Searching for Simplicity

(And I don’t mean that I am looking for that sewing pattern brand.)

I still haven’t come up with a Word of the Year for 2025, although “simplify” has jumped to the top of the list this week. Perhaps that is a reaction to the Christmas season, which always feels to me like a month-long maelstrom to be endured rather than a time to celebrate. (Such is the lot of church pianists everywhere, I think.) I’ve tried to hold on to those bright moments—traveling with Elaine for the Christmas concert in Idaho, last weekend’s carol singing, and having DD#2 and her boyfriend here—in the midst of all the noise.

I yearn for some peace and quiet. Maybe I should take a chair out to the pig palace and sit there for a while. It’s not a stable, but it’s close enough.

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DD#2 and the boyfriend and I drove up to Whitefish yesterday. We went up to Big Mountain—or Whitefish Mountain Resort, as it is officially known—although the top of the mountain was socked in by a cloud bank. I pointed out the vague outline of the chairlift to the boyfriend and assured him that there was an actual mountain with ski runs above it.

After lunch at the Buffalo Cafe and a stroll around downtown, we came back and made snickerdoodle fudge. The boyfriend has a weak spot for anything snickerdoodle. Last year, at the Christmas market in Seattle, I bought him some snickerdoodle fudge. I found a recipe and we decided to make it this year:

We let it set up overnight so I have no idea how it tastes. I think I need to invest in a candy thermometer, though, if we make this a regular thing.

The kids looked through the “cookie book” and decided on some cookies to bake today. (No doubt, there will be more snickerdoodles.) My mother bought this for me a long time ago and it has been used often over the years:

While they are baking, I will be practicing music for tonight’s service.

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I had to laugh at myself yesterday—we stopped at the grocery store to get a few last-minute items for dinner tonight. One of the items on the list was french-fried onions for the green bean casserole. I don’t need green beans—I have plenty of home-canned ones. We searched all over the store for the onions. DD#2 thought they might be with the salad toppings. Nope. I finally asked an employee and she told me they were with the canned beans on aisle 2.

Duh. Did I think to look there? No. I didn’t need canned green beans. 🤦🏻‍♀️