A Gift to All

I am sorry if this offends anyone but it really offends *me* when people say

“Happy Holidays”

Over the last few years we have tried to become such a politically correct society that we are forgetting that a majority of us celebrate Christmas for the real reason. We celebrate Jesus’ birth on December 25. He was sent to us as a PERFECT GIFT!

Jesus was born just like you and I were. He grew up teaching us amazing lessons about how to follow God’s simple rules and we will live a great and prosperous life. Yes, we will endure heartache and trials, but God will be there to comfort us along the way and bring us through those hard times. Then Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice and died on a cross for OUR SINS. Not for his, because he was sinless. He died for US because we have no chance of going to heaven on our own! All we have to do is accept this gift and we can spend eternity in heaven! How simple and amazing is that?

I am totally guilty of following along in the “commercialization” of Christmas. But I really think it is fine to have both as long as we know which one should take priority. Because I have little ones around the house we definitely still do the Santa thing! We love going to Bass Pro Shop each year to (NOT wait in line, yup it’s awesome, they have time cards) visit Santa. This year we also started doing Elf on the Shelf (which they LOVE).

But Marcus and I definitely try to show the kids what this season is all about. This year Kenley had to memorize, for Awanas, Luke 2:11 “Today…a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord.” I make sure we have lots of coloring books or crafts about Jesus’ birth. We watch movies about the Nativity. We read Luke Chapter 2 before our Christmas Dinner. We also started a tradition a few years ago baking a Birthday Cake for Jesus and singing “Happy Birthday” to him on Christmas Day.

This has just really been on my heart lately, and I hope all of you take the time this season to remember and accept this amazing gift God gave to us!

Next Contest Give-Away

I will be taking the next two weeks off from blogging to spend time with my family BUT when I come back to help us celebrate the New Year I will be giving away the Pampered Chef Stoneware Bar Pan! So make sure you check back in a few weeks for the Contest Rules.

Christmas Dinner Idea #2

Now on to the yummy dinner!

This salad is so great. It is one my mom has made many times over the years and it is our FAVE! It has bacon in it…enough said.

Mom’s Famous Salad

Ingredients

1 head lettuce

8-10 slices bacon

2 cups cooked peas

2 cups chopped cauliflower

4 hard-boiled eggs

1 pkg mild cheddar cheese

1 cup sunflower kernels

1 pkg dry Buttermilk Ranch

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup light mayo

Directions

Cook about 1/2 bag of frozen peas according to package instructions.

Begin cooking the slices of bacon on a skillet over medium to medium high heat. We prefer the bacon to be crispy.

While bacon is cooking clean lettuce, chop, and place in a large serving bowl. Do the same thing for the cauliflower.

Once all the slices of bacon are cooked dry the grease off with a paper towel and chop them up into small pieces. I put the bacon pieces into a small bowl and place in the fridge. If you put them in with the salad right away they will get soggy. So I don’t throw them in the salad until right before we are ready to serve. Since I make the bacon extra crispy this also keeps them crisp even while they are sitting in the fridge for a few hours.

Strain the water from the peas, let them cool for 5 to 10 minutes and then place the peas in the salad.

Slice the hard-boiled eggs using an egg slicer. Then turn the egg and slice the other way. This will make them the perfect size for the salad.

Now time to make the ranch dressing! Pour buttermilk, light mayo and dry ranch dressing into a bowl and whisk until smooth.

Once you are ready to serve the salad top with cheese, bacon and seed kernels.

Yum, I could just eat this for every meal of every day and be satisfied

Sweet Onion Potatoes Au Gratin

(AKA: Best Mashed Potatoes Recipe I Have Ever Had, We Love You Rachel Ray)

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons butter

2 yellow onions, thinly sliced

Freshly cracked black pepper and sea salt

1/2 teaspoon thyme

1 bay leaf

2 lbs. Yukon Gold potatoes

2/3 cup half and half

1/2 cup Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, grated (or Parmesan but I would, of course, recommend the fancy stuff)

1/2 pound brick Gruyere cheese, grated (or Swiss but again do yourself a favor and use the fancy stuff )

Directions

We actually doubled this recipe because we were feeding so many people.

Preheat oven to 350º F.

Clean the potatoes. I actually leave the skins on and just scrape off some of the gross parts. If the potatoes aren’t a uniform size I cut the bigger ones so they are about the same size as the smallest.