This one’s going out to Jessica, my mom, Grace, and friends and family everywhere…

With Thanksgiving, the “official” start of the holidays, only hours away, I find myself searching for holiday spirit. Usually it comes so easily to me, but this year I have to remind myself, “It’s here. It’s now. Don’t miss it.”

I also find myself reflecting on the ways this time of year can suck the life right out of a person. The way the “culture of Christmas” deceives us into believing we should shop, shop, shop and eat, eat, eat and go, go go. This year, I don’t want to clutter my mind, heart, or home with busy things. I want to create of home filled with simple joys, quiet moments, and hopeful anticipation.

As I’ve been thinking about this blog series, I have a hard time knowing what to share and what to shut up about. The holidays are such a personal thing. Butting in with suggestions about saving money and producing less waste is tough. Suggesting a break from tradition is especially tough. (“But we always leave the Christmas lights on after we go to bed.”)

But then I remember that this world is fleeting. Just like our money and our things, we can’t take our traditions with us. So while we’re here, we want to do our best to make this world livable for those who need Jesus. Because if they can’t live here long enough or well enough to know Jesus, then they will live eternally apart from Him.

So I’m mustering up the courage to share a few ideas I have for this holiday season. The theme is “Don’t waste it.” Scott and I are not necessarily practicing each and every idea, but I hope that someday we will. I also hope that you will be encouraged to find a simpler way to celebrate this season along with us.

May your heart and your home be filled with joy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

(Thank you, total stranger, for blessing us with this precious family photo at Gooseberry Falls.)

More low-quality photos — sorry. It’s the best I can do today.

But they are recent. I took them 5 minutes ago.

I love food. Especially breakfast food. Here’s another great breakfast recipe for anytime of day. We’re eating them for dinner right now.

Blueberry-Pecan Pancakes

• 1 c. – 1 and 1/3 c. whole wheat pastry flour
• 3-4 Tbsp. cornmeal
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• dash of nutmeg
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 c. milk
• splash of heavy cream
• 1-2 Tbsp. coconut oil, melted
• handful of chopped pecans
• 1/2 c. blueberries

1. Combine dry ingredients.
2. Add eggs, milk, and oil.
3. Fold in pecans and blueberries.
4. Warm a little coconut oil in your pan. Add batter.
5. Enjoy warm pancakes with almond butter and a drizzle of honey.

You’ll note there’s no sugar or butter (not that butter is bad). Don’t expect them to taste or look like regular pancakes. They are a heavy pancake, not thin flapjacks. Sweeten them with a little real maple syrup or honey instead of refined sugar, and you can enjoy a few pancakes — guilt free.

I haven’t calculated the exact numbers, but I estimate that each pancake has about 5-8 grams of protein. Just think how much protein 4 or 5 pancakes have! I’m not a math whiz, but that’s a lot of protein.

I’m not blogging much lately, I know.

I know you’re looking for Ainsley pictures. But I haven’t uploaded them from our computer lately. Sorry.

I’m Twittering some. (updates on the sidebar of the blog or at my twitter page.)

But we’re busy here at home right now. Especially Ainsley. She’s really busy. For instance, right now, she’s ripping fuzz out from under the couch lining.

Thanks, Ainsley. Now I don’t have to do it.

Stick around. I’ll be back to blogging like normal someday.

Have a nice day.

This one’s going out to the Minette’s.
Because real friends stick, even when years pass and distance grows.

During a big chunk of my teen years, I considered myself one of the Minette’s, a sort-of-sister to Melissa, Marcus, Teresa, and Jill. I picked rock in the summer, thus winning over Jerry with my excellent rock-picking abilities. I washed dishes after lunch because Maria treated me like one of her own and her own had to wash dishes after lunch. I went ice fishing and snowmobiling. I was there on the deer opener when all the guys headed out in what felt to me like the middle of night. I mucked out horse stalls and climbed hay bales. Heck, I even sat in a deer stand with Melissa during bow hunting season. We may have talked about our dream weddings, and I may have fallen asleep, but I was there.

Am I a city slicker? Sure. But a farm girl, too? I like to think so.

If you’ve ever driven along I-94W just past Sauk Centre, you’ve seen the Minette farm. You’ve seen a picturesque pasture of grazing cattle. Like the farms you read about in books, the cattle contentedly munch grass out among the oak trees. Like your postal carrier, the cattle are there, rain or shine. Because cattle are meant to be there, rain or shine.

Every time we drive by that farm along 94, I shout out, “Hello, ‘Minettees’!” In the summer, I love seeing their gentle cattle meandering through the pasture. And at winter dusk, I look for the big street lamp in the Minette’s backyard. I imagine the cattle on their way to the barn at days’ end, trusting, dependent, cared for.

There’s a long driveway we can’t see from the interstate, but I know that at the end of it the kitchen lights are pouring warmth out onto the front porch, waiting to greet evening guests. The Minette’s are true friends, and true farmers. And for them and for all the sincere farmers out there, I hope the rest of us can find a way back to caring about where our food comes from and caring about the people who produce it for us.

(Now available on DVD.)

I guess I just deleted all the images on my sidebar.

Repairs will be made…

eventually.

(Someone please come up with a better name than that for this recipe!)

Last night’s cornbread became this morning’s french toast. And it was so good!

From start to finish: 15-20 minutes
Serves: 2-4 people (or just me.)

• 2-3 eggs
• 1/2 c. milk
• cinnamon and the teeniest big of nutmeg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• leftover cranberry sauce (As much as you like. I used about 1/4 cup)
• orange zest and a little juice from an orange

Don’t forget

• cornbread
• a little butter for the pan
• a little more warm cranberry sauce as topping

Combine all the ingredients from the first section. Soak your cornbread in the mixture. I sliced the cornbread in half (through the inside) to soak in more flavor and make thinner pieces.

Butter the pan/griddle. Add soaked bread to pan and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side (or so).

Eat as is or with a little more cranberry sauce on top. Or you could eat with maple syrup, but it’s totally not necessary since it’s so yummy as is. It’s a little drier than regular french toast, which makes it kind of scone-y.

(This is where Scott says, “Scone. My scone!” from Friends.)

Mmmmm…..

This fall, I read about kids in the South Bronx who suffer from serious health issues thanks to the 12,000 diesel trucks that roll through their neighborhoods, delivering food from faraway lands and lots and lots of garbage. 12,000 trucks — every day. And I can’t get the numbers out of my  head.

Picture a classroom of kids. Here in Minnesota, about 6-10% of those children suffer from asthma. Maybe 1 out of 10 kids.

A classroom in the South Bronx?

Roughly 21-23% of children have asthma.

Almost 1 in 4 kids.

And we’re talking “send-you-to-the-emergency-room, make-you-miss-days-of-school, hope-it’s-not-a-muggy-day-so-I-can-breathe” asthma.

Since I know asthma rates are higher for urban and lower-income kids, I asked Scott if he’s had any asthma incidents at summer camp over the past five years. I mean, with 100 kids a day, at least 10 of them are likely to have asthma. I figured he’d have a juicy story for me.

S: “Well, a lot of the kids have asthma. We know that because it’s on their registration forms.”

A: “But have you ever had to send anyone to the emergency room or had any close calls?”

S: “No. But think about where they are. They are surrounded by trees. They are at camp. In Shoreview.”

Aha.

This is why I hate garbage. This why I get mad about food from far far away. This is why we pursue something simpler. Something greener. Something better for everybody.

**********

There is a lot more information out there… like this stuff:

No Impact Man

• Two kids in an emergency room
• To hell with the polar bears
• Saturday I swim…

New York Times: A Study Links Trucks’ Exhaust to Bronx Schoolchildren’s Asthma

• Ainsley is still popping out eye teeth and molars all over the place. She seems less crabby about it, but it’s still gotta hurt, right?
• My little sorter is now sorting old gift cards into an old raisin can. Oh, I love seeing her find her own “toys”.
• I’m committed to a focused “home” week. Cooking every night, keeping things clean, minimal Internet, reading with Ainsley, gearing up for holiday gifts, and supporting Scott through another work week.
• My little sorter is now dumping the cards from the raisin can into an old bucket.
• Ainsley’s wearing a dress that’s too short with pink tights, green socks, and a darling secondhand sweater. And she has a ponytail.
• Scott has a coffee meeting this morning at my favorite coffee place. Not jealous, not jealous, not jealous.
• I have a dozen crimson roses on the desk from our anniversary last week. They make me smile.
• Did you know there’s been another MckMiracle? Check out the MckMiracle button on my sidebar to get all the latest!
• Scott and I are going to have a niece. Katie and Ben are expecting their little girl in late March. That’s pretty exciting.
• That Halloween picture is not entirely real. Ainsley didn’t wear a mask that night. I added the mask to the picture on the computer.
• Here’s Ainsley right now.