Everybody take a deep breath now...

PHEW! Been busy? I sure have been! I'm right in the middle of the old "countdown to Christmas" and I have had a lot on my plate. Not all of it has been last minute Christmas preparations, though there has been plenty of that. I have thankfully been able to carve out time for Advent Services, Sunday School Christmas Pageant practises (the children will be putting on a beautiful Christmas Eve Children's Service), and the Christmas Chorale put on by my daughter's school (she is in both the Concert choir and the Jazz Choir). It's good to pause for a while to enjoy these things. The "work" will always be there.

Consider this a "catch-up" post - little mini updates of all the things I wanted to blog about, but didn't get around to while I've been scurrying about!

Christmas Cookie Roundup
Hey, thanks to everyone who participated! I've collected up all the recipes (well, URLs to them anyways) and here they are:
Shortybear's first entry is No-bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars. (Let me just say: Chocolate, peanut butter AND no-bake? Who is this genius? This is the first one I'm going to try!) She follows that up with two more, Raspberry Oatmeal Squares and Chocolate Cookies. They all sound like keepers.
Beth has submitted Cherry Snowballs. This is one I've never heard of before - totally unique. Since most of the cookie recipes in my repertoire are variations on a theme, I intend to try this one as well.
Debbie checks in with a delicious and easy to make candy recipe. Nummy!
Allison contributed Peanut Butter Dreams, another one on my "to try" list.
And finally, Denise, the undisputed cookie queen, shares her Pizzelle recipe.

Ladies, start your ovens!

Really, I haven't been procrastinating
Well ok, I have been. I haven't selected a recipient to honour with a Mercy Drop yet. Since Beth honoured me with one several weeks ago I have been putting off selecting someone. Honestly, trying to narrow it to a single recipient is daunting for me because each of you, in your own way, is a Mercy Drop to me. How can I choose just one? So, though I am now going to single out one blog in particular, I reserve the right to bestow this honour again.

I choose Shortybear's Place. I find a model of faith there every day. Every day. This has not been Denise's best year ever. Quite frankly, her trials this year reminded me of Jobs. And she will quite readily admit that this has been a very difficult time for her, but also like Job, she knows that her Redeemer lives, and that is what comes through in her posts. She models a hang-on-at-all-costs faith that I admire, and what she shares refreshes me. I thank you for that, Denise.

Please pray
Would you all please keep our Sunday School in your prayers? The children will be participating in the service this Sunday. At our final practise, we were still struggling a bit. Please pray that the Lord would use these precious little ones to bring His Word, and if our delivery is less than "polished" let that not obscure the Light.

Happy Birthday Jack
Clues, clues. A couple of things Sara mentioned let me to believe that yesterday was her son's birthday. I was right! There is an adorable pic of mom and son on her blog. Happy birthday little man!

Feed in a manger
A friend, in her annual Christmas letter, writes:
This year as we reflect again on what Christmas means to us, I came upon an interesting quotation from IVP's Ancient Commentary on the the Scriptures. It seems that the name Bethlehem means "house of bread". Cyril of Alexandria writes of the Christ child that "He is placed like feed in a manger, that we, by now approaching the manger, yes, his table, find no longer feed, but the bread from heaven, which is the body of life." Jesus himself says in John 6:35 "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." May the Child in the manger provide food for our hungry souls this Christmas and always!

Heavenly food indeed.