to sing the soft lullaby of “Away in a Manger”. Shepherds knelt quietly in the presence of their Savior as wise men gathered with gifts in the background. Joseph, with full beard and mustache, stood proudly by Mary who lovingly wrapped the Baby Jesus in swaddling clothes and laid him in the manger.

The snow gently fell outside the first grade classroom window as the sweet serenade of little voices filled the air. Mrs. Jennings smiled through her tears and quietly thanked God for the long winter nights of Christmas pageant practice.

---

One day, I’m going to celebrate Christmas in Heaven and the SMILES will never cease. What about you? God has given you a precious gift. All you have to do to receive this gift is believe. Won’t you accept His gift today? I’d so love to see your SMILING faces at our heavenly Christmas celebration one day!

A Year of Smiles – Day 349: The SMILES of Christmas

Christmas SMILE #15 (Reason to SMILE #349): THE SEASON OF GIVING

What do you want for Christmas?

That tends to be the question we hear this time of year, especially when talking with children. It’s part of the whole season. I love to hear little children rattle off their Christmas lists. Their eyes sparkle. Their faces glow and their bodies wiggle with excitement. Mom and dad, on the other hand, may not share in their child’s excitement as the list tends to go on and on and on.

Children always have an answer to “What do you want for Christmas?”. In fact, most people can come up with something. However, when my husband asks this question of me, I never seem to be able to answer. I’m not sure why. It could be because I don’t want him spending any money on me. I’d rather we spend our money on the boys. But I have no problem spending our money on gifts for him (which drives him crazy, by the way) so money can’t be my excuse.

Maybe I can’t answer because I’m not a decision maker. Of all the wonderful things in the world, it’s possible I simply can’t choose. If you take into consideration my problem with choosing what I want to eat in restaurants, it seems quite clear that my decision making skills could be the issue. There are too many yummy foods offered. How can I choose just one? How about one of everything! 😉 That’s it! Maybe I want it all for Christmas.

Nah, that can’t be it. I don’t want everything.

I believe the reason I can’t tell my husband what I want for Christmas is I just don’t think about it. I’m busy trying to figure out what I’m going to give to everyone else! To me, giving is a huge chunk of the Christmas fun. Searching for the perfect gift for those I hold dear and packaging those gifts in brightly colored paper and bows is a joy. And nothing compares to seeing the SMILES on each recipient’s face or the tears in their eyes as they open their special gifts.

Shouldn’t giving be our focus at Christmas, anyway? After all, a gift is the reason for our celebration. In a manger more that two thousand years ago, a baby was God’s gift to the world – a baby that would give His own life to save yours and mine. That is why we give. We give because we have been given so much more than we deserve. We give because God gave to us.

What are you GIVING for Christmas?

Me? Well, at the moment, I’m giving the gift of salsa! 🙂

A Year of Smiles – Day 348: The SMILES of Christmas

Christmas SMILE #14 (Reason to SMILE #348) THE COOKIES AND CANDIES

Reasons why we all make the resolution to loose weight every new year:

Sugar cookies shaped like Christmas Trees, Reindeer, Candy Canes, bells and Santa

Chocolate Chip Cookies made from the Nestle Tollhouse recipe on the bag

Gingerbread men (I don’t care for gingerbread but the cookie makes me SMILE so…)

Peanut butter and Hershey’s Kisses cookies

Pecan Crescent Cookies

Shortbread cookies

Divinity

Candy Canes

Peanut butter balls (or Buckeyes)

Chocolate covered cherries

White Chocolate Peppermint Truffles

Boy, oh boy! I’m gaining weight just thinking about all these delicious Christmas treat. (Actually, I’m probably gaining weight from eating this tin of shortbread cookies while I’m writing but why would I admit that? 😉 )

There are so many treats to choose from at Christmas and everyone has their own special sweets that they look forward to making or eating during the Christmas season. For me, it’s two things: peanut butter cookies and strawberry candies. I don’t make either! But my mom does and they are my favorites of all her wonderfully delectable creations.

Now, first things first. Peanut butter cookies. Unless they have the criss-cross on the top, they are not worth eating. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? After the cookie dough is prepared, it’s rolled into a ball and placed on a cookie sheet. Then, the back of a fork is pressed down onto the ball and then again in another direction to make a criss-cross pattern on the top of the cookie. Kind of like a culinary hashtag!

Sorry folks but if the cookies don’t have the criss-cross, they’re not real peanut butter cookies. 😉

The other of my two favorite Christmas treats is Strawberry Candies. This is a sweetly delicious soft candy made with strawberry flavored gelatin, sweetened condensed milk, pecans, coconut and a few other ingredients you can find in the recipe below. They are addictive. I don’t have a picture of my own for you because, well, I’ve never thought to snap a picture of my mom’s strawberry candies at Christmas. I’ve only thought to eat them! Here’s a picture courtesy of a blog called, “Urban Drivel”:

Don’t they look scrumptious! They’re easy to make and if you love strawberries, this is a candy you definitely want to try.

Ingredients:

3 packages strawberry gelatin
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup coconut
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients.
Mix in condensed milk and vanilla.
Cover and chill for at least one hour.
Shape into berries using about a teaspoon each.
Roll in red sugar.
Dip top of berry in green sugar to create the leaf.

That’s it! I hope these strawberry candies make you SMILE as much as they do me. And if they don’t, feel free to send any unwanted candies my way. 😉