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Sometimes you try things and they go off the rails. Proverbs 1:8 says “Do not forsake your mother’s teaching.” It probably should also say “Do not stray from her recipes.” This Advent season, I offer you the gift of feeling really good about your culinary skills in comparison to mine. May all your Christmas baking…

Today I made ornaments out of my children’s handprints. Earlier this year, our family lost our home in the Palisades Fires. In a matter of moments,everything familiar was gone- rooms filled with memories, keepsakes collected over the years,even ornaments that would come out every December, each telling a story of where we’d beenand who we…

Sometimes the holidays are hard – and the joy of the season doesn’t come easy. Maybe it’s the loss of a loved one. Or challenging finances. Or the heaviness of the news. Or a recent diagnosis. Maybe memories from a painful childhood get stirred up this time of year. Whatever the reason, it can be…

Each year during the advent season, a forest of beautifully handcrafted Christmas trees begins showing up around the church. But trees don’t just grow on trees; someone put a lot of time and energy into making them. That someone is Jane Caro, and she was kind enough to share some of the backstory behind what…

When I was young.  I always remember there being “pre dinner snacks”. for the holidays.  And there was always a cheese ball. Yes. I said cheese ball. What I never knew was my great grandmother made them.  The recipe is slightly disturbing, but when I think of it. Times back then were so hard and…

What can be said of the night? What can be said of the night is often voiced by the feelings the night calls forth. When weeping has tarried far too long, when the joy we wish to come would rise as the sun does. What can be said of the night when it refuses to…

If you’re looking for a Christmas album, one of my favorites is by Citizens, Repeat the Sounding Joy – EP. It features songs like “Joy to the World” and “Silent Night”, but my favorite is their rendition of “Come and Stand Amazed”.  This song goes on repeat for me during the Christmas season as it calls us to…

While there’s no official way to observe the Advent season, traditionally each week’s candle is associated with a different word: Hope, Peace, Love and Joy. Hope: All around the world there is darkness. There is only one light that is bright enough to give us hope and that is Jesus. He will never be overtaken…

Growing up my mother loved to listen to classical music. So each Christmas we listened to Handel’s Messiah, which is a story choir concert/play (called an Oratorio) that retells Jesus’ whole life through sung scripture ending with the Hallelujah chorus which celebrates His resurrection. There is one song in this compilation of songs that has the…

This year, our family started a small Jesse Tree with a few simple symbols to help us slow downand remember that Christmas didn’t begin in Bethlehem. It began in Genesis. The Jesse Treehelps us trace the story of God’s promise through the Old Testament, all the way to Jesus. The name comes from Isaiah 11:1:“A…