8th Annual Gherkin Gingerbread Competition

On the 7th Day of Christmas, many of the Gherkins meet to celebrate God's faithfulness in the current year and the start of the New Year. A part of this celebration is the annual Gherkin Gingerbread Competition.  2021 marks our 8th year of competing. 

The winner of this competition hosts Mr. Gingerbread all year.  Both teams started with the SAME budget and the SAME Gingerbread kit. Both teams followed all rules and used the same amount of Gingerbread. 

Check out the photos and vote for your favorite team. You may do that by leaving a comment below, or on the Courageous Joy Facebook page. Only one vote per person will count. Voting will run until 9 p.m. AKST on Saturday, January 8th. 

Team A - Hershey's Hunting Lodge

Hershey's Hunting Lodge is the quintessential Alaska fall scene frozen in time with the hunter taking his shot at the caribou atop Triumph Mountain, the shot ringing across the dark waters of the lake. Along the forest floor you see scattered leaves and bushes dotting the landscape. At the Lodge, the weathered oak tree stands tall, casting its long shadow over the wood piled high in anticipation of winter. This scene captures the thrill of weeks of hard work, focus and sacrifice culminating in a split second in which success or failure is decided. 

Pretzels are birch trees...

Lodge with Fire

The hunter takes aim

Team B - Abominable Snowman's Summer Vacation 

Mr. Abominable is excited to enjoy a summer retreat in his hideaway cabin along the Knik river. He is soaking up some sunshine while admiring the changing fall colors and termination dust along Pioneer Peak. Down the river, the Alaskan bears are also enjoying all the Knik river has to offer with kayaking, swimming, camping, and four wheeling. A classic favorite Alaskan summer day (BEWARE: the outhouse is take your own Toilet Paper). 

Past Competitions: 

2013 Competition - Men won with their Town square complete with a clock tower.

2014 Competition - Women won with their sweet Chapel; Men's Night Before Christmas disqualified them according to judge Michael. ::snort:: 

2015 Competition - Women won with Mad Hatter's Tea Party over the Men's rendition of Santa's Village.

2016  Competition - Women won with their  "Portrait of  2016." 

2017 Competition - Men won with "An Alaskan Getaway," over the women's offering of "Snowman's Lodge." 

2018 Competition - Men won with "An Iditarod Checkpoint." I must admit even some of our men voted for the women's "Family Oasis," and we were rather surprised the men won. 

2019 Competition - Women won with "Dipnetting - An Alaskan Theme." 

2020 Competition - Women won with "Four Seasons of Alaska." 

Random Glimpses of December

 I think December may be one of the best months of the year! We love it around here - except for the negative degree temps this year!  Those temps led to soup. Benny LOVED helping me make this yummy soup. I put it in the crock pot when Michael and I went out for our three hours of respite. 

Bella is such a great big sister to Jojo. 

📷by BreAnne

I do love these snuggly, cozy winter days. While I blogged both girls worked on novels they are writing. 

Allie, Stacia and Millie 

Allie sold her truck. They came to pick it up on one of the coldest; snowiest days of the years. The gals uncle picked it up and surprised us by showing up early. 

Millie still doesn't consistently bring Grandpa his paper, but we're working on the trick. 

Sweet Danny!

This is the time of year when I'm hard press to keep the hot drink mixes made. See those big mugs? 30 ounces - it takes commitment to drink a cup of cocoa that big! 

Aunt Mary sent the girls dresses...

Game night! 

Stacia, Tim, Allie

A blessing! 

Bre made a sugar free/reduced coco bomb for me. Yummy. 

Krista made an assortment of coco bombs too. These are all so cute. I am going to have to have the girls show me how to make them. I've noted it's much less mess at the drink station when folks simply throw one in their mug! LOL 

Some of Krista's bombs

Michael watching Millie as Millie watches the Christmas Goodies. 

It's hard to believe we are already moving into January...the days are getting longer by 2 minutes every day! I'd best get started on other winter projects.

Christmas Steve Tea, Urgent Care and Cocoa Bombs

We have an annual Christmas ADAM (as in Dec 23rd, the day before Christmas EVE) tea.  The 23rd didn't work - so we moved it to the 28th (briefly) and then to the 30th.  We decided it should be called the Christmas Steve Tea - inspired by the Alec Benjamin song titled Steve (linked).  The song satirically looks at what may have happened if there had been another person there to tell Adam, "Dude! Stop. Oh, you want what you can't have, but you've got all the things you need. There was Adam, there was Eve and there was Steve." It actually reflects the plot line of CS Lewis' Perelandra. 

The roads had us wondering if the Christmas Steve tea would be cancelled today...but the roads  were fine.

My mom started the Christmas Adam Tea in 2015. I have continued it because I like having a chance to get the girls together and I do it and remember mom. 

Stacia, Arielle & Danny, Allie, Benny, Krista

As you can tell - all my gals couldn't make it. Carrie had a migraine, so she and Liv stayed home. Bre, Bella and Annie stayed home as we had a health issue in our house this a.m. and we weren't sure if it was contagious when the decision was made. 

Stacia did a great job pulling out the food we'd made, setting everything up...because see Allie and I WERE AT THE URGENT CARE AGAIN.  That's 3x in 9 days. 

Allie & Me - regulars at the Urgent Care

Allie came up the stairs this morning and her face was red. Her neck, knees, crook of her elbows, hands had a red bumpy rash. I took one look at her and said, "Get ready. We're going to urgent care." 

She replied, "If you want to see Rob, maybe we should just have them to dinner." ::snort:: 

We were not home at noon when the tea was to begin. We could not believe we were in urgent care again. Rob believes Allie has an amoxicillin rash. We had discussed her mother's allergies to antibiotics before she began taking them for her throat and before surgery. She finished the meds and two days later the rash appeared.  She's got some meds to flush out the toxins, she's got instructions for building her immune system which took a hit with surgery, and we'll see a specialist to confirm which drug she is allergic too. We are all fairly sure it's the amoxicillin. I took photos to show the specialist. 

It's been one week since Allie's surgery. She's doing great! We were happy she'd gained two lbs since our last Urgent Care appointment. She's on the mend. 

We came home expecting the tea to be over. I told Allie I only hoped they'd saved me a scone. They did better than that. Krista and Arielle were here. They were watching a movie. They waited for us to get home for tea and treats.  It turns out we had five females at the girl's tea and four males. LOL It was an odd year for the tea all the way around. 

"I LOVE tea!"

I had a local potter make teacups for everyone this year in keeping with our goal to shop local. I try to gift the girls with a cup each year.  These turned out great. They are a bit bigger and thicker than the typical teacup. She was going to glaze them white with a butterfly. I love the glazes on her mugs and asked her if she could use that glaze. We love them. Some look like mountains, all have a northern lights vibe going on. 

Krista brought her mold and all the things needed to show us how to make Cocoa Bombs.  I think we can do this. They turn out pretty. I envision a Chai Bomb.

Melt chocolate and fill mold

Fill half, melt 2nd half

Assemble the two halves

Rub around the seam so chocolate forms a seam

Drizzle toppings 

Not only are they PRETTY, but they also take the mess away from hot chocolate breaks. No more spilled bits of chocolate at the tea station. 

I had 1/2 a roast left in the fridge from an earlier meal. I added BBQ sauce to it, made a salad, cut up fruit and wala - dinner!

Michael, Grandpa, the girls and I ended our evening watching 2 episodes of "Lost in Space." 

I cannot believe this is December 30th! I suddenly realized while at the docs we have New Year's Eve to pull off tomorrow.  I've got a plan...pizza, munchies, gingerbread competition and FIREWORKS at about 8 p.m. as the littles won't make it until midnight and we don't want the Anchorage/Eagle River crew driving home late. 

AND 2021 is blogged. I have 2 posts I'm "holding." 

Loaded Baked Omelet Muffins

Jacque shared the idea of a loaded baked omelet with me and they were a hit! I made some dairy free, some plain, some loaded with veggies and others with meat. Once they are baked, I double wrap and pop them in the freezer.  Everyone could pull them out, warm them up and enjoy....a healthy breakfast on the run. 

I found this basic recipe here at  skinnytaste.com. 

INGREDIENTS:

9 large eggs

1/4 tsp sea salt

pepper

Suggested toppings: 

cooked, chopped bacon

spinach or kale

diced tomatoes

diced onion

diced bell pepper

diced mushrooms

cheese

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350*. Spray muffin pans with cooking spray. Silicone muffin pans work well. 

Whisk the eggs, salt and pepper. 

Mix in the toppings you have chosen. 

Fill and place on a cookie sheet and bake 20 - 25 minutes, until set.

Notes: 

Recipe ways it makes 6...when I used 18 eggs, I got more than 12 omelets so they would be less calories than listed below. 

Easy breakfast for a school morning 

Serving size - 2 omelets; Calories 165;  Carbs 2.5 g;  Protein 14 g; Fat 11 g; Saturated fat 4.5g; Cholesterol 289mg; sodium 367 mg

 

Coop Cleaning Day

Michael and I took advantage of the warm weather to clean off the poop shelf in the chicken coop, shovel out all the shavings, and put new shavings down. They seemed appreciative of our efforts on their behalf. 

 We dumped one load in the compost bed and scattered the other over the ice and mud in this sheltered part of the chicken yard. They finally came outside. They've been inside since it started snowing.  The first two years the chickens were outside most the winter, but these are content to stay in. These haven't had any frostbite even when we were down to -16*. We don't like the freezing rain and ice...but it IS nice to have warmer weather to get out and do a few of the animal chores. 

Stacia and Millie must have been up late last night. I thought it was funny she was sleeping with one arm around her laptop and the other around Millie. 

WSA CGO of the Quarter

 Every quarter across the Air Force each base gives out awards for the best performance in a multitude of categories.  Each group's winner will compete at the wing (base) level.  

Today, Krista was notified she has been selected as the Wing Staff Agency's (WSA)  Company Grade Officer (CGO) of the Quarter. Her package will now compete against all the other CGO winners across the base. 

Krista has presented 61 suicide prevention trainings and another 40 that she oversaw. She has done 38 sexual assault prevention response trainings.  She has lots of counseling hours, written a zillion religious exemptions, led a service, planned and executed many resiliency events for the med group, coordinated and helped lead funeral training for both the Air Force and the Space Force, planned and executed a parenting retreat and I know there are many details I have forgotten. 

I asked for a photo....

We are proud of Krista! This is quite an accomplishment for a new chaplain. She's been busy the last 7 months. 

A fun side note - Krista is well known and loved in the Med group. She spends quite a bit of time in her unit and at the hospital. One day a volunteer at produce co-op asked me if my daughter was an active-duty chaplain.  She had noted the same last name before Krista got married. It was fun to see Krista through the eyes of one of med group. 

Septics, Produce & Coco Bombs

I'm sure this was not the best day for this...but it's the day they scheduled for us two months ago.  It is said one should pump their septic every 2 years. We've had several families living here and we haven't pumped for 4 years. It was time.  I think we're safe to do this every 3 or 4 years. 

The poor man got stuck trying to climb out of our icy driveway. Michael and Alex had shoveled, but when it rains, melts, freezes....there is only so much that can be done. 

It would have been interesting watching him climb to the top of the driveway and slide back...except I needed to be at produce co-op and had to wait until he cleared the driveway. 

Michael drove me to the next town over. I haven't had to have him drive me anywhere in 2 winters, but I don't like ice at all.  Michael and Dad went out to lunch, ran some errands and then drove out to Big Lake to buy FIREWORKS for New Year's Eve. 

I spent four hours with lists of produce, sorting, bagging, labeling, delivering... when we got home Arielle and the boys were here! 

Broccoli Cheese Soup tomorrow

We visited. Michael immediately ran out again. Cy found an ice auger for sale from a man north of us. Michael went to pick it up.  

I made soup and biscuits while he was out. It was tasting good, but a bit blah. The girls were retelling their afternoon adventures to me while I cooked...I just kept putting salt into the pot. I lost track of how many spoonsful of Better than Bullion I put into the pot. Too many.  Even Dad said it was salty. ::snort:: 

Allie update: She was up once last night due to pain. She has settled into Tylenol and took the normal dosage of it. She was up, out and about most of the day.  Her appetite is returning. She was sore tonight but feeling good about her improvement. We're proud of her. 

It's raining outside. It will freeze. We've already decided we will stay in tomorrow.  It seemed like the perfect night for hot drinks. We opted for coco bombs made by CoCo (Krista). 

We settled down to watch something on Netflix. I fell asleep halfway through it. Oh well, I tried.