Christmas Treats

The Christmas season is in full swing- and with a foot of snow dumping on us overnight, it is truly starting to feel a lot like Christmas.

And so, the Christmas baking has begun. And continues.

Unlike last year, this year I had to make teacher gifts. Camille has six teachers alone. Audra and Claire add another 6. How is it that I am their teacher, and yet not their teacher? Oh, the intricacies and ironies of the homeshool life!

I decided to go with homemade hot chocolate for teacher gifts. I am actually not a huge fan of homemade hot chocolate, until now! I found THIS recipe on allrecipes and it is simply amazing! Seriously, the best hot chocolate I have ever had, and I happen to have had a lot of hot chocolate in my day.

I think they turned out cute, and it wasn't too difficult.

Then, I decided to make Gingerbread bread again for friends and neighbors. I made THESE mini-loaves last year and they are delicious, so I thought I would do it again. I'm not sure if it easier or harder than my traditional holiday baking. I don't know what I'll do next year. So far, I have already made 4 batches of these loaves, and I need to make at least another 4, if not 5, batches. Ben says we just shouldn't give treats to people, but that would be sacrilegious to me.

But, in his defense, I will be glad when the baking is done! It is a lot of work!

Holy Donations, Batman!

Last year in an effort to get my kiddos involved in actually DOING something instead of just donating items, I organized a used clothing/toys/household items drive for the Spanish Ward downtown that has extreme poverty (yes, I realize the irony that by not wanting my kids to just donate, we organized a donation drive).

I wasn't going to do it this year. It's not that it is a ton of work, it's just that it is a lot of STUFF. I wasn't feeling it this year.

But, as I mentioned in an earlier post, it kind-of just happened. So I started advertising.

And the donations came. And came and came and came.

First it filled our guest room. Then the hallway, then the basement. Here's the proof:

I was very worried that we wouldn't have enough help transporting the items downtown. I had three trucks lined up,but I wasn't sure if it would be enough. But, I also know that somehow when people try to do good, miracles just seem to happen. Things that shouldn't fit seem to magically shrink and everything just seems to work out. So for one of the first times in my life, I didn't stress over it- I just trusted that it would be OK.

About 13 families came. We loaded up the cars, and two trucks (one bailed) and headed down. Everything fit perfectly. In fact, we didn't even load up anything in my car.

Once again, it was incredibly awesome. I can't possibly see how all of this will be given away, but they insist there are so many needs it won't be a problem.

They asked us to please continue to this. They were so extremely grateful.

Both Ben and I, however, are ready to turn it back over to the ward to organize. Our scout program used to do it every year, and then I started it once they stopped. But, I think I'm going to contact the Bishop to see if either the Scouts or the youth groups or some other auxiliary will organize it in the future. It's just hard to house so much stuff in our house. We need an empty third car garage or something.

Anyway, after we had unloaded all of our stuff- and it literally filled the entire gym- THREE more trucks pulled up filled with items! We had no idea what to do with all this more stuff, so we decided to leave their items on the stage, and then tomorrow when the people come to take the items they can replenish the tables with the items on the stage.

Crazy awesome, in the best way.

The kids were in charge of the toys. They did a great job, but they annoyed Audra and Claire a bit by just playing with the toys and messing up organization that Audra and Claire had done.

I told all the girls how grateful I was for how great they helped, and both Audra and Claire immediately informed me that Camille just played and didn't really help.

Claire cried because she wasn't in the above picture, so I got one with just the two of us.

SO.MUCH.STUFF.

Spanish Ward Christmas Party

We had a very special opportunity. Because I have been collecting items for the Spanish Ward (we did this last year with great success, and this year has been much, much bigger- I'll post more about it tomorrow), their ward invited our family to attend their ward Christmas party as a thank-you. They said there would be homemade tamales and authentic rice and beans. Well, call my arm twisted- we agreed.

There is a woman in our ward who was recently baptized- about a year ago- who comes from El Salvador. Audra is friends with her son, and I am friends with her as well. We asked the Spanish ward if we could invite her as I thought she might want to meet them. They were very excited for us to bring them along, and I was thrilled that they said yes.

They told us that the activity started at 5, which is exactly when we arrived. Everybody else came at 6:30. No matter, the girls had a blast playing chase in the large gym with a couple of kids from the Spanish Ward as well as Isaac and Christopher, who came with us.

The food was delicious- and incredibly spicy. The tomales were mild, thank goodness, but the rice and a bean salad they had were full of jalapenos. Camille wouldn't even touch her food. On the way home I asked Christopher if he liked the food since it was so good, and Camille didn't miss a beat and said, "NO, the food was yucky." Obviously we need to provide her with more cultural opportunities. The theme was "A Night In Bethlehem" and of course tamales fit right in!

These decorations obviously don't fit with the theme, I think they were set up for another ward, but we enjoyed them anyway. Overall, the decorations were incredibly simple- just some 2 x 4's nailed together with lights on them. I LOVED it! I think in many instances our ward goes extremely overboard with decorations- spending countless money, time, and resources on things that don't really matter. I loved the simplicity.

It was snowing quite a bit last night and the turn-out was really low. We were told that about half of the members in this ward are undocumented, so the probably didn't want to risk getting pulled over. That's fair! Nevertheless, all of the people we met were so delightful. They were so friendly and welcoming. Even though the prayers and the presentation were in Spanish, and Spanish was obviously the native language of most, they pretty much all also spoke English. Blanca translated for us a couple of times, but for the most part we felt very welcome- especially the kiddos who make some friends and had a great time.

Candy Cane Festival

Today we had Ben take off of work so that we could go to the Hammond Factory and their annual Candy Cane Festival. We have never been to this factory- which is lame on our part. I mean, it's a candy factory where you can watch them make candy- and even get some for free. Why have we never been?

Well, today was our day. Outside of trying to find a parking spot in a rather shady part of town, it was great. Oh, and that we arrived at the absolute worst possible time. Had we arrived just a half hour earlier or later, there would not have been any lines and not nearly as crowded. But, we failed and arrived when the entire Denver Metro Area also decided to show up.

It was still fun, though, The factory tour was very short- like 10 minutes or something. But it was still really neat to see how they make candy canes. Hammond's makes all of their candy by hand- the twisting, the wrapping, the labeling- all by hand.

They had all sorts of activities for the kids- including bouncy houses. Camille looks petrified, but she was actually quite happy.

They called up the little kids to dance with a HS dance team that happened to be there. Super cute!

We went with some girls from Audra and Claire's dance class. These girls had so much fun together (with Ray as well).

This is how much free candy the kids won- tons of taffy, broken candy canes, cotton candy. The girls were in heaven.

Camille tried so hard to get tall enough to have her head come through, but it didn't quite work- even with Audra holding her up from behind.

Claire won this cute sucker playing Bingo. Unfortunately, she somehow lost it on the ride home when we stopped for lunch. She was very sad about that, as I would have been as well.

Overall, even though it was pretty crowded and parking was a nightmare, it turned out to be a lot of fun. Because it was just a mini-factory tour, Ben really wants to go back at some point to do a full tours. They do free tours all year round, it's just a matter of going up. So, the next time we have visitors, we will head up.

I'm also glad that there is a candy factory so close to us. In my efforts to try to buy more local foods, at least I know I can still get candy!

Merry Christmas!

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

I just finished reading this book:

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

She wrote Poisonwood Bible, which I loved, but this is nothing like that one!

This book is about her family and how they decided to only eat food that they either grew themselves, or that was within about 120 miles of their farm. This, of course, led to them only eating food in season, raising and slaughtering their own chickens and turkeys, frequenting farmer's markets, canning summer fruits and vegetables, etc.

She even made her own cheese!

It was truly a fascinating, and eye-opening read. It made me want to try gardening again.

I do get frustrated with all the processed junk everywhere. I hate not being able to read what ingredients are in bread. I disagree with Monsanto and ConAgra and how they are overtaking our food chain.

But, at the same time, it is a lot of work! She even makes her own cheese. She insists it is easy, and I am willing to give it a try just to see, but I'm not sure I want to actually make it a normal thing.

Thankfully, a few of the things I already try to incorporate: Cooking from scratch, trying to buy and cook based on what is in season.

There are definitely, however, many ways for me to improve. Now I am really looking for the "Colorado Grown" label, cage free eggs, and I'm thinking I'll try and start a garden this year. Plus, I plan to frequent Farmer's Markets.

It's not much, but it's a start.

Anyway, I highly recommend this book. It has completely changed how I look at food- in a good way. What we eat really does matter, as does where our food comes from, how it is grown, and the economy that surrounds it. Fascinating stuff.

Anybody want to come make some cheese with me?

Not A Conicidence

Have you ever heard the phrase, "There's no such thing as coincidences?" I have many times, and I'm not sure that I believe that. Sometimes it is just a coincidence that we had the same 8th grade math teacher- nothing more, nothing less.

But other times things happen in life that are surely planned via something Divine- something that is much greater than a mere coincidence.

Yesterday such a circumstance occurred.

For the past couple of weeks I have been collecting items for a Spanish congregation downtown. This congregation has extreme poverty, and many, many, many needs. I did this collection last year and it was quite successful, but I wasn't sure I was going to do it this year for a number of reasons. But then somebody from my congregation called to ask if I was doing it again because she had 20 brand new suits from a co-worker whose husband recently passed away, and did I think that the Spanish branch could use them?

Um, YES. Operation Spanish Branch Collection commenced.

Our guest bedroom has been completely overrun with donations. Seriously, nobody can visit us until these are delivered. And now they are taking over our basement. It's pretty crazy, but in a good way.

The hardest part is contacting the Bishop of the Spanish Branch and pinning down a day. I have tried multiple times to call the Bishop and left messages and such. I tried calling all his counselors, and even the missionaries serving in the branch.

Finally, after two weeks, his first counselor called me last night. This is somebody who lives in our area but has been asked to serve 30 minutes away in the Spanish Branch, and he is doing so. We talked about how serious the needs are, and how grateful they are that we are bringing down donations. In fact, their Relief Society president (the person over the women's organization in that branch) asked him to please invite our family to their Christmas party (where authentic Mexican will be served) as a thank-you.

Anyway, after a few minutes we had the following conversation:

Brother M: "I talked to the Stake President in HR, and he said he was going to contact the public affairs director of your stake to see how HR could help us out more, but then he got busy and I got busy."

Me: "Well, actually, I am the public affairs director of our stake. I just got called a couple of weeks ago."

BOOM. Answer to prayers. We talked about some different ideas about how our stake- which has a lot of resources- can help them.

I'm sure some say this conversation was just a coincidence, but I know it wasn't. This conversation between he and I was supposed to happen. I just so happen to have a meeting this weekend with our stake president to discuss our goals for next year in regards to public affairs. While helping the Spanish branch doesn't really fit into our public affairs, I just so happen to be the type of person who will force things through and make sure things get done when there is a need. It may not be through public affairs, but I am confident HR will in some way be involved in helping the Spanish branch out in the future.

And that is not a coincidence.