Sunday, December 17, 2006

Nitty.Gritty. Martha Stewart. {Not!}

That's me! Okay...some of you commented and others emailed me asking about the gingerbread village. It's all homemade from the Better Homes & Garden Recipe book that I did some other baking out of earlier this month. Some of you didn't know you could make your own gingerbread, huh? I bought the molasses and traced the templates and rolled out the dough and baked it and everything. =) You can still do that...it's fun. It takes a lot of time compared to doing a kit, but that's the best part about life, I think.
We live in such an automated, take the shortest route, do things the quickest-most convenient way, that often times the part we're missing out on is the best part of all! My girls were so into the baking and cutting out of shapes. Brock was thrilled when we made the frosting to decorate and I totally got covered with confectioner's sugar when my mixer whipped it all over the place. Those are some of the pictures I missed taking. But they are some of the memories I have to cherish evenso.
So, yes, I took the 'scenic route' to making my gingerbread houses and trees and church. But it was well worth it, I think. I'm no Martha Stewart, but, there are times when I think life calls for going over-the-top. For me, it meant the love and time and effort I put into making gingerbread with my family. I think pre-made kits are awesome though, too. They get people doing a project together...for some people that's a big step to take!
I will not claim to be perfect here, or full of the best ideas, or have the greatest talents, or most creativity, or money to spend on the fanciest products...but, I do have time and love and I hope that rubs off on my kids. Not just at Christmas, but everyday.
I have thought a lot this past year about 'what I am good at'. I've really given it a lot of thought, and I think I have finally come up with a good answer. I'm good at 'everyday life'. Nothing extravagant...but I think I have a knack for seeing beauty in the ordinary and loving the simple things in my routine days. I think it's something people miss out on in their busy, stressful lives.
Maybe that will be one of the books I start working on writing. I could call it 'The {Lost} Art of Everyday Living'. I kind of like that...I should google it to see if it's already been done.
One side note that some of you may find funny...I may find myself more like Martha Stewart than I'd like to be. As we all know, she spent some time in a jail cell. Well, turns out that I, yes me, Nitty.Gritty. presidential-nominee wanna-be, may be held in contempt of court. I missed calling in for jury duty a couple of weeks ago. I plan to clear things up right away Monday morning.
My hubby finds it sort of humorous. He told me to go out driving and speed up and down the highways and to get pulled over to find out if I'm wanted. I said, 'Yeah, real funny. I'll get thrown in a jail cell and then I can make my own construction paper Christmas tree to decorate my wall'. Just so you know, I feel terrible about not being a more responsible citizen...
I was in fact looking forward to being questioned in hopes of being chosen for jury selection. Even though with my previous experiences in courtrooms, and my story and link to local prosecutors and all, I likely wouldn't stand a chance to get on the jury. I thought it would be fun to see how far I could get in the selection process.
It may still happen. Til then, I'm going to keep a close eye on my speedometer. I don't think anyone would let me blog from a jail cell. I think I'll stick to staying home and baking. =)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

aw thank you so much for the nice comment! it made me smile! and the name Teagan is a beautiful name as well! ...i look forward to talkin to you later, but it's 11:09pm in Omaha,NE and i better get to bed! goodnight =)

Anonymous said...

Love the book title!
I am going to hold you to it!
That book is waiting to be written and the people are waiting to read it!
linda t.

Anonymous said...

LOL...last things first...re: the jury thing! It's not like you are a slug...you've had sick kids after all and that should merit a great excuse for forgetting the jury duty thing!!!
Regarding your comments on our "instant" society!! How true! I'm glad you made that reference! I just heard a commentary on that very thing a week ago...on how every "thing" is instant almost in our culture. Drive through/fast food restaurants, instant messaging, micro-waves etc. (you get the point?). Put that into our faith and prayer....do we "sit" and "wait"??? God generally doesn't give us "instant" answers to our questions and prayers. He has us wait for a reason...mostly to build our faith and to hone our 'character'.
Anyway...love your thoughts and if the "force" (as in police) come to get you~~let us know and we'll vouch for you!! :-)

Anonymous said...

i am always impressed with your get up and go when it comes to doing projects with your kids. i have four kids too and have never done anything nearly as creative--the youngest are 1,2,and 3 so i haven't quite had it in me yet...maybe kits would be a little more up our alley. i have gotten notice for jury duty at least twice in the last two years and both times they caught me pregnant and about to give birth so i had a doctor's excuse---while intrigued by the process itself, i wasn't about to excuse myself in the middle of a court proceeding to birth a baby...i'm sure all will turn out well for you!!!
elizabeth

Claire said...

Hey Jody, we don't really do gingerbread in NZ (no kits and I wouldn't know where to start to do it from scratch) but your village looks soooo goood.

It's great that people like you and Chip are around, people who spend time on their kids as well as money. I think in this high-tech fast-paced world that a lot of the time the kids get babysat by a television or a computer, and don't learn the importance of other things. Like taking the time to do a job right, and spending time with family.

Merry Christmas to you and your family. I'm sure Teagan is making you a paper tree in heaven as we speak (as I type?).

:)

Anonymous said...

LOL. Chip's comment had me cracking up. I had to go in for Jury Duty once. I never even got to the questioning part. There were only 2 cases that day. One guy pleaded guilty right away and the other never even showed up so we were all sent home. I did get to see a really funny Bill Cosby comedy video named "49". I ended up buying it later on because it made me laugh so much, so it wasn't like it was a totally wasted day.

And being able to find the beauty and to just enjoy the simple things in life is a wonderful gift. Cherish it. :)

Anonymous said...

Great gingerbread village! I never really knew anybody to make gingerbread houses where I grew up (in the Southwest), so it was a big surprise when somebody gave me a gingerbread 'mold' for housemaking a few years before we even had children. But we started making them when my oldest was 4 or 5 - I took a class with him so we'd know what to do - and now we make it an almost-annual tradition. This year it will have to be a New Year's House, because we haven't started yet! And I should track down a template to make simpler houses - as much as I love the detail in our mold, it might be more fun for everyone to have their own smaller house to decorate!