This is my favorite Gingerbread Men recipe, because it calls for fresh ginger root — something that was pretty easy to find, even when we lived in Ukraine and powdered ginger wasn’t. In the states, I usually make this a triple-ginger recipe, with fresh, crystalized, and powdered ginger. I originally posted this here and here, but am reposting as the boys will be making Gingerbread Men Marines (Thanks to Spunky for suggesting the idea and organizing this was to “offer a cookie in Jesus’ name” at Christmas!)
Gingerbread Men
4 cups plain white flour
2 cup raw sugar
1 teaspoon bi-carb soda
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon of salt
4 full teaspoons of freshly chopped ginger (3+ inches of ginger root)
1 teaspoon ground dry ginger (opt)
250g (8 oz.) butter
4 small eggs
2 teaspoon golden syrup or honey
Sift the flour into a bowl and add the soda, cinnamon and salt. Rub in the butter until it all crumbles, then add the sugar, working it all into a dough. Grate the ginger or cut very finely. Finally add the beaten eggs and golden syrup and mix it all together. (Using your hands works best.)
Place some flour on a clean surface and roll out the dough flatly. If the mixture is still too sticky, add a little bit more flour. Cut into shapes and place on a greased tray and bung it in the oven at 180 C for about 15 to 20 minutes, leave to cool on the tray and eat them.
My notes: I’ve found that the ginger flavor matures if you refrigerate the dough overnight or store the cookies in a tin for a day or so. We piped details in white frosting on these last year, and they were our primary tree decoration. They still tasted yummy after hanging on the tree for awhile!
I am not the author of this recipe, but found it online many years ago. The website from which I borrowed it is no longer active, and I’m thankful for whoever first wrote it up!
When J12 was little — probably just 4 y/o or so — his favorite hymn was “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.” He sang it with gusto, and we sang it throughout the year because he asked us to sing it almost every time we had family worship.
Hark the herald angels sing
“Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled”
Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim:
“Christ is born in Bethlehem”
Hark! The herald angels sing
“Glory to the newborn King!”
Christ by highest heav’n adored
Christ the everlasting Lord!
Late in time behold Him come
Offspring of a Virgin’s womb
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel
Hark! The herald angels sing
“Glory to the newborn King!”
Hail the heav’n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings
Ris’n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
“Glory to the newborn King!”
The Incarnation. . . beautiful. . . Veiled in flesh the Godhead see / Hail the incarnate Deity / Pleased as man with man to dwell / Jesus, our Emmanuel.
Calvin painted a tender picture, For who even of slight intelligence does not understand that, as nurses commonly do with infants, God is wont in a measure to “lisp” in speaking to us? And wasn’t it Tim Keller who said that the Incarnation is Deity for Dummies?
R9 opened our family worship with prayer and included “And keep us from worldly commercialization. . .” I didn’t even know he knew that word, much less the concept.
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
*
We talked about the shepherds. R9 (who also lit the candles this week) piped up about the shepherds being not well regarded. We talked about how Jesus came for both the lowly and the wise, announced His coming to the shepherds and the magi. Hubby spoke about Jesus, the Good Shepherd — and how we are his dumb, wandering, shepherd-needing sheep.
And while it may may go better with the fourth Sunday in Advent, and while our voices are not glorious, we closed by singing,
Angels we have heard on high,
singing sweetly through the night,
and the mountains in reply,
echoing their brave delight.
Gloria in excelsis Deo.
Gloria in excelsis Deo.
Shepherds, why this jubilee?
Why these songs of happy cheer?
What great brightness did you see?
What glad tidings did you hear?
Gloria in excelsis Deo.
Gloria in excelsis Deo.
Come to Bethlehem and see
him whose birth the angels sing;
come, adore on bended knee
Christ the Lord, the newborn King.
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the firstregistration whenQuirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went upfrom Galilee, from the town ofNazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem,because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed,who was with child.
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.”
Today we light the second candle on our Advent wreath, the Bethleham candle. We remember that what may seem insignificant to us — a small town, a young woman, a poor carpenter — the Lord works in ways that can seem insignificant and yet changes the world. Today’s sermon was from I Samuel 1:21 – 2:10, not a passage traditionally tied to Advent. And yet, the message dovetailed so beautifully with what we are remembering with Advent. (The sermon is now online — please listen.)
We couldn’t decide on which Advent hymn to sing this week, so we’ll be singing two — and both of these echo the message of our sufficiency in God alone, whose plans are glorious though may not appear so at first.
Come, Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel’s Strength and Consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear Desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.
Born Thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a King,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.
O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.
For Christ is born of Mary, and gathered all above,
While mortals sleep, the angels keep their watch of wondering love.
O morning stars together, proclaim the holy birth,
And praises sing to God the King, and peace to men on earth!
How silently, how silently, the wondrous Gift is giv’n;
So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His Heav’n.
No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in.
Where children pure and happy pray to the blessèd Child,
Where misery cries out to Thee, Son of the mother mild;
Where charity stands watching and faith holds wide the door,
The dark night wakes, the glory breaks, and Christmas comes once more.
O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin, and enter in, be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel!
As I shared before we are using a wooden calendar as part of our daily Advent time. I printed out these verses (page 1, page 2), and have them behind each door, along with yummy candy. (Last year, we also had fun activities hidden behind some of the doors.) Part of the boys’ morning routine is singing our Advent hymn together, reading the verses together, and enjoying the candy.
I told Hubby the one thing that I wanted for Christmas was this song — and he found it! *giddy* I’ve looked the past few years, and couldn’t get it online. I get so sentimental. It just doesn’t feel like the holidays without the Leprikonsi.
Tonight we assembled our Advent wreath. Along with tapers purple and pink and a pillar of white, the boys have arranged magnolia leaves, spanish moss, acorns and bits of grass. We turned off all the lights in the house, and were goofy for a few minutes in the dark. Then I lit a candle that I was holding, gave it to one of the boys, lit another, until we were each holding candles. We took our candles outside and saw how much even our little candles brought light to the dark neighborhood.
We returned to the table, and my oldest lit the first candle, the prophecy candle.
2 The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.
3 You have enlarged the nation
and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest,
as men rejoice
when dividing the plunder.
4 For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,
you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor.
5 Every warrior’s boot used in battle
and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
will be fuel for the fire.
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
We talked about why we observe Advent. We talked about light, darkness. We talked about prophecy and the incarnation. When I told the boys to look up hymn #194, my oldest got excited, “I love that one!” We’ll be singing it together each day this week.
O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, O come, thou Lord of might,
Who to thy tribes, on Sinai’s height,
In ancient times didst give the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.
O come, thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell thy people save,
And give them victory o’er the grave.
O come, thou Dayspring from on high
And cheer us by thy drawing nigh;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.
O come, thou Key of David, come
And open wide our heav’nly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Advent has become a special part of our family’s tradition. It looks a little different each year, grows, changes. . . I’ve shared bits of it in the past, but wanted to gather in one place what Advent looks like in our home for a reference for the future and for those who are curious. What we do changes each year, and so I’ll share what we’re doing this year.
Why does our family observe Advent?
Advent is a time of anticipation, preparation. Advent is looking towards the coming of Christ, both His incarnation and His coming again. It is a time of expectant waiting. When I was about 8 years old, I remember making an advent wreath at the Base Chapel on Adak. My mom has told me that as a child, it was important to me to have the rituals and traditions of faith.
Advent is a tradition, not a worship practice that is directed by the Bible. Yet, the Bible is replete with both prophecies looking toward the future–to the Incarnation and our salvation–as well as enjoinders to remember what God has done for us in the past.
For me, traditions are a catalyst for remembering, for refocusing. As an adult these are important to me because they direct my heart and thoughts to the Lord, as well as help me take special time with my boys. The holidays can be stressful. . . observing Advent is a way for me to focus on the Lord and not be swept up by the commercialism, the frantic pace, and the distractions around me.
If you are new to the idea of the Advent season, this article is a good overview. If observing Advent prompts your heart to worship, that is a good thing. But please remember this is not something that all families do or need to do to celebrate the Incarnation.
Advent Wreath
We make an advent wreath each year. Advent wreaths usually have four candles around a circle, one to light each week, with an additional candle in the middle to light on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Each Sunday in Advent is focused on a specific theme, and the corresponding candle lit that Sunday (and possibly each day of that week.)
Our wreaths tend to be rather non-traditional, as we started using an advent wreath and lighting the candles when we were in Ukraine and had to be creative with what we had at hand. One year we used a small mirror as the base with four votive candles in the corners and a pillar candle in the middle. The boys were quite small that year, and I wanted something I could easily put out of reach of little hands, and this one fit on our small shelf. Another year, we made one which was more traditional, using live evergreen branches to make the wreath. The past few years the boys have gone on a nature walk and gathered greens and other outdoorsy items, we’ve arranged them on a plate, and affixed the candles to the plate with a bit of modelling clay.
Each Sunday in Advent, we gather around the table, light the candle, sing Advent hymns, read Scriptures and pray together. Some years we do that each evening, some year we do that just on Sundays. Since we have four boys and there are four Sundays in Advent, each boy gets a turn lighting the candles. I’ll be posting our hymns and readings each week. You can also find Advent readings online:
In addition to lighting the candles on the Advent wreath on Sundays, we’ll be opening a door on our wooden advent calendar this year. (This is the one my MIL has, ours is a little different.) I have meshed our weekly candle lighting and readings with daily door-opening and reading Bible versesI printed out. Each little compartment also had either four pieces of candy or an activity written on it. Activities are things like drink hot cocoa together, make homemade playdough, watch a holiday movie, bake cookies. These are activities I want to remember to do this holiday season, but tend to happen only if I plan ahead. This little calendar helps me plan ahead as well as be a surprise to the boys. I also have a few small gifts that go along with the calendar and activities — things like speciality instant cocoa, Christmas mugs for each of the boys (bought on clearance last year!), microwave popcorn to go with the movie. Obviously those don’t fit in the little compartments, but I put a little note behind the calendar door and pull them out of the closet when they open the door. Like I said, I have to plan ahead to do these fun holidayish things, and this helps me actually do fun things with the boys that otherwise fall to the wayside when I get busy.
Other families observe advent in ways that we aren’t this year. When our boys were little, we had a Jesse Tree that was passed along to us by Auntie L. Several friends use these ideas for Jesse Tree devotions. Other families use books like Jotham’s Journey or Christ in Christmas. Some of these ideas may work for you — or none of them might be right for your family this year. Advent can be a catalyst for preparing our hearts for worship, but if it becomes another holiday stress than its purpose is defeated.
When I was little, I had cassette tapes of my Maw Maw on the radio in New Orleans being Mrs. Claus. Children would call up and ask questions about the North Pole or ask Mrs. Claus for that very special gift they hoped to find under the tree on Christmas morning. One of the things I’ve always admired about Maw Maw is her ability to jump feet first into new projects and try new things. She passed that quality along to my mother, too.
For the past couple of years, my Mom has been Mrs. Claus at Navy Pier in Chicago. (Did you know Mrs. Claus’s first name is Cookie?) She delights the children and adds to the magical air of the holiday season.
We’ve done something new this year, which I think I’d like to turn into a family tradition. I put a bunch of Christmas movies at the top of our Netflix/Blockbuster queue–both ones that we know are classics and ones which we’ve never seen. On the evenings Hubby has to work, the boys and I snuggle in bed and watch Christmas shows. Usually I drift off to sleep in the middle of the movie. . . We’ve watched classics like The Nutcracker and It’s A Wonderful Life (with Hubby) and movies new to us like Holiday Inn, Christmas Past, and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra Christmas Special.
I don’t like doing too much TV time, but it’s nice and cozy and snuggling in front of a movie is the Florida equivalent to cuddling in front of a fire. . .
