Amy Scott's Thoughts

Sharing the thoughts that bounce around in my brain!

Balancing happy and sad December 12, 2011

Filed under: Family Time,Recollections,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 3:43 pm

This time of year has a strange mix of emotions for me. As you can tell, I LOVE Christmas – all things Christmas! I can’t get enough Christmas music, Christmas goodies, Christmas movies, Christmas decorations… Christmas just makes me happy in a way very few holidays can. However, this time of year also brings about the 1 year anniversary of my grandpa’s death. There are a lot of moments when I get lost in a memory of last year. It’s hard to not be sad as I remember the pain of letting go. It’s strange for me to be on two extremes. It seems like I can be at the peak of Christmas joy and then transported to a valley of sad memories. I don’t like this swinging feeling.  To make the season feel even more heavy, my dad’s boss away a week ago. You might wonder why that would affect me. But it does. This man has been in my life for the last 21+ years. He was a good boss and very generous to my family over the years. The business was family owned and operated. The employees are close and his death has shocked them all because it was sudden and unexpected. I know that my dad was very close with this man. I feel the sadness of him losing a friend and having the anniversary of his father’s death all happen in  he same week. It’s a lot to process. It’s overwhelming to my emotions.

Before all of this the holidays were busy and always involved navigating family and friends. I wanted to see everyone and balance the social calendar. It was a full season, but for the most part it was just full of fun. I wonder if this is what being an adult is like – having to say good-bye more often than I would like, living with memories that make me both happy and sad. It’s hard to balance my holiday happiness with the sad emotions that seem to spring forth from time to time. I know that life isn’t going to get easier. I know that death is 100% inevitable and is never convenient. People will die at the holidays and other important times throughout the year. I can do nothing about that… so now I must learn how to take the good and the bad and balance them in my life. I must learn how to process difficult emotions during joyful seasons. It’s not easy. I’m sure that I won’t master it, but I’m trying.

I want to live life to the fullest. I want to truly live in each moment and not take it for granted. I am joyful this time of year as I celebrate my Savior coming to earth so he could die for me. I am joyful as I wrap presents and wait for the reactions of family members and loved ones as they open them. I am joyful as I bake goodies and I’m joyful as sing along to Christmas songs. There is a lot to thankful for and happy about. To be joyful doesn’t mean I’m ignoring the sadness, but it doesn’t mean that I’m not letting it over take me. I know that my grandpa wouldn’t want me to view the holidays as a sad time every year. I know that he would want to be remember, but not in sadness – with joy. I guess I’m learning that the life really is layered. You can feel conflicting things at the same time. Managing it all and learning from it has a way of making me feel older. Life lessons have a way of aging me. I think it’s a good thing though. I can still be a kid at heart with the wisdom of time and experience on my side.

 

Class Christmas Party! December 7, 2011

Filed under: Children's Ministry,Cooking Experiments — Amy Scott @ 2:17 pm

Tonight is my class Christmas party for my 5th/6th grade girls. This is one of my favorite nights of the year! We have so much fun! We’ll have a gift exchange. It’s always fun to see who is brave enough to steal a gift from her fellow classmate. At this age, most are really sensitive to their friends, so the stealing is always very dramatic! As an adult and many years of gift exchanges, I can steal a gift without much remorse. I’m not sure if that is a good thing, but I figured it’s a rule of the game and it’s just a game. It’s interesting to see what the girls go home with. After class I let them barter for gifts they might have wanted but didn’t get. There are often many trades. It’s all apart of the experience!

After the gift exchange, I have worksheets for the girls to do. The first one is to put the 12 days of Christmas in order. When did the pipers pipe or the lord’s leap? They’ll see if they know! The other worksheet is matching “Merry Christmas” in 8 different languages to the correct language. I’m pretty sure they’ll get “Feliz Navidad”, but will they get “Mele Kalikimaka ” or “Buon Natale”. We shall see! After the worksheets, we’ll make a magnet craft and enjoy some yummy snacks!

It wouldn’t be a good Christmas party without some great Christmas goodies. A special treat seems to make the Christmas cheer shine just a little brighter, so I spent my evening yesterday working on the snacks for tonight. The first snack I created was a chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting and peppermint crumbles on top. I used peppermint discs and realized that candy canes might have been a better option. Pettermint discs are pretty are hard to break… I learned this by beating on them quite loudly with a rolling pin. The rolling pin came out dented from the sharp edges of the crumbles. It was intense. Next time I will use a thinner peppermint candy and I’m sure that candy canes will fit that need.

The second snack and the inspiration for my peppermint theme was a white chocolate dipped marshmallow that is then rolled in peppermint crumbles. These were very easy and fun to assemble. I crumbled the peppermint first. I put lollipop sticks into marshmallows before I melted the white chocolate. Once the white chocolate was fully melted, I set off dipping and rolling. It’s important to let as much extra chocolate drip off as possible. Rolling the marshmallow in peppermint was a little trickier than I expected, but it turned out great. I let the marshmallow pops cool on wax paper. Once the chocolate was set, I wrapped the marshmallows in plastic wrap and tied it close with red ribbon. There was some excess plastic wrap on the pop, so I cut around the pop so the wrap didn’t completely engulf the stick. Tying the ribbon into the bow was the final touch. I knew I needed a creative way to display these pops so I purchased some foam from my local craft store – the kind that they use for floral arrangements. I wrapped the foam like a present and then pushed the sticks through the wrapping paper into the foam. It’s really great for presentation as well as practical for transportation.

I’ve never really used peppermint in baking other than peppermint extract. It was a lot of fun to take something very seasonal and tweak it and create something new. It’s been a fun journey for me as I branch out of my “usual” baking projects and try something new. Peppermint is a very Christmasy flavor. It also has the right Christmas colors with the bright red and white. These goodies are sure to spread Christmas cheer on multiple levels!

 

I still miss you… December 6, 2011

Filed under: Family Time,Recollections — Amy Scott @ 8:39 pm

It’s hard not to think back to last year at this time. The memories have a way of floating to the top even if I wish they wouldn’t. They aren’t bad memories, but they do make me sad. At this time last year my grandpa was in the hospital. He had entered the hospital just after Thanksgiving with pneumonia and later discovered some serious heart issues and infections. At first it looked like he was going to be fine, but as things progressed it became obvious that he going to be with us for very long. I knew his health was frail due to being on dialysis, however, I didn’t expect him to pass away so quickly. I wrote my grandparents a letter over the summer letting them know how much they mean to me. After losing Jeremy’s grandpas so suddenly, I didn’t want anything left unsaid between my mine. When I composed that letter I assumed that I still had years with my grandpa. Turns out, I only had months.

I can still remember the last time I saw him. I had been trying to make it up the hospital as much as possible even though I lived over an hour away. My parents had called me that day and I left work early so I could spend a couple hours at the hospital. It was hard to leave that night. I told him good-bye and continued to wish him well on getting better. I told him I would be up again tomorrow to see him. Inwardly I knew that I wouldn’t see him the next day. I knew that I was saying good-bye. I remember smiling at him as I left the room.  There was a heaviness as I had a late dinner with my parents and headed home. That night I put my phones on silent – something I normally do so I can sleep in on the weekends. I had a feeling I would get a call in the night, but I didn’t want to take it. I knew if I answered the phone I would feel the need to head up to see my grandpa as he passed away. I’m not really good with death. I didn’t want to see the life leave his body. As I expected when we got up in the morning, there was the message that grandpa had passed away in the night surrounded by family who all got to say their good-byes and be there with him.

I was good at first. Grandpa was no longer suffering and was with his Savior. Not a bad deal and I was happy about that. I went into help the family mode. As long as I could do something I was good. Shortly after the funeral, I started having stress dreams. There was nothing more for me do, so I dreamed about having stuff to do. I would dream about funeral planning and about the funeral a lot. It was strange for me to go from being so good with things to being stuck on repeat. Over time the dreams did pass. I was back to being “good”. Around October I noticed that I was starting to really remember a lot of the last year and started to feel a lot of sadness again. It took me by surprise. The last couple of months leading up this week have been harder as I remember a lot of things that take me back to my last days with Grandpa.

I still miss him… a lot. I know I probably always will. I’m sure it will come in phases where I feel fine at one time and not so much at another. It’s strange that he isn’t sitting in his spot on the couch at family gatherings. I miss hearing his laugh in the background of conversations. I miss him calling me “Amos” (he was the only person I would let get away with that). He was such a good grandpa. He loved his family. I didn’t get a chance to live as close to him as the other grandkids, but I knew I was loved. I have a favorite picture from my wedding and it’s of Jeremy, Grandpa and I. I don’t remember what we were talking about, but I remember that he had us laughing! Our photographer snapped a shot of us all laughing together. I love that picture. It means a lot to me. When I look at the picture I see the grandpa I want to remember. I see the grandpa who was there for me during life’s big moments. I see the grandpa who made me laugh and saw the funny side of things. I have so many happy memories… but I would take the man over the memories any day. I look forward to being able to see him again someday. What a sweet reunion that will be! I wonder if he’ll call me Amos?

 

I know it’s the Christmas season when… December 3, 2011

Filed under: Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 2:47 pm

As I was driving into town today (yes, I live in the middle of nowhere, so I have to drive into town – very Little House on the Prairie, I know), I started to think about all the things that I really love about this time of year and how they really make it seem like Christmas to me. We all have different things that give us that holiday cheer. Here are a few things that I came up with.

I know it’s the Christmas season when…

  • I go to Starbucks a couple times a week instead of a couple times a month. I’m addicted to red cups!
  • I listen to the same two Amy Grant Christmas CDs from the 90’s over and over again.
  • The holiday music channel is always on in the background when I’m home.
  • I watch more Hallmark movies in one month than I do in the entire year.
  • I look for an excuse to wrap anything in gift wrap.
  • Penguins start popping up around my house.
  • I lick over 70 Christmas card envelopes.
  • I add peppermint to most goodies.
  • I stock up on gingerbread mix.
  • I cut coupons and actually read sales advertisements.
  • Red and green suddenly match with everything.
  • We pull boxes of decorations off the garage shelf.
  • Pine needles end up all over the inside of my house.
  • Christmas lights make me happy on drives around town.
  • My house is lit up with white lights and now reindeer added this year.
  • The church foyer has lighted trees on display.
  • I have a program to print for the kid’s choir Christmas musical.
  • I have 5 gift exchanges to shop for.
  • All sinks in my home have holiday scented soap.
  • I allow magnets, cards, and pictures on my fridge.
  • I start praying for snow.

There are probably many more things I could add. I know that you have your own things that make you think “It’s Christmas”! I hope that you are enjoying the days leading up this wonderful holiday as much as I am. Christmas isn’t just about one day for me. It’s about decorating the house, making goodies, shopping for loved ones, drinking way too much Starbucks and enjoying each special moment that happens all month long. Christmas is just too good to fit into one day. I’m loving my entire month of celebrating!

 

Christmas: The True Story December 1, 2011

Filed under: Children's Ministry — Amy Scott @ 3:06 pm

It’s officially December first and the Christmas season is in full swing here in the Scott Household. I was super excited to open my advent tree today and pull out of the first of my candy cane kisses! I’ve also undertook some Christmas baking for my kiddos. This time of year I make Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies with Andes Mint Chips, but this year I got a little extra creative and added some mint M&Ms to my Andes Mint cookies. I shared my goodies with my girls last night and they were a hit. It’s great to have a cookie that acts as an after dinner mint! I love the color that the green, red and white M&Ms add to the cookies. Things just seem more festive when you can splash some holiday color in with the yummy holiday flavors.

The holiday schedule has a way of changing and getting added to… This year is no exception. Normally my class Christmas party for my 5th/6th grade girls is the second week of December. However, this year, our church has decided to go caroling to local nursing homes and the hospital that night. We’ll be canceling our children’s and adult classes that evening so the family can go together. I’m all for caroling to those who are in need of holiday cheer, but it put my Christmas party into a pickle. As strange as it sounds, I’ve moved my Christmas party to the first Wednesday in December. It’s a holiday tradition too wonderful to just cancel even if that means celebrating more than two weeks before Christmas.

Now the Christmas party night is always just about fun. We have a gift exchange where the girls bring a $3 or under wrapped gift. I bring extra gifts in case someone forgets. Normally I play along and walk away with some teeny-bopper flavor of lip gloss. It’s not glamorous, but I love playing right alongside my girls. We’ll do a fun Christmas craft and we’ll play some Christmas games. Of course it wouldn’t be a Christmas party without Christmas goodies which I’m excited to make next week. The celebration and fun fills the entire night.

Being down one Wednesday night made me adjust the schedule. I’m a planner so I know exactly what my girls are going to be doing in December when I start the new school year in September. I didn’t want to leave the Christmas party as the only emphasis on Christmas. So last night we did our lesson around the true story of Christmas. It’s amazing to find that most kids don’t know where the Christmas story is found in the Bible. Most think that the wise men showed up at the same time the shepherds did. Thanks to Nativity sets and “We Three Kings” they believe that there were three wise men.  I love the Bible and I’m passionate that kids know God’s word. We jumped into the Christmas story starting in Matthew. We read about Joseph and the wise men. We flipped over to Luke and read about Mary’s response to the angel. We followed into the traditional Luke chapter two account of the birth of Jesus.

I love doing lessons like this because you can see the wheels in their brains turning! They have so many good questions! I love getting asked how we know the 25th was the day that Jesus was born. The first Christmas might not be accurately portrayed in Nativity scenes, Christmas carols or television programs, but we have the truth. We know the true story. It’s all in God’s word. It was a great night to remember why Jesus came and what it means for us. It’s perfect to close with the reminder that Jesus, who was God and knew the greatness of heaven, gave it all up to be born on earth and live among us. He did it so he could die for our sins on the cross and make a way for us to have eternal life and an eternal relationship with him. It blows my mind!

It’s important that is the midst of Christmas music, Christmas movies, Christmas baking and Christmas shopping that I remember the true reason for the season. There are a lot of great traditions and moments that come with this time of year, but it all would mean nothing if that special gift hadn’t been given that night of the very first Christmas!

 

 

Office Holiday Cheer November 29, 2011

Filed under: Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 4:58 pm

It’s hard to keep the Christmas decorations limited to the home. Jeremy and I spend a lot of time our office and it’s always fun to make our work environment festive. We don’t have a ton of space to decorate, but here are some things that we like to do around the holiday season.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, Jeremy has a VeggieTales nativity set that sings. It got pulled out of its box home today and was set on our end table. Jeremy had to push the angel as we were leaving work just to make sure that it still would sing it’s little heart out. Yep, it worked! The little cracked voice of Jr. Asparagus singing “O Little Town of Bethlehem” filled the office. 

Now our office doesn’t have a window view, but it does a window. A small window… that looks out on the hallway. This little window allows Jeremy and I a lot fun. Over the years we have collected a variety of gel clings to brighten up our window and add personality to our office. Today I took the owls “whooou”  have been sticking to our window since September down. I put up some reindeer, holly, snowflakes and a penguin. I went a little crazy… But I think it’s fun! Gel clings are a simple way we add Christmas feeling to our office before we even open the door!

It’s fun to make the season merry and bright – where ever you spend your time! Festive touches make the Christmas season come to life and spread cheer. There are many creative places to decorate for the holidays. Don’t limit yourself to just home!

 

Good Bye Pumpkins, Hello Christmas! November 25, 2011

Filed under: Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 2:21 pm

Yesterday was a great day!  Jeremy and I are blessed to have both our families living near by. This means that we get not one but two Thanksgivings meals! What a treat!  The day was spent with family and eating good food. A wonderful way to spend a day in my book. However, once I got home from all the festivities, I had my hubby pull out of Christmas boxes so I could dive into them first thing this morning. Jeremy is an archer, so Thanksgiving weekend to him means wondering through the woods trying to kill an elk or a deer. He left early this morning and left me to decorate the house.

It’s always sad to see my mini-pumpkins get thrown away and all the things with leaves on them get tucked back into boxes for another year. Autumn is my favorite season so it’s always bittersweet when I pack up all things orange and yellow. I truly love Christmas so it’s always exciting to pull out the Christmas items. Like I said, bittersweet. Today I got up earlier than usual for a sleep in day (mostly because my dog wouldn’t let me sleep). I turned on the Christmas music station on my television and started opening boxes.

I don’t know if it’s the same for you, but opening those boxes is like reconnecting with old friends and memories. I’m amazed that I forget so much of what is stored in those crates and when I open them it’s like a surprise. Every item has either been given to us by loved ones or purchased by Jeremy and I for our Christmas collection. It’s a sweet time. It would be better if my hunter could have joined me, but then I would have been waiting for a while… I’m too impatient!

The centerpiece of our home during the holidays is our Christmas tree which we have yet to purchase. Every year, we get a “real” tree. I’m not a fan of the plastic ones that don’t smell like pine. I will take the pine needles all over my floor as a trade off for the wonderful look and smell of a real tree. We’ll get ours in a about a week or so. Picking the tree and decorating the tree is something we do together and it’s the highlight of our Christmas decorating! I can remember when Jeremy and I lived in our tiny apartment where we could only have a tree that was 5 feet or under! Now that we have a home with a vaulted ceiling, I love buying a big, tall tree! It’s a blessing to me since I know what it’s like not to be able to have one.

I’m not sure if you’re the type of person that had their house decorated for Christmas two weeks ago, if you decorate after Thanksgiving like me, or if you wait until December 1st or December 21st… I hope that you had a marvelous Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas!

 

 

Thanksgiving Baking Projects! November 23, 2011

Filed under: Cooking Experiments — Amy Scott @ 5:04 pm

It’s a been a drippy couple of days here in western Washington. Days like these are perfect for baking projects and with Thanksgiving coming up, I figured I would start some new baking adventures. I attend an annual event called Taste of the Holidays at my church. It’s a fun tasting of holiday goodies. They send me home with the recipes every year and I’ve never made a single thing out of the books. After this year’s TOTH, I decided I was finally going to make something out from these recipe books that I’ve stored for so long.

Of course, this is me, so I had to pick desserts! That is my favorite part of any meal! I went back through the books and picked three recipes that I remember liking a lot. I set to baking yesterday when I got home from work and finished up this afternoon. My first project was called Hello Dollies. They have graham cracker crust with chocolate (I used both milk chocolate and white chocolate), coconut, condensed milk and pecans. The second project I started was pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting. I will admit that I just used store bought frosting. I figured with all the baking I had planned, it would be nice to have one step completed for me. The third project was raspberry ribbons. I think these were the hardest of all. It’s a cookie was raspberry jam down the middle and a glaze drizzled on top. There were more steps to this recipe and I don’t think I got the exact balance of jam to cookie down.

Because I plan I sharing these goodies with family tomorrow I couldn’t dig right in and chow down. However, I’ve never made these recipes before so I did do a little taste testing… I needed to know what I was serving! Overall,  I think these treats were tasty and I look forward to sharing them with others. Every year when I attend TOTH, I get a little overwhelmed by how awesome all the food is. I guess I always figured that I would never be able to do as good as a job as the chefs so why try… I’ve decided that is a dumb attitude to have! So what if I’m not the best – these turned out great and I am very happy with them! That is all that matters! It’s not a contest!

 

Holiday Traditions – Old and New! November 22, 2011

Filed under: Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 9:54 pm

Every November, Jeremy and I make a trek down to Portland to start our Christmas shopping. We love the stores and the no sales tax really stretches our dollar. This year we braved the first snow of the year. We look forward to this trip every year. Even though it was hard to leave the beauty of our winter wonderland, we set out on our mission. Each year I go into our shopping day super focused. It’s not about me… it’s about getting gifts for others. I truly enjoy shopping for others and love gift giving. So for me I go into the day with a singular focus.

Jeremy on the other hand… He is not able to compartmentalize. Our first stop was at Target where we pretty much got everything for ourselves. Jeremy picked up the makings of green bean casserole because he realized he was a little short on his stash and he promised to bring that for Thanksgiving. We got gift wrap and bows. I bought some candy cane kisses for my advent calendar. While we were in the toy section, I was busy comparing prices and getting ideas for my nephew’s gift when I noticed something tucked on the bottom shelf of the cart. The joy I experience when I saw this item was pretty intense! It was a Fisher-Price Little People Nativity Set.

Let me explain why this is so important. Every since Jeremy and I got married, I’ve been looking for the perfect nativity set for our Christmas collection. Everything seemed too ornate. I’m not really a frilly person, so I knew that whatever I settle on would be simple. A year ago I discovered that there was a Little People Nativity Set. I instantly wanted it. I loved Little People as a kid and once they changed them to make them chubbier (aka less easy to choke on), I think they got cuter. Jeremy thought I was kidding and shot me down when I said I wanted it. At this point, I would like to say this is the man who has a Veggie Tales Nativity Set in his office every year that sings… so yeah, not too different from my Little People set. After a year of talking about it, I told him this year when we saw it we would buy it. Jeremy found it first in the store and slipped it into the cart to surprise me.

When I got home I couldn’t keep it in the box, so I set up the nativity set on the tray we purchased for it. Once it was set up, I tucked safely away in my Christmas closet and it’s waiting until after Thanksgiving to come out. I’m so happy to finally have a nativity set in our home. I think it’s an important feature of Christmas decorating. It’s not all about Christmas Trees and stockings. The true purpose is to celebrate the life that came to earth to live and die for my sins. Death couldn’t hold him down! My Jesus is alive! Amen! Okay, preacher moment! I know that this depiction of the nativity isn’t accurate. These chubby little white children probably don’t resemble that night much at all. I get that. However, it’s a visual reminder of what we celebrate and I am happy camper to have my own nativity set. It’s unique and a little odd, just like me! I like that!

Side note: We did actually get to our purpose and tackled most of our Christmas list. Like I said, this trip was not about us. It just had some nice bonus items that came home with us.

 

It’s here! November 21, 2011

Filed under: One Thousand Gifts Challenge — Amy Scott @ 3:16 pm

I can’t believe it’s the week of Thanksgiving! I feel a bit like a school kid – really excited for a break and lots of good food! It’s hard to not be jazzed about a little less work and more time with family and friends. My week is full of fun baking, meals with some awesome students, family time and then the highlight of the after thanksgiving season – decorating the house for Christmas. I’ve done a good job of keeping Christmas tucked away in my back closet, but come Friday, it will be pulled out and on display! My Christmas shopping is 85% done and my Christmas cards are 100% done and waiting to mailed in December! I am ready for this week and I’m ready for the Christmas season.

As we come up on Thanksgiving, my mind keeps contemplating what I am thankful are. I am so blessed and when I really think about it, I’m overwhelmed by the Lord’s goodness in my life.  I am thankful for my husband and our marriage. I am thankful for our home and the sanctuary it is to me. I am thankful for my family who I am blessed be friends with and enjoy their company. I am thankful for the ministry I’m a part of at Bethel Church – for each child and family I get to interact with. I’m blessed by the students who have grown up out of my classes, but are still a part of my life. I am thankful for so many things… these are just a few that resonate with me today.

I’m still keeping my 1000 gifts journal. I’m over halfway there to my second 1000. It’s been important for me to stop each day and write down the blessings and gifts I see in my life. Even in the small things God is there and very active. I can see it as I go throughout my everyday, ordinary life. The to-do lists might pile up, my phone might be ringing off the hook, I might have too much on my plate, but throughout the craziness I can see ways that the Lord is speaking to me through His gifts. Life doesn’t get easier when you’re searching for gifts, but it does get richer. I am thankful and that is really all I can say!