4 Quick Takes Friday

Today was the perfect winter day.

5 am - 7 am -- Shovel snow. (6 -7 with hubby) (OK, that wasn't the perfect part. Our lot isn't that big, but the snow was that heavy.)

7 am - noon -- School. (That was pretty good.)

noon - 1:30 pm -- Sledding! I found out that the precipitation that makes for back-breaking shovelling makes the most excellent sledding!

2 pm - 3 pm -- Bake shortbread cookies. Recipe: 4 cups white flour, 1 cup brown sugar and 1 stick of softened butter. That's not enough oil for the recipe, so add canola oil until the consistency is right. It's really easy to work with if you don't add any whole wheat flour. Bake at 400 for 5 minutes.

This really is the perfect recipe if you are expecting your little elves to consume a significant part of the dough while cutting the shapes out.

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No matter how small the job, draw pictures for the electrician. No matter how much his company is charging per hour for his services, he may not take the necessary notes to remember just exactly what it is he's supposed to do!

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We celebrate Advent until we light the pink candle. Bring on the Christmas carols! I never really knew that the rollicking, fox-chase song "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" middle five stanzas of the song gave a verse-by-verse retelling of the first 10 verses of Luke 2. It lacks the self-conscious piety of "Silent Night" but is actually more technically Scriptural than the latter.

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"Quick" -- as in "the quick and the dead" and "quicksilver" (an archaic term for mercury) means "Living" (Get it? Mercury is "living silver".)

I find this second meaning totally appropriate to the spirit of "Quick Takes Friday" in that we get a glimpse of life lived.

Thanks, Jen!