A Little Christmas Baking

I've been having so much fun baking this Christmas! Here are some photos of what I've been up to in my kitchen!

"Christmas Baking"

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Do as I say, AND as I do!

So lately,  I have been hearing a lot of parents comment about their child's behavior. Mostly they consist of,  "I wish my child said things like that", or "I wish I could get my child to do things like that", or "I wish my child knew how to act that way". My reaction to all that is, "well, what are you teaching your child?!" I know children are not robots and they do not do everything we tell them to do, but telling your child something  is totally different from teaching them something. This is so simple, especially if it is coming from me. We all know I am not the person to be coming up with something profound, trust me on this. In no way am I a  parent who thinks they have it all figured out, not even close! I just believe that it is so important for us as parents to lead by example. If I am constantly reminding my son to say "please" and "thank you", but am not saying it myself why should I expect him to follow through? I cannot expect him to be a great helper and to think of others if I am not practicing what I preach. We've all heard it, "children are like sponges, they absorb everything", it is so, so true. I love my dad dearly, but I do remember him always telling me "Do as I say, and not as I do". Well, sorry dad, this is one piece of advice that I totally don't agree with. Hope you forgive me! :) Our children are totally going to learn from what we do, good or bad. Maybe not 100% everything we do, but we do not have control over choosing which habit good or bad that they pick up from us, so we should try to be conscious of our decisions and attitudes on a daily basis. Believe me, I'm taking my own advice, because I definitely am not always aware of my attitude! My husband can testify to this with a big "AMEN!" (as I'm sure he did as soon as he read this). Remember though, it can be as simple as always being sincerely gracious to your waiter at a restaurant, holding the door for anyone you can, recognizing and showing thankfulness when someone else does an act of kindness for you, asking your child to hold the door for someone or help someone in need at the grocery store or wherever you are. They are always paying attention, always absorbing. It's Christmas time, and this is a great time to teach your child about being thankful and generous. Our children (every one's children I know, including my own) are very spoiled compared to other parts of the world. They receive way too many gifts in my opinion, and it's like the more gifts they receive the less appreciative they become. It's overwhelming the amount of presents they get and every Christmas and/or birthday it's like they become desensitized to all that they have. It's really, really sad. This year we have agreed to give each child three gifts from Chris and I. We give three gifts to signify the three gifts given to baby Jesus by the wise men. After all, this is why we celebrate Christmas and why we give gifts, right?  A friend of mine does this and I loved the idea so I borrowed it from her. Much thanks to Jen! I also believe that it is very important that your child stop and say "thank you" before opening another gift. To me it just shows appreciation for each individual gift they receive. There are many other points I could touch on about how we can use this time of the year to teach our children, but this post is becoming way longer than expected. Sorry, kinda venting. This stuff is just really important to my family and I. So speaking of my family, I am reminded of something that happened at my five year old sons school last week. I went to pick Cale up from school and as we were walking out of his class, one of his classmates was jumping up and down trying to reach something in his cubby. Dying to get home from a busy day of work, I zoomed right by and proceeded to the door. Cale stopped me, and said "Mom, could you  help Logan get his paper please?". I was so proud of him for recognizing that when someone needs help with something, that we should stop, no matter how busy we are, and help them. When you teach your child these things, you'll find that in certain instances, they will be the ones teaching you a few things as well. You cannot expect your children to respect you or others if you are not showing respect yourself. Constantly teach them and show them generous, respectful, and grateful behavior and I think you'll be surprised and very proud of the child you are raising. (not saying you wouldn't be proud anyway, but think of the difference it could make.) I also like to think of the man or woman they will someday become because of the teachings we impress on them. Their spouses will surely thank us someday! ;) Hope someone learned something from this, I definitely did just from typing it! There are always areas we can improve in, no one is perfect and no one should expect to be. On that note, HAPPY PARENTING!

"Start children off on the way they should go , and even when they are old they will not turn from it." Proverbs 22:6

Toffee Cookie Squares

Ok...I admit I'm going a little crazy with all the baking lately, but it's Christmas time and that's what I do. Come January all the sugar, flour, and butter will be removed from my kitchen till the next fall/winter :) So now on to the deliciousness, this is yet another recipe from the Pioneer Woman's website and again so, so easy. (I am also learning how to take better food photos from her website. Simple, but great tips! I think this one turned out pretty good for a rookie!)  Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 sticks Butter
• 1 cup Packed Brown Sugar                                                                  
• 1 whole Egg                                                       
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla                                           
• 2 cups All-purpose Flour
• 2 cups Chocolate Chips (milk Or Semi-sweet)
• ¾ cups Finely Chopped Pecans

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add egg, vanilla, and flour and mix until combined. Spread on cookie sheet with an offset spatula until thin. Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden. Remove pan from oven and sprinkle on chocolate chips. Return to oven for 1 minute. Remove from oven and spread chocolate thinly over the cookie layer.

Sprinkle with chopped pecans. Cut into squares.

Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Rolls

First, let me start by saying, these..... are... absolutley.... delicious! Extremely, ridiculously, horribly bad for you, but hey...that's why they taste so good! Second, let me say how incredibly easy they were to make! If I could make them, anyone...let me repeat that, ANYONE can make them. Last year I told Chris that I wanted to start a new family Christmas tradition by making cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning. I gave up after I thought about it for oh....five minutes when I remembered how horrible I am at making things from scratch. The whole "add yeast, let it rise" scares me and totally turns me off. I visited The Pioneer Womans website and was so excited when I saw that her recipes included step-by-step pictures. Seriously, how hard could it be if there are pictures? So I decided to give my new family tradition idea another go and decided to follow the pictures and recipe for her cinnamon rolls. It was a total success and they are the second best cinnamon rolls I've ever had. First place goes to my grandma Blackwell. :) I cannot wait to enjoy these with my sweet family when we wake up every Christmas morning! We are also going to stick a birthday candle in one so we can celebrate our Saviour's birth, because HE is our only reason for the beautiful and happy season!

http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/

Gingerbread Fun!

Cale and I had fun making these cute gingerbread men. Unfortunately, it's easy for me to get a little OCD in the kitchen, trying to do things my way, but this time I was going to take a step back and let him do it Cale's way. It's amazing how much more fun it all becomes. I thought decorating cookies was a great way to let his artistic side come out, and boy is he artistic! ;)

 

"Gingerbread Fun!"

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