Hidden Talents

Last year when we were new members of our ward, the relief society presidency came to visit me. They saw all of the different crafts I had in my apartment and made some comments about them. One of the girls said “I love all the crafts you have. You must be crafty” to which I quickly replied “No.” That next Sunday I was put in as the craft coordinator of my ward. I wanted to refuse and say that all of those ‘cute crafts’ were gifts and that I have no idea how to make anything…seriously! But we’re told that the callings in the church are from the Lord so I accepted.

This Christmas we have decided because we have such awesome wonderful neighbors who, from the day we started moving in, have done nothing but extend warm welcomes to the neighborhood along with always offering to lend a helping hand, to give them a little something for Christmas. We made them these…

Let me explain the awesome assortment of goodies (to which I only made one item on the plates)...

Our good friends, the Kilgore’s, have a Christmas tradition where they bake Christmas goodies to be handed out as neighbor gifts. That’s a tradition that many people have. My family had the same tradition but it has slowly dwindled away because it’s too much work (since my mom did it all). This year we were included in the Kilgore’s tradition of baking Christmas goodies (and received command last night from Jess that we will be included every year from now on). I offered to make sugar cookies. My mom has a wonderful family recipe that I was excited to share with them. I felt bad only bringing the one goodie. Jess and Danny were making fudge, peanut brittle, popcorn balls, and peanut butter cup things, and Sally and Bryce were making chocolate covered pretzels and caramels. I felt like I should contribute with something else…until Sunday afternoon while I was mixing up the dough. I had to use my hands to mix the ingredients together…who knew that cookie dough would be so hard to stir by hand (my hands were clean, just in case you were thinking “ewww”). This feeling continued into Monday night while we were baking them. They are very time consuming. Between rolling out the dough, cutting out the shapes with cookie cutters, baking them with a watchful eye so they don’t burn, waiting for them to cool, and frosting them I was exhausted! Lucky for me I had helpers…Gordon, and occasionally Danny, cutting out the shapes, and Sally helping to make sure they were cooked thoroughly, they all turned out successful (my mom would be so proud!). I’m happy to announce that I didn’t burn a single batch (I did brown one batch, but they did no t burn!). Forty-eight cookies and four hours later (no it did not take me that whole time to bake them) we had enough Christmas candy to feed a small army.

There were some struggles throughout the evening…Jess made two different batches of fudge because she thought the first one didn’t taste right (everyone else thought it was yummy) and I’m not sure what was wrong with the second batch. I just remember seeing it in the garbage. Danny forgot to buy an ingredient for the popcorn balls so Jess opted not to make them. We also sort of let the chocolate sit too long in the melting pot and burnt it. Along with that, the fudge and chocolate on the pretzels didn’t harden fast enough so half of the chocolate is still in the pan and on the parchment paper. All struggles aside…we had a blast! We love hanging out with those two couples. We’re so blessed to have such great friends.

Bryce dipping the pretzels

The hardest part about making

the cookies is frosting them

Jess LOVES marshmallows!

Gordon and Danny cutting out shapes for sugar cookies

Baby Bentley and Sally

The first batch of fudge

Baby Bentley and Bryce

Gordon, Jess, Sally, and Danny (in the back)

doing their part to make Christmas goodies

Well I sure hope my neighbors don’t think I’m some kind of baker. Again, I only contributed to one item on those plates. Instead of four hours of baking I would have had to spend weeks creating and perfecting all the goodies on their Christmas goody plates. I pray that when we do go to our home ward (right now we’re in a student married ward and don’t plan on leaving anytime soon) that I don’t get a calling that includes baking of any sorts.

Both of these ‘talents’ have not only been hidden from all of you, but they have been tucked away in a dark hidden spot from me too. It’s true…the Lord knows you better than you know yourself.