Recipe Box

Since I started blogging almost two years ago, I've posted over 80 recipes here on this blog. I love finding and creating new recipes to try out on my family - and it brings me a lot of joy to share them with you, too.

And, I love it that y'all have tried so many of them. It makes sharing them so much fun to know that you are enjoying them, too.

So, I decided to work on a little project. I went through all the recipes that I've posted and labeled them according to type - Breakfast, Appetizers, Soups/Salads/Sides, Main Dishes, and Desserts. I tried to keep it simple - because that's just how I like things.

To further simplify my recipe collection, I created a "Recipe Box" over there on my sidebar. So, now - instead of having to scroll through the 25 cookie recipes I posted during our Christmas Cookie Countdown when you click on the generic "Recipes" label - you can more easily find the specific recipe or type of recipe you're looking for - in the "Recipe Box".

And, speaking of our Christmas Cookie Countdown, many of you have asked me what we did with all of our cookies. I can tell you that we didn't eat all of them - though I had 5 lbs. of cookie dough sitting around my middle until about a week ago.

First, we made a calendar using each of our cookies. It is still sitting on our buffet in our dining room because I just can't bring myself to get rid of it yet. But, if I don't throw it away soon, it will surely start to grow something...

Then, on Christmas Eve, we got out all of our cookies. We kept them in the freezer, eating only samples of them as we went along. We put them onto platters and into cookie tins...

And, then packaged them up...

And, based on James 1: 27 - "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress..." - the five of us delivered them to residents at a local nursing home on Christmas Day.

I didn't take pictures - as it just didn't seem appropriate - but I can tell you that two little boys went bursting through room doors shouting, "Merry Christmas" to people who hadn't had any visitors that day.

And, I can tell you that a little baby can light up the face of a 100 year-old woman like nothing else.

And, I can also tell you that the boys totally lost interest after about three in-room visits and began playing with medical equipment and all manner of other things that looked irresistible to them, and I ended up delivering the rest of our cookies while Jason attempted to entertain them in the hallway.

As we baked our cookies throughout the month of December, we talked to the boys about what we were going to do with our cookies. We wanted to teach them that their labor of love - the work of their tiny hands - was more precious than any gift we or they could buy anyone. And, that they could share the love of Jesus this Christmas with others less fortunate than they are - just by sharing the cookies they made.

We don't know what they'll remember about this Christmas - or if they learned what we hoped they'd learn - but we will never forget what this Christmas meant to us as their parents. And, what God did in our hearts.

Thank you, to those of you who baked alongside of us. We had so much fun baking together as a family - and hope that you did, too.