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Well, it isn’t necessarily a “pear” tree — my brother is calling it an atheist tree per his “custom” — but it is pretty and we are together to celebrate. Plus, my grandma shipped us a giant box of Harry & David pears, so we’ll eat them by the tree and call it good enough.

Hope you are having a lovely Christmas week, with time to also enjoy family, good food and great weather. I bundled up today and took an hour walk on icy sidewalks for a change of pace. It was lovely to have time to think, be exceptionally cold and enjoy a new view. I adore Colorado. Tonight my dad arrives and the four of us will fall into full-family vacation mode: movies, lots of good food, movies, presents, endless teasing and eventually tears as the planes part later in the week.

For now, time to enjoy what I’ve got. Much love to you and your family!

~K

The culmination of Jars of Renewal — four Christmas baskets filled with homemade goodies being delivered today.

I was reading scripture I’ll be teaching at church this morning and it specifically mentions two turtle doves. Coincidence? Nah. Amazing is more like it.

So, Joseph and Mary had to pay God two turtle doves when Jesus turned 30 days old to officially buy him back from the Lord — per Jewish tradition. Isn’t that fascinating? I didn’t know anything about this until I was researching Simeon and Anna and how to present, once again, a daunting topic to children. Today’s I’m to speak of Anna’s grace.

This got me thinking — grace. It’s a concept I’ve only recently begun to understand. How should I explain this to a gaggle of noisy, Christmas-hyped children? I started thinking about ways I experienced grace as a kid, even though I didn’t recognize it then.

• That immediate sense of relief and joy diving into a cold pool on a scorching day
• The first time I held my baby brother
• That breath-taking moment between jumps on a giant trampoline
• The smell of wet desert
• The sneaky joy of catching your parents in a private look and witnessing their love
• The ocean or Grand Canyon for the first time and that moment when you think, “No! It can’t be!”

Grace is easier to understand as an adult — I find myself feeling that spiritual presence when instead of being characteristically impatient, I take a deep breath and keep listening, don’t flip the person off in traffic, stop to speak to a homeless person in need of conversation as much as change.

Here goes nothing!

~K

I couldn’t let Grace down by not keeping up with the title theme…

Katie asked me a while back if I’d help her learn how to cook. I couldn’t wait! Visions of aprons and journals and gourmet meals danced through my head. Then I remembered my audience. Katie is a sweet girl with simple tastes and gourmet would bore her. (Not that she’d tell me. Her manners are fabulous.)

Mac & cheese that didn’t come out of a box? Well… that was a fascinating concept.

And chicken that didn’t come in a nugget form? Amazing.

We spent the afternoon Christmas and then grocery shopping. And because the stars aligned, four other friends showed up for lunch so Katie had her very own audience. Everyone was quite impressed.

(Look! My new folding chairs! Thanks again Santa!)

Katie is the daughter of a former coworker. We’ve been hanging out for a couple of years. I invited her to Nicaragua with me last summer. During our work trip, we really got to know each other and not just because we ended up as roommates. I was able to see her out of her environment — able to admire her grace, her patience, her incredible work ethic and true kindness. She impressed me a thousand ways.

She was the youngest member of our team and she worked tirelessly without ever complaining. It was back breaking work, but she did it with wide eyes — excited to be in a new country. She reminded me how fun it was to be 15 with a passport, youth and a passion for the world.

She’s recently decided to go to a new high school. She’ll start all over, with a new opportunity to create who is she, in just a few weeks. I think she’s almost as excited to not have to wear a school uniform for the first time in 15 years as she is to have new classes, including fashion design. We spent a lot of our cooking time talking about who she will be at this school. For the first time — after more than a year of telling her myself — she said she’d be the smart girl. I truly had to hold back jumping up and down, I was so thrilled. She’s in a couple honors classes for the first time and I think her new-found sense of self-esteem couldn’t come soon enough.

Something tells me we’ll always be friends. And I’m going to have a lot of fun watching the amazing things she’ll do.

~K

Supplies:

• Two pieces of cotton fabric cut 13″ x 12″
• One pocket piece of cotton fabric cut 8″ x 5″
• Two pieces of ribbon, 6″ long, width of your preference
• Wax paper
• Stickers!

Directions:

1. Cut your book front fabric and inside fabric to 13″ x 12″. Iron these pieces in half width-wise, creating a stiff center crease.

2. Cut your inside pocket piece to 8″ x 5″

3. Turn the top edge of your pocket under, iron. Run a zigzag stitch along this edge.

4. Place the pocket in the center of your inside lining. You can sew the pocket on either side of the lining. I sewed mine on the front lining.

5. With the pocket attached, now you can select to add any embellishments (such as a bias-tape stenciled name). Or, you can keep it simple, as I am doing on this example. Place the front panel right side up. Place either piece of ribbon — cut 6″ long — with 1/2 an inch over the edge. These pieces of ribbon will serve as your ties for the book. Center these and then place the lining (with the pocket attached) right side down, sandwiching the ribbons.

6. Pin these pieces right side together, with just 1/2 inch of ribbon visible. Leave a 4″ gap between your beginning and stop points. You’ll later use this gap to turn the book right side out. Sew a 1/2 inch seam around each of the edges, make sure to leave the gap. Backstitch over your ribbon to make sure the are secured.

7. Trim your corners and any extra fabric. Turn right side out.

8. Iron and make sure to turn under the gap hems. Sew the gap closed with a 1/4 inch seam and continue around the edge of all four sides, adding a nice top stitch.

9. Trim your wax paper to fit the book; the easiest way to do this is to cut your wax pages the same length of the book (13″). I use 5 of these wax sheets.

10. Pin the wax sheets in place. Run a tight zigzag stitch from the top to the bottom of the book, down the center of the wax sheet. This is making your book’s crease. Backstitch several times at both the beginning and the end.

11. Fold in half, fill with stickers. Voila! A fabulous and inexpensive gift for any child.

One more thing you might want to consider: I just gave this book to a 3-year-old who was VERY excited to play with the stickers. In the process, the wax pages were pretty beaten up. It might make sense for younger children to attach your wax paper to a piece of card stock first and then sew them into the book to make the pages a bit more sturdy.

My favorite stickers, for the record, were the ones you got after seeing the dentist. Not only were they huge, but they also symbolized not having to go back to the dentist for quite a while.

~K

So, in the last two days I’ve learned some very interesting things from you…

1. We all have baking failures and some of you are so hungry for homemade goodies, you’d consider eating burnt chocolate chips off a pan with a spoon. Wowie. Let’s work on this. I see lots of improved baking in our futures.

2. You are sticker freaks. Who knew? Scratch & sniff, puffy, googly eyed, etc. I love it. The sticker book tutorial did not happen last night. Instead, I went caroling again. I will get it done this weekend, in time for anyone who wants to make a quick Christmas gift. I promise you the entire project will take less than 1hour. If you want to prep, get about 1/2 a yard of two types of cotton fabric, some ribbon and a box of wax paper. We’ll meet back here for sticker book class on Saturday.

In the meantime, I’m so, so happy to have this nudu complete. I love working on these, and I swear I learn a little something every time. For example, this one? A bit greener than I thought. But the nubbies are getting closer to the actual size I’m looking for. You may also notice that fabulous scarf I’m wearing?

That’s a Finny original. She sent it to me several years ago for Christmas and I’ve worn the tar out of it. Got to love handknits that hold up.

This baby has been shipped and received. Plus, the recipient even said he was happy and sending the other part of payment. These are huge improvements from the last one. Yet another perk of getting an official Etsy account next year — payment received before service.

One final point of humor I have to share. Out caroling last night with Rebecca, we were having a conversation about yarn. I told her I am currently working on one last scarf that is being knit out of baby alpaca yarn. It is so soft and gorgeous. (The guys at the bagel shop yesterday morning — where I was frantically knitting between bites — were commenting how sad and cold those baby alpaca must be running around the Andes, shaved slim.) In the middle of my alpaca story, Bec looks at me and says, “Isn’t that what they use to run up Everest for climbing teams?” To which I respond, “Um. No. Those are sherpa. And by the way, those are people.”

For whatever reason, this made us giggle like nut house escapees for about an hour. Got to love the end-of-the-season stress reliever.

Happy Friday!

~K

P.S. Inquiries for Nudu caps: Email: africankelli at gmail dot com. I’ll be happy to create one of these for you. You pick the color and size. They cost $250 and take two months. They are entirely handmade. Thanks!