Christmas time is here...

Christmastime at Chez Akins means crafting and baking till you're covered in flour and glue.  Tim is the baker, I'm the crafty one.  Every year Tim makes some positively sinful chocolate chip cookies (our own special recipe), some mouth-watering potato chip cookies (a recipe I snagged from my aunt Peggy Missildine), and when he has time, a batch of buttery rich Empire biscuits (a delicious Scottish shortbread sandwich cookie with jelly in the middle).  We've had a lot of requests this year for the potato chip recipe, so here it is:

Aunt Peggy's Potato Chip Cookie

1.5 C sugar
1 lb. butter
2 tsp vanilla
3.5 C flour (sift before measuring)
1 C crushed potato chips
powdered sugar

Heat oven to 350*.  Cream together butter and sugar.  Add vanilla.  Mix flour and potato chips together, then blend with butter mix.  Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and cook for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.  Let cool, then sprinkle with powdered sugar.  Mmm, mmm good!


This year we also made reindeer cookies.  Cute, marginally a pain.  You need Nutter Butter cookies, red M&Ms, small pretzels, chocolate chips, and a small amount of icing (for "glue").  Use a little bit of icing at the top of the cookie and place two pretzels on either side for the antlers (the photo only shows one, don't be fooled, they're cuter with two).  Dip the flat part of two chocolate chips into the icing and place below the antlers for eyes, dip the red M&M in the icing and place at the bottom of the cookie for the red nose, and voila, Rudolph!  (FYI - Gotta move fast with the M&Ms and chips, or they'll melt in your hand).  Here's a picture (not actually ours.  If had a better camera, I'd take a picture, but that'll have to be next Christmas) to give you the idea.

Every year the kids make Christmas gifts for family and friends, and this year is no exception.  Scott made an ice candle, which is so easy and turns out really great.  You need wax, crushed ice (we don't have an ice maker that makes crushed ice, so Scott got to use a rubber mallet to smash the ice, which of course was his favorite part of the whole project), a wick, and a cylindrical salt box (for the mold).  Cut the top off the box, and hang the wick off a pencil (make sure it goes all the way to the bottom). Then alternate pouring in melted wax and crushed ice.  The ice keeps the wax from forming a solid shape, making it look lacy and exotic when it's done.  When you're finished, let it cool in the sink ('cuz it will leak), and then peel the box off the candle and you're good to go.

But the best new project this year were the "snow globe soaps" Scott made (Rachel will make some, too).  I got this from the blog "Alphamom.com."  All it takes is an ice cube tray, a few cute little Christmas-y trinkets (the operative word being "little"), glycerine, soap dye, and a grated up bar of white soap.  For 5 soaps we melted 6 cubes of glycerine, used 1 drop of blue dye (add dye 1 drop at a time for the right color, as the colors are really saturated), and grated half a bar of white soap.  Melt the glycerine and add your drop of color.  Pour that into the ice cube tray until about 3/4 full.  Let it cool for a little (not long, just enough to form a skin, like a minute, maybe) and put your trinket in UPSIDE DOWN.  Then sprinkle grated white soap (for snow on the ground, get it?), and pour the rest of the glycerine on top of that (to make a smooth bottom.  And really, who doesn't want one of those?!?).  Throw it in the freezer for 20 minutes, and then pop 'em out of the ice trays.  I challenge you not to say, "Awwww..." when you see the completed soaps.  Here's a pic from Brenda Ponnay's (Alphamom's) website:

And now it's time to go watch a Christmas movie with the fam.  This year we've already watched Charlie Brown get his sad little tree; enjoyed Jim Carrey stealing and returning Christmas; laughed at Natalie Wood acting like a monkey with Santa; traveled with Rudolph, Herbie, and Yukon Cornelius to the Island of Misfit Toys; and of course, seen Mary have a baby (oh yeah).   Still to come:  Will Ferrel dressing funny, Bing and Danny singing and dancing, and Jimmy Stewart discovering how he's changed his world.  I'd love to hear your Christmas time traditions, if you'd care to share...

The Time of My Life

     About a week ago, Tim, the kids and I were discussing economics (true story).  We've been reading Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? by Richard J. Maybury (highly recommended) and learning about inflation, recession, and depression.  Somehow the discussion about economics led to one about time.  It was a remarkable conversation that became a Holy Ghost moment, one of those inspired and inspiring times that can't be planned, scheduled, or forced.  They just happen and I'm grateful they do.
     We were talking about resources - money, jobs, education, food, shelter...y'know, stuff.  And Tim and I were explaining that, while all those things are useful, even necessary, they are all replaceable.  One can always make more money, get a new job, receive additional education, forage for another meal.  You can replace a house or a car or even a spouse or a child (scary but true).
     But then we started talking about time, the one commodity that God sets limits on.  He metes out an allotment to each of us that He alone determines.  We cannot buy it, sell it, trade it, share it, borrow it, or lend it.  We cannot stretch it or shrink it, reduce, reuse, or recycle it.  Each one of us is given a specially selected supply of our own time, and the opportunity to do with it as we wish.  We can spend it wisely or we can squander it.  But once it's gone, it's gone, baby, gone.
     I have begun to think more about this, as my time goes by.  I'm in my 50s now, and while I'd love to live to a triple digit age (with caveats, of course.  And chocolate.  LOTS of chocolate...), the odds aren't really in my favor.  Which means that my time is more than half used up (ye gods!).  But that's not the part of the conversation that blew my mind.
     The thing that filled me with awe and wonder is that in heaven, there is no time.  The one thing He limits on earth, the thing that gets us all itchy-twitchy down here doesn't even appear as a blip on the heavenly radar screen!
     We spend a good portion of our time getting all bent out of shape over it.  How many times a day do you check your watch, trying to play your own personal version of "Beat the Clock"?  And if you don't think you have an issue with time, take my little test:  count how many devices you can see just from where you're sitting that tell time (without even turning my head I can see seven!  And you?)
     But we talked about the fact that in heaven, there is no time.  So there won't be any clocks, watches, timers, or stopwatches.  No rushing hither and thither, unless it's for the sheer joy of it.  We will forever enjoy being in the right place at the right time.  What a marvelous thought:  in heaven we'll enjoy eternity. 
     (And chocolate.  LOTS of chocolate.)

You Say Potato...

It finally happened:  we offended someone with our music.  Don’t get me wrong – it’s not like we’ve been trying to offend.  But someone finally lodged a complaint.  Not with us, of course, with the pastor.  According to the complainant, we are singing the devil’s music and the pastor is doing the devil’s work by letting us lead worship with “that” music.  Yikes!

The devilish ditty was the 100-plus year old, “Heavenly Sunlight.”  We used the original lyrics and melody of this much-loved, much-sung hymn, but gave the arrangement a much-needed style makeover.  And clearly that’s where we went wrong.  Although God loved the hymn in its original state, apparently He is offended by a Caribbean beat, and He considers steel drums Satan’s tool (I always thought the accordion was Satan’s tool, but what did I know?). 

I know, it sounds ridiculous when put like that.  But clearly it wasn’t ridiculous to at least one person.  Thankfully this complaint did not faze the pastor.  He told the offended person that our music brought joy to the congregation and encouraged them in their worship.  And most importantly, he believed that God found it acceptable and so the music was staying, steel drums and all.

While I’m glad the pastor backed us up, the situation disturbed me.  We don’t want to offend anyone; quite the opposite.  Our goal, our calling, is to help people worship, love, and glorify God in song.  To that end, in addition to writing our own songs, we like to take some of the old favorite hymns and give them a little musical facelift.  We do this to make them more accessible to modern congregations.  There are so many wonderful hymns but, much like my living room, after so many years they need a bit of sprucing up.  Is that wrong? 

I know there are lots of folks who think contemporary Christian music is the devil’s handiwork.  And truthfully, listening to some of the stuff that’s out there, there may be something to that.  But there is a lot of good music, too.  You just have to look for it.  It’s the same with the traditional hymns.  There are some great ones, but there are some sure fire stinkers in the old hymnals, too. 

But do we really believe that God sanctifies a particular beat and a specific instrument, and finds all the rest, if not offensive, at least unworthy?  Do pipe organs and handbells have the only heavenly okey dokey?  Are an electric guitar, steel drums and a backbeat gonna boogie us straight to hell? 

That’s ultimately what the contemporary vs traditional music argument comes down to.  I mean, leaving out the bad music (and there’s plenty of bad music on both sides of that argument), the difference between the two amounts to style.  I like a backbeat, someone else likes a Bach beat.  Neither of us are right, and more importantly, neither is wrong.  We’re just different.  You say potato, I say French fry. 

I am sad to see the division in the Christian world over, of all things, music.  That seems ridiculous to me.  Of all the things that can divide us, we're going to go down over music?  Oy.  Can't we all just get along?  Or at least sing along?  

There's No Business Like Snow Business

We came to Atlanta this weekend to bring our music to a couple of churches and apparently, we're staying for the snow.  Or rather, because of the snow.  The kids are thrilled; it's their first encounter of the snowy-kind and they're making the most of it.  And, unlike the Chicago winters I'm used to (where snow is immediately besmirched by snow plows and salt trucks), it looks picture-postcard pretty.  But the fun and beauty of nearly 6 inches of snow in a town not outfitted for it also means the roads aren't safe to drive, so we're not getting home for at least another day.  I thought I might make use of this unscheduled down time and squeeze in a little writing.  In between snowball fights, that is. 

The start of a new year lends itself to reflection.  Looking back over last year, I clearly see God's handiwork at work in our lives.  It's awesome and humbling. 

2010 was our most difficult year work-wise.  The recession (have you heard about it?  I think it's gonna be BIG news!) had an enormous impact on our "After Hours" business.  Our secular/wedding/corporate work has taken an enormous hit in the last 18 or so months. People are still having parties, but they're smaller in scale, with smaller budgets.  And when the budget is small, one of the first things to get cut is the music, which is us.  We've managed to survive, but had the fewest number of band gigs that we've had since we first put our band together, over 8 years ago. 

And yet, this past year has been incredibly rewarding for our Christian music.  In 2010 we released our first, all-original Christian music CD, and moved (either by sale or for promotion) almost all 1000 copies.  We performed our original music at over 50 events - church services and concerts, Christian group gatherings, home concerts and parties.  We went on our first tour, taking 6 weeks to go from our home to Chicago and back.  We produced our first YouTube video in support of our Christmas song, "That Night" and received almost 1400 hits (still hoping to go viral, but that'll have to be in next year's recap, I guess).  We were invited to lead the contemporary worship service at a local church on a semi-permanent basis.  Meanwhile, we wrote more new songs and mangled more traditional hymns.  So, while our variety band work decreased, our Christian music ministry has grown and sustained us. 

All in all, it's been an amazing year.  We're making plans and setting goals as we move into the new year and are excited about what lies ahead.  We're trying to make sure that we listen for His guidance as we try to grow this ministry.  It's a challenge, and I'm sure we'll make some mistakes along the way.  We pray that He gently corrects our course as we go along ("gently" being the operative word).

Meanwhile, we're enjoying my brother's and sister-in-law's kind hospitality.  The kids are happy as clams at high tide, learning important snow-related skills, like making snowballs and sledding downhill on cardboard (even Tim has gotten some lessons!).  In fact, I think it might be time for another snowball fight.  Gotta get 'em in while we can!