Holiday Baking - Why wait .....start now!

Gluten Free Friendship Bread

It's that time of year when the temperatures are cooling, the colors are changing and the football sounds are everywhere! When you think of the holidays it is warm, yummy treats, fresh breads and cookies. One of my all time favorites is my Gluten Free Friendship Bread.

I think you will enjoy these wonderful recipes and may be inspired to throw in your own favorite add ins. Be creative, add your choice of flavored baking chips, nuts and fruits. So many flavors with so little time.

Enjoy every bite and share your personal bests.

A Cacophony of Sound

I love big words! This one has always made perfect sense to the noise in my head, the sound in my home and the increasing volume of the globe. Ok, that sounds really crazy, but seriously, is anyone NOT expressing a thought? LOL Exactly, so I am adding my little tap tap to the symphony of madness.

I find myself conflicted in so many ways now when  I come to September. There is the joy of birthdays (Happy Birthday to my sister, nephew, cousins, niece, son of another mother, best friends) that reminds me of singing, laughing, cake, games, dancing, cake, really lots of fun! We gather, call, write, email, text, eat out, gather in. It is a wonderful time to share the meaning of their life to US and to those they touch. Amazing times. Oh yes, there will be pictures so that we can remember those great celebrations when we are old. And if we are wise we have written a name and year at a minimum on the file so we will remember a morsel of that fantastic day.

Then there is  sorrow. The loss of those we love brings so much heartache ( Missing my 5 babies, parents, father-in-law, nephew, cousins, aunts, uncles, friends and colleagues) that all I hear is crying, grief, utter sadness of the heart but which rolls into story telling, memories, laughing, hugging. Then there is the food to comfort, share, break bread together and cake. Of course there will be pictures as truth be told we only look this good three times in life; the wedding, someone else funeral and our own funeral. Sad fact for many, and certainly an improvement for some. Then these become memories that are less painful with time though never absent.



But the most distracting is the noise of the globe, it is disturbing. Terror such as 9/11, Paris, Africa, Oklahoma, shootings, nuclear weapons and so much more. For a brief moment as the planet gasps it causes deafening silence, then erupts into screams much like the effects of the storms that have plagued the nations. The eye of the storm is silent as if all the air and breath is gone then it is forced out and takes everything with it. It brings a chaos to the noise and causes the most horrific internal conflicts. Is it fear, hate, anger, rage, anxiety, all with voices telling you 1 million things to do or think. You find yourself struggling to hear clearly the who, what, why, where. blah, blah, blah!!



It is more important than ever and likely why it is more challenging than ever to go into the closet! Find that one space where you can stop the insanity, hear your breath and your God. It is no wonder we have a world in rebellion, wandering the desert, running toward the blinking lights, they can no longer hear. There is simply too much noise, too much distraction, too much! But in that closet, the one with the door, no television, no children, phones, etc., it is in there that you may hear Gods still small voice, His gentle whisper, His affectionate words. It is when we stop, then we are renewed, refreshed and released to face that noised filled world with confidence and direction. We can think because we have heard. It is wonderful.