1) Where have the blogs been?

2) What has brought on this hiatus?

The answer to both of those questions is actually the problem. While, having an unusually busy travel schedule for December and of course Holiday festivities, the real reason for my prolonged absence from the blogosphere is that I actually have too much to talk about. The problem is that I can’t yet divulge all the goings-on at the Kinsley house. No Lori isn’t pregnant, but our excitement level and feelings of hormonal imbalance are just about equal. I know, once again a vague tease of information, but I promise the wait should be well worth it. So you see, since Freeing My Mind is my avenue to divulge my spiritual, psychological and emotional thought process, it makes that difficult when those thoughts consuming my life are not quite internet ready.

That being said, I’ve decided to lay aside all that I really want to say and go off-topic a bit. Or at least off the course of my current day to day thoughts.

How were my Holidays, you may be asking. (No, I am not attempting to be politically correct in my use of “Holidays”. While I do have a somewhat affinity for Bill O’reilly, at least his zeal for child abuse legislation, I think the man power fueling our crusade to stand for the phrase “Merry Christmas” could be better spent elsewhere. War and poverty for instance. I just like to include the entire holiday season.) Anyway, my holidays were unexpectedly wonderful. For the past few years the season has been filled with a certain of amount of stress and anguish due to increased financial pressure, travel to and from our hometown, balancing time spent between both sides of the family, preparing for the usually busy month of January and lastly, attempting to fight my feeling that Christmas is actually about family. Although this year was actually fairly merry.

Lori has become somewhat infatuated with crocheting. (Thanks Kateland.) At first, I was a little taken back by this new found hobbie. My knowledge of the crochet sub-culture was limited to my belief that the median age of its members was 82. My first thought was that she must be pregnant. I’ve heard that many women began to bake a lot and make things when those first few waves of prenatal hormones come crashing in. I’ve learned that this animalistic phenomena is called “nesting”. Although, it turned out not to pertain to this situation. I’m sure there are ancient feminine factors at work here, but she actually seems to simply enjoy it. I was totally on board the crochet train when I realized that 50% of our outgoing Christmas gifts were going to derive from her obsession. One holiday stress out of my way. Merriness level – 4

The next mountain to overcome would be the usually non-merry task of dividing holiday time between my blood family and my law family. (No spiritual connotation intended. I actually love my law family.) While those of you that have been perfecting this balancing act over the course of decades may have even had to perform this dance across state or international borders, I have still found this to be one of the least merry parts of Christmas all together. Not the family part, I love that, but the actual brainpower required to bring about the most holiday cheer all around. Short of creating detailed spreadsheets including mathematical figures and timestamps or taking a course in orchestra conducting, I think we pulled it off pretty well this year. Another stress out of the way. Merriness level – 7

In previous years, January has been an incredibly busy month. Between the beginning of our winter semester of AwakeU and my usual urge to “do something different” near the beginning of the year, much of my December has been spent contemplating and preparing for the next month. The interesting thing, is that this seems to be my busiest January to date. Although, there is so much happening and so much being birthed that I’ve actually had to give the worry over to God. Imagine that. Yet, another stress out of the way. Merriness level – 9

You may have wondered a bit about my last holiday stress. For a number of Christmas seasons now, I have fought an overwhelming feeling that for me the time is not actually about the birth of Christ, but about family. It’s always seemed that the baby in a manger aspect was simply tacked on or made to fit in. We always said that He was the reason for the season, but the majority of the season was spent focusing on friends and family. I was constantly at war with myself trying to make it about Jesus, when it seemed that my spirit actually wanted it to be about family. This year I finally quit fighting it. It’s difficult for me to simply take a time of year and add in some ritualistic observance of Jesus’ birth. My whole life is spent thinking on and being with Jesus. My whole life is not spent with family. In fact, as I’ve grown older, there are members of my family that I only see during that season. I see Jesus everyday. Now, I’m not one of these people who ban Christmas due to a belief that its origins are pagan. If we were to denounce anything in our culture that has paganism at its roots, then we would have to begin with our church culture. No, for me Christmas is about family. It’s about gathering with people we love and both remembering and creating memories. Jesus is in the midst of it, as He is in the midst of everything, but not as a baby in a manger. Another stress out of the way. Merriness level – 10.

I know this has been out for a while, but I get a lot of readers who might not have seen it. Now this is merry. Be inspired.

Due to my travel schedule, Lori and I will be spending Thanksgiving here in Moravian Falls. Last year we did the same. I had some friends and interns that spent Thanksgiving with us. I, other than the ham, cooked the Thanksgiving meal all by myself. I’m not complaining, I loved it. It took me a straight 14 hours to do so (I’m not the most efficient cook), but I did it. I think I did a pretty good job too. I had no clue that the insides of the turkey, including the neck bone, are used to cook the gravy. Anyway, this year we’re just hopping around to about three different houses. The way I’ve scheduled it, it looks like I am going to be able to eat three different times. Around Lunch, we’ll be spending some time with our friends Carol and Doug Bergeron and their family. At 3:00, we’ll move to Gary & Kathy Oates’ to hang with Bob and Bonnie Jones and some more of the Moravian Falls crew. 5:00 brings in the finale, where we trek to the other side of the mountain to eat some Charleston, SC food with Rich and Hollie Giersch. My thinking is that with three different gatherings, odds are good that I will find a pecan pie in one of the locations.

Why bring up all of these people, most of which you do not know? Because, while I adore my blood family, one of the greatest blessings in my life is the extension of family that Lori and I have surrounding us. I don’t feel like preaching much today, but I really believe the idea of family is vital to the reforming of the Church. Take this passage from the book of Acts for example:

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

The Church is more often than not seen today as more of an organization, governed by what looks like a fortune 500 company, rather than a family. I believe the early Church was onto something in their mindset. You might have a weird uncle or a black-sheep cousin, but at the end of the day they are still your family. There is no disassociating or shunning, at least there shouldn’t be. They’re your family and for some reason, you love them. The Moravian church, of whom our small town is named after, instituted a gathering which they called a “Love Feast”. They did this often and it consisted of the entire Moravian town coming together for the simple purpose of eating and loving. I like that. Seems kind of like Thanksgiving to me. I’m really grateful for my family, blood or not, I am incredibly blessed.

I will end today’s post with the two recipes that I will be preparing this Thanksgiving.

Bourbon Pecan Smashed Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients

• 3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 3 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans, a couple of handfuls
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 ounces bourbon
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• Salt and pepper

Directions

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Add sweet potatoes and cook 12 to 15 minutes until very tender. Drain sweet potatoes in a colander. Return pan to medium heat. Add butter to the pan. When butter melts, add nuts and toast for 2 minutes. Add sugar and let it bubble. Add bourbon and cook out alcohol, 1 minute. Add orange juice and the cooked sweet potatoes. Smash with a masher and season the sweet potatoes with nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Pumpkin Banana Mousse Tart

Ingredients

For the crust:

• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs (14 crackers)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:

• 1/2 cup half-and-half
• 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 1 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3 extra-large egg yolks
• 1 package (2 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin
• 1 ripe banana, finely mashed
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
• 1/2 cup cold heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons sugar

For the decoration:

• 1 cup (1/2 pint) cold heavy cream
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Orange zest, optional

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter in a bowl and mix well. Pour into an 11-inch tart pan with a removable bottom and press evenly into the sides and then the bottom. Bake for 10 minutes and then cool to room temperature.

For the filling, heat the half-and-half, pumpkin, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water until hot, about 5 minutes. Whisk the egg yolks in another bowl, stir some of the hot pumpkin into the egg yolks to heat them, then pour the egg-pumpkin mixture back into the double boiler and stir well. Heat the mixture over the simmering water for another 4 to 5 minutes, until it begins to thicken, stirring constantly. You don’t want the eggs to scramble. Remove from the heat.

Dissolve the gelatin in 1/4 cup cold water. Add the dissolved gelatin, banana, and orange zest to the pumpkin mixture and mix well. Set aside to cool.

Whip the heavy cream in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment until soft peaks form. Add the sugar and continue to whisk until you have firm peaks. Carefully fold the whipped cream into the pumpkin mixture and pour it into the cooled tart shell. Chill for 2 hours or overnight.

For the decoration, whip the heavy cream in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until soft peaks form. Add the sugar and vanilla and continue to whisk until you have firm peaks. Pipe or spoon the whipped cream decoratively on the tart and sprinkle, if desired, with orange zest. Serve chilled.