A Fancy Christmas Miracle

Sunday, my pastor, Roger Nix, delivered a great message. One aspect of the miracle of Christmas is the whole "Immanuel" idea, which means "God with us". One of the most comforting things in life is when a friend can say, "me too!". When God came to earth at Christmas, he experienced the full range of the human experience, which means our God can say "me too!" He understands the complexities, trials, temptations, and heartaches of life as well as the great joys, miracle of family, siblings, and relationship. I serve a God that can say "me too".

When Micah and I went to Uganda this past summer, I found a nativity set made out of corn husks and miscellaneous items gathered from a field. I purchased it at a cafe that would go to support widows, orphans and missionaries in the area. This is my fancy reminder of Christ's humble entrance to our world. I love looking at this set and remembering God's grace in my life, his goodness and abundance to me, and that there is much more to life than just my existence in America- there are widows, orphans, missionaries, and people that fill this planet and Christ came for all of us.



The other part of Roger's message, and the message I see in my simple nativity set, is that it is us who are now responsible to be the living embodiment of Christ in the world. Not in the everyone is a deity way, but in that we can all say, "me too, I understand", and then we can help. When we pray, "Lord help my neighbor find a friend," God may say, "that is what you are there for." We are the physical hands and feet of Christ, and what better time to remember that God came to give and provide for everyone than at Christmas time.

I hope you all have a wonderful and Merry Christmas! I promise my next posts will be much more fun and fancy- full of pictures of treasure hunts, mermaid dress-up parties, and Cinderella puzzles.

Christmas Cookie Baking

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

In celebration, Micah and I baked about 12 dozen cookies last night to make yummy cookie trays for our co-workers and neighbors.



While it was Christmas Baking, it was also most definitely a night of Martha Stewart. I was wearing a Martha Stewart apron, baking all Martha recipes, and I even purchased Martha Stewart gift boxes to deliver the sweet treats in. It wasn't planned to be a night of Martha, but well, she makes the rest of us look prepared and fancy for the holidays. My favorite part was the gift boxes, and while I hope those are noticed by the recipients, I hope they most enjoy the festive cookies.

We made Mexican Wedding Cookies (on the right), Molasses Spice Cookies (middle), and a new one for me- Buttered Rum Meltaways (left). Those were particularly spicy with the addition of the dark rum and also fresh ground cloves. You will have to ask my co-workers what their favorite was. Unfortunately, Martha Stewart no longer has the recipe online that I used for the Mexican Wedding Cookies as I pulled it off a few years ago, but click here to view one that is similar.

So, here are a few more pictures of the final product.




All in all, I think it was a fancy success and I hope our co-workers are more merry as a result.

Jessica Simpson Loves this Blog!

In honor of my blog, Jessica Simpson has released a new fragrance, "Fancy". I am truly touched by this latest notion of friendship from her and in reciprocation, I wanted to share the details of this new perfume with you.

Fancy is described as, "This fresh, youthful fragrance opens with an energizing burst of pear, apricot nectar and red fruit, leading to a delicate bouquet of gardenia and jasmine intermingling with distinctive notes of almond, caramel and vanilla creme."

Now, even if what you are wearing one day isn't so fancy, you can always smell fancy. And with a description like the above, how could it be anything less than fancy!?

DogHouse

A girlfriend forwarded this video to me and I thought it was hysterical! Partly because my husband said I ruined his surprise by suggesting after the baby we join the really expensive cross-fit personal training gym in town, to which I replied, "isn't that like getting me a vacuum!?" So, to all the well-meaning husbands, and to women that want a good laugh, enjoy the video. Click here to view.
(I couldn't figure out how to embed it)

Fancy Vocabulary

So, I have taken a brief hiatus from cooking, and crafting, mainly because, well I have morning sickness all day long- also known as pregnancy! Since I only have a few readers so far, I don't feel too exposed to announce this, even though I am only a little over 7 weeks pregnant. I have known for about 3 weeks, and wow has my life changed already! My body, my diet, my schedule - everything! Even though it is largely all I want to eat right now, it is hard to find Taco Bueno party burritos fancy, so that is the reason for the hiatus in posts - my dear fragile state of pregnancy. I find it has limited my brain power, as well as my energy level to actually create and enjoy some of the fancies I usually find all around me. But, in an attempt to keep looking, I am writing a promised post from a while ago - fancy vocabulary words. I hope to be able to use these more and more. Let me know if you have any fancy words you like to throw in now and then too!

lothario • \loh-THAIR-ee-oh\ • noun
: a man whose chief interest is seducing women
Example Sentence:
Marie denounced her ex-boyfriend as a conniving lothario who liked to play the field but who had no interest in making a real commitment.

Croquembouche \cro- cam-bu-sch\ noun
:A croquembouche or croquenbouche is a French dessert, a kind of pièce montée often served at weddings. It is a high cone of profiteroles (choux filled with pastry cream) bound with caramel, and usually decorated with threads of caramel, sugared almonds, chocolate, flowers, or ribbons.
Doesn't that just sound delicious!? Here is a picture for you to enjoy too of this decadent dessert.

loquacious \ loh-kwey-shuhs \ adjective

talking or tending to talk much or freely; talkative; chattering; babbling; garrulous: a loquacious dinner guest.

Example: "My, wasn't Cheryl just ridiculously loquacious at the fancy party!?"

Exquisite \ ek-skwi-zit \ adjective
of special beauty or charm, or rare and appealing excellence, as a face, a flower, coloring, music, or poetry.
Example: "Liz was exquisite in her new outfit from Anthropologie."

What are your favorite fancy words?

I dream of crafts

Not really, I don't actually dream of crafts. I am in this in-between place where I would love to spend more time crafting and making things, but I also have a full time job, and another one on the way (announcement coming soon). So, my spare time is picking up my often cluttered house or spent with friends instead of crafting. But, I did just see these in Ida Red's Boutique on Brookside and I thought it was a marvelous idea, and also one I could potentially easily make!

These are little hair bobby-pins to decorate your darling face and hair. I thought even a simple button could look cute glued to the end of a well-positioned bobby-pin.

(please excuse the poor image, my camera is not working so this is a lovely phone picture)

A Fancy Christmas Idea

Sorry for the long delay in posts - out of town family staying with us, holiday weekend, and then I got sick! : ( But, to bring all the cheeriness back, I am posting one of my favorite holiday gift items for your enjoyment today. I found these last year on a really fun web-site that sells rediculous but often funny gift shop type items - www.spoonsisters.com I would highly suggesting looking at that web-site for gifts (or go to uncommongoods.com for more ideas).

Being a woman, that often means dish duty after the holiday feast, unless you happen to be married to a man like my husband who voluntarily does most of the dishes (I am a BLESSED woman!). So, to protect those delicate hands and hopefully bring a little more cheer to doing the dishes, try wearing these.



One warning- husbands, do NOT buy this for your wife for Christmas. She probably won't find it endearing that you want her to do more dishes.