A Wonderful Gift This Christmas: A Joyful Heart

Every year we come to the busy season of Christmas. We all feel the pressure to give the "perfect" gifts to our beloved ones, friends and family, becoming stressed and pushed and feeling a need to live up to expectations surrounding me in this materialistic culture. But long after each year's gifts have been forgotten, if we give to our loved ones a joyful heart, we will have given them a gift that will be with them their whole lives. They will come to us again and again for the "Life" they need to feel, hear and be comforted by during every season.

First, we must have a heart that says, "I receive you into my life as a gift from God."

Then, a joyful heart seeks to encourage every day--to intentionally give words of life and encouragement to those who so need to hear love.

Words like:

“I appreciate you. You are a gift of God's love to me; you are faithful, funny, fun, creative” (or whatever is the key need of the person God has strategically placed in your life!)

"I believe in you and know God is going to use you in a special way."

"I have made so many mistakes in my life, but God has forgiven me and given me grace. He has already forgiven you and wants you to know His love."

A joyful heart is one that plans surprises--lighting candles, putting on beautiful Christmas music, serving a cup of tea, hot chocolate or coffee even in the midst of a busy day, maybe even with a little treat--and says, "Let's make a memory together right now--you are special to me."

It might lead you to bring a single rose to a friend or leave a love note on a pillow or in an email to a weary husband; a struggling friend; someone you appreciate; or a far off child.

Perhaps your joyful heart might cause you to take time to play a game, giggle at stories, lie in bed with a toddler or teen late at night even when we are tempted to be weary and just want to go to sleep. We must still make a habit of stretching ourselves, to extend ourselves as purveyors of His joy and grace as He shows up and gives us strength.

A joyful heart says, “Where can I leave a spirit of Christ's fragrance today? Where can I dance the dance of life in the midst of darkness?”

May we cultivate joyful hearts this Christmas!

Speaking of Imagination

BY CLAY CLARKSON

It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see. Henry David Thoreau

There is a language of imagination. Let’s call it imaginationish.

It’s not actually a language, but more of a universal dialect. It is using words to describe things that the eye does not see, the ear does not hear, the senses do not sense.

We always knew when our children were speaking imaginationish. They would hear a symphony and begin to describe a forest teeming with life and mystery. They would look at a painting and walk into its colors and lines as they narrated a story of their journey. They would watch a movie and begin to think out loud about the deeper spiritual meanings of scenes and symbols.

We never sat down and created a plan to make our children imaginative and creative. We did, though, deliberately create an atmosphere in our home that was rich in spoken and printed words—reading lots of books, discussing lots of topics, experiencing many forms of art and creativity. It was the air they breathed in our home—they inhaled it to fill their curious lungs, it oxygenated the verbal blood that fed their creative brains, and they exhaled it as the language of imagination. Call it immersion learning, I guess.

If there is such a thing as imaginationish, it isn’t learned from a workbook. It is grown and cultivated at home in a print-rich environment and verbally-enriched atmosphere, and it is fed with abundant and nutritious words. God—who is the Word, and created us to be people of his Word and of words—has given parents the privilege to create that creative ecosystem. It all starts with words.

Click HERE to read more on storyformed.com.

Planning for Endurance & Enjoyment this December! & A Giveaway!

I love Christmas and I have been thinking of you precious ones, serving so many, giving yourself away, in the midst of so much. I want you to take care of yourself and breathe in some fun--but you have to plan it, for sure.

Every year, as the busy month of December is upon us, I like to share some encouragement specific to this season and the craziness it sometimes brings! So sit down with a cup of tea or coffee or hot chocolate, and read this letter to you, from me-that I actually wrote to a sweet friend. Pretend it is from me to you! 

Dear Mom,

You wrote asking for a bit of help.  I, too, have felt a need for help so very often, and so I offer you my best advice on how to make it through December with some enjoyment!

First of all, chill out. Take a little time for yourself and endeavor to gain some perspective. I hope something I say here may help. I have had to learn that no one else in the world will be responsible for my over-all well being. I have a husband and children who need me, and they are going to want to continue eating every day and want to wear relatively clean clothes, with the expectation that I will be the one to keep this going.

As we all know, if mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. So, I have to tend to my own happiness and well being, and you need to tend to yours, even in the midst of our practical busy-ness for others.

I am responsible for my rest, my quiet time, my eating and exercise, filling my cup, so that it will not be empty when others want and need to keep taking and taking from me.  I am also the manager of my "chill time." Laughing and lightening up really brings health to the bones. ("A joyful heart is good medicine" has been proved by medical research1) It is God's will for me to survive with grace.

There are tasks calling my name around the house, but I have become the queen of turning my head away, doing my best to stick to my most important priorities. I have found that there will be just as many things screaming for my attention tomorrow ... and tomorrow ... and tomorrow.

But today, I know that my body and mind need a little rest and my emotions are a bit frayed, and I will become grumpy if I don't create a little break. No one else is going to tell me when I have reached my limit. But if I do not monitor myself, my children and husband and I will come to regret it when I blow!  I am steward of my limitations and body. If I don't protect my  walk with the Lord, that too will get eaten up in everyone else's agenda.

Though still learning, I am always simplifying and evaluating if something is worth the effort.  Making things beautiful and special during the holidays IS worth the effort as it builds the taste and values and work ethic and ministry skills of my children, but I have to make adjustments in different life seasons, and not go overboard.

Not everything "we have always done," actually has to be done this year. Fast food with candles lit is just fine. Then again, it may not be worth it to answer one more phone call or one more email--as this will certainly steal from my children and husband who need me today. Perhaps making dinner at home tonight will be the priority I will choose.

Each of us has a different puzzle and different personality, and we must accept our limitations within our own story and be comfortable being ourselves. There is great freedom in deciding to enjoy who I am, as I am not going to essentially change any time soon! I see so many moms seeking to live up to other's expectations and ideals and then burning out in the process. I have high work times, followed by times when I just can't get anything done--and somehow the world does not crash even when I take time to just live and enjoy, and avoid the "I have to do everything or I will be a failure" syndrome.

This is why I take time to have my cup of tea every day--a way of saying, "I will take time for a moment of pleasure and peace, because it centers me, and I have decided I will last a lot longer in this very long distant race, if I build anchors of serendipity into my schedule."

If you and I don't make peace with our own life circumstances, then we are in danger of cultivating a heart of bitterness, inadequacy, guilt, or whining, or possibly blowing apart into oblivion. But if we become the conductors of our own life symphonies and live within our own melody of life, we will last longer more gracefully with the God of grace who leads us.

Spend time in God's word and let Him love you-- and you love Him back. He came for you. He came to comfort. Let His comfort be yours. You cannot find peace without the Prince of peace.

Take time to regroup today--Go eat some chocolate, and don't feel guilty as you are eating it (that would certainly be a waste of good chocolate!) Listen to some beautiful music, watch a heart-warming movie, take a nap, eat off of paper plates to save cleanup! The rest of December is still coming and you will be the better for it. I'll be praying for you!

Love, Sally

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Hello Mornings: How to Build a Grace-Filled, Life-Giving Morning Routine

By Kat Lee

Buy on Amazon

My sweet friend, Kat Lee, who is on my podcast today, is giving away one of her books to my friends. Share this post or podcast with your friends and leave a comment below and you will be entered to win. If you need encouragement about how to be more consistent in having a quiet time and how to connect with the Lord as a daily routine, you will love this book. 

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I hope you can join me Thursday night for my Christmas Tea!

Register HERE

I am getting so excited about my party Thursday night. Hope you can join me. Giving away a set of books, those who are a part of this will receive pdf downloads with sweet surprising Christmas printables. Also, those in my membership, At Home with Sally and friends get to come for free-the first of 4 webcasts this year.

If you aren't a member, it is only $10 for registration. Having fun preparing--3 recipes to share, a couple of fun Christmas stories, a favorite reading from a favorite book, decor that brings beauty and nature into the home, a devotion to fill your heart and more. Hope you can join me.

You can watch the webcast any time after Thursday evening if you are busy that evening. :) Merry CHRISTMAS WEEK! 

Becoming a "yes" person

Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

Isaiah 6: 8

Throughout scripture, God seems to be looking for those who will listen to Him and obey Him, those who will go out in His name, who will let their lights shine, who will go to the lion's den and say, "Though he slay me, yet will I love  him."

Scripture is made up of stories of unlikely heroes who were willing to say "yes" to God's will and ways, whatever He asked them. Mary was one of those who said, "Be it done to me according to your will," when the angel told her she would bear the son of God. Her heart response to God, even though it would change the expectations and ways of her whole life, her immediate response was "yes." 

What does it mean to be a "yes" person to God?

Advent is a time when we stop for moments every day to prepare our own hearts for the coming of Christ that we celebrate at Christmas. We ready ourselves to ponder what His coming means to us and to our world and then we prepare our own hearts to say yes. 

If we do not take time every day to prepare our hearts to go the ways of God, we will find that we will find ourselves victims in our own circumstances. We will fear the ways ahead, or doubt that we will be able to complete the way we are being asked to walk. We will judge results by our own human calculation and often times miss the profoundly better and hidden ways of God.

We read in Isaiah that His ways are higher than our ways, His thoughts higher than ours. So if we truly believe that He is holy, better than us, omniscient, that "he knows best" then we will learn to become a "yes" person.

Often people will say to me, "You have had a privileged life but my life is very limited. How do you tell people in difficult circumstances to embrace their lives right where they are since they probably won't have the opportunities, blessings or privileges you have had?"

In this podcast, you will hear:

*A little bit about my own story that was lined with hardships and challenges each step of the way. 

*God prompted me in every place to learn to say, "What lesson do you have for me at this juncture? How can I glorify you in this place? I believe that all things will work together for the good because I have committed myself to you and you are a good Father."

 *Examples of people who said "Yes" to God: Peter, the widow of Zarephath, Rahab, David and so many more., Even Jesus gave so many examples of how He wanted us to trust Him--feeding of the 5000--did this miraculous feeding several times.

*Jesus asks us to, "Consider the lilies of the field" and to remember that God is concerned about the details of our lives. God is honored when we work hard, to practice obedience and to live by faith.

Clay and I have had to "work our tails off" to see the fruit God had prepared for us in life and through our ministry. But we realized that we were going to walk this road by faith and keep cultivating our work, live through money issues, medical issues, friend issues, church issues, marriage issues, through our trials, we learned to be "yes" people.

*Put away whining, complaining as it becomes a way of seeing life--"you have not given to me what I thought I deserved." Be careful what are you modeling to your children. 

As we ponder advent, let us determine that we will be those who wait for God in our circumstances, to tell His story through us and  to see what He is doing. Let us become a people waiting on God, who are willing to say "yes" to His will. 

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Come to my Christmas Party!

When I welcome a guest into my home, I prepare my home, my food and the way we will spend our time. This week, I am preparing a fun party for all of us to share an evening together and I am  getting excited to have you in my home.

If you can 't be present with me on Thursday night, you can register anyway and you can listen to the webcast later even if you can't be with us live.

My thought was all of you who are doing so much work right now, this season to serve others, might need a break and some soul filling so this is what my LIfegiving Christmas Tea is all about. So brew something warm and a little nibble and join me. Those who register will receive a recipe and a lovely pdf to use this Christmas. 

Register HERE

If you are a member of Cultivating Life with Sally, you will receive this webcast as our guest and all of the other ones we do this year. (look in the email you received for December and you will find out how to access the Lifegiving Tea evening.)

This is a great time to join as we will be raising the price later this year. For registering for Cultivating Life, go HERE.

Please keep the honor code and do not share the webcast code with those who have not registered. Thanks for your support of our ministry projects by participating. 

Each Mama-Task Is An Act of Worship!

We ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of God, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed.

Brother Lawrence

Christmas is the tale of a father and his children. The Father saw his precious children lost in darkness and He made a plan that considered how to save His children and to bring them light. His service of love, His life laid out, His whole self given generously to serve was personified through the life of Christ, God become man.

The heart of Christmas is a loving father serving those He cherished. And when we give our lives to Him, we follow His model in serving our own beloved children, family, friends the way He served us.

The World is brimming over with philosophies and values that proclaim the importance of  self-fulfillment, self-promotion, accomplishment, status. Yet, our Jesus came as a man who had no stately form or majesty, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. He purposely chose to humble Himself, to become the ultimate servant king. "I am humble and meek," He said. He came not proclaiming His rights, but bowing his knee. He washed feet, touched lepers, embraced and caressed the least of these, precious children, who He deemed worthy of honor.

When we accept with open arms and heart a precious little baby and wash their little hands and feet with love in our hearts, we are worshiping. When we hold and rock and sing comfort into the heart of a screaming babe in the middle of the night during an ear infection, we become the voice of Jesus.

When we stay up late to listen to the forlorn heart of a teen who is growing and stretching toward adulthood and the injustices of the world, and the imperfection of our own families, and extending grace, patience and soothing, hopeful words, we become the patience, hope, compassion of Jesus.

Our multitudinous little tasks, washing one more dish, correcting one more attitude, kissing one more forehead, when given from a heart full of love for Him,  please Him far more than if we made millions and had a title of strategic importance.

He sees in secret, He cherishes our hidden worship more than anything else we could give Him-the worship of serving His own children out of a servant heart, filled with love and gratitude for Him. In this is our treasure we lay up in heaven for His glory.

Nathan gave me the sweetest little figurine on a Mother's day many years ago, of a little boy holding out his heart. He said, "Mom, you held my heart in your hands and shaped it with your love every day, every task, every minute of serving us kids. And Mom, for that reason, you will always be there in my heart, speaking to me of all the treasures you poured in one day at a time."

Love Him today by loving those He has given you to serve today.

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A Christmas Party! A LIfegiving Christmas Tea!

I know this is a busy season for all of us. Yet, I am hoping many of you will be able to spend an evening wth me in my home to celebrate this wonderful season together. I will share some of our own family traditions, decorations, recipes, and ponderings about Him. Grab a cup of something warm and satisfying and join me. 

It is our Christmas gift to those who are in our membership, Life with Sally. But for just $10, anyone can join us. (The cost helps our ministry pay for the expense of putting on this webcast.)

We hope to be able to do more events like this for our membership group through out the year but wanted to include all of our friends with the opportunity to attend this time. It is my desire that your own heart will be filled with the fun and cheer of the evening we have planned. (If you register, you can watch it any time after the event. We ask you to honor the integrity of this conference and not share the registration code with your friends if they are not registered. One conference per ticket.) Feel welcome to invite your friends to join you as you watch, just keep the code for your own computer for your personal pleasure.

REGISTER HERE FOR THE LIFEGIVING CHRISTMAS TEA!

HOPE YOU CAN COME! 

Storyformed Podcast Episode #20 - Christmas Books & the Art of Cultivating Generosity

In this episode, Holly Packiam and Jaime Showmaker share some special family memories and traditions. They also talk about cultivating generosity in their homes as well as give Christmas book recommendations!

Topics include:

• A brief history on Saint Nicholaus Day
• How family traditions bring meaning during the Christmas season
• Christmas book recommendations 

Click HERE to listen to this new Storyformed podcast.

Choose to Give Yourself Grace Amidst Imperfection

If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit." -Galatians 5:25

As I sip a cup of late afternoon coffee, (yes, coffee! It's one of those days), I am happily looking at my Charlie Brown Christmas tree. We had to buy it--it was only $39. My home is eclectic. Some things are old, scarred and I put a cloth over them and call them classics. Some of my things are like the Velveteen Rabbit, worn but well loved. 

And that is how my very good life has been--beautiful and wonderful amidst many mistakes, many flaws, many immature moments. Yet, God's grace is like a beautiful cloth that covers the scars on my well beloved old tables. His love and grace cover my imperfections. 

Now as I visit with my children, they never say, "Remember the times our house was a mess." or "Mom, I remember a day when you did not have perfect behavior." 

Instead they say, "We belonged to one another in our home. We celebrated life. We ate a lot and had endless movies, cups of tea and hikes. What a precious life we had together with all the love we needed."

As you enter a new holiday season, decide ahead of time that there will be disappointing moments, not all things will go as planned and someone might even get sick or cancel on an activity you had been longing to attend. Your life will hold tension this holiday season. 

Yet, if you decide ahead of time to celebrate the moments as they come, to love generously and give forgiveness always, you will enjoy the days God provides. 

As godly mothers, we strive to make the best possible decisions, set the perfect boundaries, and have the correct rules that we believe will somehow cultivate "spiritual" children. However, we can't by sheer force or the right rules or the right devotional curriculum make our children spiritual.

That being said, there is a mysterious process by which the Holy Spirit leads our children to see their need for Christ as we seek to cultivate their hearts. But it is entirely led by grace, informed by love, and carried out by the help of the Holy Spirit.

We are putting so much pressure on ourselves as mothers. Each time we find ourselves too busy to cook (so we opt for fast food), too exhausted to clean, or so hectic in our lives that we didn't do a devotional with our children one week, we feel absolutely defeated and believe that we somehow failed our children.

Often, I receive comments or letters from mamas who say, "How did you seek joy? How did you manage to live by faith?" And then they will tell me the very difficult circumstances or exhaustion or loss of job or marriage problem.....

The grace of God is given in spite of our circumstances. His peace comes when our difficulties would suggest otherwise. When we cast our burdens on God because we cannot handle them or when we choose to exercise joy because we know,"in His presence is fullness of joy," or when with our inadequacies in all areas are filled in by the invisible grace of His own doing, we always have hope and reason to be at peace.

While it is incredibly wonderful to set our standards high and live within these great ideals,

we must hold ourselves to a standard of grace, not perfection.

We won't be able to have grace for our children if we do not have grace ourselves.

Galatians 5:1 tells us that,

"It was for freedom that Christ set us free, therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery."

Are there any ways in your life as a mom that you are trying to live up to the false expectations of others?

In my home, we did our best, but our best was certainly not perfection. We just had committed hearts toward our kids and the desire to shape their souls to respond passionately to their Creator. He came with grace and truth to bring life and wholeness into our hearts. We strive to follow His example in the lives of our children. We are not guided by culture, or what other moms feel is the "right way", but we are led by God. We walk in the power of the Holy Spirit and rest in His grace.

For more grace in your Christmas, I hope this event is an encouragement! Register today to join us next week for a (virtual) Christmas tea with me!

Register here: Christmas Tea With Sally

Remember, if you are a member of Cultivate Life with Sally, you will be able to attend this event as our guest. You will receive information with your December 1 download as to how you can access this webcast and the other ones this year.

If you are not a member, you may sign up for $10 and we would love to have you join us for a fun night celebrating Christmas together.

The Beauty of Building a Godly Legacy Takes a Lifetime!

The way you choose to shape your children's souls will also shape yours. 

Sally Clarkson

Yesterday, I carried all the necessary Christmas boxes full of decorations from our basement and began to open each lid with such fond memories. Choosing my favorite Christmas music on my iphone, I connected it to my little speaker and began to decorate my little heart out. Just as I was putting the final touch on one of my wreaths, Amy Grant began to sing in her dusty alto voice, "I'll be home for Christmas!" and the tears in my eyes started flowing. 

Thirty-six years of married life, 33 of motherhood means I have decorated the same way, only in locations all over the world, in small flats (apartments), a tiny cottage, a ranch house, a mountain house and an Austrian bungalow and a rambling traditional American home with a basement. Yet, each place held the spirit of Christ coming into our home through me, the self-appointed conductor of beauty, life and light. 

I love Christmas. It reflects our God-given desire to celebrate life, to be generous, to have meaning, to share love, to give gifts. And we get to be the hosts of His beauty to those we love. 

Through some of the years, I felt the burden of the task keenly and could barely put one foot in front of another. Yet, now, these 36 years later, it is a legacy of life that has sown our hearts so much closer together. 

Today, in the podcast,

Psalm 25:5

Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
For You I wait all the day.

Isaiah 30: 18

Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you,
And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
How blessed are all those who long for Him.

The Value of Learning to Wait--practicing patience takes time and courage but it produces the deepest most heart gratifying fulfillment. 

1. I talk a legacy of beauty and how it passes to the future generations. What we practice grows deep into the lives of the next generation.

2. Looking at the biblical subject of waiting and how it is a process that builds the things we invest in into the story we leave. 

3. Learning to stand back and get the long view of life, and working with the end in mind and believing by faith that you are building something that will matter. 

4. Cultivating a Community of Great Souls--Life with Sally membership is a way to have discipleship and spiritual mentoring online as well as leadership training. 

Mark your calendars and register later today, (Monday), for my online Christmas Tea! I thought it would be so much fun to have an evening together with some of you who are my sweet friends online. I used to do a Christmas tea every year for those in my Bible study. So now I can do it with all of you kindred spirits online. Grab tea, hot chocolate, cider and join me for an evening of celebration. 

The evening will include:

A story of a cold evening in Austria and how some cookies became my favorites with the recipe. 

A look at some of my favorite decorations and why I have picked them.

A favorite children's book of mine, reading it just for you.

An advent devotion from my heart to yours. 

Some stories from our own Christmases over the years.

And wishes of His love, light and grace from my home to yours. 

If you are a member of my course, Cultivating Life with Sally, it is free and you will receive a registration code for the webcast live in your email just as you receive our course each month. 

If you are not a member, you may register for this one night only for $1O. 

We plan to do these types of evenings for all of our membership subscribers several times a year and each time it will be free for them. So, Christmas is a good time to sign up for the yearly membership before we go up in price in January or February. Hope you can make it. We shall have fun. This would be a great Christmas gift--a yearly subscription will be locked in for the price even if we go up in price in a couple of months. 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

From all of us and all of our families here at Momheart, we wish you a blessed, grace-filled Thanksgiving! We pray it's a wonderful day around your lifegiving table.

It's Almost Thanksgiving! A Recipe for Cranberry Relish

One of our family's most anticipated time of year is autumn. We are thrilled by the ushering in of crisp cool air, of reading together soul filling books by the crackling fireplace and remembering the many blessings God has given us throughout the past year.  One favorite part of the fall festivities was the planning and preparations for our Thanksgiving celebration.

Often because we have moved a lot, we found ourselves alone around Thanksgiving. Beginning with our years overseas as missionaries, we began to ask all sorts of people over to our home on Thanksgiving. I know that even this year, Joel and Joy are celebrating at least 3 different thanksgivings with friends in Scotland.

But I am now quite sure that trying to do everything perfectly by myself creates stress for everyone around me. So even though my sweet ones prefer my cooking, (Isn't that how it often is?) I knew that I would be more pleasant to live with if I delegated a lot of the work to others. It is not worth wrecking a special day if the mama is a martyr and punishes everyone for all the work she is doing. I decided to have a good attitude about the work I would be doing for my family and to delegate some of it so that I would not be under the weight of too many ideals. (And you know there are grocery stores and restaurants if your season requires catering some of the food. Mary verses Martha, you know.)

I learned to start early. I would make corn bread a week or two before the day and freeze it so that my stuffing would be easier to make. Pies and bread are made on Tuesday and Wednesday. Children's crafts the week before, those cute turkeys that decorate the table.   I realized very quickly that in order for me to continue to find the joy in something I love doing, creating life and memories, I needed to delegate some of the work and ask others to help bear the load.  Who cares who does the turkey if it saves relationships and I think everyone loves to add their own touch to the meal.  

I could! And I would!  I began to ask friends or family members to bring dishes I knew they were successful at making or specific dishes I had planned in my menu, along with the family favorite recipe we had agreed was tried and true, making it a "must have". This really blessed them and everyone became a vital contributor to the memory, not just me.  

This year, Clay and I will be going to one of our dear friends house for Thanksgiving. My friend is one of the best cooks I know. Brandee passed on this recipe to me and I held on to is this one, as I love to make it, it's easy. I saw her kids loved it, and it can be used throughout the year.  While Brandee was still in college, she worked as an aide for a kindergarten teacher named Connie Fritch and every year she made this recipe with her students for their Thanksgiving Feast. She just so happens to be the same lady who started the Honey Baked Ham stores, so as you can imagine, it was a fabulous recipe then and still is every year, when I make it as a family tradition.

Sometimes the boys in my family prefer the plain cranberry jelly right out of the can "like Mimi used to do," so we have all sorts of varieties of cranberries on our table. Here's Brandee's recipe.

Ingredients:

2 pkgs. fresh cranberries(rinsed and picked through)

2 Cups Orange Juice

2 Sticks cinnamon

2 Orange (cut in wedges)

2 Apples chopped

2 Pears chopped

1 1/2 Cups Honey

1 Cup Sugar (Optional)

Strawberries (Sliced-Optional)

***Enjoy this relish throughout the year on turkey sandwiches or in other yummy recipes by freezing small batches.

Add cranberries to large/extra large pot.

Add O.J. to pot and boil medium high heat.

Boil cranberries in O.J. until popping stops.

Add other ingredients.

Cook until thickened.

Turn off heat and add honey or sugar. May need additional sweetener to taste.

Before chilling, remove orange wedges. I usually keep the  cinnamon in until just before serving. Voila! How easy was that! Enjoy! This is amazing on a turkey sandwich or used with a pork roast.