Christmas is coming!  My favorite time of year.  I love the opportunity to remember that Christ was born to die for me and all mankind because of His great love for us.  I am grateful that Christ cares about me on an individual level and will work with me to become who He wants me to be, and who I really want to be.  He helps me to change and to fix my mistakes.  He won't take away the consequences of my wrong decisions, but if I turn to Him in humility for help, He will help me to endure the consequences well.  He will support me and encourage me to do what I know is right and give me the strength and motivation to do so.  Change, or repentance, is usually the harder path to take, but it really is worth it because you grow and become a better, a quality person.  You grow up, you mature, you become someone that you like better and would want to hang out with.  All good things are hard and require work and sacrifice, but that is part of what makes them good.  That's what makes a gourmet dessert amazing!  Remember the reason for the season this year, and that God loves you.

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=2874125972001&cid=HPWE120413186

Merry Christmas!

A family favorite is Creme Broulee.  I stole this recipe from allrecipes.com, here is a link to their site.

Ingredients

Original recipe makes 5 servingsChange Servings

• 6 egg yolks
• 6 tablespoons white sugar, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 2 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
2. Beat egg yolks, 4 tablespoons sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl until thick and creamy.
3. Pour cream into a saucepan and stir over low heat until it almost comes to boil. Remove the cream from heat immediately. Stir cream into the egg yolk mixture; beat until combined.
4. Pour cream mixture into the top of a double boiler. Stir over simmering water until mixture lightly coats the back of a spoon; approximately 3 minutes. Remove mixture from heat immediately and pour into a shallow heat-proof dish.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for 1 hour, or overnight.
6. Preheat oven to broil.
7. In a small bowl combine remaining 2 tablespoons white sugar and brown sugar. Sift this mixture evenly over custard. Place dish under broiler until sugar melts, about 2 minutes. Watch carefully so as not to burn.
8. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Refrigerate until custard is set again.

Hope Because I Need It

This week I have been able to observe how staying close to the Lord greatly improves my outlook and hope for the future.  I have found that when I am tired or give some other excuse for neglecting scripture reading or regular prayers, my vision of the future narrows.  My self esteem lowers and by imperfections seem to grow exponentially over night.  Even though God is honest with me about the things that I need to improve upon, He only ever requires me to work on them with His help, never alone.  He sees me as I am and as I can be, and helps me to focus on the latter.  With His help, I feel like I really could do all things.  When I turn away, the reality that I can't make it with all my imperfections looms over me and I don't feel like trying.  Staying close to the Lord helps to quash depression and gives me the hope I need to continue.  So this week I would like to express my gratitude for the Lord and His ever present involvement in and care about my life.  It is probably the biggest thing that I have to be thankful for.

In the last session of General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in one of his talks, Pres. Thomas S. Monson said:

(Quoting Matt 11)“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”⁹

Whether it is the best of times or the worst of times, He is with us. He has promised that this will never change.

My brothers and sisters, may we have a commitment to our Heavenly Father that does not ebb and flow with the years or the crises of our lives. We should not need to experience difficulties for us to remember Him, and we should not be driven to humility before giving Him our faith and trust.

May we ever strive to be close to our Heavenly Father. To do so, we must pray to Him and listen to Him every day. We truly need Him every hour, whether they be hours of sunshine or of rain. May His promise ever be our watchword: “I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”¹⁰

With all the strength of my soul, I testify that God lives and loves us, that His Only Begotten Son lived and died for us, and that the gospel of Jesus Christ is that penetrating light which shines through the darkness of our lives. May it ever be so, I pray in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/i-will-not-fail-thee-nor-forsake-thee?lang=eng

The Reason for the Season

This being the month of November and of Thanksgiving, I thought I would take a moment to remember my blessings and the things in my life that I am grateful for.  I am grateful for my family members, we share the same brand of crazy and it is nice to know that there are people out there who understand the ups and downs associated with our specific brand.  I am grateful for my faith and the knowledge I have that Christ lives, loves me, and is very involved in and cares about my life.  Without this knowledge, I know my life wouldn't be as bright. I am grateful for my life and the opportunities that I have to learn and grow.  I could definitely benefit from keeping this perspective more often, especially when learning a life "lesson" that seems particularly challenging.  Just knowing that a challenging situation will help me to grow, helps me accept it a little more and lessens the urge to run (sometimes :).  I am grateful that I am taller.  This may seem like a weird thing to be grateful for, but it comes in handy more times than I probably realize.  I am grateful to live in a country that allows me to enjoy so many freedoms.  I am grateful for the advances in technology that allow me to easily and cheaply (relatively) communicate with family and friends around the world.  I am thankful for summer.  I am thankful for winter in that it allows me to better enjoy and appreciate summer.

I am usually lucky enough to spend Thanksgiving at one of my Aunt's homes with my extended family.  My close extended family has lived near each other for the majority of their married lives and has consistently made efforts to spend time together.  My immediate family lived several places, but rarely near enough to spend holidays with them.  Though it is sometimes awkward for me to attend these family gatherings (they even get together on non-holidays pretty often), it is nice to see some many people committed to them.  Sure, things aren't sooth all the time, but they are surprisingly smooth a lot of the time, which impresses me.  Part of the magic that produces this tranquility is understanding and charitable expectations of everyone involved.  If someone can't make it, feelings aren't hurt.  If extra people show up, its almost never a problem, we just adjust as needed (also, may aunts are pretty amazing about making people feel welcome and rolling with the punches).  Every thing is very low key and the point of these gatherings is to foster love and build positive relationships.  Again, my family is not perfect, but if everyone is usually trying to remember this focus, it really goes a long way.

Happy Thanksgiving!

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2007/04/gratitude-a-path-to-happiness?lang=eng&query=gratitude

Not Fall Until I've Baked a Pumpkin

Every fall for the last few years, I have baked a small pumpkin.  This is an unintentional tradition, but since I've consistently done it, and enjoyed it, I hope I will continue.  It takes about an hour and makes the entire house small like fall.  They are so good!  I've only ever eaten them as "mashed" pumpkin, but I know you can use it in pies, breads, cookies, etc.  The mash is really good with cream cheese, if you don't mind the calories!  Yumm!  I always buy a small baking pumpkin, not the larger ones, as they are usually sweeter.  After cutting them in half, I remove the pulp and seeds (save the latter for roasting!).  Then I cover the cut side of each half with foil and place foil side down in a glass baking pan.  I have read recipes that include adding 1 or 2 inches of water to the baking pan to preserve moisture, but I find that they remain moist enough for my taste without.  I usually bake at about 400 degrees for about an hour (time may depend on the pumpkin, I have over cooked and under cooked.  I'd check on them at about 45 min for tenderness). When the rind is soft and scoops out easy from skin, they are done.  I usually store what I don't eat the same day in air tight containers.  Add butter, salt, pepper and any spices you like to taste.  Or add a dollop of cream cheese and try to get a little with each bite.  Heaven!