2nd Annual McClish Christmas Party

On Thursday we hosted our second annual Christmas party! It was quite an undertaking to pull off during the week, but Andrew was such a help and we were able to get the house clean and everything baked by working on it a little bit each night. I have included a few pictures from the evening but honestly wish I could remember in the midst of it all to document the event better. I am just not great at taking pictures....hope you can get the idea though.

The annual Christmas party idea was birthed out of a desire to create a tradition of our own at Christmas. Since Andrew and I got married in November ten months after we met, our first Christmas together was after one month of marriage. I remember it being hard for me to think about spending Christmas away from my family and not being a part of my family's traditions. I loved being married to Andrew and loved his family, but letting go of the way things had always been was one of my first lessons as a wife. The truth is Andrew is MY FAMILY and I am called as his wife to cleave to him. I am really glad we decided to start this tradition, I think it will continue to create fond memories of these parties in the years to come.


Pausing for a moment at the party, I felt overwhelmed by how blessed we are to have such wonderful friends and family. It was humbling to look at our house full of people we love and care about and know that they return those feelings for us. It is such a testament of the Lord's provision in the community he has blessed us with. I am so thankful for the body of Christ at work through them!

How about this one?

Selecting the best tree

Found it!

Christmas Trees

After we returned from our fun filled Thanksgiving in Canyon, we started thinking about Christmas. I have included a few pics. Andrew and I both love real Christmas trees. We see them less and less it seems now, but for us, it wouldn't feel right if our tree was artificial. I remember growing up in Colorado at Christmas we head out to the woods and cut our tree. It was a big event all of us looked forward to each year. My Dad would get his wood saw out and Mom made hot chocolate and put it in the thermos for our adventure. My sister and I bundled up in our best snow gear complete with bib snow pants (you know the ones with the straps so snow does not get down your pants...so not cool) I think mine were hot pink too at one time. Mom got our brother ready. Anyway...all 5 of us got all dressed up in snow gear and loaded into the Bronco. The excitement built as we approached the area we would locate our tree. Once Dad selected the designated area, it was our job to find the perfect tree. Once we found it, Dad cut it down and strapped it to the Bronco. Then we all had hot chocolate together. The tree was never perfectly shaped since it grew close to other trees, but I have such fond memories of them and always thought they were so beautiful.

There are not too many trees to cut in the DFW area. However, our local Home Depot has a good supply of fresh trees that will do just fine. They also allow June to join us so we can all go Together. Here are some shots from the evening. I will post the tree decorated soon!

Thanksgiving Cooking Life Lessons

So Andrew's long time friend Wil asked us over to his annual Thanksgiving party last night. Wil makes the turkey and asks other people to bring the side dishes. Andrew told him that we would come and bring the cornbread dressing and a pumpkin pie. Wil said that was great since there were going to be over 25 people there. I was excited to make my mom's cornbread dressing recipe. It starts with homemade from scratch cornbread, bacon cooked until crispy then chopped and added to crumbled cornbread, onions, apples, pecans, celery, and cranberries for some color and sweetness. It is something I grew up loving to make with my mom and loving to eat at the holidays. It brings back all kinds of warm memories and I am trying to perfect it so that one day I can make it as good as she does. It also makes a lot in a batch, so perfect for a large party. I made the dressing last year for the Thanksgiving and it was a wild success.

Since the party was on Sunday night, I got up early Saturday morning and chopped everything, baked the cornbread....Andrew cooked the bacon for me and helped by walking June during the cooking process since she was her usual early morning self and was beginning to get underfoot. The batch turned out great and Andrew thought it was better than the batch I made last year. I let it sit overnight and re-warmed before the party. This made it taste even better as the flavors were able to soak into one another. I even put it in t his lovely dish we got for our wedding and was so proud of the presentation.

So we get to the party and what do I see?! This HUGE aluminum pan full of Stovetop cornbread dressing! It was as big as my batch if not bigger. I could totally tell it was from a box, but still knew it would be in competition with my homemade, from scratch, trying to do it as good as my mom's, dressing. I asked Wil if he knew I was bringing cornbread dressing, and he was like....yeah. Well...I don't think he meant to, but he placed my dressing on the opposite side of the kitchen away from the meat, and the Stovetop directly next to the meat! I think you can guess what happened....NO ONE ate my dressing! I mean me and Andrew did, but that was a small dent into the huge batch I made for the assumable hungry for my dressing 25 people that Wil told me to cook for. It hurt...I was offended and also appalled that these people could eat from a box dressing when there was some on the other side of the kitchen with fresh apples and toasted pecans! Andrew called me out and asked if the situation was bringing out pride in my heart....and I agreed that it was pride. But still....come on people!

We left with our beautiful dish full of dressing, and it made me think about my motives in cooking. Is it to be esteemed the best cook in the room...to earn favor from others? Or do I cook because I enjoy it and out of service to my family and others? I think it is a combination for me honestly. I do love it and enjoy the smells and feelings associated with cooking. However, I do need to check my heart at times and repent for the ugliness that comes out when an expectation is not met. I pray that I could be truly serving others in cooking and that my heart could be pure and content in cooking for the joy of cooking (no pun intended).

I asked my mother-in-law if I could bring my dressing to her Thanksgiving table since there is so much left and it freezes very easily. We will see what she has planned...I hope it will not go to waste:)