He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laugh’d when I saw him in spite of myself;
I think we all smile when we read these lines describing Santa Clause! He has always been famous for his stout build and we all love him that way!
I know I’m diving into dangerous territory to bring up physical appearance, mainly because our culture has hijacked it and given it tremendous weight and used it to manipulate how we feel about ourselves.
Appearance is a big topic we can’t cover fully here, but there is no doubt a considerable percentage of the population that doesn’t like how they look in one way or the other.
We know that God made us in his image!
Genesis 1:26-27
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
In these two verses, we see four times we are made in God’s image (as well as male and female).
We have characteristics that reflect some of God’s characteristics, like creativity, humor, and the ability to reason, to name a few!
All of the wonderful things that make me and you unique show us glimpses of God. Of course, he is an intangible, eternal spirit-being that doesn’t have a body like us. Our body was knit together in our mother’s womb, flesh and blood as well as spirit and soul.
Psalm 139:13-18
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
Consider our importance to God based on these verses in Psalms.
Doesn’t it seem petty and insignificant to worry about the color of our hair, the size of our nose, our height (or lack thereof), our shape, size, or any other trait God gave us?
We must do our due diligence to take good care of the body God gave us to be good stewards of his blessings, of course. The magnified focus on every detail does not glorify him or the course of our life he has set before us.
In our culture, which is so saturated in aesthetics, this is hard, very hard.
We lean on him to refocus us each day and do work worthy of his calling!
Ephesians 4:1
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
Christmas challenges so many people because everywhere we go, there are beautiful treats and goodies, and suddenly our thoughts have been derailed from God to our body.
This Christmas, instead of sinking into guilt and shame, swearing off cookies and fudge forever, always thinking about eating less food, try to think about adding more God!
Yes, more God! More God is always better!
He brings joy to our lives, and we laugh in spite of ourselves because we know what is important and who is important!
SURPRISE PRESENT
Shirley Hagar’s decorator Christmas cookies!
I have my mom’s old recipe card which actually calls for U & I beet sugar! Ha! It is probably from the 1940’s.
- Combine softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Beat in eggs, milk, and vanilla.
- Combine dry ingredients in another bowl and add to wet ingredients.
- Chill dough (I never do this step and haven’t had a problem.)
- Roll out to desired thickness and cut with Christmas cookie cutters.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 5-7 minutes.
- Makes 8 dozen cookies (average sized).
We like to frost with decorator tips using homemade frosting!
The recipe on the back of the powdered sugar box works great.
Basic ingredients that are essential for good frosting are:
- powdered sugar
- butter
- vanilla
- milk
- salt (not usually in frosting recipes but absolutely essential for good flavor…do NOT skip a pinch of salt and add more until flavor pops~ instead of a flat sweet taste it has more depth.)
This recipe frosts 24 cupcakes (from C&H website):
- 3 3/4 cups C&H® Confectioners Sugar
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
- 3 to 4 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- NO SALT IN THIS RECIPE BUT PLEASE ADD A PINCH FOR BETTER FLAVOR
You’re welcome! The best math lesson ever for today’s homeschooling!
Below you will find some images for inspiration in your decorating. They feel very unattainable, but use them as a spring board for ideas or maybe a detail or two you can add to your cookies! Enjoy!
