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Christmas Bread

Many years ago, one of my coworkers gave me her recipe for Christmas bread and since then it has become a family favorite in our home. It really is scrumptious, so I thought I would share it. Give it a try. You'll enjoy every morsel.

Christmas Bread

Measure into a large bowl:
1/2 cup butter
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cardamom

Add 2 cups scalded milk. Cool to lukewarm.
Add 2 packages yeast softened in 1/4-cup lukewarm water.
Add 2 beaten eggs and 4 cups flour. Mix well.
Add 1-cup raisins
And 2 cups mixed fruitcake fruit.

Beat in 4 more cups flour.

Place dough in very large bowl, cover and let rise until double.

Punch down and knead on floured board.

Shape into 2 loaves. Place in greased loaf pans and let rise again.

Bake at 350 degrees about 45 minutes.

Brighten Someone's Day

A long time ago, in my other life as a preschool teacher, I came up with the idea of decorating rocks with paint. I needed a project to help the children remember the sound of "r." We had already painted rainbows, which was fun, but I concentrated on one letter every week and with five days in most weeks, I had to come up with something else. 

All I needed to do was walk on the beach in my old hometown, which had plenty of rocks. Voila. I picked up a bunch of rocks, washed them, gave my daughters some paint, and we decorated the rocks. Those were simply samples to show the children in my class. The rocks my preschoolers decorated didn't look like any of the rocks in the photo above. That didn't matter. The children had fun with the paint and the rock. Most of them remembered the sound that "r" makes by the time the week was up. 

Now someone else has come up with an idea of what to do with rocks. THE KINDNESS ROCKS PROJECT is a wonderful way to spread a bit of hope to others. The project has only two goals:

GOAL #1: INSPIRE OTHERS THROUGH RANDOMLY PLACED ROCKS ALONG THE WAY… 

GOAL #2: RECRUIT EVERY PERSON WHO STUMBLES UPON IT TO JOIN IN THE PURSUIT OF INSPIRING OTHERS THROUGH RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS

Simple, but awesome. Who doesn't need a bit of inspiration?  

There are hundreds of ideas on Pinterest to illustrate what quotes to use and how to decorate the rocks. I started my own Pinterest board of rock ideas at https://www.pinterest.com/penelopemarzec/inspirational-painted-rocks/

Then, since I'm a writer, I started to wonder if maybe I could make up some rocks with famous literary quotes. Or maybe rocks with quotes that might inspire someone to pick up a book and read it. Of course, the quotes would have to be short unless someone found a very large rock. But there are plenty of short quotes like the ones below.

The one on the left is my own quote. 😁  Maybe after a few hundred years, it will be more popular. 

At any rate, go to the beach, pick up some rocks and have fun. You might brighten someone's day or inspire them. You could make the world a better place.