After a super lazy morning at my house, I went outside to throw the football with my son for a while. It’s a chilly day, but beautifully sunny, and it’s colder than a lot of winter days we’ll have in Georgia. The sky was the bluest blue, and the trees–now mostly bare except for those determined pines–seemed to be there only to show off that fantastic blue.

When I came inside, my brother-in-law was napping on the couch, and my husband was upstairs playing video games with some more family. No one was hurrying. No one was working. No one was arguing. No one needed anything more than exactly what he had. And on top of all that, no one has to go anywhere for the rest of the day.

At my son’s request, I celebrated this wonderful family day by making (no baking!) Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Pie. It’s his favorite, and he sees a lot of pies go out the door for other folks, so I was more than happy to grant his request. It took a few minutes to unwrap (and “safety test”) the peanut butter cups I’d need for the pie.

If you are a peanut butter lover, or if you love one, you should make this easy pie. Here’s how:

Peel 20-25 peanut butter cups. Save 6-8 to decorate the top of the pie, and chop the others coarsely.

In a bowl, mix the following with an electric mixer:

In a graham cracker crust (store bought-no baking), fill the bottom with a layer of chopped peanut butter cups. Cover with a layer of the filling. Add another layer of chopped cups. Cover with the rest of the filling. Use the uncut peanut butter cups to decorate the top of the pie. I also piped (and by “piped,” I mean squirted out of the cut corner of a zip-loc bag) some decorative Cool Whip on the top. Chill the pie overnight (if you can stand it) for best results. If you’re OK with still-incredibly-tasty-but-not-perfect-looking results, then wait an hour or two and dig in!

If you’re fortunate enough to be with family today, show kindness and celebrate the gift of time together.  If circumstances prevent your family from being together, call someone you love, or send a card, or stop to pray for the ones you hold dear.

Family is indeed a gift to treasure.

“A happy family is but an earlier heaven.”

                                             –George Bernard Shaw

First things first. Someone better come to my house and help me eat the rest of this Cranberry Apple Pie. It is SO delicious, but my husband is allergic to walnuts, so somebody, PLEASE save me from myself and come eat a piece. Or two.

Anyway, back to today. I am the sort of person who might get a little–let’s say agitated, when things don’t go my way. Just ask anyone close to me. I’m high maintenance–no doubt about it. So today, at the grocery store, I was displeased to be served (and I use the word “served” very loosely) by a less-than-enthusiastic checker. Now, I’ve been a grocery checker before, and I’ve been a grocery shopper for quite a few years. There’s a WAY to do it that works. And, as it turns out, there are many, MANY ways to do it that don’t work so well.

For example:

WORKS:  “Good morning, how are you?”

NOT SO MUCH: “Grunt” or “SUP?”

WORKS: Paying attention to the customer and what you’re doing

NOT SO MUCH: Taking a break during my order to show another employee something on your phone

WORKS: Putting like items together (meats with meats, veggies with veggies, etc.)

NOT SO MUCH: Dropping lots of canned goods on top of tomatoes so that, when removed from the bag, they no longer look like something from nature

Now I know how I SHOULD be. I behaved. I did not protest (out loud). I smiled and said, “Thanks, have a nice day.”

Then I came home and griped about it–complete with acting out the scene with me playing the part of Ms. Checker McLazyton.

THEN, I got over it.

Getting over it is definitely underrated. As annoyed as I was, it didn’t take long to remind myself:

I am so thankful today, to accept COMFORT as one of the many gifts of this advent season.

Comfort is defined this way:

Right now, think of all the comfort you receive each day. No one is comfortable all the time, but everyone gets a bit of it at some time.

Don’t take for granted all the times in your life that everything has been–well–just fine.

To celebrate comfort, I baked a simple Cherry Pie. It’s considered by many to be a “comfort food.” I especially like the tiny Christmas trees in the top crust. Downright Festive. And comforting.

Just to boost the comfort factor, I made Chex Mix. For me, it’s another major comfort food. I’m very comforted by the fact that we’re having some people over this weekend. Therefore, there’s a chance I won’t “overcomfort” myself with these treats. Maybe ;).

This is an audience participation song. If you are reading this, you must sing along to the tune of “On Top of Spaghetti.”

Ready? Everyone together, with feeling!

Some pies turn out ugly

But they’re still worth a try!

Alright, pie-lovers. Here’s your chance. The first local person (who can meet me or pick up the pie TONIGHT) to read this blog and comment (on the blog–not Facebook) wins today’s Advent Pie:

Pineapple Coconut Pie

I know–no lofty, meaningful message today. Just this:

If you pay attention and act fast,

you might win a pie.

On your marks, get set…..

GO!

This evening, I baked a Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie. It was one of those cool, easy recipes you find on the back or inside of a wrapper or package. This one came with a graham cracker crust. Yes, I used a store-bought graham cracker crust. I have made them from scratch, and I’ve not found them to be any better.

Here’s how you make it:

Mix 2 8oz packages of cream cheese with a hand mixer until it looks fluffy.

Add 2/3 cup sugar and mix some more.

Add 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice and mix some more.

Next, beat in two eggs.

Finally, mix in one 15oz can of pumpkin.

Pour it into a graham cracker crust and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Cool it on a rack for an hour and then chill for at least 3 hours.

Add whipped cream if you want to.

Making the pie is not what made my muscles sore. I enjoyed some time with my father-in-law and my son this afternoon making (of all things) a fire pit in my back yard. My kids are having some friends over for a Christmas bon-fire this weekend, and we sent out invitations without having a fire pit. So…I’m super grateful for the help today. We drove around on the golf cart gathering rocks and sticks and sand and lights and stuff. We whipped up a pretty decent little fire pit in no time. Thanks, Tom!

I know I’ll be sore tomorrow, because I’m already sore.

I don’t mind a bit, though. As it turns out, I’ve been a bit of a SLUG lately. No good reason–I just haven’t made time to exercise much. Even though I’m sore, I feel good about getting something done. Not to mention, it sure is nice to spend time with folks where there are no SCREENS involved. It was a great day to be outdoors with family–even just for a little while–and it was worth every ache.

Today’s pie is going to someone else who knows about hard work (much harder than I did today). I’m taking this Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie to my son’s third grade teacher. She works hard every day at one of the most important jobs there is–teaching and nurturing children. What an impact she is making on my son and so many others! 

I am grateful for her hard work, and I am so thankful for the ability to do work myself. Whether your muscles are sore from the work you’ve done or perhaps just your brain :), give thanks today for the gift of work.

All right, folks. It’s December 3–and the third day of the “Advent of Pie” series here at fortyandtwentyblackbirds.

This week, I’m a temporarily single parent. My husband’s out of town on business, so it’s just me and the kids. And the kids’ school stuff. And the kids’ homework. And the kids’ rehearsals. And the kids’ activities. And the kids’ laundry. And carpooling. Now, before I officially declare how tired I am right now, let me say how thankful I am to have a partner who divides the job of parenting with me right down the middle. I’m always grateful, but I notice it even more when he’s not there. So a shout out goes to the best husband and dad ever.

So I remembered about making pie on my way down the driveway at 8:30 this evening. I had just dropped off two other kids and been to a parent meeting while my kids were at a play rehearsal. Before I thought about which pie to make, I thought this:

I.Am.So.Tired.

But then I got over it. I realized that today’s big, wonderful, notable gift is endurance. Sure, we’ve all got plenty to do–probably too much on most days. Today, though, I paid attention to the gift of endurance. I had enough energy–and a lot of other resources, too–to do what needed to be done.

Enough gas in the car.

Enough food to pack a snack.

Enough time to get where I needed to go.

Enough clean clothes to avoid doing laundry tonight.

Enough.

Also, I had enough eggs, cheese and ham to make a very quick Ham and Cheese Quiche. The kids and I will reheat it for our breakfast in the morning. Good fuel for another busy day.

Seriously. So quick. You could do it, too. Here’s the recipe:

In a big bowl, mix this stuff up:

3 eggs, 1 cup of any cheese (I had shredded mozzarella), 3/4 cup cubed ham, 1 tsp basil, salt and pepper, 1 and 1/2 cups of milk, and 1 heaping tbsp of flour.

After you mix it all up, pour it into an unbaked pie crust. You can make the edges of the crust as fancy as you like, but you’ll see from the photo that my crust was ugly–don’t think it’ll slow anyone down. Bake it in a 325 degree oven for about 45 minutes. Time can vary a bit–if you stick a knife in the middle, it should come out pretty clean.

We all have crazy days. Sometimes, each of us wishes for less to do. But you can bet there’s someone out there tonight wishing they’d had the day that you did.

Tonight, give thanks for the ability–and the endurance–to do all that you’ve done today.