Update and Post

Dear Choate friends,

Just to update you – the radio is still not working for the Choates. Although they are trying to do everything possible to fix any potential mechanical problems, the suspicion is that solar issues are actually the culprit. Fortunately, the God we serve can easily overcome any mechanical problems, but we also serve the God who created the sun. So, if it’s a solar problem, He can handle that too! Will you pray with me that He will restore the radio to working order?

In the meantime, I think all of the pieces of posts and pictures from last week have trickled in. Here’s Sunday’s post:

Sunday, December 15

We are trying to keep one foot in our passport culture and one foot in the culture currently surrounding us as we celebrate Christmas and observe some family traditions.  Today, we read some gingerbread picture books and tried to make a gingerbread nativity scene.  My kids think that the gingerbread is only a vehicle to hold icing and M&Ms and Skittles.  We received the candy in care packages, and we've been saving them for today! 

The cookies couldn't handle the load, the walls began to buckle.  So we ended up eating our creations and enjoying them very much! 

We used the recipe from Jim Aylesworth's "The Gingerbread Man":

Sift into a big bowl and mix:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground allspice

Beat together in another bowl:
1 farm fresh egg
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
2/3 cup dark molasses
6 tablespoons softened butter

Add dry ingredients slowly to wet mixture until well blended.  Cover and refrigerate for one hour.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Sift flour onto your board and your rolling pin as you work to keep the dough from sticking.  Roll out a portion of dough 1/4 inch thick.  Cut out your gingerbread men with a two-inch floured cookie cutter.  Or, with floured hands, shape and hand press your own little gingerbread men.  (One way to shape them is to make a little ball for the head, a larger ball for the body, and stick-shaped rolls for arms and legs.)  Decorate with raisins.  Place 1 inch apart on a buttered cookie sheet.  Bake 8 minutes, or until slightly firm to the touch.  Cool on wire rack.  This will make about 50 cookies.