Creative and Meaningful Gifts for Seniors

I share a birthday with two fabulous seniors...my sweet  Grandmother-in-love and neighbor  (pictured here), and a dear lady from my church, who always takes the time to give me a call if she isn't able to speak to me personally on Sunday!

Our family is blessed to have an above average number of senior adults in our lives. While we cherish a simple approach to Christmas gift giving, I find that this time of year is an ideal time to be an extra blessing to the older adults we cherish. Many of  the following gift ideas can be given with little or no monetary expense on the part of the giver, but they go a long way to show that you care for the needs and happiness of the recipient.  Here are some of the things we keep in mind as we consider gifts to seniors:

* Gifts of Service: Think of the areas where the senior is limited and attempt to meet a need around the home or yard. This can be done with labor you personally provide or in the form of a gift certificate to hire someone else to do the job.  Ideas include: gutter cleaning, computer maintenance, cell phone updating/lessons ( my son updates my contacts for me for Mother's Day every year and I love it!), snow shoveling, garden tilling, window cleaning, car washing/cleaning....and much more!

*Paying for a Regular Expense: Gift certificates for hair cuts, car maintenance, vet visits for pets; paying their phone or electric bill for the month.

*Gift From and For the Kitchen: If a senior is still living at home and able to cook for themselves, consider giving them a gift for their freezer.  Containers of pre-chopped vegetables ( items like celery, peppers and onions that are often used in cooking) can  be a real luxury for someone who has arthritic hands and finds chopping difficult. Freeze them individually on a tray ( thus avoiding a frozen hunk of peppers that are hard to separate!), then place in small zip lock bags in small amounts. Homemade soups can be frozen in ice cube trays ( for easy defrosting) and divided into freezer bags ( 4 cubes per bag) for single serving size portions.  Who doesn't love easy access to a hot cup of homemade soup on a cold day?  Freezable containers can be bought that hold meals "T.V. Dinner style" and filled with delicious, complete meals from your kitchen. Homemade cookies can be frozen and given as a gift for the freezer, or you gave a rolled "log" of homemade cookie dough for slice and bake cookies. Seniors can bake just one or two cookies at a time in their toaster oven for a warm and tasty treat! Homemade bread can be frozen after slicing so the bread can be defrosted and eaten one slice at a time. Remember to label everything  in large print, with defrosting/reheating instructions and expiration dates clearly visible.

*Favorite "Old Fashioned" favorites:  Seniors may not be comfortable ordering from the Internet themselves, but you have access to many of their "old favorites" that cannot be found in local stores. Perhaps they have a favorite cleaning product, like Bon Ami or Fells Naptha soap that is hard to find, or a favorite kind of candy (like Neco wafers,horehound candy, or Boston Baked Beans) that is not commonly found locally. Check out Internet and catalog options such as The Vermont Country Store, Mast General Store, or Lehman's and see what kind of things you can come up with that will feel familiar and be appreciated. If you are not sure, ask another senior for ideas! Place a collection of products together in a gift basket.

*Homemade Gifts: Grandparents and great grandparents love gifts that connect them to their grandchildren.  Frame some of your children's artwork, make a calendar for the new year with family photos, decoupage items using family photos ( jars for pencil holders,wooden trays, paper mache boxes...).  You can also have your older children write a 30 day devotional using their favorite Bible passages. Younger children can decorate the book with their artwork or you can add in some family photos. What a joy for a grandparent to be able to see the spiritual growth and maturity of their children's children!  

*Donations: Consider giving a gift to someone in need in honor of a senior.  Make it as personal as possible, perhaps giving to an individual or family your know personally. If appropriate, provide the senior with a prayer card for the recipient of the donation so they can be in prayer for them, and perhaps even with an address so they can encourage the recipient with a note or card as time goes on.

*Special idea for those in Assisted Living Facilities and Nursing Home Settings: Audio books or uplifting music; something to share with visitors: chocolates, instant coffee, hot chocolate, or tea bags if they have a microwave; pretty paper napkins to use with visitors or to brighten up their meal times; something in the way of room decor to personalize their room ( check with the facility for regulations); boxed cards and stamps so they can send birthday cards to loved ones; small photo books they can show to staff and visitors.

Enjoy blessing those wonderful senior adults this Christmas and let me know what ideas you have for blessing this special group of people!

GF/Allergy Free: Holiday Sweet Treats

The holiday season can bring a bit of extra stress for families dealing with food allergies.   SO much celebrating goes on around the meal table or the snack napkin! Particularly if you are dealing with children who have food allergies, being prepared at all times is a must. Today's post is going to focus on some ideas for holiday sweets and treats. They can be frozen and kept ready for you top pop into your food bag at a moments notice for cover dish dinners, an evening at a friend's house,  holiday parties or family celebrations.

* Gluten free cakes, brownies, muffins, and sweet breads are idea for freezing. For a special holiday touch I like to frost and decorate them. This obviously isn't something you want to do all the time, but pulling out all the stops at this season of the year can help allergic children feel included when everyone else is downing red and green Oreos and the like. Therefore,...once a year... I let down the "healthy mama" guard and go for it!

Here is the frosting recipe I use:

1 cup shortening (GF)
some GF vanilla ( approximately 1 teaspoon)
2 cups powdered sugar ( use 1 cup Agave Nectar or honey if corn is an issue...we prefer agave)
1 teaspoon salt

( a few spoons of water is sometimes necessary if using the powdered sugar)

Blend together until smooth, adding water if necessary.  For a red color I like to puree some defrosted frozen red berries and blend them into the mix.  Blueberries add a lovely purple color. Some unsweetened cocoa powder can be added for a chocolate flavor.

It is really amazing how much color comes from those berries...and without any nasty artificial colors! ( I am terribly sorry that I cannot show you any photos of finished products today.  Our camera is out of whack and is being sent off for repairs.  I feel like my right arm has been cut off or something, but am thankful for past photos that I can use!) I keep small containers of frosting in the refrigerator to use as needed during the holiday season, but also frost several individual pieces of cake prior to freezing for times when I need to grab something quick.

Other decorating ideas:
*Crush up some Yummy Earth Lollipops to use as colorful sprinkles
*Find other GF candies such as Annie's Gummy Bunnies, or organic jelly beans and gummy candies to use as decorations
*Crumble up some GF cookies and use as a topping on frosted cakes
*Crush organic candy canes to use as toppings

A small cookie cutter can be used to create a cute pattern  of whatever topping you choose. Simply press the cookie cutter into the frosting and fill the space with your topping before carefully removing the cookie cutter.

Frostings and toppings also come in handy for decorating GF cookies. Nothing is sadder than watching a child not be able to eat the cookies he has helped everyone else decorate!  My plan this year is to keep a few containers of the toppings listed above on hand for times when little ones are decorating cookies in group and family settings.

A few more ideas for special treats....
Milkshakes: Around this time of year,  Chick-Fil-A Peppermint Chocolate Chip Milkshakes are everyone's favorite "grandparent treat" around our house.  How do we handle this with our GF/dairy free/nut free/no artificial colors child?  Put some soy ice cream  in the blender with a little red berry puree and some Enjoy Life chocolate chips. It is red with chocolate chips just like everyone else's shake and is slurped down just as fast, too!

Chipwiches/Ice cream sandwiches: Two GF cookies with frosting in between... a nice twist on the same old cookies when everyone else is having a special treat.  An extremely yummy combination is chocolate chip cookies  with candy canes mixed in the frosting!! This also works well with soy ice cream in between the cookies !

 Wow!  Just reading over all of this makes me want to go brush my teeth! Perhaps in another post I will tackle main dishes or something a little more healthy :). What ideas do you have for making delicious holiday sweet treats for those with food allergies?

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Thanksgiving and Counting it All Joy

I started out yesterday with one goal in mind: cleaning out our playroom.  This was step one in my three part plan to reorganize and de-clutter our house by Thanksgiving Day. Well, life barged in and upset my plans.  Extra music rehearsals; dual-credit classes that don't take all week off for Thanksgiving; orthodontist appointments; sick children; a doctor visit and course of antibiotics for yours truly; and then, our quick "who doesn't need to dash to the grocery on the week of Thanksgiving" trip to the store...a "quick trip" that ended up involving  massive amounts of smoke ( well, steam I am told...but it looked like smoke to me!) coming from under the hood of our van and a parking lot streaming with bright green fluid. Oh, my.

Thanksgiving was on my mind as I sat in the parking lot, and it hit me that any run-of-the-mill pagan can be thankful when things are running like a well-oiled machine. There is no special grace in thanking God on a day when you feel just fine.  The grace is evident when He fills us up so much that we can count it all joy and breathe each breath with a thankful trust that He is working all things for our good. Thankfulness is really lived out  when our days ooze with peaceful surrender, and we march on like joyful little lumps of clay in the Master's hand....when things turn out "right" and when things don't.

My day turned out fine in the end. God reminded me to mentally turn my day over to Him and know that what He wanted accomplished in that day was far more important than what I had set out to do. And, yes, of course, there were a million little blessings along the way in the midst of it all: a mother in law who was just a phone call away ( even though her phone battery was technically dead), my husband's last minute change of plans involving a scheduled trip out of state, a husband who can fix cars, the kind army of elderly men who  kindly delighted in helping us in our predicament ( senior day at the grocery!),  being stranded at the grocery store at lunch time ( no hungry kids!), a stack of books in the car to keep little ones occupied, church and extended family that was geographically close enough to help us get to where we needed to be the rest of the day. God is good to us, isn't He?  I hope you have a lovely Thanksgiving Day remembering all the ways He has blessed you in the midst of all life's circumstances!

A Pleasant Quote: Keeping the World Sweet and Beautiful

  A friend sent me this quote several years ago while we were caring for a rather rough (but also endearing...) young man whose single parent was in the hospital with cancer.  It speaks vividly to mothers of boys, but also gives a picture of true femininity for our daughters and ourselves.  Good women of nerve, courage, and patience who make the world a kinder, more beautiful place...yes, that it just what I pray for all of us and for the young women in our care!

"It is the sisters and wives and mothers, you know, Caddie, who keep the world sweet and beautiful. What a rough world it would be if there were only men and boys in it, doing things in their rough way! A woman's task is to teach them gentleness and courtesy and love and kindness. It's a big task, too, Caddie - harder than cutting trees or building mills or damming rivers. It takes nerve and courage and patience, but good women have those things. They have them just as much as the men who build bridges and carve roads through the wilderness. A woman's work is something fine and noble to grow up to, and it is just as important as a man's. But no man could ever do it so well. I don't want you to be the silly, affected person with fine clothes and manners, whom folks sometimes call a lady. No, that is not what I want for you, my little girl. I want you to be a woman with a wise and understanding heart, healthy in body and honest in mind."

~from Caddy Woodlawn

Deal of the Day

Did you know that Vision Forum has a special "Deal of the Day" each and every day? Today's special is the High Impact Roman Short Training Sword Set...40% off the regular price! What a great gift for the active older boy in your family! Check out other wholesome, high-quality toys for boys and girls at the  website by clicking here: Vision Forum! ( The Deal of the Day can be found in the bottom left corner, so just scroll down a bit!)

*Pleasantburg Blog is a participant in the Vision Forum affiliate program.

Pleasant Projects: Making Your Own Teepee Tent

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, and playtime moving indoors more and more as the weather cools down, this is a great time of year to make a teepee tent!  I made this one several years ago after seeing one my friend had made. It is still a favorite with our little ones. It is cozy spot for doing a puzzle or reading a book...even taking a nap! I love to pull it out on rainy days and during the Thanksgiving season when we are reading books about native Americans.We have even used it for special events at church.  In case you are wondering, it can also be easily folded and stored in a closet or under a bed when not in use....I love that!

This tent was made using these directions from Sew, Mama, Sew as a spring board. ( If you have been reading this blog for very long you know how bad I am about following directions exactly. Look closely at the back of the tent you will see a circular "peep-hole"...yup, my first attempt at cutting the hole for the poles was incorrect.  I was going to just patch it in some colorful fabric, but it  turns out that it is really fun to have a little toilet-paper-roll-sized "window" for spying! )  I was easily able to acquire bamboo poles and a painter's drop cloth at our local hardware super store. For a punch of color I  used hot glue to secure the blue rick rack and red craft paint for the stars and circles.  I had a star stencil in my craft box and simply dipped the bottom end of a Crayola marker in the paint for the circles that are seen along the bottom edge of the canvas. I found a red bandanna  in our dress-up box and used it to cover the rubber bands that are holding the bamboo poles together at the top. The possibilities for decorations are endless. I think it would be lots of fun to let your children decorate the canvas for themselves. I'd love to see what designs you come up with, so send me a photo if you make one!  Happy Crafting!!

Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken

 Savior, if of Zion's city,
I through grace a member am,
let the world deride or pity,
I will glory in thy Name.
Fading is the worldling's pleasure,
all his boasted pomp and show;
solid joys and lasting treasure
none but Zion's children know!

---

Words: John Newton, 1779

Mrs. T's Favorite Kitchen Tools

We are not hosting Thanksgiving this year, so we have decided to have a few days of intensive declutting over Thanksgiving break. I have been mentally reviewing what we use regularly and what we no longer need. I also recently heard from someone who is cooking gluten-free for the first time and is finding out that it takes a long time to make things from scratch! She asked what tools I have found helpful so she could add them to her Christmas wish list. As I considered what is in my kitchen and what tools I use the most, I realized that nearly all my favorites were given to me as gifts!

Below you will see "Mrs. T.'s Favorite Kitchen Appliances and Tools."  Most of the items are listed as Amazon links, and I do need to clarify that I am an Amazon affiliate and receive a small percentage of the sales from Amazon links on this blog. If you would like to order these products from the links that would be, well...just groovy! However, my main intention in this post is really and truly to tell you what things I find helpful in my daily cooking! Now, on to the post...

* The Kitchen Aid Mixer:  I received one of these for my 40th birthday as a joint gift from everyone who knows me. Well, that is a small exaggeration, but many people pitched in to give me something I never in a hundred years would have been able to own otherwise, and I was deeply touched.  It has made all our baking so much easier. It not only mixes while I putter around the kitchen, it can knead dough while I attend to other duties ( love that!). It has a wide assortment of attachment you can add on if you desire, such as a meat grinder. Mine is red, which adds a cheery look to my kitchen counter!




*The Cuisinart Waffle Maker: This was a Christmas gift and is in operation almost every weekend.  It is great for making gluten free waffles for the freezer.  It has a timer and lets you know when waffles are done, and you are able to select the setting that determines how brown you want the waffles. It is very easy to clean, which is important when you are using appliances for both gluten free and regular purposes.




* High Quality Cookie Sheets: You guessed it, also a gift!  Heavy and easy to clean, these are in use almost every day at our house! If you are doing lots of baking I highly recommend good quality pans like these that cook evenly and are easy to clean!


*Good Cook Silicone Spatulas:  My mom bought some of these years ago and split the set with me. I love having more than one and am a big fan of "color coding" when cooking so I don't stir a gluten -free dish with a  spatula used to stir a non-GF dish.  I also have a very small spatula  that is handy for stirring and scraping out small containers.



*Smart Pot Crock Pot:  Um, yup. Also entered our kitchen as a Christmas gift! This is probably my biggest time saver. I can pop dinner in the crock pot in the morning while listening to someone read, and then just leave it alone, knowing it will automatically switch to the warm setting when the cooking time is done. Love it!



*Kitchen Aid Blender: My dear husband gave this to me for Mother's Day many, many years ago. It was an older model on sale at Tuesday Morning ( a close -out store). It has probably made three million smoothies over the years. I was quite alarmed last year when it suddenly stopped working.  Well, I am a Kitchen Aid fan for life.... we called them, they told us what part we needed, and for a mere ten dollars we were able  restore our blender to perfect working order! I am so thankful that someone still makes appliances that can be repaired instead of needing to be replaced!


*Joie Measure Mate:  I picked up one of these from Lehmans Hardware in Ohio this summer.  I can't find it on their website, but here is the link to the Joie Shop where you can see lots of fun kitchen tools. This little measuring cup measures in Tablespoons and ml, and I find it much easier to use than traditional spoons.

* Wilton Measuring Cups and Pampered Chef Measure-All Cup: Both of these cups are very easy to read, which I find makes measuring ingredients much less time consuming. The Measure-All is terrific for solid ingredients, but I prefer the Wilton for liquids. The four cup option is great for baking in bulk.




Well, I hope that is helpful to you, weather you are making out your Christmas list, considering gifts for others, or just adjusting to a new routine of gluten-free cooking. I'd love to know what kitchen tools you find helpful!