TODAY IS: 11 December 2023
AROUND ME: The house is quiet. Strongheart left with his muzzleloader around 5:30 this morning. There's a very light dusting of snow on the ground. The clock is ticking away the minutes. Very peaceful.
I AM PONDERING: how great the love of God is and the fact that, according to Scripture, He loves me with the same love that He loves Jesus.
AMONG MY FAVORITE THINGS: These "angel" post cards were handmade for me many years ago, shortly after I started blogging. They were made by a lady in Germany named Doris. They are made of fabric and she wrote on the backs of them each year and mailed them to me.
BOOKS I AM CURRENTLY ENJOYING: God's High Calling for Women by John Mac Arthur and the Advent devotional Heaven and Nature Sing by Hannah Anderson. I finished all of the books from last week, with the exception of the Advent devotional.
I AM THANKFUL FOR: traditions that my mother started and that are carried through in our home to this day. She had a strong German heritage and one of the ways she kept that in the forefront was by making Lebkuchen, a German spice cookie, every year at Christmas. Once I married and we had children of our own, I carried on with that tradition. In addition to making Lebkuchen, I started collecting Lebkuchen tins.
When I was blogging before, I met a German lady who lived in Alabama. I did a post similar to this and when she read it, she was so moved that she regularly added to my collection.
The two that are pictured in the first photo on the surface of the hutch are actually music boxes. My German friend presented me with one and the other one I found in a thrift store locally.
This particular tin is the most precious from her. It belonged to her grandmother at one time. What a treasure!
This same lady made trips back to Germany on a yearly basis to visit with her mother and grandmother and other family. Each year upon her return to America, I would receive a package from her with the traditional German spices for the Lebkuchen.
NEVER TOO OLD TO LEARN: Just yesterday on the way to church, I learned how to get cattle to go on to a trailer if you wanted to move them. Simply park the trailer in the field where they are and begin feeding them out of the back of the trailer. They will get used to getting their food from the trailer and will be much easier to get them loaded. So, there you have it, if you needed to know how to do that. :)
FROM THE KITCHEN: leftover steak, gravy, mashed potatoes and peas.
SOMETHING I REALLY ENJOY: This Christmas season when I have time to slow down and enjoy focusing on the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
A QUOTE TO REMEMBER: "Remember the mercies of God. Do not bury them in the grave of ingratitude. Let them glisten in the light of gratitude." Charles H. Spurgeon
TO DO LIST FOR TODAY: Launder the bed linens, plant care, making some Croatian Bishop's Bread to put in the freezer for our Christmas dinner fellowship at church on Sunday.
"So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom."
way back when my sunday school religious director loved to give angel gifts. I have ornaments, figurines all from her from 13 years of volunteering teaching Sunday school, she was an inspiriation. Loved seeing your angel gifts.
ReplyDeleteHow special, Karen! I know those are treasures for you. I enjoy mine because of how thoughtful it was of this lady, whom I did not know other than through blogging, took time to make something for me...and then to send it to me from Germany.
DeleteThose postcards are just beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI loved reading about the blogger friend with the German heritage. Those are special memories.
Thank you, Mari. I think they are. I don't think it shows up in the pictures, but they are done on a machine and have a "quilted look" to them. Doris had just bought a new machine and she did amazing things with it! And the German friend who lived here in the States was just amazing at the gifts she passed on to me through the years. Every Christmas there was a box of German goodies. And she also shared some of her mother and grandmother's family recipes with me. :)
DeleteWhat sweet gifts you have enjoyed over the years. Love that quote from Spurgeon. From our sermon series this December, "We were created to worship. We need to worship the Creator not the creature. We must worship the Babe in the manger." Have a beautiful week!
ReplyDeleteYes, I certainly have, Ellen. I feel blessed to have had so many thoughtful gifts given to me down through the years of blogging. Thank you for the quote from your December sermon series about worshiping the Creator and not the creature. It's definitely something our world needs to hear right now.
DeleteThat’s a great book by John MacArthur. I read that earlier this year.
ReplyDeleteI just started it and have enjoyed it so far, Lauren. I like the "Review" section at the end of each chapter. :)
DeleteI love your Lebkuchen tins. So unique and quaint. Are the cookies difficult to make. Are they rolled out. I think my Aunt Laura made something similar. I always appreciate those gems from Spurgeon. Such wisdom! And the next time, I see cows in the field, I'll remember your advise! lol.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Melanie. I have two large tins and one medium sized tin that I will share at some point, too. They were all gifts to me. :) I'd be embarassed to say how few I have actually bought because the majority of all the tins have been given to me as gifts. No, the cookies aren't hard to make. Depending on the type you make, (which will depend on the supplies like the wafers on the bottom of the cookie that you can find), just a little time consuming. The kind my mother always made, hence what I have always made before coming to know my German friend Anke, are roll and cut out. Anke's family always did the ones like you can buy at Aldi, with the little white wafers on the bottom of the soft spice cookie. lol I thought you would be most interested in the information on how to load a cow into a trailer. lol xx
DeleteI'm reading that same Advent devotional by Hannah Anderson, too. I remembered many parts of it but was surprised at many I had forgotten. I get so much out of her writing.
ReplyDeleteWhat sweet and thoughtful gifts, both the postcards and the Lebkuchen tins.
I know, Barbara. I feel the same way about her writing. God has certainly gifted her with not only great writing ability but also with wisdom and insight.
DeleteThank you for your sweet comments about the postcards and the Lebkuchen tins.
The post cards are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteYour collections look wonderful on your beautiful hutch.
Thank you, Karen. I really enjoy them each year and put the angels out with the Nativity set.
DeleteThank you for your kind words regarding the hutch. Would you believe that we got the hutch at the auction where we met you and Ken those couple of times? It's Amish made and originally they auctioned off the hutch and HUGE table together. And then the auctioneer came back and said that the woman had only wanted the table and asked that they resell the hutch. That time, the hutch was in our price range! It was truly a blessing from the Lord.
So wonderful to hear from you, Dianna. I am wondering if I don't have you on my list of blogs anymore since you were gone for a while, because I haven't seen the posts listed. I need to go check that so I can keep up with you. I always enjoy reading your posts. I love those Lebkuchen tins, etc. What wonderful gifts and collection. I know the cookies are good too! Thank you for sharing the quotes and wonderful thoughts, and of course one never knows when one might need to learn how to get cattle onto a trailer! Thank you for that information! LOL. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas / Advent season.
ReplyDeleteHello Pam. Thank you for your kind words about my Lebkuchen tins and the angel postcards that were made for me by the lady in Germany. You are most welcome for the information about how to get cattle onto a trailer. I thought it was something you would want to know. lol Great to see you here, friend. I am only posting on Mondays and Fridays through the month of December.
DeleteI think I must still be a country girl at heart because I can really appreciate the tip on getting cattle to get into a trailer.
ReplyDeleteI think your pretty tins are so lovely and they are more precious because each one has a story. No doubt when you take them out each Christmas season you remember the giver.
The 'quilted' postcards also are unique.
Have a lovely weekend ❤
Granny M
I'm glad that the information about the cattle and the trailer were useful, Granny M. The road we take from our house to church is through the country and winding roads...always winding roads in WV. :) And we see fields full of cattle along the way. I noticed that there was a cattle trailer in one of the fields and mentioned it to Strongheart. He said that he was pretty sure the farmer was getting ready to move the cattle because he was actually feeding them out of the back of the trailer. And then he went on to explain to me about how doing that for a while gets the cattle used to the trailer because it holds their food and at some point you start to move the hay or grain further back into the trailer and before you know it, getting the cattle on the trailer is so much easier.
DeleteThank you for your kind words about the tins and postcards. They are special to me, and, yes, when I get them out each year I do think of those who gave them to me.
Do you still collect postcards?
Have a lovely remainder to your week! xx
LD I like your Royal Daulton tea set. I like things of old that have great memories. I have tins from an older couple that are 70 years old. Enjoyed reading and I did figure out to comment through the back door.
DeleteThank you, LD, for stopping by. I'm sorry if you have had trouble leaving comments prior to this.
DeleteThe Royal Daulton was another gift that was given to me by a close friend. It's definitely a treasure. I love old things...my Christmas tree decorations this year were my grandmother's (I'm in my 70s just for reference to the age of the ornaments). I also have some of my grandmother's tins.
I love that you have such beautiful collections of things and of people around the world, Dianna!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lisa. The Lord has certainly blessed me in that area. My mom worked in a research lab at WVU for 25 years and she was surrounded by people from different countries and cultures. I learned so much from her about embracing differences rather than shying away from them. I think that's one reason I enjoy blogging so much.
DeleteWhat a special collection...those tins are so pretty and with such special meaning and love behind them! Do you still make the spice cookies?? Thanks for the tip on loading cattle. I'm going to store that away...and just never know when I might need to recall it:) So enjoyed this post today (glad I didn't miss it altogether!) Happy Friday to you, friend!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jennifer. I do still make the cookies... just not this year because we have had to make some dietary changes due to health issues. Monday's post will have some pictures of one of the large tins... actually the one that started the whole collection.
Delete