• Home
  • About
    • Our Contributors
    • Our Beliefs
  • Blog
  • Bible Studies
    • Scripture Dig
  • Archives
  • Shop
  • Advertise
  • Contact
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

Do Not Depart

Encouragement and Tools to Abide in God's Word

You are here: Home / Encouragement to Abide / Christmas Tea / Grace that Jingles

Grace that Jingles

December 17, 2020 by Jennifer Hong Leave a Comment

Welcome to Do Not Depart! Be sure to subscribe to the Do Not Depart RSS feed or email updates to receive regular encouragement and tools to abide in God's Word.

Welcome back to Do Not Depart! If you haven't already, subscribe to the Do Not Depart RSS feed or email updates to receive regular encouragement and tools to abide in God's Word. This post may include affiliate links. To read our full disclosure policy, click here. Thank you for supporting this site!

As we continue our Christmas Tea, complete with holiday memories and favorite recipes, I invite you back to the Shootin’ Star Ranch in the 1980’s. A good ways outside of Houston, Texas, my Nana and Grandaddy’s little ranch house was one of the loudest, happiest places I’ve known. Holidays there meant big hugs, good food, and lots of laughter.

Grace that Jingles

The final mile of our drive to the Shootin’ Star Ranch was down a red dirt road, often in the dark, with the moon “following us” out my window and anticipation fluttering in my chest. As we pulled up to the Ranch and opened the station wagon doors, we were met with the cold night air. The back patio door squeaked open, and loud voices and laughter spilled with the warm yellow light out of the house and into the lawn.

Days at the Ranch were not just peppered with laughter – some evenings were designed just for laughing. As kids, we cousins only caught a fraction of the jokes as our parents, aunts, and uncles let loose playing charades late into the night. Other nights were devoted to “Life’s Most Embarrassing Moments” – an annual opportunity for informal, stand-up comedy, each of us bringing our most cringe-worthy experiences of the year for the amusement of all. We howled and guffawed until cheeks ached and faces were streaked with tears. Eventually, we kids were sent to sleep as the adults’ laughter went on and on.

Sleep was hard to come by with the adults cutting up late into the night just outside our door — sometimes chuckles, often a chorus of belly laughs, it was always punctuated by my Nana’s cascading cackles. Nana laughed with joy and abandon. Eventually we slept, awaking the next morning to the aroma of Nana’s Spanish coffee cake, a delicious holiday morning staple.

My Nana and her children didn’t laugh so easily because life was so easy. She navigated a solid share of struggles and pain. Raising my father and his siblings was no easy task, to put it mildly, and they each had their own share of heartache as adults, too. But Nana lived with great grace and took much joy in her children and grandchildren. When our lives took unexpected turns, Nana’s warm welcome was unswerving. 

Grace that Jingles

I think that grace, with all of its second chances and words of encouragement given out along the way, left my Nana free to laugh. Over the years, Nana exemplified Colossians 3:13-14 as she brought up our family:

“…bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” (Colossians 3:13-14)

When I let go of my strain towards perfectionism and instead see myself as a mistake-maker who is so grateful for God’s good grace, I find myself lighter. When I see my children similarly, recognizing that of course they stumble and need grace, too, I am slower to scold and quicker to enjoy their playfulness. It seems grace given and grace received free us up for joy, and for laughter.

My Dad’s family was not particularly musical, though a few of my cousins are now extraordinary musicians. Rather than carols and bells, our holiday soundtrack was more of a laugh track, but it jingled nonetheless. As my own family enters this last week of Advent, I’m looking to lean into grace, throw off the pettiness that can so easily entangle me, and enjoy my own energetic, wildcard family with laughter and grace. We’ll also wake on Christmas to the smell of Nana’s Spanish Coffee Cake. Merry Christmas!

 

Spanish Coffee Cake

Ingredients
2 ½ cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
⅓ cup slivered almonds

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. Mix together the flour, brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon, salt, and vegetable oil. Remove ½ cup of the mixture and set aside.
  3. Add in the baking soda and baking powder.
  4. Beat together the buttermilk and egg. Add half of this to the flour mixture and beat for two minutes. Then add the rest and beat for an additional two minutes.
  5. Pour into a greased, floured 9”x13” pan. Sprinkle on top the ½ cup of crumbs set aside in the second step and sprinkle on the almonds.
  6. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.
Share
Pin3
Tweet
3 Shares

Related

About Jennifer Hong

Jennifer lives in Houston with her husband and four energetic children. After working as a pediatrician, she transitioned to be at home full-time and has found life at home to be wild but wonderful. Homeschooling fueled Jennifer‘s passion for education, offering the opportunity to learn, read, and draw alongside her children. Her favorite day is Thursday, when her family escapes their urban surroundings to walk in the woods and dig in the dirt.

  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
The Gift of Presence
The Simple Sweetness of Christmas

Join the DiscussionCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

This Month’s Theme

  • Jesus is the Way
  • And He Shall Be Called Series Intro

Enter your email address to have new posts emailed to you:

We’ll come to you

Enter your email address to have new posts emailed to you

Categories

Bible Memory – Lent 2021

Memorizing Isaiah 12

Let the Children Come

Let the Children Come

Want more #HideHisWord resources?

Memorizing Psalm 1

Find Us on Facebook


Search

Recent Posts

  • Series Wrap-Up: The Lord Is My Light
  • His Marvelous Light
  • When the Darkness Deepens
  • Though I Sit in Darkness…
  • Let Your Light Shine
  • Life-Giving Light

Archives

© 2025 · Pretty Creative WordPress Theme by, Pretty Darn Cute Design