It's So Nice To Feel Relaxed!

I've been looking for ways to show Josh how much I love him this past week. Doing extra, unexpected things that make his eyes light up when he walks in the door.

Yesterday, I decided to make him a pie.

This may seem like nothing special to those of you who make pies on a regular basis, but I haven't made a pie in years. Dough of any kind and I do not get along. At all. Even the store bought crusts end up soggy on the bottom when I bake them.

But, yesterday... for Josh... I decided to bite the bullet and try again. I pulled up Pioneer Woman's "Perfect" Pie Crust and got busy. The recipe made enough dough for three crusts.

It's a good thing.

(BTW~Did you know the secret to flaky crusts is freezing then thawing before using? It's true! :)

Anyway, throwing the ingredients together was a piece of cake. The freezing was easy, too. Once they were thawed and the rolling commenced the problems arose.

No matter how much I "shaped" the sides, the dough would not stay circular. I did everything my Betty Crocker cookbook said to do. Nothing worked the way the book said it would. The edges cracked, layers of the dough lifted onto the rolling pin, and as a whole it stuck to the counter and/or rolling pin resulting in several major tears along the sides. In complete frustration, I wadded it up and threw it in the garbage can.

Try #2:

Very carefully, I made the dough into a ball. Very carefully, I rolled it out onto an evenly floured surface. Very carefully, I began rolling from the middle, making a 1/4 turn, and shaping. Rolling, turning and shaping. All was well, until....it wasn't. Somehow, 1/3 of the dough stuck to the rolling pin and tore just when I was almost done.

I was beyond caring. I none too gently placed it into the pie pan and poured in the cherries. When I double checked the recipe I realized that it called for a top crust. I know I have a recipe for a crumb topping somewhere, but I wasn't in the mood to dig for it.

"Maybe the third time's the charm," I thought. So out came the third crust.

Yeah right.

It did the exact. same. thing.

I placed it on top of the cherries. Mashed the sides together. Made random slits in the top and practically threw the thing in the oven.

Suddenly I remembered I wanted to put sugar on the top, so I took it out, fixed it and threw it back in.

As I was looking around at my messy kitchen I remembered something else. I read somewhere, a long time ago, that rolling pie crusts between two pieces of wax paper or greased saran wrap greatly simplifies things.

Too late.

Oh well.

When it was done I placed it on my stove to cool. It looked surprisingly beautiful there. I even remembered to push it far enough back, away from naughty little fingers.

Life was good once again. :)

Seeing Josh's face when he saw that pie was worth every second of frustration. He couldn't believe it. THAT'S how big a deal this whole "dough thing" is. :) He couldn't wait to try some. He ended up with an upset stomach as the evening wore on, and decided he'd just wait and have some for breakfast.

He sampled a cherry on his way down to bed.

This morning, he noticed right away that the pie was no longer on the stove, but didn't think too much of it. Alia had put the leftovers away, and probably had put it in the fridge. Isaac is always up with the sun, so when he heard Josh in the kitchen he came out to say "good morning." While Josh was getting his vitamins out he heard the fridge door open. As he turned around to tell Isaac to close the door he saw his pie, balanced precariously in Isaac's left hand, while he used his right hand to grab a handful of cherries.

Yep, you guessed it. As he went to stuff the cherries in his mouth, the pie fell to the floor, landing upside down.

Josh didn't get even one bite of his long-awaited cherry pie.

I don't know if he was more upset because of that, or because it was such a waste of all my hard work. Let's just say that it wasn't a good way to begin the day.

But, ya know what, I've decided that it just really doesn't matter. I have so very much to be thankful for right now, that nothing can steal my joy. A pie is such an insignificant thing. It wasn't even an effort not to care. It's actually kinda funny. :)

For some reason I am unusually excited about Christmas this year. Thanksgiving is the "big" holiday for the Bothwell clan, but I still want Christmas to be a special and memorable time of year for my kids. I've been trying to accomplish this through making a tradition of having them help me make lots of goodies to give away to people whom we know don't know the Lord, and this year we might even include those who are extra special to them.

They love it!

Christmas is primarily a time of giving, not receiving, and I want them to have the satisfaction of giving someone else something useful and good to enjoy that they made with their own two hands rather than something they had to spend money on that will probably be forgotten and unappreciated. It is also an opportunity to teach my kids to love others more through asking God to bless the gifts we give, and encouraging them pray for those people faithfully.

My neighbors are probably wondering what I'm going to come up with this year to get tracts into their hands. Last year I made the most amazing sugar cookies ever; (see link above) nearly dying in the process since they, too, required handling dough.

But I feel like I can sit back, relax, and really enjoy everything this year because it's going to be nice and quiet. I love seeing family, but I can't tell you how nice it will be not to be running around like a chicken with my head cut off taking care of everything. Like Aspen said at Thanksgiving, this is supposed to be a fun and enjoyable time of year; not a hectic, stressful one.

My heart is simply overflowing with thankfulness for the blessings and goodness of the God we are so privileged to serve.