What I've Learned: Gratitude is often about savoring all the little moments.
It occurred to me some weeks ago, dear Reader, this would be my first Thanksgiving and Christmas as a Christ-follower.  While I've always enjoyed celebrating the holidays, this year brings a much deeper contemplation of what it all means.  It's not just frivolity, eating stuffing & cranberry sauce while watching White Christmas and checking names off my gift list.

Instead, there is a nuance of purpose this year--an intentional awareness of and reverence for all my favorite holiday traditions.  Everything is more meaningful, more significant.  Each little opportunity to share the love of Christ reflects the peace I'm finding in my own walk with God.  There's a deep richness in the holidays this year that, frankly, I've never experienced before.  Like seeing HD TV for the first time, when all you've ever known was a black & white set with bad reception.  Of course, the equipment up-grade happened inside me.

Back to the holidays...Thanksgiving was lovely...and tinged with a bit of adventure.  I smoked a turkey for the very first time--delicious and very much fun!  I also spent the whole week asking people what they were grateful for and contemplating what my own life would be like if I'd been born anywhere else in the world.  The freedoms we have here as women--to be educated, own property, have a job and our own cars, to marry whom we wish--these things are unattainable for so many others around the world.  What a blessing just to live in this country, in this era!  What opportunities to see the world and affect change!  I need to focus on these and all the other blessings in my life instead of getting wrapped up in my own selfish concerns.

And now, as I sit here typing out my thoughts to you on this deliciously dark and cozy Christmas Eve night, I can't help but be amazed.  I wanted this Christmas season to be meaningful and chalk full of opportunities to help others. Well, God obliged: providing a chance to wrap cookies for folks languishing in prison and another to sing Christmas carols at the homes of total strangers.  I also rolled, dipped and gave away countless Oreo Truffles and stayed up late at night cooking meals for friends in need.  I got to savor every moment of Christmas concerts, church services, cookie decorating & wrapping the simple, meaningful gifts I bought this year.  The thing is, none of this had much to do with me.  It was all about Him and how best to love & serve His people.  It's a feeling I've never known, this peace in generosity.  Life-changing.

I wish you this peace too, dear Reader, and much joy in the coming year.  May 2012 bring you revelations of great joy and a deep sense of purpose.  And if you don't yet know Emmanuel, God With Us, and what he sacrificed to purchase forgiveness and freedom for you and me, may you also discover a burning desire to know Him better in the year ahead.  God Bless you and Merry Christmas!   




    

Funeral Potatoes

Culinary monogamy has been my M.O. for several years now, dear Reader.  Once I find a recipe that faithfully reproduces culinary nirvana, I stick with it.  Why mess with a reliable thing?  But, once in a great while you come across something (dare I say it?) better.

The dish in question: Hash Brown Casserole.  Though I adore my cheddar cheese soup version of this shredded potato delight, another has caught my eye lately.  Funeral Potatoes.  Yes, the name is awful.  But the cheesy potato goodness is so legendary that merely saying the name out loud can cause heads to nod and knowing looks to be exchanged. Funeral Potatoes are too good to serve only at sad events and should be elevated to a place of honor at most holidays. This delish recipe comes courtesy of our Fearless Trail Leader (and consummate baker), Julie Kneip.  Enjoy, Reader!

Funeral Potatoes

36 oz homestyle (square) hashbrown potatoes
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
16 oz sour cream
2 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (1/2 cup set aside for topping)
1/2 cup minced onion (I like green onion)
1/2 cup melted butter
salt & pepper to taste
2 cups cornflakes (for topping)
1/2 cup melted butter (for topping)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium bowl, mix mushroom soup, sour cream, butter, cheese & onions.
Then, in large bowl, thoroughly combine potatoes with cheese mixture.
Season with salt & pepper to taste.
Pour hashbrown mix into lightly-greased 9x12 glass casserole dish.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
In medium pan, melt remaining butter.
Coat cornflakes with butter.
Remove casserole from oven & top with remaining cheese.
Then top with cornflakes and return casserole to oven.  Bake for 10 minutes.
Allow casserole to cool for 10 minutes.  Serve warm.
Makes 6-8 servings.