So I think in blogs past I've mentioned that I work at Lickity Split in New Holland.  I've been there for four years and I love it.  My dear bosses (Mitch and Gina) are also my dear friends. 

They are my frosses?  My briends?  Whatever.  I like them and I also work for them.  

They are lovely people.  Generous.  Fun loving.  Creative.  Good salt of the earth people.

The restaurant that they own is in the historic Kauffman's Hardware building.  Mitch has a real passion for history, especially New Holland history.  He has told me so many interesting things about our town's history that I have loved hearing and have also promptly forgotten (no offense, Mitch, it's not you, it's me).

Gina is an idea girl, as am I.  We talk lots of ideas.  She is the one person who I think has a more active brain than myself.

There is this one idea that we've been talking about for more than a year.  It's The Idea that this blog post is going to be about.

Eventually.

But first, I need to let you in a bit on mine and Gina's texting history.  

You see, today I was going back thru the pictures we've texted each other looking for pictures to share with you about The Idea and I was just so amused by our picture history.  It was this super weird mash up of work related stuff, family life stuff, funny stuff, and, uh, inappropriate stuff.  I won't be sharing anything from the last category but think junior high boy humor.  It's how we roll and I can't fix it.

We text a lot about work.  I help to manage the restaurant and Gina will ask my opinion about things or we'll share recipe ideas or she'll send me pictures to post on our Lickity Split Facebook page (which you should go ahead and 'like', by the way).

 This was not my finest moment.

We send pictures of our regular everyday life stuff.  Gina babysits her granddaughter twice a week and that little girl is the light of her life.  I get lots of sweet pictures like this one:

I send her pictures of my son, Jake, who wrote a song a few years ago called "I love my Gina so much".

Sometimes I get excited about ordinary things so I send them to Gina.

New tall socks.  Is there anything better?  I submit there is not.

Food that looks like a turkey but is not actually a turkey.  I love it.

Leftovers I've saved for them because my family has stupid tastebuds.

This gorgeous tray that my cousin made.

Sometimes we play this game called "currently". 

(I was going to explain it but then realized that it's pretty self explanatory.  Sorry for being momentarily stupid.)

(Gina, please don't hate me for this.  I couldn't help myself.)

And then there are the things that amuse us.  Please enjoy the ones that made the cut.  I don't think any of these will cause you to pass judgment on us.

Some are ice cream related because duh.

Some are not.

So, now that you understand our particular brand of weirdness, we can move on to The Idea.

Some of you will remember from the Kauffman Hardware days that there is a jail cell in the basement.  It's right under Lickity Split.

We had been using the basement space as storage.  I've often gone down there and just kinda spun in a slow circle thinking what a great space it is.  Big window. Hardwood floors.  A pretty door with steps up to Main Street.  And the history.  I loved to think about things that might have happened in that room.

I honestly don't know if it was my idea or Gina's.  Or if we started talking and the ideas flowed and there was some kind of idea marriage and it became both of our ideas.  However it happened, we started talking about using the basement space for special dinners.  Dinners by the jail.  To serve delicious food and have a historian tell stories of old time New Holland.  To let people see the jail and to enjoy this beautiful space.

Except it wasn't super beautiful as it was.  It needed work.  We initially thought a good cleaning and a coat of paint over the paneled walls, some furniture, and maybe a few other touch ups and we'd be good to go.

It ended up being a lot more involved.  And the final product is a lot more beautiful than I imagined it could be.

Gina's friends, Chip and Nate, put in many hours.  They discovered that behind the paneled walls were original stone and brick walls.

The stone and brick were gorgeous but crumbly.  Enter Gina's mason friend, Johnny.

Gina's dad and nephew put in time as well.  Painting and cleaning and general handyman stuff. 

Gotta keep those shoes clean!

Mitch's dad stopped by to check on the progress and somehow ended up behind bars.

I've been busy going to auctions to find furnishings for the basement.  I am itching to get on with the decorating already!

Gina and I have been sending pictures back and forth on ideas of how to decorate and pieces we want to look for.

I hired my brother to make tables out of old doors we found in the basement.  He had the most fun and said they are the best tables he's ever made.  If you want a unique custom made table ask me for his contact info!

Our space is very nearly finished and now all we need is...you.

What are you doing for dinner on New Year's Eve?  We are taking reservations for our first ever History Mystery Dinner!

Enjoy a four course meal followed by a visit from a famous New Holland historical figure and end the evening with a scavenger hunt in the New Holland Area Historical Society Museum.

The menu (probably my favorite part) is as follows:

Appetizers:  mini cheeseballs (because mini food is the best)

                    glazed kielbasa

                    cranberry and brie crostini 

                  

Salad:          romaine topped with apples, cheddar, and pecans with 

                    a maple balsamic dressing  

Main Dish:  Pulled pork, mashed potatoes, and parmesan roasted

                    carrots

Dessert:      caramel apple crumble pie with ice cream

                   Pellman's cheesecake with raspberry drizzle

Beverages: holiday punch, water, and coffee

Is your mouth watering?   

Our event is running from 6:00-8:30 so you still have time before midnight to squeeze in some other New Year's festivities.  To reserve your seats you can order online at www.thelickitysplit.com or you can call the restaurant (717-354-4YUM) with your credit card number or you can stop in and pay (and maybe see me, an added bonus!).

I am so excited to finally be able to share this idea with you all!  Thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings once again.  I really do think you are the best! 

I didn't stand for worship today.

You see, my lap was full of my baby. 

My six year old baby.  Who just wanted to snuggle today for some reason.  He even asked me to stop singing so he could go to sleep.  So I held him and I rocked slowly from side to side and I let the salt water run down my face.

Maybe it was exhaustion.  Maybe it was hormones.  Maybe it was the Holy Spirit.

Whatever it was, I wanted to freeze time.  The moment was so incredibly precious that I didn't want it to end.  

I thought about this prayer I've been praying.  I've been asking God to help me be my best self.  This is not usually too difficult with my friends or my coworkers or my extended family.

 But the five people I live with?  Most of the time I feel like I'm giving them the leftovers.  It's like they are begging me for a freshly roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, and peas and I give them limp salad and week old soup.

I am so good at spreading myself paper thin, always adding one more thing.  Right now I'm staring down the barrel of an almost-brimming-over week.  It's gonna be a wild ride involving catering events, a Christmas open house, time with a beloved missionary friend, hosting two boys from Japan, and making Christmas cookies with my niece.

But Christmas cookies won't be all I'm making.  There will be memories being made as well.  And my attitudes, my words, my tone, my body language will help shape those memories into good ones or bad ones.

It's a lot of pressure.

My grandma told me recently that a promise she claims for herself comes from the book of Exodus and it says "your strength shall equal your days."  In other words, you can do it!

While I want to say it's not fair, the truth of the matter is this:  moms really set the majority of the house's mood.  That saying "if momma ain't happy ain't nobody happy"?  It's fairly true.

So I can choose to gripe and complain that I shouldn't be responsible for how everyone else is doing (and of course I'm not completely responsible.  Everyone I live with has free will and can choose to work thru negative attitudes or to ride them out full force) OR I can count it a priviledge to set the tone.

I can choose to be on edge and snappy or I can choose to start my day by asking God to help me be my best self and then wait in expectation to see what happens, believing he'll come thru for me.

Part of being my best self is slowing down as much as possible.  In this week where most of the time it will be full steam ahead, I firmly believe that I can be a slow and deliberate noticer.  To keep my eyes open for small glimpses of glory.  To name the things I'm thankful for.

The taste of cranberry and cinnamon simmered together.

The squish of bread dough as I push and pull and roll.

The sky lighting with the promise of a new day.

The dance of the flame on my counter top.

In the hectic swirling there are so many ordinary holy moments if I will just keep my eyes open for them.

I felt a bit of despair this morning when I realized that I am learning the same lesson over and over again and again.  I'm 34 years old, shouldn't I know this by now?  That I need to slow.  That I need to be deliberate.  That I need to soak in the precious moments.  That time, well, time goes by super fast.

But the despair lifted when the thought came that each time I relearn this lesson, the slow and deliberate noticing lasts longer.  In my twenties I thought I knew how my life would always look.  It turns out that in my thirties I know (and embrace) that life is full of surprises.  In my twenties I wanted things to fit into nice little categories and boxes.  In my thirties I know that life is as messy as I am in the kitchen.  Joy and sorrow can happen in the same breath.  A serious conversation can be interrupted by a fleeting moment of silliness.  Things are not just happy or just sad or just disappointing or just exciting or just scared.  Everything is tainted with everything else which can be frustrating if you want the order and the boxes and the categories.  But if you learn (and relearn) to open your eyes to the swirling and the mixing and the blending you see a whole new kind of beauty.

In this crush of the holiday season let's keep our eyes peeled for wonder.  Let's be brave and say 'no' to some things.  Let's be brave and say 'yes' to other things.  Let's let the happy and the sad and the disappointing and the exciting and the scared mingle together.  Let's be people known for embracing the fleeting moments.