Hiding place

Psalm 32: 7
" You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. "


I had a good weekend and a bad weekend. I saw a wonderful Christmas show and had a lovely lunch with my mother, my God-mother, my cousin and her daughter, my SIL and my niece, and my 3 youngest daughters. So much fun. Definitely the "good part". The "bad part" was made worse because the people I went to with my "bad part" didn't react the way I wanted them to. Shame on me. Seriously, no sarcasm here.  I need to learn to go to God first. I wanted a reassuring word, I wanted a voice of reason. When you count on people that are too close to the situation and are emotionally involved, sometimes their reaction comes from frustration, out of love and caring.  Unfortunately, it can make things less clear. In my moment of frustration, if I had gone to God first, I wouldn't have been as emotionally charged as I was. Help me, Lord, to rely on you first. Remembering that You are my hiding place, You will protect me, You will surround me with songs of deliverance.

We all need a place of peace and security. What first attracted me to my husband was that he made me feel safe and protected and loved. He is my advocate (in most things...sometimes he's my mortal enemy, too-lol!). My parents also have that same ability. I love to go to their home. I feel a sense of order, security and peace (again, in most things....we are all human for heaven's sake!). Bonus at my parents house is: no renovations, and my mom's a great cook!! This time of year my mom and I bake cookies. I'm going to share some of my favorite cookie recipes in the next few weeks leading up to Christmas. Cookies= happiness (it's good math, trust me!).

My paternal grandmother made the best cookies. I don't remember my mom's mom baking cookies, she was more of a cook than a baker. She did make some delectable desserts, but her Christmas cookies (that I remember) were from  the local bakery. Here's the closest recipe we have for my grandmother's "brown-edge" cookies. She made them from memory, so one year, my mom and I went to her house to watch her bake them and we wrote down this simple recipe. It's still a family favorite.

Grandmom's Butter Cookies (aka. Brown-edge Cookies)

1 cup of butter (2 sticks)
1 cup of granulated sugar
2 cups of flour 
2 tsp of baking powder
1 dash of salt (generous)

Preheat oven to 375*
Cream together butter in sugar in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, combine flour baking powder and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, mixing thoroughly until dough forms. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto baking sheet. Press down cookies with a fork. (at Christmas time I sprinkle on colored sugar at this point). 
Bake for 8-10 minutes until edge of cookies turn a golden brown.
Cool on a wire rack. 

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