Cookies

“Happy Together”~White Chocolate & Cranberry Cookies

/ admin

My dearest friends and family,

Thank you so much for visiting today. There’s a lot going on in the world lately and I don’t know how you are responding to it. Are you drawn into this moment of history or are you minding your own business? Whatever road you are taking and wherever you live and call home, I hope you know we are better together. This post is a bit political so if you just want a great cookie recipe and hear a bit of music, scroll to the bottom. If you want to hear some of my thoughts and what has been happening around our household keep reading.

Whatever you choose, I’m happy you’re HERE!

February has arrived. The month of love. Winter if swiftly passing, although if you step outside today, you wouldn’t believe it as it’s minus 9 degrees celsuis. (15.8 Fahrenheit for my American friends) However you measure temperature, it’s REALLY freezingly, BRRRR, cold here. Yet, each day brings a bit more sunshine. Even on our our most frigid days I’m trying to remember we’re only a hop, skip and a jump away from our trees budding out in leaf and our flowers blooming brilliantly.

January flew by in a flurry since our kids were super busy in all sorts of activities. Last weekend we took our twin daughters to a basketball tournament out of town. They played one game on Friday night and easily won it. Before they got too big for their britches, I reminded them that the team they played against came from a town much smaller than our community. Hey context matters.

(Victoria (left) Kathryn (right) Their team is called the “Lakers,” and if you look in the background of their gym you can see a bit of the mural painted which depicts our Lake Monster mascot.)

The next game they played was with a school from a much larger community that ours. Also, I found out later that this particular school is known for their strong sports participation and they are often found at our Provincial play offs. Our girl’s basketball team is made up of ten girls, which is two lines. However, two of those ten are newbies. When and “if” they catch the ball, they look as if an Alien baby has accidently landed in their midst. Shocked! During one game I heard one of their moms yell out, “Dribble,” when their daughter caught the ball and had a stunned look on her face. (Having said that though, in every game they improve. They are valuable players!)

Also, I have to share our coaches philosophy that everyone gets the same playing time. (I love that!) That’s how you develop a strong team. Suffice to say, we really only have eight player who feel comfortable playing the game. With that context, I’ll take you back to the second game experience. This team was bigger. They had fifteen players, three full lines, and several of the girls were not only physically broader, but way taller than our girls.

Okay, back to the game.

Even though I was nervous, one always hopes the underdog (our team) has a shot, but early on my hopes were doused as the opposing team demonstrated a skill level superior to our girls. What made me sit up taller though was even though we were outmatched, our girls never gave up. They tried again and again to make plays and baskets, but by the last quarter they were down 15 to 50. A few of the opposing players were really tough too. I mean physically tough. We picked out a handful of them who shoved and pushed and once even purposely tripped one of our players.

Our girls had heart though, dug deep and played clean.

Then right in front of David and I, who were sitting centre court, about three bleacher seats up, we witnessed the opposing team’s, Number 25, viciously push our smallest girl.. This wasn’t a little push. This was a huge shove meant to hurt and take down one of our players. Also, Number 25 had this determined hate filled look on her face as she shoved with all she had. I was just so horrified that I yelled, “REALLY, really, you have to do that when you’re up 35 points!!!” Number 25 looked up at me and scowled. Her face was giving me the “FU” look. A foul was meted out, but when she went off the court I observed her two coaches giving her a big high five.

They had huge smiles on their faces.

I was disgusted.

Yes, I know basketball can be a rough game. It can get physical but this was above and beyond what I would call good sportmanship. I’m sure this team went on to win the tournament. Our girls came fourth out of eight teams. Victoria also won player of one of the games. On the drive home before our girls fell into a deep sleep, we rehashed the various games. We talked about this number twenty five player, and the general roughness and attitude of the coaches. We all agreed that winning at all cost wasn’t worth it.

Did this other team realize the optics? In the future whenever I think of this school I will remember this game and how they played.

Is that the reputation they want?

When our girls go out to play I always give them a pre game, mom talk on the drive. It goes something like this; “play hard, use your intellect as much as your skill. Be respectful of your coaches. Support your team with a positive attitude. MOST IMPORTANT, remember winning at all cost is not really winning.

Being a good sport is the sign of a true winner.

Victoria above with the t shirt she won for being best player of the game and the tournament she won it in

(below is a video I took of one of our girls first games earlier in the season. It’s in our gym and you can see a bit more of our lake monster in the background. Victoria is (number 12) the one grabbing the ball and getting 2 points. Kathryn (number 8) is right behind her giving her some support afterwards) That’s me cheering too!

It was getting dark when we started driving home from the tournament. The girls huddled together under a big fleece blanket and fell asleep like they used to do when they were little babes after a big day out. I was glad they were sleeping when we started climbing the mountain pass. Snow was driving hard towards us and while David didn’t say so at the time, he later told me he was having a hard time seeing the edge of the highway.

At the top of the pass we saw a semi truck jack knifed in the ditch on the opposite side of the highway. It was touch and go there for about one hour. I was hardly breathing. I was holding onto the edge of my seat and praying hard. Finally, we started down the other side of the pass and the snow started to let up. By the time we hit the valley no snow was falling at all.

When we walked into our house at last I just said, “thank you to God and my angels”

Throughout that trip I kept thinking about the airplane/helicopter accident in Washington (and the medic plane crash in Philadephia too) that had killed so many beautiful people only days before. Among them, so many talented young figure skaters. That tradegy just made me cry. What made me cry even harder though was the speech during a White House press conference Trump and his incompetent, unqualified, unkind, administrators, gave shortly after the crash. The fact that he brought DEI (Diversity/Equity and Inclusion) into the aftermath of this tragic loss made me mad. So mad!

Did he think of the optics? Did he realize he and his team just appeared hate filled? During his election he and his supporters would wear those red hats that said, “Make America Great Again.” Is this his idea of GREATNESS? Having no compassion for those who had died in the accidents or the families grieveing their loss. When he was talking about DEI etc, they were still searching for their bodies in the Potomic.

Nothing was more obvious to me while listening to this news briefing that America has lost her North Star of morality and good ethics. Where was the compassion? At least her chosen leader didn’t exhibit any. I was absolutely appaulled when Pete Hegseth, (the new Secretary of Defence) said, from now on only the BEST and the BRIGHTEST would be in command, I was thinking, “how in the heck did the Republicans confirm your appointment?” A former Fox T.V. host with a horrid past!. For that matter, how does someone who is not only a felon, a convicted sexual abuse offender and a businessman, who has bankrupted numerous companies, become the President?

If the new administration represent America’s best and brightest, I’m genuinely concerned for their future as a country.

ANYHOO…..SORRY for my mini rant but yeah, when we decided to travel out of town on wintery roads, those accidents were on my mind as were the reaction to those crashes from the President and his, shall I say it, “goons.”

When we woke up on Sunday safe in our beds I was still saying thank you. David made the kids waffles with berries and we turned on the news. That’s when we heard that President Trump, the “Make America Great Again” guy, had announced he was placing a 25% tariffs on all our exports to the States. (10% percent for our oil and energy products) We knew he’d threatened this move many times during his run for office. I think many of his MAGA supporters thought tariffs on another country meant it would hurt us.

They loved that! (this tells you a lot about the people who voted him in)

So yeah, that’s how we heard he was really going through with it.

As I watched the news, all I could think about was how much he was like Number 25,.

He wants to win at all cost.

People like this are bullies. They get their power from fear.

If you want to read the definition of a bully; “a person who habitually seeks to harm or intimidate those whom they perceive as vulnerable.”

Hmmmm….sounds about right.

What is the profile of a bully?

“Research finds that bullies have a distinct psychological makeup. They lack prosocial behavior, are untroubled by anxiety, and do not understand others’ feelings. They exhibit a distinctive cognitive feature, a kind of paranoia: They misread the intentions of others, often imputing hostility in neutral situations.”

What do you think? Does that sound like the current leader in the States?

And you know where bullies get their energy? From fear, and attention. Are we going to give him that? I’m thinking not, and that I need to stop watching the news! At least the biased news.

Anyway, back to our little household.

We had a long talk about the pending tariffs during our Sunday dinner. Even though our kids are only 13 and 15 they demonstrated intelligent thoughts and insights regarding the political situation in the States and how it may impact our country and the world. Also, their oldest sister is with us currently. She is well educated, and contributed in her own intuitive way to our converstation. During our dinner I wondered if they would look back at this moment in history, like I did when I was their age, and the Watergate affair was happening with President Nixon at the time. What I find interesting however is we covered those events in our Socials class when I was in grade eight. I can remember our teacher getting us to research what was happening and we had a debate where we all learned a lot. When we ask our children if they talk about anything going on currently in their world or particularly in the States they said it’s only “crickets,” from their teachers.

Times have sure changed!

Our children tell us that they do have classmates that think Trump is Great. They think our Conservative, Maple Magas are great. I’m sure they are learning these views from their parents and social groups.

I guess this is another reason we encourage our children to obtain a University Education where they can become critical thinkers. I want them to learn about history, sociology, psychology, science, to name only a few important studies.

The next morning the kids went off to school and while I was cleaning up from breakfast and folding a load of laundry I watched the news. (I know, not the best use of my time) Tariffs were the only thing people were discussing in Canada and in the States. What I was encouraged to see was Canadians were unified in their “Hell No,” thoughts and we were coming together. It reminded me in so many ways of our girls recent basketball tournament.

While watching the news…..

.

I heard some of our snowbirds who travel down to Florida and Arizonia for the winter were putting their condos on the market or coming back home in their motor homes. Others were cancelling their vacation trips planned for the States and choosing Mexico, Spain and Portugal instead. We certainly won’t be going to Disney World now!! Also, our son’s jazz band is planning a trip to Idaho this spring and sadly we told our son, “sorry, but we don’t support countires who bully their own people, not to mentiion put tariffs on friends.”

The tariffs hadn’t even begun and all over Canada people were sharing what to boycott and what to buy. For instance, no to Florida oranges and orange juice and yes to Okanagan apples. No to American alcohol and yes to Canadian beer and wine. And for those of you American readers, we dont all live in a cold climate up here….ha…. we happen to live in a hot and arid valley that grows amazing grapes. Wineries are everywhere. Also, I hear although Kentucky Bourbon is lovely, it’s now being shunned. Even more since it comes from a RED State which voted the DJT into office.

In our own household, ever since Trump was elected we’ve stopped shopping at Walmart, which is an American chain. Their reputation in our books got even worse when they were some of the first companies to get on the anti DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) bandwagon. Also, when I saw Steve Bezos standing in the front row at Trump’s inauguration I told my family we were done with Amazon. Ever since Covid we’ve been big Amazon purchasers but no more. Hey, the same with Mark Zuckerberg. I used to check my FaceBook daily but I’m done with that now and I’m going to figure out how to delete my accounts (I have two)

We are also down on anything Elon Musky related; Tesla, Twitter/X, SpaceX…..let’s just say Billionaires who just want more money and power are not in our most liked list. Especially when they go into the Treasury Department with their tech muskrats and shut down USAID which helps the poor and sick all over the world. (btw, if you Google the web site for this group, it’s currrently been deleted….so yeah, anyone who would hurt the innocent and needy in the world is not only a bully but is evil)

So yeah, we were digging in for the long haul.

Then Tuesday came. The Stock Market in the States started to plummet and Trump and his, “NOT the BEST and the BRIGHTEST,” caved. The tariffs are now paused for 30 days.

I could go on and on with regards to my feelings towards the new U.S. administration but in the blink of history this will go down as a low point for the United States, if you can call them that, as I’ve never seen a more divided country. They are facing a constituional crisis at the moment and I believe a coup is happening in Washington right now.

You know what’s really fascinating though, here in Canada ever since he signed that Executive Order to put tariffs on our country it’s maybe caused a reverse effect to what he was expecting.

Did we cower in fear? Hell No!

We are now, more than ever, TOGETHER! Happy together! And you know what else, while he hates DEI, we are a country built on diversity, equity and inclusion. Although we aren’t perfect up here and we’ve cause generational trauma to the indigenous peoples, they’ve taught us how to be better people and I’d like to think we are viewed as a good people in the world.

Further more, we aren’t going to “bend the knee” in FEAR, which is what bullies thrive on. No we are not going to let the lower energy of fear remain with the bullies and allow our love for our country and others guide us.

And one final thought before I share my White Chocolate and Cranberry cookie recipe with you, is a video I hold close to my heart from Kamala Harris who said, “the strength of a leader is who you lift up, not who you beat down.” I guess that says it all. Why the American people didn’t vote her to be their leader, I will never know. Was it because she was a woman? Was it because she wasn’t white? Whatever their reasons, I hope they are happy with the leader they have. Sadly, I know many Americans do not resonate with who is in power right now and to those I say, get out and fight for what you believe in. Be happy Together!!! Here are her inspiring words;

Beautiful words of lifting others up.

That is the Strength of a LEADER! and while Kamala may not be in power right now in the States, I’m holding onto her words. I hope you are too!

In my small way, that’s what this blog is about. And feeding you. HA! Last week my sisters and I had a video chat and as we were talking I was pulling these cookies out of the oven. My oldest sister Bonnie asked for the recipe so my dear sis, this is for you. Also, I wrote this post for ALL my friends and family. I’ve been keeping my feelings close to my chest ever since the election. I haven’t wanted to talk politics. I haven’t wanted to give it energy. I frankly have been so sad and let down by the people who voted Trump into office.

I keep asking myself why they didn’t see who he was. Maya Angelou said, “When a person shows you who they are, believe them!” And if they truly heard the hateful things he was always saying, why would they vote him in. Especially the Christian people. I will never understand how a Christian who follows Christ’s teachings about loving your neighbour and giving to the needy, could vote for someone who talks about rounding up illegal immigrants like they are animals or putting tariffs on your allies. (What I find most hypocrital is when the so called Christians wear crosses at their necks and talk about rounding up illegals or evicting the people from their own communities, “Gaza.”

There must be something so horribly broken in these people. Maybe they have generational hatred which they haven’t been able to work through. Whatever the case, there is no excuse for spreading hate and racism in the world. Especially after the horrors we witnessed during the Second World War with the Jewish people.

But I’m not going to dwell any longer in this place and give it energy. We need to rise above it and remember…..

Love overcomes everything.

Let’s make some cookies and go out into the world and share them. Take a plate to your neighbours. Talk to them. Find out what their views are. Find your community of like minded people. We are happy together when we lift each other up. Hey, and if you stay around to the bottom of this post, you’ll be able to listen to a bit of music. Our kids playing “Happy Together,” during another difficult time in history, our Covid pandemic which taught us a lot about how important it is to stay together to keep people safe and healthy.

White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies

Ingredients

11/4 cups sugar

1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar

1 1/2 margarine or butter softened….I use 3/4 margarine and 3/4 butter

2 teaspoon vanilla

3 eggs

4 1/4 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ginger (AMAZING!)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 to 1 1/2 cups white chocolate

1 to 1 1/2 cups dried cranberry

Optional: Pecans or Walnuts to top the cookie

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degree F.

In a large bowl beat both sugars and butter until light and creamy.

Add eggs one at a time. Mix well. Add vanilla

In a medium bowl, Add flour, baking soda, ginger and salt. Mix well.

Add flour to the sugar and butter mixture.

Stir in the chocolate and dried cranberries until well combined.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoon onto a ungreased cookie sheet.(2 inches apart)

Top with pecan or walnut.

Bake in 375 degree oven for 8 to 10 minutes….I make my cookies larger so they take 12 mins until they are golden brown.

Yields 6 dozen….they freeze beautifully but boy they taste good frozen and they don’t last long!!!

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Below: A Flash into the past~ our kids, Will, Kate and Tori playing, “Happy Together,” (during our homeschool Covid year)

A final word, for my American friends, and I know I have a few who have followed this blog, if my words resonate with you and you are feeling fearful…… please stay strong, you are not alone. Find your people. Use your voices. Walk in peace sharing your views. Talk to your officials. I will be praying for you and our world.

Thanks again for visiting today.

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

Planting Seeds in Silence~and Date Cookies

/ admin

Dear Family and Friends,

I don’t know about you, but January 2025 is quickly flying by. Some of you may know that I belong to a wonderful writing group. We meet every two weeks in my dear A’s art studio where we share our latest poem or prose piece. Usually we choose a prompt for inspiration. Our most recent prompt was, “Silence.” I sat with that word and what it meant to me for a whole week but nothing came. Hoping meditation would help, I sat some more. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It wasn’t until the weekend before we were to gather, while whipping up a batch of date cookies when a story finally emerged. I’d like to share that story with you now. Maybe it will ignite a memory from your past when a moment of silence planted a seed that grew in your life too. However, if you’re only here for my Date cookie recipe, ha! scroll to the bottom. These cookies are soft, chewy and oh so flavourfull. Healthy too! Perfect for sharing with my writing buds….or taking to a neighbour.

It’s 1964.  I’m four years old. My family and I live in a small town on the West Coast of Canada, called Hope, where everyone knows what day you change your sheets from the wispy ghosts flapping behind your house. Surrounding our sleepy town are tall, heavily forested mountains. They stand like sentinels protecting us while making room for B.C. longest river, the mighty Fraser, which steadily flows with a greeny gray grace of a water determined to be one with the ocean. 

Our two story clapboard house is never quiet. My three older sisters make sure of that. My oldest sister Bonnie is 17 and only comes home to change her clothes and sleep, as her world revolves around school sports, friends and a boy named Dick. Cherie is 15 and loves to read but she also enjoys turning our record player on to its highest setting. Dad often tells her and visiting friends that they are going to wear a hole in the carpet from all her twisting, jiving and doing the monkey. Joni, my sister closest in age to me, was born nine years ago, during a blue baby streak in our neiighbourhood. Needless to say, if she wants to play with her peers, she’s often running in and out looking for her baseball mitt, her frog collecting buckets, or begging our Dad to tweak her go cart, so she can beat the pants off all the boys in the neighbourhood. 

I like to play with my dolls. I have two soft bodied baby dolls named Sindy and Suzie. Although they are similar in size, they didn’t look alike at first, until I took my little yellow giraffe scissors and cut off all their hair.  Now they are both bald and are twins. Today, I carefully dress them, talking to them about our upcoming adventure. Sindy is in blue and Suzie in pink. With them dressed I put my attention to the drawer built under the stairs. I pull and pull. Wood on wood grinds but finally the drawer opens. My eyes are bright.

This is our treasure drawer. 

Dad is so clever. He built a set of stairs at the end of the bedroom I share with Joni. Under these stairs is our special toy drawer. The stairs head up into the attic where Bonnie and Cherie each have a bedroom with sloped ceilings and dormer windows. At the top of the stairs is a little alcove Dad built for himself. It’s his writing space. As I’m drifting off to sleep at night I hear him tapping away on his black underwood typewriter. Deep into the night I hear the typewriter’s rhythmic song, while from the kitchen mom’s Singer sewing machine steadily clicks, remaking hand me down clothes, given to us by our Auntie Lennie.  

Every space in our house is used. In our drawer I spy Joni’s baseball cards, her bag of marbles and her neglected Barbie. I’m not allowed to touch it, but my eyes feast on her blonde ponytail and sleek black and white striped bathing suit. I push down my jealous desire and reach instead for the little brown checked suitcase that holds my tea set. After that, I dig out my favourite dress up outfit. I’m getting really good at buttons and zippers and I grin when I successful zip and button myself into my purple silky dress. I like the swishy sound of the fabric against my leg. 

Into my little wicker buggy goes my blue and white tea set along with Sindy and Suzie. Then off the end of my bed I tug off the quilt my Grandma Clark made just for me. On each square, a nursery rhyme and picture is embroidered. I’ve now memorized all the words to each rhyme so as I start to push my buggy I sing, “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a big fall, All the King’s horses and all the King’s men, couldn’t put Humpty together again!”

(Below is a picture of the little ceramic Humpty Dumpty man I had for years in my bedroom. I don’t have him any longer but I was able to find a picture of exactly what he looked like)

I push the buggy out into the hall and down to the kitchen where mom is standing at her spot in front of the sink. She turns and asks,  “What are you doing Debbie?”  “Just taking my babies out for some fresh air.” I say. “Oh that’s nice,” she says, “Let me help you lift the buggy outside.” And she opens our back door and lifts my buggy with all my treasures inside. She places it onto our backyard grass. 

I stroll the buggy over to our lilac tree, next to our white picket fence and lay my quilt under the tree. The purple blossoms are starting to fall in snowy drifts and the scent is sweet and pleasant. It’s a perfect place for our tea party. I gently lift the twins and sit them together,  leaning against the tree trunk. Carefully I place a tiny teacup and saucer in front of each of them and then place one on the quilt for me too. I pour our pretend tea and then I hear the screen door slam. Mom is coming out with a little bowl. Oh goodie!  My face lights up as this will be more than a pretend day. “Here you go miss Debbie,” she says, giving me a small bowl with three date cookies inside. “Thank you,” I say, feeling my best manners are in order. She wipes her hands on her apron, smiles at me with her twinkling green eyes and heads back into the house. The screen door slams again. 

We munch on cookies and sip our tea. I look up and see shapes in the fluffy clouds passing by above us. Other than drifting clouds all is still.

Where is everybody? I stand up and start to dance, twirling and lifting my long dress to the music only I hear. Little do I know but in this moment of joy filled silence I’m scattering seeds.

My babies quietly sit on the quilt looking out into the yard.

Fast forward now. It’s decades later. It’s a winter Sunday and my husband David and our three youngest are up at the ski hill for the day.  After their noisy, getting ready to ski chaos, our house is blissfully quiet. I’ve spent the day in a state of delicious relaxation; reading my latest library book, relishing in a long hot bath and finally going out for a chilly walk in our neighbourhood. Only a few people pass by, their dog leading the way. Not wanting to break the silence, I only nod and smile as we pass by each other. I get back home feeling peaceful and with the cold still on my face I start brewing some late afternoon tea. It’s steeping when our garage door clicks and rattles open. Moments later David and the kids spill into the kitchen with rosy cheeks and stories of how our son Will’s spectacular wipe out on the run called, “Attridge,” was the epic moment of the day. Everyone laughs. Thankfully no one is hurt. David finally heads to his den and Will to his bedroom.  My twin daughters linger in the kitchen. Victoria asks, “what kind of tea are you making?” “Earl Gray,” I say, “Ohhhh, yummy,” she says, “can we make London Fog?” “Yeah! and have a few cookies too,” says Kate, reaching into the newly filled glass cookie jar.  

I start pouring three cups of steaming tea, Victoria brings milk, honey and vanilla. Kate brings a plate of cookies to the table. For a moment all is quiet and in that empty space, in that sacred silence, I’m whooshed back to a long remembered tea party. A precious time when seeds were planted.

Two magic seeds. The best seeds are planted in silence and joy!

~The End~

Below, my bald babies born, May 20, 2011, decades after that tea party under the lilac tree. In a little town called, Hope.

Above, Kathryn Mira (R) and Victoria Hope (L)…..inspired by Suzy and Sindy

and below Katie left and Tori right….

Victoria is left above and Kathryn is right…..this is their 1st birthday picture…..my sweet bald babies!!!

And below my babies are growing….Victoria (L) Kathryn (R) Their hair is finally growing, ha….Victoria’s is light brown and curly and Kathryn’s is blonde and straight

Above are a few pictures of Kathryn and Victoria….my sweet twins. Looking at these pictures makes me want to pinch myself because seeing them, having them in my life is a testament to seeds we plant, dreams we dream, visions of what we want in our life…all comes to pass in time. And that’s why it’s so important we plant good seeds. What seeds have you planted that have come to bloom in your garden?

What seeds are you planting now?

And now that you’ve read one of my stories, maybe it’s time for you to write your story. I’d love to hear if the word, “Silence,” inspires something from your past. And speaking of goodness, let’s make some cookies. I hope you enjoy the recipe below. I like to play around with it and add various spices and also top it with different nuts and seeds. Sprinkle it with a bit of icing sugar and it’s a special tea cookie!!!

On this Wintery day it’s the perfect time to make some cookies which will still be warm when my family comes home from the ski hill.

Date Cookies

Ingredients

2 cups chopped dates

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1 cup sugar

1 cup margarine or butter/softened

1 teaspoon vanilla…also for flavouring I like to use grated orange peel

3 eggs

4 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon….this is optional but I like to add warm spices especially for winter baking

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

optional: 1/4 cup icing sugar for dusting

Directions

In medium saucepan, combine dates, 1/2 cup sugar and water. Cook over medium heat until thickened, stirring occasionally. Cool

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets. In large bowl, beat brown sugar, 1/2 cup sugar and margarine until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs; (also orange peel if desired, blend well. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt and spices; mix well.

Stir in date mixture and nuts. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto greased cookie sheets.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until golden brown. (I make my cookies bigger so they take 10 to 12 minutes)

Immediately remove from cookie sheets Yield 6 dozen cookies…optional…sprinkle with icing sugar….Enjoy them with a cup of tea!

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

What Scares Us?…and Pumpkin Cookies for Bec

/ admin

(Above: Post Office 1915, in Greenwood, B.C. A story of my haunted experience is below but click this link to read more about Greenwood, B.C.)

The scary season is almost upon us. This past weekend, our twin daughter’s, Kathryn and Victoria, decorated our front door with stickers, a homemade creepy spider, a glouish demon that makes spine chilling noises when he’s bumped and to finish the scene, some corn stalks with threads of sticky spider web material, which the girls hope will entice trick or treaters to visit our house this Halloween.

Along with these decorations, a week ago we took the kids to our local pumpkin patch where they found six huge pumpkins. When they came home they scattered them along the path to our front door. As if this weren’t enough, they decided to put on a scary movie (Annabelle) and make a paper mache zombie in our family room.

As they jumped and screamed over the satanic antics in the movie, I was more horrified by the thick glue on their fingers and wondered what my family room was going to look like after they finished their craft project. But seriously, I hope the’re having fun creating these seasonal memories. What really scares me most this season is not the glue from their paper mache zombie getting everywhere, but the upcoming election in the States. After the last election when there was terrible unrest culminating in a riot at the Capital on Januaury 6th, 2020, I’m praying this year’s election will be more peaceful. I can hope can’t I? Along the lines of what scares me, I thought this was the perfect time to share a story from my past. So grab some popcorn, a cup of something spicy and warm and join me as I reminisce and tell a story from my chilidhood.

Maybe this story will prompt a question in your mind too….”What scares YOU?”

“When I was ten, my older sister Cherie and her husband David invited me to come and stay with them for part of the summer in their rented home in Greenwood, B.C.. Greenwood was once a booming mining town at the turn of the century. Copper, silver and even gold were found in that area, and it was once a thriving city. However, in 1970, it was just a sleepy, little community with ancient crumbling homes and remnants from long ago mining activity littering the valley.

(A tiny glimpse of historic downtown Greenwood, B.C.)

Cherie and David’s rented home was on the east hill above the downtown area. It was a tall, skinny Victorian with faded and peeling paint. It had seen better days. I’ll never forget how excited I was to see inside for the first time. “Cherie,” I said, “can I explore?” She laughed and said, “explore away.” Like a curious kitten I leaped from room to room. In the foyer, there was a steep, narrow stairway heading upstairs. Off to the right was the living room, which ran the length of the house. Cherie’s talent for decorating made this area feel cozy, with brightly painted second hand furniture and on the big comfy couch was a large, colourful throw. Some of Cherie’s paintings and sketches, an eclectic mix, hung on the walls or were leaning against them, making the room feel like an art studio. A well worn black, wooden rocking chair was in one corner. 

The old fashion kitchen was off to the left, and while the simple white cabinets and appliances weren’t exciting, Cherie had placed a vase of wild flowers in the middle of the kitchen table, making the room feel welcoming. Off the kitchen, to the back of the house, was another room.  When I entered, a icy blast of air made me shiver. Non descript, dungy wallpaper was pasted on every wall but was peeling at every seam. At one time it must have been a pretty room, as a large window looked out over an overgrown and weedy perennial garden. The room was starkly empty, except for one small, gold framed picture hanging on the wall near the door. Peering closely I saw it was an ancient picture of a dour faced Saint. Perhaps Russian in style, as the colours although faded, were bright blues and reds. A faint halo glowed around the Saint’s sad face. As I stood looking at this picture, goosebumps rose on my arms and a dank smell grew stronger. There was something not right in this room. I didn’t linger there long.

I never entered this room again.

The first morning I was there, David left for work  and Cherie asked, “Debbie, do you want some granola?” While Corn Flakes were my latest obsession, I wanted to appear grown up so I told her, “Yeah, tha’d be cool.” Munching on the oats, seeds and nuts, Cherie poured herself a cup of coffee and then casually walked across the kitchen to the back room door. Pulling it closed she shared over her shoulder, “Since we don’t need this room, we try to keep the door closed.” I just nodded my head as that made sense,  but later that morning when I went to the kitchen for a snack, I noticed the door was half opened. Before leaving the kitchen, I nervously went over and quickly shut the door. That was a regular occurrence; one of us would close the door and then later mysteriously it would open. 

My favourite activity that summer was drawing in the sketch pad Cherie had given me. I would sit on the big comfy couch in the living room experimenting with the charcoal sketching pencils and oil pastels she had encouraged me to try, while Cherie painted at the other end of the room, where she’d set up her easel. One afternoon, she joined me on the couch and while she played her guitar and quietly sang, I sketched. In our comfortable companionship we were relaxed and feeling at ease, until the air in the room suddenly shifted. 

My eyes popped open when the rocking chair started moving. I looked to see if the curtains were fluttering but there was no breeze in the room. I glanced at Cherie to see if she’d noticed too but she appeared to be acting normal. Unconcerned, she just uncrossed her legs, stood up and put her guitar down and then asked if I wanted to go for a walk to get an ice cream. Once outside, walking in the sun I let my shoulders drop. I never asked Cherie if she had sensed the energy changing in the room or witnessed the rocking chair creaking back and forth. Looking back at the summer and being with my big sister, I think I wanted to be treated older. Also, knowing her to be super sensitive, I’m sure she picked up on the ghostly energy in that house, but she obviously didn’t want to draw attention to it and scare me. Although we never talked about it, we had an unspoken code;

if we didn’t say anything, maybe it’d go away.

But it didn’t.

The ultimate scare happened in the depths of darkness one night nearing the end of my visit. Normally a deep sleeper, I suddenly woke with the feeling that someone was standing beside my bed. I never opened my eyes and I couldn’t yell for Cherie and David, who were just sleeping in the next room to me. I was absolutely frozen. I didn’t even pull the covers over my head. I was terrified of whatever was standing beside me. I knew I had to pretend to remain asleep and hoped whatever was there would finally leave. After a few minutes, the feeling of being watched left me. I never felt comfortable in that room again and I hated going to bed.

That summer I discovered it wasn’t just Cherie and David’s house that was haunted. One day Cherie and I took a tour of the historic Greenwood Courthouse, which at the turn of the century had served as the Supreme Court of British Columbia and the County Court for the Southern County of Yale.  From that court, there had been many judicial proceedings, which included several death by hanging sentences being pronounced, as a result of murders in the area. At the time of our visit, it was being used as a musuem, where one could tour around at ones leisure.

(Greenwood, B.C. Courthouse. If you want to read more about it click on this link. )

During our self guided tour, we admired the extensive use of glowing cedarwood and stain glass works in the actual courtroom, where an old musty smell of leather and books was prevalent. Other than being impressed by the rich formality of it all, I didn’t feel anything unusual until we started heading down the cement stairs to where the jail had held prisoners. It was then I started feeling a heavy presence. With each step the air grew thicker along with the lack of light. My heart was thudding loudly in my chest when we peered into one of the cold jail cells and it was then I heard a sound of shuffling followed by a distant cry. I don’t know if Cherie heard it too but I know she shared my anxiousness because we didn’t remain in that basement long. I couldn’t climb those stairs fast enough. What a tremendous relief I felt to get out of that building.

There were so many fun moments that summer with Cherie and David but when it was time for me to leave, I was rather glad. I think I’d been holding my breath the whole time, worried I’d actually see something I didn’t want to.

Sometimes, not seeing anything, but knowing it’s there is scarier. “

BOO!!!!….and now, my dear readers, that is “The End”

Did you like my ghost story?

Did it make you think of things that have scared you? Or are scaring you?

Like this crazy time on earth when we seem to be battling against moving into the 5th dimension and so many fearful souls are trying to keep us back from progressing as we evolve into more loving humans. Now THAT’S a big scare to me. But we are getting there. I’m sure of it and I’m trusting that in the upcoming U.S. Election voices will unite and goodness will prevail. The only thing haunting me now is wondering what we have to endure over the next few years until everyone gets onboard. I’m concerned because the path the Americans choose will impact the world and certainly us here in Canada.

I was thinking this morning that what we are going through is a bit like moving out of that haunted house into the sunlight.

Hold onto Hope. Hold onto Joy!!!

Before I close this post though I want to share my Pumpkin Cookie recipe. At the beginning of last summer, (in time for our oldest son Clark’s wedding) our second oldest son Mitchell came home from Australia and introduced us to his partner Bec. It wasn’t easy for me saying goodbye to Mitchell five years ago, when he decided to move to Australia but deep down I knew an adventure was waiting for him. I also had a feeling that he would meet more of his people while there. You know, it’s hard to say goodbye to a child, even once he’s grown up, but letting kids go out into the world means you’ve done your job well. (this is what I tell myself) It means you’ve created global citizens who are strong and independent. Also, you never know how they will touch the world and who they will meet along the way. That’s why I was so excited to meet Bec. She’s everything I wanted in a partner for Mitchell; loving, kind, thoughtful, and intelligent. Getting to know her reminds me we have family all over the world, we just don’t know their names.

(Above, My beloved son Mitchell and beautiful Bec)

One thing I learned about Bec is that she loves pumpkin pie. Also, recently she asked Mitchell to see if I had any pumpkin cookie recipes and lo and behold, do cats meow? (she loves cats too) YES, I do. Shortly after he asked me about the pumpkin cookie recipe I whipped up a batch and took a few pictures.

So Bec, this post is dedicated to you.

Sorry it’s coming a bit late but Halloween season is pumpkin season here in Canada. I don’t know if you will appreicate the scary part of this post or not, but I hope you are able to try out this recipe and tell me what you think. Maybe you can tweak it a bit and make it your own. This is after all how the best recipes evolve, as do our families.

To all my other blogging family and friends, thanks for visiting today. As the season of scare unfolds, I hope you will join me in sending love out into the world. While we munch on pumpkin cookies and a few Halloween treats remember, we can do anything and we are stronger together.

And if you want to stay around to make some pumpkin cookies with me, steep another cup of tea or brew some more coffee and join me in the kitchen. Let’s make some…..

Hope’s Pumpkin Cookies

This is an “easy peasy” recipe as you just mix all the wet together first, mix the dry together together second and then add the dry to the wet and mix until well combined….I use my mixer but this is an easy recipe to whip up with a good wooden spoon and spatula.

This cookie batter will be very moist and does need a long time to cook to firm up but the cookie is lovely and soft…mouth watering.

Preheat the Oven to 375 degrees….get out a cookie sheet…ungreased or use a piece of parchment paper…see below, btw..we grew that pumpkin on the stool! I threw some seeds randomly in the garden and grew 3 pumpkins.

Ingredients

11/4 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup margarine or butter

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 can of pumpkin (15 ounces) (Notice in the picture I used a large tin…I use the left overs to make pumpkin lattes….yummy!)

3 cups of flour

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon/ 1/2 tsp nutmeg/ 1/2 tsp ginger/ 1/4 tsp cloves

Optional: 1 cup of chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of walnuts…. deluxe! Place a large piece of walnut on top as a garnish

Drop teaspoon size cookies onto an ungreased cookie sheet and cook for 12 to 15 minutes at 375 degrees.

Let cool for a few minutes and then place on cooling racks. While still warm I sprinkle the cookie with icing sugar and then comes the BEST PART…….eat with someone you LOVE!

Happy Halloween 

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

Above is a picture snapped when Mitchell and Bec were visiting….it’s the family hug we do…but you are right there with us…we are all family!!!

When there is love in the room nothing is scary!

Shortbread Cookies ~Magic in the Air

/ Lee Reynolds

Our valley has once again been covered in a sparkling, blanket of white. Driving my kids to school this morning, I uttered the words I have said several times in the last two days. “Isn’t it breathtaking?”

It’s so stunningly, beautiful, it makes me cry.

As I write this post, it’s snowing again lightly. You can’t even see the lake below our house. Magical!

Although winter has it’s draw backs in many cases; the biting cold and it took us longer to get going yesterday morning, as both David and I had to clear the drive way, but what it brings to my life is well worth it.

We are forced to slow down a bit more, take our time as we move out into the world. In that pace, a beacon of light shines into my soul and insights often occur. They are light houses, guiding me safely on my journey. Inspiring me to keep going.

As the snow lightly fell as I was shoveling yesterday, I was thinking how each of us is like a precious snowflake; unique and stunningly beautiful. We have the ability to change the world by the choices we make every day. And yet, many of us squander that time. We rush around with our to do lists running through our heads like a chiming mantra.

Do we feel joy?

Do we feel peace?

Do we feel hope?

and most important of all…..

Do we feel love?

I can tell you the answer to that, at least from my perspective, and that is a resounding, “NO!”

While this is a magical time of year in so many ways, many of us are driven by the lists running in our heads. We are stressed and burnt out. We get sick easier, as we are not sleeping long enough to get a good rest. We are generally feeling unwell. It’s like a vicious circle that keeps us down.

One of my sons, dealing with University exams and deadlines, was recently finding the stress debilitating. When he would call me in a panic, I would simply remind him to fill his lungs deeply and slow down to get grounded.

Stop and

BREATHE!

Are exams life and death?

Let’s put things in perspective here.

We have a choice how we want to feel.

We have a choice how we impact the world around us too.

The other day when I was walking around the grocery store, list in hand, trying to get out as fast as I could so I could pick up the kids from school, I saw a neighbour in the produce department. I think she saw me too out of the corner of her eye and she quickly moved on…. probably with a similar list in hand. Just as well, I thought as I moved into the bread section, as I can get out of here more quickly.

Then we literally ran into each other in the dairy section. We had to STOP and talk to each other. I’m so glad too as that short little, sweet interlude, catching up on each other’s lives; each other’s Christmas holiday happenings,propelled me forward, reminding me why we are on this planet together.

We are here to support each other and make life more pleasant. I left the store with a smile on my face and I hope she felt some warmth too.

We can make a difference in each other’s lives by caring about each other, by smiling and giving a hug, by wishing each other all the best in life, not just at this holiday time, but ALL year through.

My kids get this. They don’t move through their days with lists in their heads or their hands. Nope…but if there was a list running through their little brains, its would be for them to experience

fun,

fun

and

more FUN!

And they are naturally kind too. They don’t need to slow down because they are already at a perfect, in sync pace with the world. They live in the moment. They breathe deeply. They laugh from the belly, and they hug without restraint.

Huh!

I can take a few lessons from them….oh and dogs and cats are good at teaching life lessons too.

So I hope that you are able to take a moment this holiday season.

STOP!

be still,

listen to the silence

and

BREATHE!

Chat with a neighbour, hug a child, sit with a pet.

Listen to the bells of silence,

They are ringing with magic.

Let it resonate deep into your soul.

Let the beauty of the season make you weep.

Rejoice.

This life is so precious.

You are so precious!

And speaking of magic…..I want to share my whipped shortbread with you. Yes, they are magic in a little cookie. I got this recipe from an dear, dear, co-worker, Elaine, years ago. She gave it to me when I was in my twenties and I’ve been making it every year since.

Now it is part of our Christmas tradition. Each time I make it, I think of Elaine and smile.

If you don’t have a great shortbread recipe, let this be part of your tradition too. Plus……it’s so easy!

Last night, I stayed up late making these cookies and watching, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” “Yawn!”, but it was worth it. This movie is also a yearly tradition. It reminds me how deeply each of us touch each other. Instead of giving gift cards to our children’s teachers this year, we decided to give them a piece of our Christmas tradition….a tin of these cookies and some tea and a little snowflake ornament, reminding them how unique they are.

I hope you try making these cookies and years to come, and as you make them, you will think of Hope and smile.

Hope’s Whipped Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients

1 lb of unsalted butter
3 cups of flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Opt: package of Toblerone chocolate
Christmas sprinkles or glazed cherries

Directions

Cream butter, add remaining ingredients and beat until fluffy. Roll into balls, press down with a fork.
Decorate with little chunks of Toblerone chocolate and Christmas sprinkles. You can also grate the Toblerone and add it to the cookie dough. A classic for this cookie, is decorating them with red and green glazed cherries.

Bake on an ungreased pan at 325 degrees F for 10 to 12 minutes

This morning I was getting the tins ready…glade I stayed up late and did my baking!

I

Magic is in the air.

Can you feel it?

Merry Christmas my dear blogging family.

You are a precious snowflake.

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

Almond Cookies ~A Simple Christmas~

/ Lee Reynolds

My favourite month has arrived!
                                     Welcome December!

Fa la la la la, la la la la!

Oh the joy of season with the twinkling lights and carols playing, fills me with happy anticipation. I’ve always had a quiet faith in the magic of this season and this year is no different. But with only three weeks until Christmas, I’m also feeling a bit stressed.

 


My husband, David and I have decided that this year, the holiday season will be different. Even though we have eight children, we are on a minimalist path. Oh, I know, it’s a bit of an oxymoron, to have a large family and be minimalists but it wasn’t always that way.

In the beginning, our four older children were raised in a very consumer driven household and they have been used to having most of their wishes and dreams wrapped up in fancy paper and put under a glittering tree. Over the years though, as our younger children arrived, we have become more concerned about the state of our planet. Even though, yes, we are guilty of over populating the world, we now hope to set an example and teach our children to be conscious consumers; walking the earth as gently as possible.

Still, their Christmas wish lists are spread out before me and I struggle to know what would be the best gifts to give them this holiday. Some of the lists were emailed from University, with detailed pictures of tangible items desired. Although there’s a post script at the bottom, relaying extreme appreciation for their parent paid, post- secondary education. Then at the other end of our family spectrum, we have pencil written lists that begin with, “Dear Santa, I hope you are well.” Do I want to burst these innocent bubbles of magical expectation?

 Victoria holding up a Christmas card that says BELIEVE….you can see the window seat behind her and our view of the lake and mountains

“Oh,” what will we give them this year?” I ponder, as I fill my  red tea pot with boiling water to steep some Earl Grey tea. I look around my cozy kitchen with the old school charm.  David renovated it himself a few years ago and I love it. He took off all the cabinet fronts and stained them a calla lily white and then brushed on a tea stain, so they look old and worn. Perfect to weather our large family!

My favourite part of the kitchen is the window seat, which frames the lake view below our house. I take my big tea cup and curl up on the red checked cushion and look out the window. Kalamalka Lake is a slate blue grey this morning and the hills surrounding it are covered in white, as if Mother Nature took icing sugar and sprinkled it liberally while we slept.

Looking out at the new snow, takes me drifting back to a Christmas over 50 years ago.
It was1963 and one of the last Christmas’s my Dad was alive. A year and a half later he was killed in a truck accident. That holiday, in our sleepy, little town of Hope, B.C. which was guarded by tall, forested mountains, we received a huge dump of snow. What a magical appearance it was to wake up and find a sparkling world of peaceful white, beyond my frosted bedroom window. 
I don’t know what day of the week it was. I had just turned four years old. My days and years blended into one another, like mom’s endless laundry blowing stiffly in the winter wind on our backyard clothesline. Dad probably had worked that day. I’m sure he was tired after a full day driving truck for the Esso oil company but after dinner on the night of that big snowfall, with a glimmer in his grayish green eyes, he suggested we go and play in the snow. My sister J,  eight years old at the time, whooped with joy and was the first out the door, having perfected the art of winter dressing. My older sister’s C and B who were both teenagers, stole furtive glances at each other, to see who would proclaim they were too grown up for such childish play. Surprisingly, they started layering on sweaters, coats and hats while jabbing each other playfully. Perhaps they sensed this moment would ring in our memories for years to come. 
My mom bundled me into my red, one piece snow suit, asking again, if I wanted to use the bathroom.  I shook my head, impatient to get outside and she sighed. She put on my wool hat and tied the bow then wrapped a red plaid scarf tightly around my neck. I could barely breathe. The final touch was stuffing my hands into the mittens that were tied to the ends of my sleeves. I waddled outside like a penguin, barely able to walk. 
My Dad was artfully throwing snow balls at my sisters, who were laughingly, dodging them, as they busily worked together making a snow man. By the time I came outside, the bottom half of him was already built and his lower half was not just one big ball, but a large bottom with a wide lap to sit upon.
The air was biting cold. The sky was ink black and looking up, it felt like we were covered by a heavy quilt of quiet stillness that went on forever. The snow was wet and perfect for packing. Our snowman grew quickly into a giant. I looked at our little white clapboard house to see mom moving around, through the glowing kitchen window. Occasionally, she would peek out and I would wave my snow covered mitten and she would wave back. My Dad and sister’s voices were muffled and seem to come from far away and yet my vision was crystal clear. Everything was sharp and in focus.
Me with our magical giant snowman
Mom brought out shriveled apples for our snow man’s eyes and walnuts for his mouth. Completing his look she reached up high to stick a black top hat on his head. We stood around our snowy creation and mom, wearing only her indoor clothes and an apron said, “brrrrr,” as she snapped a picture of us. In the picture, I was nestled between our snowman’s knees, surrounded by my sisters and my Dad. Although the picture was in black and white, the colours are vivid in my memory. 
Dad had never smiled so brightly.
Me with my three older sisters and my Dad in Hope, B.C. over 50 years ago

 

We piled into the house, with mom clucking over the fact that her grey, linoleum kitchen floor had more snow on it than our yard. With red cheeks and good cheer, we sipped the hot cocoa and nibbled the cinnamon, sugared toast, waiting for us on the kitchen table. Out of the radio, strains of Bing Crosby crooning, “White Christmas,” flowed into our warm kitchen, with the white cabinets and red checked curtains. Oh, nothing had ever tasted better or sounded so perfect, than sitting in our little home in Hope that night, surrounded by my family. 

My dad left a legacy. Even though we didn’t have much in terms of material possessions,it was the magical moments of simple living that allowed the notes of our days, to create the music of our life. These moments played a rhythm that rooted us deeply as a family. Now that I’m a parent, it’s my turn to make these musical moments for our children.

Thank you mom and dad for bringing simple, magical moments into my life
I am consciously aware that we only have so much time with our children and then we are gone. Whatever imprint we want to leave on them, whatever wisdom we want to share, the moments are ticking by. 

Coming back to this time, I sip the last of my tea and look at my children’s Christmas wish lists laid out on the kitchen table. With a smile I wash my tea cup and start to hum, “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas.”

                           I know exactly what I want to give this year.

I hope you enjoyed that little piece I recently wrote for my writing group. I regret not finding more time to write on my blog this fall. But there are times in life when I just need to live the experiences ….do you know what I mean? I think it was Rainer Maria Rilke who said, 

“be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”

So that has been what I have been doing…living everything and not stopping to ask anything.

But oh! I love this season and want to share that joy with you. I hope with only three weeks until Christmas you take some time to truly enjoy the magic of the season. Let it seep into your soul and let the simple moments of life bring you the greatest happiness.

Speaking of simple moments; I have to share my recipe for snow topped almond cookies. With vanilla extract being so expensive, I have been baking with more almond extract. I forgot how much I love it. I hope you enjoy it too. When you frost these cookies with a white glaze, you can sprinkle them with red and green sparkles….or with toasted almonds to make them even more festive.

Come into my old school kitchen and let us whip up a batch to share with our family and friends.

This snowman was given to me by my mom, who loved Christmas and Christmas music…he plays the piano and sings

Snow topped Almond Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup margarine (I find the texture better when I use 1/2 margarine and 1/2 butter)
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp almond extract
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

 

Glaze:

1/2 cups icing sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 tbsp water

Instructions 
Preheat oven to 400 degrees

In a medium size bowl, cream butter/margarine and sugar. Add almond extract and mix well. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and combine well. Now scoop up teaspoon size cookie dough and place it on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Place in hot oven and cook for 8 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet. Glaze with icing sugar mixture and top with toasted almond slices and if making at Christmas time, add some sprinkles of your choice to make them look even more festive.

I made these for my writing group and took them in on our last day together…hope to see you all next year!

Now make a cup of tea and sit in your favourite place and munch on a few cookies. Don’t you think it’s the simple things that make us happiest in life? As you listen to the youtube video below, “Bing Crosby, singing; White Christmas,” think about how you can create some magic this holiday season. Sledding or skating with the family?….or cuddled together watching a Christmas movie? Whatever it is, I hope peace, joy and love settles into your heart and stays for the whole year through.

 

From my family to yours……may the light and love of Christmas find you this season!
In the front row are from Left to right, Victoria, William and Kathryn/ in the middle are Alyssa, me and Grace and in the back are David, Harrison, Mitchell and Clark…and our cat Ryuuki

This blog post is dedicated to my Mom and Dad……and to our daughter Grace Elizabeth, who was born 15 years ago today. What a Christmas blessing you are!

 
Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
Blessings from Hope
                                                                                                                                            

Peanut Butter Flax Cookies~Saying Goodbye

/ Lee Reynolds

 

I’ve had him for eighteen years. You’d think that would be enough, but it’s not. And yet, I’m ever so mindful that I have been blessed. I am a blessed, beyond measure mom. I’m blessed, because I know there are women out there, who would have given anything for just one day holding their baby.

There are women out there, who will never know the joy of watching their baby take his first step, say mama for the first time, watch him turn back with a smile and a wave as he heads off to kindergarten and finally say,  “I love you,” as he leans down for a hug and a kiss before heading off to University.

And so with that awareness and with tears in my eyes, I say goodbye. Not just for me but for those women who will never even have the chance to say, “hello.” It’s a knowledge that fills me up with abundant gratitude and humbleness, it spills out of my heart with vast appreciation for all I’ve been given, so that on days like this, I remember, it could have been different.

I could have been that other woman.

Also, Harrison was a baby that almost wasn’t.

I was in my late 30’s when he was born. Very late. In fact, I turned 39 a month before he was born and in those days, well even in these days, there is this belief that once you hit 40, it’s game over as far as fertility goes. He made it in what most would call under the wire since most couples choose to have their families before they hit that “Four oh” number.

Another reason Harrison was almost not on earth was because well, I had a husband who was content and happy with our three children. We had our lovely daughter Alyssa Rae, and our son Clark Douglas (named after my dad and David’s grandfather) and even had a “bonus,” baby, “Mitchell David,” who was born when I was thirty six. (David was 37)

When I watched our three kids have their snacks around the colourful, little Tykes picnic table in our kitchen, it always felt like someone was missing. I couldn’t explain this to anyone, but it felt like a deep void in our family. Our best friends at the time, all felt that a two child family was perfect and they often referred to our family of five as BIG, and they were in awe as to how we managed it.

Also, my in laws felt we had pushed the limits when we had had three children. Certainly, my mother in law didn’t understand why I would give up my career and have a third baby. She shook her head and said, “if we had had a choice, we would have only had two children.” Hmmm, I often wondered how their daughter and son, who were number 3 and 4 felt about THAT! Maybe they didn’t even know that these were her feelings, or did they? Even my mom, who loved babies, felt like I had my hands full with our three and when I tried to share my dream of having one more baby, she didn’t understand, even though I was HER number four baby.

But life has a way of flowing and finding it’s natural progression and like a river, whose destiny is to meet the ocean, Harrison glimpsed an opening and quietly slipped through the curtain to find his way under my heart.

He was meant to be.

That was a tough pregnancy for me emotionally, since most of my support system didn’t understand my desire for another baby. They were all perplexed as to why we would have one more. Also, David spent most of those nine months very quiet. At first, he was concerned that with us being older, there would be health issues for the baby or myself but even after the amnio results assured us that our little one was perfect, he remained detached from me. I suppose in hindsight, he was trying to come to terms with having a larger family, one bigger than he had ever dreamed of, and of course, now that he was the main breadwinner, he was probably feeling stressed.

The moment Harrison was born though, two weeks early just before Christmas in 1998, it felt like he had always been with us. He was the sweetest baby and made these soft mewing noises as he settled into my arms. And if David had any misgivings of having another baby, they vanished when holding his son for the first time for he realized that he looked, EXACTLY like him.

Harrison Drew, finally in my arms. I knew this baby was meant to be!
The most peaceful, yet powerful thing is watching your strong husband sleep with your tiny baby..David and Harrison

 

Harrison with his classic pooh bear. I used to sing a little song to him, “Harrison Drew, Winnie the Pooh, what a sweet, sweet little babe.”

In retrospect, little Harrison Drew’s babyhood and childhood flew by. When you have many children, the focus is always moving and although it lingers on which ever child needs the most attention in the moment, or which ever child is shining the brightest, Harrison always found a way to lighten our household with his quick wit and brilliant humour and we paused to admire this lovely child as he grew. He was strong minded as well, so in that regard he was an easy child to raise because we knew exactly what he liked and did not like….and his stubbornness meant we couldn’t sway him.

When Harrison arrived, he just completed our family nicely….four was our number for a long while

I’ll never forget picking him up from preschool one time and he looked up at me and complained, “they made me do a craft today!” he wailed. And over his head, me with questioning eyes found his teacher Jennifer laughing. She explained that, “well, yes, we had him make a finger puppet today so he could participate when we read a special book at story time.” I looked at his big blue eyes (they are now more green like mine) with their long lashes and had to laugh. Yes, this little boy knew exactly what he wanted in life and it was not doing crafts!

In this picture you can see that colourful picnic table in our kitchen…it always felt like someone was missing until Harrison arrived. Here are Harrison and Mitchell with Harrison’s new birthday gift…fire engine

But he moved through his childhood with a determination of knowing what he wanted and that made it easy. When David picked him up from ski lessons another time, the ski instructor said, “your son doesn’t want to follow the group or me for that matter,” so David pulled him out of formal lessons and just had Harrison ski with him and his older brothers. Those boys were thrilled to teach their little brother how to find the best jumps and it was always a competition to go fast and see who had the highest air time. And even though his older brother received his second Dan is Tae know do at age 16, Harrison was happy with his black belt that he got when he was 12 and said, he was done with marital arts.

And when summer came, even though he had older siblings who were lifeguards and swim instructors, when I asked him if he wanted to finish his Red Cross program, (he only had one more level to complete) he said, “save the money, because I can swim well enough.” He was always questioning the value of things, both in time and in money.

When it came to music, after playing violin for six years he knew definitively that he wanted to study percussion, even though my heart was set on him continuing to play the strings with his older brothers. He would tap on everything he could get his hands on until we switched him over to drum lessons which he took most of high school. And he knew soccer and basketball would be the only sports for him, even though he tried volleyball one season and said, “nope, not his sport.” I think he would have really loved to have played Rugby too, but he was aware of the physical risks involved …thank heavens he listened to that brain injury rant of mine!

He always had a thing for athletic shoes!…wearing his big brother’s shoes!

And when it came time for him to decide which University to attend, it was no contest. He knew he wanted to take business and the University of Victoria, which is his older sister’s Alma mater, and where his older brother Mitchell currently attends, was the best choice for him. Even though, there is a perfectly great University just down the road from our home, he was going to go away to attend school.

Some of our best family memories were on Vancouver Island…why am I surprised that he wants to attend University there?

 

Harrison on his graduation day, June 2017

I’ve known for 18 years that this day would come. I’ve known all summer that it was almost upon my doorstep. Why is it always so hard to say goodbye when the time comes? This summer, as I would drive him to work, or on the return journey home, or when he and I were just hanging out in the family room, drinking some ice tea and chatting, I would tell him everything in my heart.

I asked Harrison to go and get a cabbage from the garden for coleslaw one night and he came up holding it like it was a basketball….had to take a picture of that ’cause this is another thing I will miss…watching him shine on the court

Things like;

How to live life fully, experiencing everything and being your best self, but being mindful of others along the path. To appreciate the gift of a post secondary education and to not squander the opportunity by wasting time and fooling around. Work first, play second. Be kind, be respectful, be polite. Respect and honour women and elders. Use everything you have to leave this world a better place and take care of our planet for the generations to come.

always with love…

I’ve been lecturing all summer and in hindsight, I wished I had been loving more, but I have always felt like I had to be the tough parent. You know the strict one. I play the bad cop often and my husband plays the good cop. That makes me mad sometimes, ’cause I want my kids to love me the best, but it’s okay in the end. As long as they grow to live up to their potential, and if that means that I’m the one who rants on and on and pushes them further, and my husband stands by as a quiet supporter, often moving us quickly from a hard subject with a witty retort or joke, well so be it. I hope when Harrison has some time away from the family and takes a moment to reflect on how he was parented, he knows, I always had his back and I was the one who wanted him long before he came to earth.

One thing I did this past summer, to keep our connection strong, was make sure he had a few treats. When I picked him up from his job at the Home Depot and then his landscaping job, I always had some frosty ice tea waiting in the car for him. On several occasions I made some yummy blueberry muffins (see a later post) and there was ALWAYS thick slices of zucchini bread for his lunch time snack. He recently informed me that he doesn’t really like cookies any longer but there is one that he still enjoys and before he left I made sure to make a big batch of……

my peanut butter flax seed cookies.

If there is one cookie Harrison enjoys…it’s one with peanut butter in it…the flax is a nice nutty touch

I know a lot of people are allergic to peanuts (so sorry!) but thankfully, none of our children have been and that is a good thing because we all love peanut butter in our house. I know our kids really love to be able to have peanut butter cookies and sandwiches all summer long since they can’t have them during the school year.

So if you are like us and love a really good peanut butter cookie, you will love this one and hey, it’s pretty healthy too, well relatively healthy anyway.  And maybe if there is someone in your life that you have to say goodbye to, make some cookies, and as you are hugging them, slip them into their backpack with a note that says, “you are LOVED!”

Not a great picture as the sun was sprinkling it’s light, but this was Harrison and I saying goodbye at 8 am this morning
Instead of goodbye, I think I will just say, “see you soon, I love you!!!” David and Harrison off to University…kind of a tradition now for my husband to take our kids to school….while I stay home and cry while writing a blog post pouring it all out!

 

I hope you join me in the kitchen to make these soft, chewy cookies. and while we mix, we can listen to this song. Maybe you will cry with me as I sing  “How to say goodbye,” by Michael W. Smith.

This song is dedicated to my sweet son Harrison.

Shine on!

If you have a child who is still at home, yes we have to provide a strong foundation for them to grow, and if you are like me, maybe a lecture or two along the way, but a plateful of cookies now and then is another way to remind them they are loved. Although we are moving more and more towards eating less sugar, I think my cookie jar will always be full as long as I have children at home

Love them while you have a chance to…’cause saying goodbye reminds me they are with us for only a blink of an eye. 

 If we have to say goodbye, let us unwrap this time, and see it for the gift it is; a lesson in living more fully and awake.

Hope’s Peanut butter Flax seed Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup of butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter…we use the organic peanut butter from Costco
11/4 cups all purpose flour….can use half whole wheat for a healthier cookie
1/2 cup ground flax seed
1 tsp baking soda
dash of salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
In a large bowl mix butter and sugar until creamy. Add the egg and vanilla.
Add peanut butter until well combined
In a separate bowl, add all the remaining ingredients.
Stir dry ingredients into the butter mixture and mix well.
Spoon tablespoon and roll into balls. USING A Fork (Harrison likes flattened cookies) flatten cookies using a criss cross pattern. I like to sprinkle a bit more flax on top of each cookie…a single whole peanut is a nice touch too.
Bake in oven for 10 minutes.

Makes 24 cookies…of course I double the above for our family….these cookies go fast!!!

Thank you for visiting today. Please come back soon. It’s been a funny summer for me but this fall I hope to spend more time talking about moving towards a simpler life…minimalist posts, more posts on raising children and more time out in the garden. Come back again…

And until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies and Hope for Uncertain Times (Part 2)

/ Lee Reynolds

 

Welcome to my homestead. After writing about Grandma Hulda and sharing our family’s recipe for old fashion pinwheel date cookies I thought I would share another great recipe and such a classic; Chocolate Chip cookies!

Oh don’t you just love a freshly baked, still warm from the oven, chocolate chip cookie? It takes me back to my teenage years. I know you would think it would take me back to a younger time in my childhood but after my dad died when I was 6, I don’t remember my mom doing any baking for years. In fact, I was the one who would bake in our home, so hungry was I for baked goods. When I was around age 9 or 10, I started baking Biscuit dough from a box and I would stuff the center with mincemeat. Whenever we had guests I would make those but I cringe now wondering how good they really were. At the time I thought I was such an amazing cook. Ha!

When I was 12 my mom remarried a man named, Bud (John Ray Finch) who had been a custom’s officer in Campbell River on Vancouver Island. My mom met Bud at the Empress Hotel in Chilliwack, where she worked as a front desk clerk. Leaving my sister J behind to finish school, the three of us created a new family and moved to Creston, B.C, in the Kooteneys and started a new chapter in our life.

It was there in our large 100 year old, historic home on the hill that my mom started to bake again. I can remember coming home in the fall, my cheeks flush with cold and the smell of  pinwheel cookies, or chocolate cookies, would rise up to meet me when I opened the back door leading to our homey kitchen.

I’d like to believe that I’m creating those same sorts of memories for our children and this blog is also another legacy to capture some of our family stories and our favourite recipes.

In my recent blog post I wrote about my grandmother’s Hulda’s life as a way to inspire those of us who live in more modern times but in the last 6 months as there is such political unrest in the States since the recent election of their new president and also power struggles throughout the world, I thought it is very timely that two of my favourite people in the world (Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Deepak Chopra) are providing a free meditation series called, “Hope in Uncertain Times.”

I laughed out loud when I saw the title of their new meditation challenge for it is aptly named and something I can totally relate to.

This is the invitation I received from the Chopra Centre in my email, since I have done other meditations challenges in the past.

 

Uncertainty can be scary, and with fear comes defensiveness, judgment, and “us vs. them” thinking. Fear tempts us to give up our power to others who only appear strong, whether that’s your boss, your partner or other leaders. But true strength lies within.
 
Starting April 10, you’ll learn to take back your power and discover the inner resources to find love, peace, and connection in even the most difficult situations with Hope in Uncertain Times.

If you have not participated in one of these events, (it starts on April 10, 2017) I encourage you to pencil this date on your calendar and register as it could change your life. At the very least it will help you align yourself with your true essence and help you create the life that you want. When I have invited a few of my friends in the past, some have said, oh, I don’t have even 15 minutes in my day to do something like meditate but that seems so backwards to me.

If we want to be more productive in our lives, we don’t just work until we drop. No we have to eat properly, to rest appropriately, which will give us the energy we need to do our jobs. Well, meditation is really the same, although it’s our soul’s alignment and when we are in harmony with our inner power then we can do ANYTHING….and you know in my small way, that is what Hope’s Homestead is really about. Yes, I want to inspire others to live a more sustainable life, to realize that living more simply is really living more fully, but more than anything I want that to come from a place of spirit.

This is the true homestead.

My hope is that it will touch millions and millions of people. If we are all hummming, or rather, ommmming, with a single thread of Hope as we move more deeply into the year 2017, imagine what we can accomplish. Fear will be banished and love replaced and when we live in a state of love, that is where miracles happen.

So please join me now in registering for this series. It’s absolutely free, no strings attached and I believe it’s a Win/Win for everyone who takes just 15 minutes out of their day to connect.

Here’s the link to the 21 day meditation challenge, “Hope In Uncertain Times.”

And now for the COOKIES!

Hope’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Ingredients

1-1/4 cups sugar
1-1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1-1/2 cups margarine or butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla (I play around with this…1 tsp vanilla and 1 tsp almond extract or coconut extract)
3 eggs
4-1/4 cups of all purpose flour (I play with this too, sometimes add some oatmeal, ground flax seed)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups of chocolate chips
1 cup of nuts or coconut, or dried cranberries…this is the fun part of the recipe and makes it different each time you make it. Also, the 2 cups of chocolate chips can be played with using white and dark chocolate

Directions

Heat oven to 375 F degrees. In a large bowl beat the margarine or butter until creamy and then slowly add the sugars until light and fluffy.

 

 Add the vanilla and eggs, blend well. In a separate bowl, add the flour, baking soda and salt. Mix well. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, again, mixing until well combined.

 

 

The final step is adding the chocolate chips and the 1 cup of nuts or whatever you have decided to include. Mix all until well combined. Drop dough by rounded tablespoon 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

 

Bake at 375 F for 10 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

This makes a large batch of cookies. I often make a few dozen big and then a few dozen small for our little people but I probably get 5 to 6 dozen depending on the size of cookie I make
Note: When the dough can also be frozen if you just want to make a dozen at a time…that way you will always have some freshly baked cookies on hand but in my house….yeah, the whole batch go in about 2 days!!! ….and my kids are just hoping and trusting that our cookie jar will ALWAYS be full.

A final tip from my kitchen, I don’t know about your part of the world but nuts are extremely expensive in mine, so I always keep a basket of dried nuts in their shells for the kids to crack and for me to use when baking. Yes, it takes a bit of effort to crack a cup of nuts but somehow it feels so much more satisfying and you know it’s also meditative cracking nut after nut and watching a mound of nuts form in your measuring jar. Also, this is a good way to have a combination of nuts in your cookies….I’m sorry if you are allergic to nuts like my niece T is….I’m sure you can find some other yummy addition it that is your situation.

 

 

 

When I put these cookies on my mom’s old Forget Me Not China, it feels like we are having tea together again like our old days in Creston, B.C. (Her friends gave her this china when she left Creston btw)

Well that wraps another blog post. I’m so glad you came to visit and I hope you will be joining me on April 10th meditating on the thoughts of Hope In Uncertain Times

If you are unsure, join me in one of Deepak and Oprah’s past meditations from their “Perfect Health,” 21 day series….”Meditate it Forward”
Pass it on…….

Thank you as always, for coming to visit. Wishing you MUCH love, lots of peace…and Hope always!

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

Pinwheel Date Cookies ~ Hope in Uncertain Times (Part 1, Grandma Hulda’s Story)

/ Lee Reynolds


My maternal grandmother died 30 years ago in 1987, and yet as I did some research and started to write this piece, it felt like she was across the room, moving rhythmically in her rocking chair and sharing her story in her sing songy, Swedish voice that I loved.

If you want to make a cup of tea and join me, pick a comfy chair and I will tell you a bit of her story, a peek into the past, a glimpse of what women 100 years ago experienced.. While daily, we move through our lives, mostly unconscious of their impact, the hardship they endured are etched in our bones forever more.

Hulda Adeline, was born on September 24, 1892 to Matilda (Koping) and August Snickars, (trade Carpenter) in Malox, Vaasa, Finland. She was their first child. Before she was even born, her father left their home to search for a better life in North America, and 6 years later her mother left her with an Aunt and followed her husband to the new country.

 In 1904, when Hulda was only 12 years old she boarded a ship which took her on a long voyage across the Atlantic ocean and then traveled slowly by train across the United States, until she reached California to join her parent.

 

I can’t even imagine how determined and brave she must have been to take that trip. How scared and worried she may have been, not knowing for sure if she would be reunited with her family. The fact that my grandmother spoke Swedish and probably not a lot of English must have made that trip even more daunting.

She did find her family in Albion, California and promptly started working in a nearby hotel to help support their growing family.

Hulda Adeline Snickars~ 15 years old in  1907~

Her mother and father had 4 more children (Rose, Christine, Franz and another boy,) and then her father died. Her mother remarried a man with the last name of Nygard and they had one more child. A daughter, whom they called Violet but everyone called her Babe. Aunt Babe died a few years ago and was the last of that generation of strong and resourceful women.

Grandma met her husband in Albion, CA. August (Gus) Victor Herrling  was born in 1882 in Canada. His father, Charles August Herrling (b 1826) had emigrated from the state of Hungary/Austria in the mid 1800’s and settled a homestead which is now called, “Herrling’s Island.” If you are ever traveling past Hope B.C. on highway number 1, you will see the sign for Herrling Island, across the Fraser River.
While on the homestead, his father had married an indigenous woman, Mary Dora, and had two children. Sadly, she died in childbirth with their child, so common during that time. I don’t know if their third child survived. The two children were raised by their grandparents and Charles then remarried another indigenous woman in 1876. With Mary Caroline Ling, great grandpa Herrling had 8 children and my grandfather Gus,was one of these children.
In 1915 Gus and Hulda married in Elk, California. While in California they had 6 children, Henry (1916), Charles (1918), Stanley (1920) and then they had two more children but I don’t’ know in what order. Harold died at age 2 from an infection and Patricia Anne only lived to 3 months and I think there was talk of her having heart issues.

 Then in 1926 my mother, Ethel May was born in Oakland, California. I now understand why she was raised a bit like a princess with three older brothers watching over her and parents who hovered, probably scared that she too would die. She was followed by two more siblings. Richard (Dick) in 1929 and finally after emigrating to Canada from the States their last child, Rose Marie was born in 1932. Grandma was 40 when her last baby was born.

Hulda’s first husband and my grandfather, August Victor Herrling (Gus)
Gus and Hulda bought a farm in the Abbotsford area but during the depression years they moved to Campbell River where Gus and the older boys worked in the logging camp to earn a living and keep food on the table. The Herrling’s were a kind and generous family and even though times were tough, they always made a place for others at their table. In the late 30’s they returned to the Abbotsford area. Sadly, Gus was kicked by a horse and died of his injuries in 1946.

 In those days it was hard for women to survive without a husband as being a single working woman/mom was not the norm, nor were there jobs to provide a decent living for women on their own and so in 1948, Hulda remarried Carl Brosch. They moved to Coquitlam and then finally together they bought another piece of land in the Abbotsford area. There is now a large mall complex on their land.

 

My grandmother Hulda and her second husband Carl.

Grandma Hulda lived at this location with Carl for many years. I can remember visiting them on their property and recognizing the value of growing your own food, having a compost pile, right in the garden. She taught me the gift of simplicity and using what you have. She would give me an old Sears Robuck Catalogue and a pair of scissors and I would make whole families and play with them for hours.

 

I loved when she would tell stories and act them out using animated expressions and actions. At the end of our visit, as the day darkened and the dinner had been cleared away, I would fall into a deep sleep with my head resting against her heart, listening to the vibration of her voice as she continues to visit with my mom in the kitchen.She didn’t have much money in her lifetime but when she came to visit us in Hope, I can remember her bringing little treats; orange crush pop and candies. Although I have decluttered a lot of my childhood memorabilia, even my precious Suzy and Cindy dolls are long gone,  I kept one of the last birthday cards she gave me with a kitten and her written words, “love gram!”

When grandma was in her early 80’s she and Carl had a car accident and after that she started to age rapidly. In her last 10 years she deteriorated suffering from dementia and was in the Riverview Extended care home/hospital in Coquitlam, B.C.. In the last couple of years of her life she was in the Mission Hospital. The nurses apparently loved her and even though she was unresponsive, she still touched souls with her sweet nature.

Why did I tell you that story?

Well, for one, I don’t want the memory of this incredible woman, my grandmother Hulda to be lost. But another reason is to lift you up. If she could have lived almost 100 years, endured living through two world wars, one great depression, survived the loss of her first husband and two babies, and still retain her faith and hope, then we can do anything. We have more resources as women now. We live in a time when education and careers are possible. We live in a time when we are not pressured to marry or have children.There is a social safety net in Canada and government funded health care. We have come a long way since Grandma was born.

It’s true that the current state of the world is unstable with certain world leaders and ideologies in power but we women now have the right to vote. We are strong and powerful and most important of all, in most families, we still rock the cradle and can impact the next generation.We can teach our children to follow their hearts, listen from within and trust in goodness prevailing.By example, we can teach our children to be honest, live with integrity, take ownership for their choices, be respectful of others, work hard, have faith, but probably the biggest legacy  is to be accepting and loving to all of our fellow humans, no matter their station, race, gender, religion, or colour.

But we still have far to go for not all women in the world are living in peace and freedom.

People, like Grandma Hulda endured so much so their children and grandchildren could have a better life and now it’s our turn to hold that space of respect and pass on the lessons of strength to the next generation on this earth. In 100 years from now, I’m holding the vision that there is peace on earth, (everywhere) that no one goes hungry and everyone is contributing to the world by using their own unique talents and gifts for the betterment of our earth. When you look back at everything Hulda experienced and how the world has changed, I don’t think my vision for the world is too grand. It’s possible….with Hope, anything is possible.

Well, that’s my blog story for today but before I go I wanted to share my family’s recipe for Pinwheel Date Cookies. I think it’s timely as this is a recipe passed down from my mother and I’d like to think it came from Hulda, although I will never know.

The appearance of this cookie has a yummy circle of dates going around and around. Just like a meditative medicine wheel. With each step around the wheel we become more grounded,—perhaps as we munch on our cookies, with each bite we will lay down strength and hope from generations passed. The swirling path of dates reminds us that life is sweet and history doesn’t have to repeat itself.

With conscious thought, we can choose a different path for a healthier world where the strongest vibration is love. Let that be my grandma Hulda’s legacy….and now mine.

 

Old Fashion Pinwheel Date Cookie Recipe 

Ingredients

Filling

3/4 cup finely chopped dates
1/4 sugar
1/3 cup water
2 tbsp finely chopped nuts (we use walnuts)

Cookies

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup margarine or butter–softened
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Directions 

In a small saucepan, combine dates, sugar and water. Bring to boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 5 minutes or until thick. Stir in nuts. Cool.

In large bowl, beat brown sugar, margarine and egg until light and fluffy.Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt; mix at low speed until dough forms. Cover with tea towel or parchment paper, refrigerate 1 hour for easier handling.

On lightly floured surface, roll dough into 16×8 inch rectangle; carefully spread with date filling. Starting with 16 inch side, roll up jelly-roll fashion; cut in half to form two 8 inch rolls. Wrap each roll in a tea towel; refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Heat oven to 375 degree F. Cut dough into 1/4 inch slices. Place 2 inches apart on lightly sprayed cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet and cool completely on cookie racks.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies
(We love these cookies so I double the recipe and freeze a container full of them)

(Note, if you like the taste of orange, you can replace the water with orange juice and use some zest….also add a bit of cinnamon to the dry ingredients for a lovely addition)

I like to dust some icing sugar over the tops of the cookies when they are still warm from the oven

 



Thanks for visiting today. I hope something you read lifts you up and helps you on your journey and at the very least, you have added a new cookie recipe to your recipe box. As you know, I think life is more bearable with a jar full of cookies.

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies~Whisper Powerful Words

/ Lee Reynolds

Lately, my blog is turning into a reflective parenting place, where I have been discussing raising children more than talking about what is going on in in the back 40. But you know, it’s that time of year….still really cold and snowy in our little valley.

Another cold snap hit our area and so, staying warm, and baking in the kitchen is how I spend much of my time

In a few weeks I will be starting to chat about starting seeds and I also want to share with you what it’s been like to have chickens this first winter, for now, I wanted to share thoughts on growing children.

As I’ve evolved as a parent, I now see that our own nuclear families are really a world inside of themselves. When I tell my children to be kind and loving to their brothers and sisters, what I’m really saying is to be loving and kind to everyone and so, how we raise our children, and what we tell them, affects the whole planet. As our older children move out and start their own lives, I see how impactful what our children believe, has on the whole world.

When we are in the midst of diapers and starting to lay the foundation for how our children think of themselves, I don’t know if we give much thought to the messages our children are hearing. Often, we are just so busy keeping everyone fed, in clean clothes and all the bills paid. Often, how our children come to think of themselves, is how WE treat ourselves, how we treat others and the everyday words we use as we maneuver through our own lives. Much of that time is spent in an unconscious state and we are not aware of the impact on our actions and words.

This morning I was inspired to write this post from a video I saw on my Facebook page. It was a video message from Chen Miller, who is a special needs educator living in Israel. She tells a story of coming into a classroom and seeing a little boy sitting in the middle of the room with big eyes. He was cursing, spitting and screaming. She came closer to him and whispered, “I know you have a big heart, I know that you are clever, I know that you are a good boy.”

This went on for a few weeks, him screaming and her whispering positive affirmations into his ear. He told her that he was “disturbed”. Everyone had said so; his parents, his teachers etc and yet, she continued to tell him, “I know you have a big heart, I know that you are clever and I know that you are a good boy.” Finally he settled down and accepted her as his teacher.

Near the end of the school year he asked her how she knew children were good. And that is when she shared her secret with him. That by the Fifth grade she could not write, that she did not understand numbers. She thought she was stupid and yet, here she was finally a teacher. Here she was now capable of changing the system, the same system that wanted to give up on her when she was a child. That is how she knew.

WOW!

This story had me thinking about how we raise our children and while I know, just telling our children some positive affirmations isn’t enough as each of our children comes into the world pre-loaded with their own personality and set of challenges, we can still plant seeds when they are tiny babies and continue to whisper those words throughout their childhood.

I used to sing while I changed my babies diapers or when I was bathing them. Silly little songs using their names to rhyme with words of how sweet they were, how smart and brilliant they were, how beautiful they were. How MUCH they were loved. As they grew, and they headed out into the world, I would remind them to “let their light shine.” That little song I learned in church when I was a child had stuck and so I would hold my finger up to my children which they knew was my code word for, “let your light shine.”

In an era of knowing labeling is dangerous, we as a society continue to do it. It’s all over social media, our advertisements on television and magazines, and sadly, most of all, it’s coming out of some of the world’s elected representatives, in our political states of office.

How can our children’s seeds grow strong and healthy, if they go out in the world and are bombarded by toxic chemicals of judgement. You know what I’m talking about. We in North America, register our children in all sorts of activities from such an early age, so they aren’t left behind, so they can get into the best schools, so they can achieve a high level of education and ultimately, have the best paying careers. We have their hair cut in cute styles and buy them fashionable clothing because we want them to be popular in school and accepted by their peers.

And even if you aren’t actually saying anything to your child, what do you think the message is that they are hearing? I know a few of mine have heard the message that they aren’t good enough. That they aren’t smart enough. That they aren’t pretty or hansom enough. It just breaks my heart….and yet there is always hope.

We as parents and teachers, as citizens of the world, are capable of altering the course of this earth by what we whisper into each other’s ears. As Chen Miller transformed that little boy with the big eyes, we too can transform the world.

I’d love to share the video with you now and after you watch it, I hope you can join me in the kitchen where I’m making some Spicy Oatmeal Raisin cookies. It you read my last blog post called, “The Empty Cookie Jar,” you will know in the end, I always keep the cookie jar full and even though I may be kind of a control freak, making sure my kids have warm footwear, etc I always try to encourage them to believe they are capable of anything and learn how to fill their own cookie jar.

Here’s Chen Miller’s video. (if you can’t see it below, click on the hyper link) I hope you enjoy it and it inspires you too to reaffirm with love, kindness and inspiration. Let’s all keep that cookie jar filled with light.

What a remarkable story and teacher hey?

And now, can you join me in the kitchen? I’ll make you a cup of  spicy chai tea and we can chat while I make some Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. Do you like raisins? If not, we can use alternatives…cranberries are great and a little bit of orange peel in the mix is a lovely combination with the spices.

Oh, what about dried apricots and pecans? Once you have a firm base, let your imagination be your guide to what you will fill your cookies with. PLAY around with it and maybe let’s call it our infinite possibility cookie recipe….kind of like us!!!

Spicy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups of butter or margarine  (I like to use half butter and half margarine)
1 cup of white sugar
1 cup of brown sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups of flour
3 cups of quick oatmeal
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ginger
1 cup of raisins
1/2 cup walnuts
(opt) grated orange peel

(Remember: the raisins, walnuts can easily be replaced with cranberries and almonds, or any kind of fruit….finely cut dried apricots and pecans would be delish too…use your imagination….’cause you are BRILLIANT!!!)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 
2. In a large bowl, combine the butter and margarine until creamed. Gradually add the white and brown sugar until well combined.

 

 Add the eggs, one at a time, and then the vanilla. Mix until light and fluffy.
3. Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and all the spices.
4. Slowly add the dry mixture to the butter mixture, beating until well combined.
5. Finally add the oatmeal, raisins and nuts…..or any combinations of add on you have chosen.

6. Scoop the dough, 1 large tablespoon, onto a cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.
7. Gently press them down with a fork
8. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes….I bake until just golden brown as I like my cookies chewy….the longer you bake…well, the crunchier they are going to be.

 Once done, allow the cookies to cool on the sheet for a few minutes, as this will allow them to set up nicely before you put them on your cooling racks. Once well cooled, fill up your jar.

Also, play around with the amount of flour/oats….my recipe is the perfect combination that we like as the cookies come out firm, but are chewy from the cookie jar…but play around with the dry ingredients until you get it to the texture you like.

Also, this makes a big batch…fills my jar and a freezer container or some to share with those who may need a winter affirmation of love and kindness.

Are you ready for a cup of tea and to try these cookies filled with endless possibilities?

And before I say goodbye today, here is a lovey affirmation to say to yourself. One of the most powerful lessons I have learned while raising my own children, is to connect with my inner child and heal those recorded messages that have directed and dictated most of my life. While raising my own children, I’ve been able to erase those false recordings and replaced them with two simple words that I say to myself everyday.

I am

 

Let your light shine!

Thank you for coming for a visit today.

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful

Blessings from Hope

Pumpkin Spice Cookies~The Love of Books

/ Lee Reynolds

The last month has been busy around the homestead, or rather off the homestead. The little girls had their watching week at ballet.

And then there was their first foray on the ice with skating lessons twice a week and I mean literally, on the ice, as that is where they spent the first few lessons. Then I started taking them out in between lessons and even joined them on ice during lesson time and they are now starting to glide. Little children learn so fast!

Yesterday was their last skating lesson before the holidays begin and they have really come a long way. Sorry, no pictures of how that looks as I was on the ice with them.

Victoria on ice…Kate up for a moment…first skating lesson

Will also started introductory hockey lessons which went really well from all accounts. David was taking him to those lessons, as they conflicted with the girl’s skating. I did see him briefly for one lesson and he was skating really well and had a good handle of the game….even got a few goals. In the new year I have all the little kids booked for figure skating lessons.

Harrison started basketball really late in the season, as they didn’t have a coach. Finally, one brave parent, who knows something about basketball, stepped forward and they now have had two games, of which they have been soundly beaten. No pictures of those moments either….too depressing, however after each game, I always remind Harrison that we learn far more from our failures than our successes. And in that light, is losing really a failure? (he says, yes!…hmmmm)

Grace was busy with her music theory, piano and her voice lessons. On her birthday weekend she had her voice recital and her choir concert. Then a few hours later was climbing the walls with her friends, celebrating her 13th birthday.  Happy Birthday my early Holiday baby. (She was due to be born on the 18th…can you imagine….I would have had her on the 18th, Harrison’s birthday on the 19th and Clark’s on the 20th…I’m glad she decided to come early in December)

Grace at home before leaving for the voice recital

 

Grace at our local climbing gym, celebrating her 13th birthday with friends…over the next few years, I hope I don’t feel like climbing the walls raising another teenage daughter

Then there were all those Christmas parties to attend, Will’s gingerbread house making party at school of which I didn’t get a picture, as I was up to my wrists in icing, as he was pasting the candies on the house. Then there was the little girl’s party at Kindermusik.

My sugar cookies and gingerbread…our offering for our Kindermusik class
The little girls at home before the first party….which at the last minute got cancelled and I had to bake another batch of cookies the next week…because you know…the first batch didn’t last long in our house

 

The girls in the loft at the music school with their teacher Jennifer

 

Jennifer, their teacher always goes all out…these are the cute snow people they made during Kindermusik class…sticky sock snow people is what the girls call them
One day the girls just wanted to dress up at home…..no reason…just because and I thought I would snap a few pictures….they are growing up too fast but boy is Christmas magically this year as they are always whispering about what Santa might bring them…..we have talked a lot about the spirit of giving this year…and sharing with others.
Grace and Will off to school holding the Christmas shoe boxes they will donate via Sarmitan’s Purse….they enjoyed collecting things for children less fortunate this holiday season

In the rare moments when we were home, I was madly throwing laundry into machines, loading or unloading the dishwasher, putting together whatever meal was needed and trying to decorate our house for the holidays. I did take a few moments to do some crafts with the little girls and set up their favourite activity of all. Playing tea party.

 

This is the sweetest Beatrix Potter tea set that Grace was given years ago

 

I think Victoria is all about the cookies
And Kathryn likes the Christmas mint tea I brew for them

Then yesterday my sweet son, Harrison Drew turned 17 years old. Watch out drivers in Vernon because he is now able to get his classified “N” driver’s license. Happy Birthday Harrison!

Here is David out barbequing burgers on our little camping grill as we had run out of propane on our large barbeque
After a dinner of burgers, fries, salad, (this is my kid that likes meat) Harrison is ready to blow out his candles…..”mom do we have to take so many pictures?” Me….yes!

So after a flurry of activities in the past month, I’m finally able to slow down a bit. Whew. It’s Sunday morning and all is quiet, well sort of. Not really. In a house with 6 children still residing, 3 of whom are still young, is it ever quiet? But it’s peaceful enough for me to write a few lines in my blog before the day gets going. Also, when I padded into the kitchen to get my morning cup of water and lemon, I noticed out the kitchen window that it’s snowing. REALLY snowing. Wait, I’ll go and capture a picture….okay, so it has slowed down a bit but this is how our view has changed:

 

This only a few weeks ago….

 

And now this today…Dec 20th 2015. You can’t really tell but it’s lightly snowing in the picture…when I was up earlier it was really dumping…I like to share these pictures for those blog viewers who live in warmer climates….snow is really magical!

Although I love to curl up with a good book any time of the year, there is something special about hibernating inside on a snowy day, brewing a  cup of spicy tea, sitting in our big, comfy chair in the corner of our living room  and opening up a book, savouring each word written within. If you are like me, or are looking for a last minute Christmas gift for a book lover, check out the following books. This is my year end list of favourite books.

Here they are: Some classics that I may have written about before but if you are interested in growing your own food and becoming sustainable these are entertaining reads.

“The Dirty Life” by Kristin Kimball….which I found to be a sweet love story

And then there is “Farm City” by Novella Carpenter….which is a delightfully funny and entertaining story of a gutsy woman, farming in the roughest neighbourhood in Oakland, California…(hey my mom was born in Oakland)

And then a compelling read that is both tragic and yet heart warming. I couldn’t put this book down one weekend. “This Life is in Your Hands,” is written by the daughter of Eliot Coleman, who was trying to live and raise his young family in a totally sustainable life with mentors such as Scott and Helen Nearing. They had written the book,”A Good Life,” and were a couple who lived a totally sustainable life last century and inspired many young people to adopt their lifestyle. Eliot Coleman and his wife were one of those couples and this book is written from their daughter’s perspective. It made me want to get my hands dirty and bake bread…..but with thoughts towards how it impacts the next generation.

“This Life is in Your Hands~one dream, sixty acres, and a family undone” by Melissa Coleman

and then for a shift in genres ….as this year ends and I think about a New Year approaching, I read a wonderful soul FULL book, recommended by my sister C. I loved it so much, that I took up valuable space in my sister J’s luggage this winter, in order for her to take the book to my daughter in London for Christmas. As long as I can remember, our oldest daughter Alyssa has had at least one book under the tree, and often many. For this Christmas I thought this was the best book I could send her. It was thought provoking and has lingered with me as I live THIS lifetime. This book will come into your life when you ready to read the message.

“One Great Year” by Tamara Veitch and Rene DeFazio

And out of all the books that I read with my Soul Circle group, these are a few that I really cherished.

One was, “The Untethered Soul” by Michael A. Singer. If I were to recommend only one book to help you on your soul’s journey, this book would be IT!

and the other was sweet and held an interesting concept that I totally embrace. Such an inspiring story written by a sister….and her brother who has left this earth school. Read it with an open mind.

“The Afterlife of Billy Fingers,” by Annie Kagan

Then switching genres AGAIN, because I have such diverse interests, since I ventured into the realm of minimalism this past year, here are a few books that I would recommend, if you are wanting to live a richer life.

“Minimalism, live a meaningful life,” by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus

This is a modern day classic for those of us who want more


and then THE CLASSIC….
“Walden” by Henry D. Thoreau, who was the ultimate minimalist and has captured my heart with his lyrical text.

Another shift…..I found Mimi Kirk this year and would LOVE to introduce her to you as well. Although I’m not living a totally raw lifestyle, eating a large, plant based diet is my focus for my health and well being as I age. If you are interested in this way of living, eating, being, check out one of her AMAZING books. It’s not just about what we put in  mouths, but what we put in our minds. THIS lovely woman exudes health, joy, peace and love. I want what she has! Check her out and try a few of her wonderful recipes.

“Live Raw” by Mimi Kirk

And finally before I move onto what I like to eat while I’m reading….my pumpkin spice cookies, (yes, while not raw….are restorative for my soul as they are homey) I wanted to share a few books the little kids and I have been reading this fall.

The first is exquisite!

“Winter’s Gift,” by Jane Monroe Donovan, who is not only the author but the illustrator of this stunning book. If you love horses and have experienced loss, this story will touch your heart. My children were enchanted by the hauntingly beautiful pictures and story.                                                      

and then a book that makes me cry EVERY time I read it to my children, “The Shine Man,” by Mary Quattlebaum and Illustrations by Tim Ladwig. If you want to read a story about what Christmas is all about…pure love….this is a moving and touching story.


As you can tell, I love beautifully illustrated books for my children.

And finally, a chapter book that I’m reading to my 6 year old and my 4 year old twins. After years of reading books with pictures, I’m trying to read chapter books to them so they can make pictures in their heads. They are all extremely engaged with this story that takes place in Paris, about three small children who are homeless at Christmas time and a hobo, who puts them under his wing…and his heart.

After bath time each night, we cuddle together under my silky, down comforter and open this lovely book, allowing the story to unfold, chapter by chapter. It’s been a highlight in our day and has opened many discussions about children less fortunate all over the world.

“The Family Under the Bridge.” by Natalie Savage Carlson is an endearing book for the holidays

Over the holidays, I have a book that I can’t wait to sink into…it’s called, “The Long Road Home,” by Mary Alice Monroe. I bought it during one of our library book fairs (do you have these in your area?…as it’s a GREAT way to buy some books) and finally, FINALLY, I have some time to read it.

What are you reading this time of year! Whatever it is……

Happy Reading! I hope there is something on my list that will inspire you to make a cup of tea and open a book this holiday season.

Hopefully, you will also try making my absolutely, yummy, pumpkin spice cookies. But warning…. they go fast…really fast! You may want to double the recipe.

I’m really glad to get this recipe on my blog at long last as well, since the paper it’s written on is getting hard to read. Now I can refer to it quickly when I need to whip up an easy, fairly healthy cookie, perfect for those snowy days when you just want to stay in doors, sip tea and read a good book.

Hope’s Pumpkin Spice Cookies

Ingredients

11/4 cup of sugar (brown of course)
1/2 cup of margarine or butter…I prefer the later
2 eggs
1 tsp real vanilla
1 cup of canned pumpkin (I buy the 15 ounce can and often double this recipe as it goes fast)
2 cups of flour….your choice but I like to use whole wheat flour
4 tsp. of baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg,
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
Dusting of icing sugar
(optional 1 cup of chocolate chips….but personally and in my son’s Harrison’s opinion…stick with the plain pumpkin which is perfect….and since it was his birthday yesterday that is what I recommend…healthier too….but if you like chocolate…you can add as a variation)

Here’s the easy part….you mix it all together in a big bowl…make sure you whip your sugar into your butter really well and add your eggs one at a time to get a creamy consistency and then add all your dry ingredients. It’s so easy…then you get a big spoon and drop the cookie dough onto an ungreased pan, and bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.

Let them cool on the pan for about 5 minutes and then take off, dusting them with some icing sugar and put them on a cookie rack to cool completely. “Oh la la!” as the tramp in the book, “The Family Under the Bridge,” would say, these cookies are melt in your mouth delicious.

My pumpkin spice cookies and a pot of chai tea…perfect together…all I need now is a comfy chair and my book

 

Please take a cookie……
Before they are all GONE!

If you are like me during the holidays, you are multi-tasking. I like to bake, while watching a Christmas movie….this movie, (below) happens to be a favourite of mine….and one my mother liked very much as well. It of course, is based on a book…aren’t the best movies from books?

The author, Donna Van Liere, has written several lovely, sweet Christmas stories that are easy to start but hard to put down until they are finished.

Another is called, The Christmas Hope…..which I must admit, being partial to Hope….is a nice title. ANYWAY…..as you can tell, books are a passion of mine…and movies which are made from books.

Have you seen the “Christmas Shoes?” If not, I’m sure it will become a classic for your family as well. Other than “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Christmas Vacation,” oh my, I guess I need to write another blog post all about my fav Christmas movies, this is one I like to watch each season So if you have an evening when you are baking….start it up but have a hankie nearby.

If you can’t see the link below, click on the hyper-link to the “Christmas Shoes.”

and enjoy…IN JOY!

Well, I’m off to get some celebration things ready for my oldest son, Clark’s birthday. I can’t believe he is 23 today. I have been given so many memorable holidays with Christmas babies in our house. No babies this year but then I wouldn’t be able to write to you on my blog….what is that quote?

May your season be full of peace, joy and love…and great books.

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

Energy Bars and Quick Declutter Tips

/ Lee Reynolds

Welcome!

Spring is here and our de-cluttering project is still in full swing. We have a garage piled with things slated for our upcoming garage sale. If anyone were to drive by when our garage door is open they would think we were hoarders! We still have a few areas to comb through; our camping equipment, my gardening shelves and D’s workbench. Hopefully, during our upcoming long Easter weekend, we can complete these tasks and then prepare for our garage sale the next weekend.

We are coming into our busiest season of the year, continuing with the children’s year long activities but in the spring we add non-stop soccer, a voice festival, and a piano exam. In addition, our 16 year will be refereeing soccer once again which adds more trips to the playing fields. Also, in a few weeks we will go and collect our University son and bring him home for the summer. Both of our older boys will be working hard throughout the summer at their respective jobs, so we will be doing lots of transportation juggling as well.

And as if that weren’t enough, I have agreed to work at the garden center, where I started working last year, which will start at the end of April and go for a few months. I loved it, but juggling our large family commitments is not an easy task. So I thought I would make some energy bars the other day to start gearing up. I’ve started lifting weights again and the added protein will help me recover faster.

These energy bars went as quickly as it took to make them, so I thought this was something I wanted to share with my blog friends. My older sons aren’t crazy about dried fruit in their bars and although my last recipe (I blogged about it last year) called for dried cranberry, (which I personally love) these do not have any fruit, hence they went fast

The next time you have a busy week and  need some quick, nutritious snacks, make a batch and put them in a tin for your special people. Celebrate Spring~

Quick Ready for Spring Energy Bars

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups oats
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
4 tbsp of protein powder (I used unflavoured whey powder I bought at our local bulk store)
2 tbsp of cocoa
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup peanut butter (just peanuts)

Directions

Add the oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, walnuts, protein powder and cocoa into a large mixing bowl and combine well.

Kate and Victoria enjoyed mixing all the dry ingredients


Stir in the honey and the peanut butter and mix really well, until it is well combined.

Now for the peanut butter and honey, yummy!


Press into an 8×8 glass baking pan…Layer it first with parchment paper for easy removal

Put it in the fridge to set up…a few hours

Cut into bars, the size of your choice. Eat and get energized

Once cut and put on a plate they flew into my kid’s mouths. I was lucky to take a final shot of the end product

 

And now with that extra energy, you can join me in continuing the de-cluttering process.
Recently, when a friend of mine heard about our move towards minimalism and our big de-cluttering project, she sighed and said, she didn’t know where to start. Like me, she is busy with her family and she has years of stuff accumulated from her children. While they are older, she is dealing with lots of childhood memorabilia. I was thinking of what I have learned and thought I would share FOUR quick de-cluttering steps that got me going, even BEFORE I started going drawer by drawer and closet by closet, which may help you if you are feeling overwhelmed and don’t know where to start. These are not just steps to build the momentum you need to then move to drawers and closets but a good practice to maintain all the time so things don’t get out of hand.
Four Quick steps to assist you towards de-cluttering your home
1. Keep the kitchen sink clean
Further to number 1: Go through your house as you would normally and do a regular clean. Start in the kitchen first and make sure all the dishes are washed, cleaned and put away. Years ago, I found the flylady website, which teaches systematic cleaning and organizing. Although, I’m highly organized already, I didn’t need help in that area but as we added more children to our family, it took more time for me to get through my daily cleaning routine and I needed some help.
What flylady recommends is to make sure your kitchen sink is always clean because that is a pivotal place of power in any home. If things are not clean at that station, then the energy just doesn’t flow well anywhere. When my kids were babies, sometimes just having a clean sink was my goal. (and getting dressed everyday)
2. Pick Up All Loose Garbage
Further to number 2: As you move through your house, clear out all garbage cans and pick up any loose garbage lying around. I don’t know about you but in our house there always seems to be empty bags from stores even though we are consciously moving in the direction of zero waste by not bringing any extra packaging or bags into our house. For instance, before Spring break, Will came home from kindergarten with a plastic bag abundant with art projects from his kindergarten teacher.. These things just migrate into our home and multiply like the dust bunnies under our beds.
Another area that is quick work in filling your recycling bin, is at the kitchen desk (or wherever your family drops things when coming in from outside the home; keys, mail, etc.  Even though, as a society we are moving towards using less paper, it arrives silently and lands on my desk. Flyers advertising various camps and activities for the kids, notices from school that aren’t emailed, little things I clip from our local newspaper. Lately,  job ads for my University son. (am I ever becoming my mother!!! She always collected little pieces of information she had found in the newspaper or  magazine for us girls) Anyway, you get the picture. Get it out to the recycling bin and clear up the paper trail in your home. Then try to be mindful about not bringing it home. Keep this landing spot cleared of clutter.
3. Get Rid of Duplicate Household Items
Further to number 3: As you  are putting things in order, look for any items that are duplicates. Recently, I noticed that I have many duplicates of things, not just in my kitchen but in my bathroom. I found a second punch bowl for instance and it was a no brainer to let the second one go into our garage sale pile. (Set up a donation box somewhere in your house and when it’s full decide where the contents are going to go)
For a second, my thought process was that one punch bowl could be filled with punch and the other one would look great filled with popcorn, a big snack fav in our house but then I said, “oh Hope, when was the last time you did that?…you need help!” and I let the second one go into the garage sale pile.
As I was blow drying my hair, I realized I had a second curling iron that I must have been keeping in case the first one breaks. I don’t even curl my hair and the few times I curl Grace’s hair, I certainly don’t need two irons. (and really do I need even one?) Don’t even ask me about how many cookie sheets and muffin tins I have. These are easy things to clear out as you are putting away your regularly used pieces. This added space in your drawers and cupboards will allow you to put the things you really need away or retrieve easily. Get rid of your duplicates.
4. Remove Any empty Bottles/toiletries in Your Home
Further to number 4: We are notorious for purchasing new shampoo, soap and lotion before we have completed our current bottle. I’d like to share a shampoo recipe with you so you don’t have to buy any bottles but that will have to be a future blog. That is ideally the direction to take but if you are like me, we do occasionally buy toiletries at the store and at any given time an array of nearly empty bottles are in our bathroom. Do a clean sweep.(ha) Pull the almost empty bottles out and use the product and then recycle the bottle. (Better yet, fill it with homemade shampoo or lotion and don’t buy another….I’ll do a blog about making our own toiletries soon)
I’ve been really good at clearing out our bathroom but when I did a sweep recently, I was surprised to find an abundance of almost finished products or expired items. (do you have old mascara bottles for instance?) I had been keeping several empty bottles for the kids to play with in the bathtub but really, how many do they need!Actually, none and instead I trade that for old funnels and beach buckets that we use in the summer and can use in the bath. (Also, although they don’t play with their little Fisher Price people on a day to day basis, when I let them have them in the tub, all of a sudden they are fun again.)
The kids also went to the dentist recently and received new toothbrushes but instead of throwing out the brushes they have been using since Christmas, I noticed everyone now had two brushes.  Their old, well worn one and their new one. Before both look like the former, I went through and threw out all of the old brushes. Yuck hey! When you have 6 kids, currently in the house, that is a lot of brushes! Get rid of them! Remove your empty bottles and toiletries.         
Well, those are some quick tips for moving things out quickly. It’s funny how papers/newspapers, bottles, plastic bags and extra items that are just duplicates of what we already own, come into our home. Well that is life. It’s a continuous process of acquiring and letting go but to make our life simpler, start asking yourself, before your purchase, “do I need this item?”
Recently my husband D’s coffee grinder went kaput. In the past, we wouldn’t have given it a second thought. We would have added buying a new one to our list the next time we were out but instead, he started thinking about how he might grind his beans .We tried our blender and if it were a Vitamix, it might have fit the bill nicely but it’s just a regular blender. Great for smoothies but not much else. He was going to try my new food processor and see if it would work but in the meantime. when we were at Costco a week ago, he found a bag of already ground, Seattle’s Best coffee, and happily he bought that. He was really happy!          
For now, we have deferred the purchase and the next time my processor is on the counter, we will have to try the last of the beans to see if it will work and hopefully we won’t need to purchase a coffee grinder. Except, it does an awesome job at grinding my flax seed, so time will tell but at least we are really conscious about our consumption. The energy it takes to earn the money to buy another coffee grinder and the energy it takes from our earth to make another one for our home, plus having to recycle the one we had…well it’s all energy isn’t it?
Well that’s my blog for today. I’m heading out to enjoy some of the sunshine and assess my garden before the kids come home from school. My sister was saying she has things planted already and she lives just 20 minutes away from us, where winter lasts a bit longer, so I’d better get going if we want any kale, lettuce, arugula, spinach, carrots, turnips, potatoes, beets, onions, sweet peas, etc.
When we plant our seeds they produce abundantly, as do the visions we have for our lives.
What are you planting in your life?
                                                         
Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
Blessings from Hope

 

Gingersnaps~Living With Will

/ Lee Reynolds

Oh the blessing of free will. Some may call it a curse. Some may call it a gift. Last week, I made a number of excellent choices and then some that, in hindsight, I wished I had not made. But then even as I write these words I know, even our worst choices bring insights and so it’s all good.

As you probably recall from reading my last blog post called, “When Things Fall Apart,” a number of things were breaking down in our household. Things did not improve as the week unfolded, despite my new mantra expecting only Marvelous things to occur.

On Thursday morning, again the house was very chilly when we awoke and when I went to turn on our gas powered furnace,  I didn’t hear that warm hum. I cycled power and it worked for a bit and then stopped. Big problem. Direction? To call our furnace repair guy. Result. He’s coming later in the afternoon.

Of course, he came exactly when I was due to pick up our University son from the bus and right after that I was due to take Grace to her piano lesson. Thankfully, D had agreed to come home, (his office is about a 5 minute drive away) which is a good thing since I don’t understand the language of the skilled trades person. After they come to look at whatever it is that is not working, they try to explain what is wrong and how they plan to fix it and frankly, I’m always surprised that they don’t notice my perplexed facial expression because they continue to talk, as if we are on the same page. Thank you D for coming to my rescue.

In the meantime, I was ready to bundle up the little girls into the van to go and collect Clark, but when I looked out at our drive-way, I see the repair man’s truck is squarely in the path of my van. I decided to wait until D arrived home so I could leave the little ones with him and steal his little economical red Honda Fit. His treasured car I might add, which is really funny when I think of how times have changed. When I met him he had just sold his red Corvette and bought a Camaro. Again, it’s interesting the roads we choose to travel as well as how we choose to travel them.

 

Anyway, I zoomed up the hill, picked up Clark, who had been waiting for awhile, and arrived home just as the school bus was dropping Grace and Will off. Since it was a cold day, the first thing I noticed when I saw Will come into our yard was, that his head was bare. As he was coming into the house I asked, “Where is your new hat Will?” He sloughed off his new coat, {remember the one in which I had to replace the zipper recently? And, further to that, the one that I’d bought because I had fallen in LOVE with the HAT which happened to go beautifully with the jacket) and said, “M, took it off.” “What?” I said. He replied, “M took it while I was on the bus.”

Although I knew I had to be out the door shortly to take Grace to piano, I tried to clarify where his hat was since I KNOW from experience, the longer something goes missing, the chance of getting it back are slim. Amber Alert starts to flash in my mind. As it turned out, based on both Grace and Will’s statements, Will had his new hat when he got on the bus and while he was looking out the window, ” M”, who was sitting beside him, took it off. Will asked for his hat back but she was looking away, when he asked again, she didn’t respond. She got off the bus before him and he didn’t get his hat back.

Well, even though I was conscious, EXTREMELY, consciously aware of my feelings, anger, starting to bubble up from an unknown source, anger and frustration that another child should remove our son’s hat, I still made the “choice” to continue down this path. In fact, I became even more livid as I tried to find M’s phone number but there are like 50 people with her last name in our phone book. And remember, this is a small town! I tried calling a few who live in our area but each time it was the wrong number. Glancing at my watch, it was time to take Grace to her piano lesson. I grabbed an apple, an orange, some crackers and cheese and threw them on a plate for the children’s after school snack, Grace snatched a bit of everything and we were out the door.

Thank heavens, our older son was home to keep an eye on the little ones. On the way out of our sub-division we stopped off at the cul-de-sac, where Grace thought the M girl lived on. She had seen her get off the bus with her younger sister and she was pretty sure she knew which house they lived in. M is Grace’s age. Actually, in the same grade but in a different class and so she is familiar with her. We stopped at the house where she thought she lived and I rang the bell. No answer. We continued to piano.

Although I like to stay for her 3/4 hour lesson, that day I had to run and pick up Harrison after his jazz band practice.  On my way back to our area, I decided to stop once again at M’s house. This time a teenage boy answers and said, “No, she didn’t live there, but there are two girls next door.” Quickly, keeping an eye on the time, I ran next door and rang the bell. A young, Filipino woman came to the door. I explained nicely to her that our kindergarten son was sitting beside M on the bus earlier and he said, she had taken his hat. I wanted to know if she knew anything about it.

The woman looked shocked and while she was apologetically saying, “oh my, I’m sorry, what does it look like?” as she was rummaging around a backpack at the door, I told her that it was black with a red stripe and cool brim. She shook her head no and said it wasn’t in M’s back pack. She further said, M was at her dance class but she would talk to her when she picked her up. I assumed she was the nanny, as she referenced her employer a few times. Before I left, I mentioned that I was surprised M was sitting with Will at all, since I understood the older children were suppose to sit at the back of the bus. My older daughter doesn’t even sit with him. She just looked at me blankly, like she didn’t know what the rules were, so I gave her my phone number and said, “thanks.”

I was still pretty annoyed at this point. I was thinking back to a time when my oldest son got off the bus without his rather expensive ski gloves we had purchased for him. He always had cold hands so we made sure to get a really warm pair this particular winter. He said one of the kids grabbed them and threw them to the back of the bus and for awhile all the kids were throwing them around. This was a Friday and our family was going skiing that weekend. We never got those gloves back.

Ever since our children were small, we have taught them to take care of their things, to appreciate what they have and to understand it takes effort to provide nice things for them. While some may feel that this is putting too much emphasize on stuff, I believe it teaches them to respect belongings. Theirs and other people’s. While I understand we all choose different parenting philosophies, at the very least, respecting other people’s space and their, “things.” is in my opinion, a really important lesson in life.

I got to the high school and Harrison didn’t come out. I shut off the car engine, text him but he didn’t respond. I raced into the school, knowing Grace’s piano lesson was going to end soon, and stopped outside of the band room. Teens were flying out and thankfully, one asked who I was looking for and I told him. He replied that Harrison wasn’t there that day. The band teacher, Mr. M. must have seen me at the door, as he came over and said Harrison hadn’t shown up after school. Was there a Dr.’s appointment or something? I just shook my head, smiled and decided to check out the gym. I continued down the hall and who do I see shooting hoops with a few other boys? Harrison.

When he saw me, he quickly collected his belongings and came out rather sheepishly. I asked him why he wasn’t at his jazz band practice and he mumbled something about, not wanting to go.. He perked up and said, “oh Mom, I’m number one on the list posted for the basketball team.” I nodded my acknowledgement, but I didn’t let the first part slide. As we walked down the hall, I asked him why he didn’t go to band and he said he wanted to play basketball instead after school. By this time we were outside the band room, so I told him that he better go and apologize to his band teacher.

As it turned out Harrison was not in Mr. M’s good books anyway. At the band concert, the night before, he had apparently been talking and laughed briefly, during  the 5 minute Bach flute solo. Mr. M had had words with him and the other boy involved after the concert. In addition, he was annoyed when he told the jazz band to make some “noise,” while warming up and Harrison had done just that, TOO much, in Mr. M’s estimation. Harrison later told me it was a GREAT fill! (Harrison plays the drums by the way)  D and I were at the back of the concert room so we never heard anything but we were not looking for poor behavior. He played really well as far as we were concerned (you can always hear your child when they play drums) but he had clearly made some bad choices during the concert for sure.

Harrison right before his band concert last Wednesday night

He apologized to Mr. M over his prior night’s behavior and not attending his band practice and we were back in the van to pick up Grace, with me talking, Harrison would say, lecturing, about the choices we make in life and the results we desire. Ownership and being respectful, being the theme. We arrived 5 minutes late to pick up Grace, who was getting cold as it was getting dark by this point. The rest of the night went off without a hitch, dinner, clean up, bath, stories, bed. It was when I was making children’s lunches for the next day that I received a phone call.

It was M’s mom calling about my query over Will’s hat. She was absolutely spitting mad and told me that under no circumstances should I have come to her door, upsetting her nanny, and accusing her daughter of taking Will’s hat. She further went on to say that her child was kind hearted and would NEVER take someone’s hat. I tried to explain that this was blown WAY out of proportion but she had made up her mind as to my intentions. I told her that I was simply wanting to get his hat back and I started on the trail of the missing hat based on where Will thought it was. She basically said, I shouldn’t listen to something a kindergarten aged child said and I should look around our house for the lost hat which will most likely turn up.

Near the end of our conversation, she threw this out, “It is JUST a HAT.” As if I were being ridiculous and out of line. I explained that we do have 8 children to cloth and it isn’t just a hat to us but the principal of teaching our children to be responsible with their things. She then, quite condescendingly said, “we probably can find a few hats lying around here if you really need one.” At that point, I knew we weren’t getting anywhere. I apologized if her nanny was upset by my appearance and before we said goodbye, I mentioned that I had called the school, left a message with the principal as I wanted to discuss bus seating policy and the incident.

I didn’t sleep that night. I kept thinking about the choices I had made with regards to the actions of the missing hat. Was it just a hat or was it the principal of other people being disrespectful towards our belongings? Also, on my mind was my beautiful teenage son, who was making his own choices. Sometimes not the best ones. I went to sleep finally, thinking about hats, drum sticks, and conversations  all playing out in my mind.

Things always look better in the morning. The house was warm as the furnace had been repaired. The little girls had a lovely morning at preschool and when we arrived home at lunch time, I received a phone call from D. He said that the principal, Mr. S. had apparently tried to contact me but I was having tea with an old friend  and I hadn’t been checking my messages. D said that Mr. S had taken the steps of having all the people involved in the hat fiasco, into his office. As it turns out, a girl by the name of, get this, HOPE, had taken Will’s hat off his head. She had been sitting behind him on the bus and when she got up to get off at her stop, she had dropped it behind his back. She thought he would have noticed but he didn’t. Apparently, this time Hope was the culprit but she told Mr. S that other children had been doing it as well, namely, M and her younger sister, D.  M admitted that yes, she had done it before. It was unclear whether M was aware this time that Hope had taken Will’s hat although she had been the one to say Hope should also be included in the meeting. The Principal told them both that he had zero tolerance for hat removal, or any touching of other people’s belongings whatsoever. They were being warned that if he hears about this again, they will be off the bus.

Was I feeling vindicated? Well, sort of. But then, crazy me, I try to think about it from the other person’s perspective and I see that I could have handled it differently. First I could have stayed in my Zen place. I could have let the incident go totally and just bought Will a new hat. Although, saying that, I have to qualify that by saying, this hat was PERFECT. Also, as you know, I’m careful with our money and gee, did I really have to buy a new hat when we had a perfectly good hat “somewhere.” So yeah, I was unresolved even after all of this was hashed out. The right choice is not always clear and we never know what the outcome will be when we go down  a certain path.

Mr. S, the Principal, did track down Will’s hat. It was left on the bus and he has given instructions for the bus people to return it to Will today. The bus should be dropping the kids off shortly and it will all be resolved. Until the next time that is.

I know this is just one incident in my life, one week of choices, but the real point here is, when we have the will power to choose which direction we are going to take, in every aspect of our life, the choices we make always impact more than ourselves and no matter which way we go, if we are open to it, we learn our biggest lessons in life and we teach as well. Yes, I could have taken the higher road and let the hat go. We would have ALL lived in peace and harmony, EXCEPT, until the next time one of the kids on the bus (or in life) thinks nothing of messing around with other people’s things. Isn’t it part of our job as a community to teach identify moral lessons? It’s part of living in a peaceful society.

Also, another big lesson I want my children to learn is that stuff isn’t important. I know, I know, this is a contradiction of what I have been talking about but the a particular piece in the scripture has always stayed with me from my childhood Sunday school lessons and that is, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6) This bible verse has always resonated with me and I’d like to believe I’m not materialistic.

Everything we have been given of material goods, is to bring us joy on the earth, make life easier and being grateful for those things is an important lesson too. I hope our children learn a few lessons from this whole experience, all of our children, Will, Grace, Harrison, etc…that respect is an important part of living on this earth, and choosing to be kind. Always kind. When we take that path, we are never wrong.

Well, I must close but before I do, I want to give you the recipe for my ginger snap cookies which I think are the perfect choice to go with late fall/early winter weather. I have a full cookie jar with these cookies right now thanks to my dear, DEAREST, son Harrison. While D and I were out doing our Christmas shopping for his oldest sister Alyssa yesterday, (who will NOT be home this Christmas and we want to send her a package soon) he had made a huge batch of these for the family. (Alyssa would love these too…they are her fav) I came home to a hot cup of tea and a plate of cookies. I showed him how to sprinkle an icing sugar star on top. They were so delicious that I thought I would add them to this blog post today. Thank you Harrison. I respect your excellent baking skills.

I hope you enjoy them too, if you want to make them more festive, simply make a stencil of a star or whatever…maybe I should have put a hat on our cookies. Whatever choices you make on this earth, I hope the lessons that result are gentle,

and your cookie jar is ALWAYS full!

Harrison’s Ginger Snaps

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup of margarine or butter, softened
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
21/4 cups all purpose flour (Harrison used whole wheat yesterday and it was great)
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup sugar

In a large bowl, beat 1 cup sugar, margarine, molasses and egg until light and fluffy. Stir in remaining ingredients except 1/4 cup sugar, mix well. Cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate 1 hour for easier handling. (You don’t have to do this last step…Harrison didn’t yesterday and they were great)

Heat oven to 350 degree F. Shape dough into 1 inch balls; roll in 1/4 cup sugar. Space 2 inches apart on un-greased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degree F. For 8 to 12 minutes or until set. (Cookies will puff up and then flatten during baking.) Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets. Cool completely.

Yields 3-4 dozen

We double the recipe for our large family so they last the week.

 

Will just came home and look what is on his head!

Looking at the above picture, it reminds me me of a story Dr. Wayne Dyer tells, of a woman who was walking on the beach with her small son. Suddenly, a huge wave washes upon the shore and pulls her son into the ocean. She gets down on her hands and knees and cries, “Oh God, please, please, bring my son back to me!” On the next wave her son reappears, none the worse for wear. She looks him over from top to bottom and says, “but he was wearing a HAT” 
 

                                               

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

Halloween Sugar Cookies and Fruit Pumpkins

/ Lee Reynolds
This year I made a scary Farmer out of paper mache and surrounded him with pumpkin friends

 

Over our front entrance is a large spider made out of a stuffed garbage bag

It’s over for another year! Spooky memories and fun dress up moments are behind us. My camera packed with oodles of pictures remembering another tradition marking our little one’s childhood years. Our big ones too.

Harrison ready for the dance

Our Halloween celebrations started when I went to my Sacred Circle book club last Wednesday to discuss the book, “The Places that Scare Us.” by Pema Chodron. While we were talking about our fears, my 15 year old was at his high school Halloween dance. He pulled an outfit together after school on Wednesday,  don’t ask me what he was wearing, a cross between a Mexican Amigo and a prisoner. Notice his striped pants which I thought were odd but he felt it went with the ensemble. Who am I to judge?

I really miss our older son Mitchell, who is away at his first year of University. He always used to come up with the most creative outfits with minutes to spare. It used to drive me crazy since I’m a huge planner and a bit controlling, okay, who am I kidding, a lot controlling, but he seemed to enjoy the whole process of selecting his Halloween outfits.

Mitchell dressed up at his Campo Cello summer camp…..I think this was the year they were playing songs by The Beatles

On Friday I dropped the little girls off at their preschool where they were having a Halloween party.

 

 

As soon as I dropped the girls off at preschool,

Fireman William

I raced over to help at Will’s kindergarten class
where his teacher had planned a Scavenger hunt, Halloween bingo, a craft centre making Witch’s hands (plastic gloves, with candy corn for fingernails, filled up with popcorn, then tied with an elastic and the finishing touch, a plastic spider ring on one of the fingers, and an imagination
table full of Halloween stickers and stamps.

They had a great time and the snacks were yummy too.

Here’s a few pictures of his kindergarten party.

 

 

 I love, LOVE the fruit pumpkins that a few moms brought to the party…check it out!
Also, tucked behind, is the basket of sugar cookies I brought…notice it’s almost empty!

 

  After Will’s party, I raced home to relieve D of the little girl’s care. After preschool he picked them up and brought them home as the kindergarten party was longer than their time at preschool. He returned to work where they were having a Halloween social luncheon and the girls and I put the finishing touches on the outside decorations, see above, and dragged our old mini stereo outside so we could play scary music for the trick or treaters later.
Grace invited a friend over for a Halloween sleepover, so after an early dinner, they headed off first into the night….dressed up as flower children from the 60’s.  Again, no input from me, like her brother, she pulled the whole outfit together from our tickle trunk. I was really proud how sustainable and creative we were this Halloween, using what we had without consuming.
Not the best picture but the girls were so anxious to get out the door….peace out!
Then it was time to get the little people dressed for the night. Did I mention that it rained most of the day? Thankfully, the showers stopped long enough while they were out trick or treating, however it was a lot of fun avoiding puddles wearing long princess gowns.
Happy Halloween 2014, Will is a Ninja, Kate is a Fairy Princess, Victoria is a Queen, of course!
 Notice how bundled the little ones are….there are layers and layers under their dresses and Ninja Costumes….but hey, when I was little, our mom would put our coats on over our costume so I think this is so much better from a dress up point of view. At least we don’t live farther up north!
Well that is a few snap shots into our Halloween in case you were interested. What I am really happy to share with you is a long time favourite recipe for Sugar Cookies, which I make for every occasion. At Christmas, they are our fav cookie and we decorate trees, angels, stars and candy canes all out of my sugar cookie recipe, but at Halloween time, OF COURSE they are Pumpkins.
If you don’t have a great Sugar Cookie recipe, you have to try this one. The secret is in the nutmeg, not rolling them too thin so they are chewy and of course not over baking them.
So tuck this recipe away until next year, or save for the next holiday where you need sugar cookies. I hope it becomes a tradition for your family too.
Enjoy!
Hope’s Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
4 cups all purpose Flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg (optional…but I never delete it)
11/2 cups of butter…I use half margarine and butter
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups white granulated sugar
4 eggs
 
Directions
 
Measure flour without sifting, add baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Stir well to blend.
 
Cream shortening in mixing bowl until fluffy. Add vanilla and gradually add sugar mixing until creamy.
 
Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add dry ingredients. Combine thoroughly.
Chill dough in the fridge for at least 2 hours/ overnight is best
I break the dough into four packets…wrapping it in wax paper.
When you are ready to bake, roll out chilled dough on a lightly floured surface with floured rolling pin. 
Cut out cookies close together using floured cookie cutters….I use a Tupperware Pumpkin shaped cutter.
Place on lightly greased or sprayed cookie sheet 2 inches apart…for chewy cookies make sure they are thick…unless you like a crunchy sugar cookie then roll out thinner
Bake in a preheated oven 375 degree F. for 8 to 10 minutes…watch it closely. Put cookies onto a cooling rack until cool.
Frost with a butter icing and decorate with candies of your choice. I love the spearmint green chewy candies for the stems and then like candy corn for the nose although this year we couldn’t find them at the Super Store…all sold out…so I improvised. Chocolate chip pieces are great for eyes and mouths…although this year the little girls and I selected different candies for the eyes and nose…be creative!
And here is the basket of sugar cookies I took to the Kindergarten party.
my sugar cookies…they went fast!
Thanks so much for coming for a visit. Hey and before I go…don’t forget about Dr. Deepak Chopra’s meditation challenge...it starts tomorrow/ There is still time to register for this free guided meditation session. I’d LOVE if you joined with me….and I hope to write a few blog posts about meditating, and also creating the life we desire.
 I’d better get to bed as I’m going to get up early and connect with my soul. Here’s the link….or click on the hyper link words above if you are using an apple product.

 

 

Life is so good! I hope you join me in the meditation challenge called, “Energy of Attraction”…..let Deepak “mind the time” as you connect with the greater part of you. May all your dreams come true.

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope