Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas Eve day, and the cookie dough is waiting for children to make it into cutout cookies. The Wassail is steaming hot on the stove, and the prime rib roast is thawing in the fridge, awaiting tomorrow's dinner. 

The children sing Christmas carols in perfect harmony and beg us to take them caroling later in the day by candlelight. I say we'll have to wait until at least 5 o'clock if we want to use candles. Their grins widen.

Jesse squeezes the hand of the chipmunk that dances and sings Kelly Clarkson's "Since You've Been Gone." It startles the dogs. Everyone giggles. 

Cinnamon smells fill the air. Deer range in the back yard. An owl swoops down. The chilly winter air forms clouds around my breath as I take it all in.

Our Savior probably wasn't born in the winter, I think. Christians took over the pagan winter solstice holiday so that they could more easily convert the heathen masses. But it's okay. We can still enjoy the yuletide festivities even though most of them are not our own. As long as we remember that the birth of Jesus Christ, Yeshua, is why we feast at the banquet table tomorrow, share our riches with the poor, and sing His praises to the neighbors.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

God bless you!

Yours -- with tinsel and lights and calm, peaceful nights,

Megan Elizabeth

The long-awaited Christmas pudding recipe

Steamed Date Pudding with Whiskey Sauce

serves 8

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature

1 cup honey

1 tablespoon grated lemon peel

1 teaspoon lemon juice

2 eggs

3/4 cup chopped pitted dates

1/2 cup chopped pecans

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

(1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves optional)

1 cup milk

With an electric mixer, beat the butter and honey together until smooth. Add the lemon peel and lemon juice and blend again. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Mix the dates and pecans with 2 tablespoons of the flour and set aside.

Sift together the remaining flour with the other dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture alternately with the milk. Stir in the dates and nuts.

Butter a 2-quart mold, including the lid. If the mold has no lid, butter some aluminum foil and tie it on the mold as a lid. Pour the batter into the mold and cover. (You could also use a 2-pound coffee can as a mold, or a juicy juice can.) Place the mold in a large pot and add water to come halfway up the sides of the mold. Bring the water to a boil, cover the pot, and simmer for 2 hours, or until the pudding pulls away from the sides of the mold. Let stand 10 minutes before unmolding. This may be done before dessert time. If necessary, simply reheat in a standard oven at about 325 degrees. Serve with Whiskey Sauce.

The Whiskey Sauce

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1 egg, well beaten

2 tablespoons whiskey, or more to taste

In a double boiler, cook the butter and sugar until the sugar is completely dissolved and very hot. Remove from the heat. Add the beaten egg, using a whisk, so that it will not curdle. When very smooth, allow to cool. Add the whiskey to taste.

When the pudding is assembled, pour extra whiskey over the top and ignite. Enjoy!

This recipe is courtesy of The Frugal Gourmet Celebrates Christmas. Go out and buy this book, so you, too, can make soup for the shepherds, rose cakes for the Magi, and all the other wonderful recipes in the book. It's a treasure!

Almost done...

I forgot about the voiceover I had to do up at Inspiration Networks! I raced down there through rush hour traffic and got there at 5:45. We finished at 6:00. Talk about miraculous... It's interesting that this particular show has my voice and my daughter's violin playing on the intro. Oh, and my son did some of the music, too, by messing around on garage band for his dad one day. How many Hoyts does it take to produce a television show for INSP? Four!

Gotta run, people -- I still have one more interview to do and the article to write by tomorrow. And Christmas shopping? What's that? I don't have time!

But aside from all this work-related talk, I want you all to know that we finally got our mortgage loan!!!!! At least we're preapproved. It still has to go through underwriting. We may finish this remodeling project yet!

Yours -- with gingerbread, cinnamon rolls, and date pudding with whiskey sauce on top!

Megan Elizabeth

Wow, wow, wow!

I finished three of the articles in one day. Two of them I had already been working on, but that's still a record for me. I have kids buzzing around the house all day, asking me questions, wanting me to cook them something -- I'm the queen of homemade bread and cinnamon rolls and such. They're so spoiled! And I have got to get my 17-year-old to drive! She could be an enormous help, but she's afraid to take the driving test. And I don't blame her -- she isn't the least bit ready for it!

Anyway, I'm thankful these are almost done. Now if I could just get that web copy written! If you'd like to see samples of my work, I wrote everything on the Raising an Amazing Generation website. Take a look!

Sorry, people...

I can't post much this week. I have four articles to write, one of which will require several interviews. I also have four shows to watch and write web copy for afterward. Thank you, God, for work coming in just when I need it. And may our mortgage refinance finally come through!

Seriously, we need massive help from above for this refi to go through. They've tightened all the parameters and we don't qualify to buy our own house anymore!!! It's crazy!

Megan

Anuna!

Something wonderful happened.

My son and two daughters fell in love with Celtic music several years ago and have been charming the rest of us with their tin whistle, violin, and guitar -- and their singing -- ever since. No, not the lucky charms kind of charming. The "this kid could ask for the moon and I'd give it to him, he's so charming" kind.

They also fell in love with a couple of songs by Anuna/Celtic Origins. Ever heard of them?

It was my son's birthday. When we found out Anuna was coming to town, we knew we wanted to take him to see them. Then we found out they were doing a preview visit at our local Borders bookstore, so we went. And filled out our information for a drawing for four concert tickets.

And won!

We had the best seats in the house, and Anuna was spectacular. I highly recommend their music to all of you. So does my son. And my two daughters. We had such a wonderful time!

http://www.anuna.ie

Yours -- floating on the wings of the dawn,

Megan