Cookies and Crafts for Sandy Hook- Gingerbread Angels

Today I am joining bloggers and small shop owners across the country for Cookies and Crafts for Sandy Hook.  The idea originated as a way for those of us in the blogging community to show our support to the grieving families of Newtown and to honor the innocent lives lost just one week ago today.  

At the bottom of this post, you will find links to other bloggers' posts who are sharing a cookie or craft in memory of the 26 lives lost at Sandy Hook Elementary.  You will also find links to small shop owners' sites who are donating proceeds from their sales today and/or this coming weekend to the Newtown Youth & Family Services.  I encourage each of you to visit the Newtown Youth & Family Services Donation Page to make a contribution today no matter how small.  Every little bit helps.  

If your pockets are not as deep as you wish, please see my post from yesterday, Just One Thing for Sandy Hook projects/movements that only require a little effort, love, and perhaps a quick trip to the post office from you.

Gingerbread cookies are one of my favorite cookies of the season.  I love my gingerbread men thick, soft, and just slightly chewy.  Last Christmas, I discovered The Brown Eyed Baker's Gingerbread Men Cookies recipe.  It is the perfect gingerbread cookie recipe.

In honor of the innocent lives lost at Sandy Hook, I wanted to make gingerbread angels instead of gingerbread men.  I didn't have an angel cookie cutter so I improvised my using a gingerbread man cookie cutter and a butterfly sandwich cutter I had bought last spring.  

To make the angel wings, I cut the butterfly shape in half and then pressed the wings onto the back of the gingerbread man.  Just make sure to press the unfloured side of the wing into the unfloured side of the gingerbread man.  The floured side will not stick.  I only had to increase the bake time by a couple of minutes since the cookies were a tad bit larger than a normal sized gingerbread man.

I decorated each gingerbread angel with a green heart outlined in white for the Sandy Hook Elementary School colors.  I also made a few stars to represent the teachers who lost their lives and also frosted them with a green and white heart.  

I wish that I could have made 20 gingerbread angels and 6 stars to represent all the lives lost that December morning, but the angels were pretty large.  

I shared the angels and stars with friends and family.

This event is brought to you by: Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks, The Red Headed Baker, Real Housemoms, Crazy for Crust, Something Swanky, Life After Laundry, Two Kids Cooking, Frugal Foodie Mama, The Doctorate Housewife, Heather's French Press, Operation Dinnertime, Lovely Pantry, What's Cooking Love?, Cupcakes and Kale Chips, Occasionally Crafty, Pint Sized Baker, Pineapple and Coconut, Wine & Glue, Lemonsforlulu, A Sweet Baker, Mom On Timeout, The Freshman Cook, Sweet Twist of Blogging, A Family Feast, Julie's Eats & Treats, Eat at Allie's, Here Comes the Sun, The Kitchen is My Playground, Just My Crazy Kitchen, The Sweet Chick, The Tasty Fork, Wholly Delicious Dishes, Chocolate, Chocolate and more , Yours and Mine ARE Ours, Kitchen Meets Girl, Daily Dish Recipes, Sweet Bella Roos, Mom's Test Kitchen

Silence And Support for Sandy Hook- A Blogger Day of Silence

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On Mortality...

I actually wrote this post over a week ago when my aging grandparents and in-laws were  weighing very heavily on my mind.  I didn't know if I would ever publish this.  I have a handful of posts like this one- posts that I felt compelled to write, to get off my heart and mind and into tangible words- but I have no intentions of publishing unless I feel moved to.    In light of this past Friday's heartbreaking tragedy, I felt I should hit the Publish button on this one today...

It is the one thing that we all have in common.  No matter where we live.

No matter what bad habits we have, or good ones we strive to keep.

It is the one thing that not a single one of us will be able to escape from.  

No matter how hard we run.  No matter how far we travel.  

No matter how many good deeds we do.  
No matter how hard and wide we love.

It will one day find us all.

We may not know when.  Or how.  Or where.

But it will happen.

And it scares me...

I have reached that age in my life when I have realized just how much I have to lose.  

I am not talking about our bank account.  Or our credit score.

I am talking about people.  The people in my life that I love and cherish, and hold so dear in my heart.  

The people that if they would leave my life, I would feel the void deeply for such a long time.  A piece of my heart would break off and be gone with them  forever.  

I once read that we all live a lifetime.  It is just that not everyone's lifetime is the same length.  Some lifetimes are a few minutes.  Some a few short years.  Some last a couple of decades.  And some lifetimes span a century.  Other lifetimes are over before they even have a chance to start.  

I think of my grandparents, my husband's parents.  My children and the cruel unpredictability of this world.  And I know sooner than I would like that phone call will come.  How do you brace yourself to hear those words?  To accept that reality?  To ready yourself to one day let go of those whom have always been a part of your life, of your reality?
Is it even possible to ever let of go of those who have become a part of your very soul?

This Tuesday, December 18th, I will be participating in Silence and Support for Sandy Hook- A Blogger Day of Silence.  I will post the button you see below on my blog that day and nothing else.  If you are a fellow blogger, I encourage you to also join in on this Blogger Day of Silence.  Bloggers and readers alike, please consider making a donation to the Newtown Youth and Family Services Organization.  All donations made will be used directly for the benefit of the families affected by the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday, December 14th.