Christmas Letter 2010

Dear Friends and Family;

I have sat down many times already; trying to think of what to write this year for our Christmas letter, and nothing has come to me. Today this song came to mind, and I thought I’d share it to remind us all, to take that extra moment to let those around you know that you love them.

In our own family we have recently suffered the loss of my uncle Rich Schaaff at age 53, and how thankful we are for the times we shared with him. It hit home again how important it is to be ready to meet our Lord, as our own day could come unexpectedly. How fragile life on this earth really is. And how no matter what differences/opinions/hurts come between people, it’s not worth the heartache to have unresolved conflict. Let’s prayerfully strive to be willing to offer that forgiveness to others that Christ has offered us, for we never know when it may be too late to make things right with someone.

As for our family, we’re doing fine. The kiddos are getting bigger each day. We are trying to savor the “best years of our life” (as many older folks have reminded us) but it’s a delicate balance as things get pretty chaotic at times. We are thankful for the daily blessings that have been given to us by our gracious Father in heaven, and seek to do His will as we continue on our journey.

Wishing you and yours a blessed Christmas Season and New Year.

In God’s Love and Peace,

Greg, Rachel, Luke (5 1/2), James (3 1/2) & Elise (20 months)

"Don't Save It All For Christmas Day

"
~Celine Dion
Don't get so busy that you miss, Giving just a little kiss, To the ones you love
Don't even wait a little while, To give them a little smile, A little is enough

How many people are crying, People are dying...How many people are asking for love

Don't save it all for Christmas Day, Find a way, To give a little love everyday
Don't save it all for Christmas Day, Find your way
Cause holidays have come and gone, But love lives on, If you give on
Love...

How could you wait another minute, A hug is warmer when you're in it
And Baby that's a fact.
And saying "I love you's" always better, Seasons, reasons, they don't matter
So don't hold back

How many people in this world, So needful in this world
How many people are praying for love

Let all the children know, Everywhere that they go, Their whole life long,
Let them know love…

Double Peppermint Bark

This is the next Christmas must-have in our house. My aunt B makes it every year, but waiting until she gives us some is never soon enough. Plus, I like giving it out, as everyone else seems to love it too! This recipe is right off the McCormick peppermint extract bottle. It's the one I've liked the best.

Double Peppermint Bark

INGREDIENTS

1 package (12 ounces) white chocolate chips

1 teaspoon peppermint extract

8 to 10 drops green or red food color (optional)

1/2 cup crushed peppermint candies or candy canes

DIRECTIONS

1. Microwave chocolate chips in large microwavable bowl on HIGH for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes or until almost melted, stirring after 1 minute. Stir until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is smooth. Stir in peppermint extract.

2. Spread on large foil-lined (or wax paper) baking sheet to 1/4-inch thickness. (Add food color, drop by drop, over mixture). Using a wooden skewer, swirl color through chocolate. Sprinkle with crushed candies, pressing lightly into chocolate with spatula. (I actually prefer to mix them right into the melted chocolate, it works better that way)

3. Refrigerate about 10 minutes or until firm. Break into irregular pieces to serve. Store in covered container at cool room temperature or in refrigerator up to 5 days.

Finnish Prune Tarts (recipe)

Here's my favorite Christmas baking item. My Mom made them when I was growing up, and if you're of Finnish descent, you likely have had them. If not, don't judge them until you try them. They are amazing!! There's no sugar in them, which I think is what makes them so addicting. I use my aunt Susie's recipe (in the Kurtti cookbook), but there is also one in the Finnish Cookbook (by Beatrice Ojakangas). Susie's recipe has a much simpler pastry (one step rather than two), which is why I chose it. Susie also told me that the original pastry recipe says "add liquid" because it had a shot of whiskey in the pastry. Hmm. I wonder what that tasted like!

Finnish Prune Tarts
1 lb. butter (not margarine) at room temperature
3 c. flour
3/4 c. cold water
1 pkg. dried prunes, cooked and mashed*

Cut 3 cubes of butter into flour. Add liquid. (Chill 15 minutes) Cut dough in half. Roll out (with flour to prevent sticking) into a 16"x16" square about 1/8-1/4" thick. Spread half of the last cube of butter on the dough. Do the same with the second half of dough. Cut each square of dough into 12 squares (or 3" squares, however many you get) Cut in each corner to make slits for a pinwheel shape (or use a tart cutter if you have one). Drop 1 t. of cooked mashed prunes into the center of each little square (I prefer to transfer dough to cookie sheet first) and fold in every other corner to middle, making a pinwheel. Place cookie sheet in fridge until they get cold. I often pull the sheets out of the fridge on Christmas Eve and bake them, then serve them warm. Bake 450*F for 5 minutes, and reduce to 425*F for 15 more minutes. *If they aren't already cut up in the package, cut prunes into small pieces. Then cook on med-low heat with a bit of water and then mash.

Enjoy!!

The notes in brackets are mine. I found if I chill the dough before rolling out, it works better, and then I don't chill it on the pans. But, this changes the baking time. I bake them 11 1/2 minutes at 400*F, and this works out well for my oven. Any longer and the pinwheel tips burn, any shorter and they don't brown yet. I also found that they turn out fine without that last cube of butter added, if you're trying to watch calories (and who of us isn't!)

Oh, and James said to me when I was taking the picture, "that's a weally nice pwate you have da tawts on Mom. Or is it a window? It looks like a window to me!" As a matter of fact, it does!

Christmas baking

What do you do for Christmas baking? I have old traditions, which I'll post soon (I hope), but this is a new one for our family. I used to work for a doctor from Spain, who would bring us trays of this from a specialty bakery (Italian) and it was divine! I've been meaning to make it since, but it finally became a reality. My husband wants it on the "must have" list for every year. And that's fine with me! And before we start, does anyone know the difference between baklava and bellaclava?? We once heard a comedian make a joke about them, and have always swapped the words at will since.

Baklava

"This is simple and easy. Serve it in cupcake papers. It freezes well, too."

Prep Time:30 Min,Cook Time:50 Min, Ready In: 1 Hr 20 Min

Recipe Yield 1 - 9x13 inch dish

Ingredients

• 1 pound chopped mixed nuts (some almost ground, some coarser for texture) toasted preferably
  
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 (16 ounce) package phyllo dough
• 1 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. Toss together cinnamon and nuts. Unroll phyllo and cut whole stack in half to fit the dish. Cover phyllo with a damp cloth while assembling the baklava, to keep it from drying out.
3. Place two sheets of phyllo in the bottom of the prepared dish. Brush generously with butter. Sprinkle 2 to 3 tablespoons of the nut mixture on top. Repeat layers until all ingredients are used, ending with about 6 sheets of phyllo. Using a sharp knife, cut baklava (all the way through to the bottom of the dish) into four long rows, then (nine times) diagonally to make 36 diamond shapes.
4. Bake in preheated oven 50 minutes, until golden and crisp. (I baked it 35 and it was done)
   
5. While baklava is baking, combine sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Stir in honey, vanilla and lemon zest, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.
6. Remove the baklava from the oven and immediately spoon the syrup over it. Let cool completely before serving. Store uncovered.

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/easy-baklava/Detail.aspx

If I make it again, I think I'll increase the honey and decrease the sugar/water. I love the honey taste, and with this one, it's pretty mild. I used almonds and pecans, but I know pistachios are great, as well as adding hazelnuts! It's also healthy. Butter, honey and nuts are all healthy, aren't they?! ;)

Update Dec 2011: I used same amount of honey, but used half brown, half white sugar and the flavor was perfect. Might try some Roger's Golden Syrup next time, as I'm sure that would be dee-lish! Used almonds, pecans, pistachios and hazelnuts

Uncle Rich

I first met Rich at my aunt Julie's condo when they were newly dating. I had just gotten back from my first trip to Alaska (2001) and we were hanging out at Julie's while I was in Oregon on vacation. I don't recall where Julie was (I think she was on a phone call for an extended time in the house), but I was stuck (so to speak) alone with Rich on the back patio. We talked about my trip, looked at my pictures and covered many other topics, killing time while waiting for Julie to rejoin us.

At that point, my first impression of him was that he was a know-it-all, and that he was just far too huggy. Those of you who know me, know that I'm not the kind of person to hug someone I've just met, especially not my aunts new boyfriend!! But, it seemed that Rich and Julie were destined to get married, so I figured I'd just better get to know him (and hopefully prove my assumptions wrong). And wrong they were. Well...I'll explain.

The reason he seemed like he knew-it-all, was because he was a good 20 years older than I, and had that much more life experience than I did. He also was always very interested in others, so he learned a wealth of information from being a good listener and an excellent conversationalist. He was also a salesman, which helped in those areas too! And the hugs, well, he just hugged everyone. Whether he knew you or not, you got a hug. It didn't take long for him to be welcomed into our family, and what a blessing he was to us all. He is surely missed!

At the funeral home for his visitation, Rich's brother stated how that if we could all listen a bit better, hug a bit more and be more open, this world would be a much better place. I agree. These were Rich's greatest strengths, and we could all learn a lesson from his example.

My favorite story of his though, is when he lived in New York City. He was selling furniture in a multi-leveled (4-5 story) building, and was showing a family around, pointing out different pieces to them as they went. There was a 12 or 13 year old boy with his parents, and the boy kept ripping tags off the furniture and throwing them on the floor. (I'm remembering he had ripped like 100 or so tags off different pieces) Rich had patiently asked him to stop, nicely asked the parents to have him stop, to no avail. So, on one of their ride up to the next floor, Rich ended up behind this kid in the elevator. He then (I can't specifically remember) either elbowed the kid in the back all the way up to the next floor, or gripped the back of his collar while giving him a smiling do-it-again-and-you'll-really-pay look, and then they proceeded on with the tour. The boys parents wondered why he was behaving so well at last (they hadn't seen a thing), as the boy was good as gold the rest of the time. If he even thought about misbehaving, Rich would glare at him and he'd shape right up! It was probably the first "discipline" the kid had ever had.

It's been a while...

It's now December, season of the calendar being full almost every day. I've wanted to write for a while (not that I have anything that enlightening), but sleep has always called me first. Or Christmas cards, or trips to town, or kids needing help, or something.

Anyhow, I had meant to share my own encouraging thoughts, if anyone should need them. (to tie into the previous post) This one is a story that my dear husband told the Sunday School class a few weeks ago, which I overheard. Some of the kids have really been into rock tumbling and polishing this past summer, especially after they got a rock tumbler and didn't have to painstakingly polish the rocks by hand anymore! (from a garage sale) Anyhow, the kids had all been seeing the "before" and "after" states the rocks had been in. Greg questioned the kids on what the rocks looked like before and got the answers rough, bumpy, dirty, poky, etc. Then what were the rocks like after and he got shiny, smooth, pretty, etc. He then likened our lives to those rocks. How when we start out we are rather rough, bumpy and dirty and then how God tumbles us around and in the end we're shiny and smooth, and beautiful. But...that tumbling is never fun. Going around and around in a tumbler can't be very fun, but if the rocks never got tumbled, they'd never get smooth. If we never face hard times in our lives, or allow God to turn us in the right direction, we'll never have that beauty of Jesus shining out from us (only our sinful selves). How wonderful if we can be willing to be used for His honor and glory, no matter what life may throw at us!

One of the things I like to do when faced with adversity is to sing. Because usually when I'm low, that's when the devil likes to put evil thoughts in my way. But when I sing praises to God, those thoughts vanish. Reciting Scripture does the same thing. There is no room for evil, when our hearts are filled with Jesus and His love, His forgiveness and His truth. My absolute favorite song in these times is "Because He Lives" and I belt out the chorus loud and clear, to convince myself more than anything, and to reassure my kids of where our strength lies. "Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, because He lives, ALL FEAR IS GONE, because I know, He holds the future, and life is worth the living, just because He lives!"

There are so many other hymns and songs that have been written in times of trouble that can really help us in our own tough times. I recently had a decorative plate holder I wasn't using, and put it in my kitchen window as a songbook holder so that I can sing while I do dishes. The better we know our hymns and our Bible verses, the more "arrows" we have against the temptations we may encounter. When we try to face him on our own, we will most certainly fail, but with Jesus on our side at every turn, we can do nothing but win!!