The Scent of Christmas

Within three weeks, we will be moving. We hope is to be completely settled in by Christmas time. Our thoughts are already wandering ahead to all of the Christmas baking that we will be doing. Yes, and we should be organizing an exercise schedule to go along with it so that the Christmas season does not follow us on our hips all year long.

Yesterday I made some Cardamom Bread with Cardamom butter. The golden braid made me think of Christmas baking and inspired the post today. I think I'm in the Christmas mode now.

We each had a couple slices after dinner along with Lynnae's Arabic Coffee. If you have never had Arabic coffee before, it is definitely something you must try. It's aroma alone is enough to cause your mouth to water. I have decided to post Lynnae's recipe (with Lynnae's permission).

1 pint water

3 TBLS ground coffee

3 TBS sugar

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

1 tsp vanilla extract

Heat all ingredients in a saucepan until foam starts to form on top. Serve immediately.

The recipe for cardamom bread can also be found at: http://http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Cardamom-Braid

The recipe for the bread is one that my Nana makes. She is one of the best bread makers I know and the one who inspired me to try making homemade bread on my own. Mommy still remembers coming home to the smell of Nana's homemade bread. This recipe is unbeatable (if you like cardamom, which is its dominant flavor).

Christmas time is around the corner once again and with it come the pleasant sights, sounds, and smells that accompany it every year. There is something special about the Christmas season that seems to pervade the air, influencing moods, creating delightful nostalgia. Perhaps it's the timelessness of the season that creates such an aura about Christmas. The same delightful expectation that exists in the traditional movies that we watch every year from A Christmas Carol in the 19th century to It's a Wonderful Life in the 20th century down to our present day in the 21st century. There are some things about the holiday that never change.

Yet there is an element of Christmas cheer that is sad also. It is the transitory nature of the season, the empty holiday joy. Few of those that browse through the stores hung with tinsel and decorated with glass balls, hearing the familiar Christmas carols and picking out gifts for the season, give a thought to the true joy behind the holiday. Christmas comes and with it the holiday whirl of excitement, family fellowship, Christmas trees, and presents, yet it passes leaving those it finds as empty as they were at first. Yet for those of us who know Christ, the Christmas season is a special time set aside to celebrate what give us joy throughout the entire year: the birth of our Saviour.