Jingle bells, Jingle bells, jingle all the way! Christmas is just around the corner, so start wrapping those presents! Ok, so maybe I am exaggerating. Christmas is 3 weeks away, but for a 10 year old, it seems like forever. I love Christmas. Who doesn't, you get free gifts! But of course, with every holiday comes an important meaning, and this one is most important of all. The birth of little baby Jesus is what made the holiday.
I have a few Christmas traditions that I try to follow, like Christmas cookies. You just can't have Christmas without cookies! Well, you can, it just won't be as good. Here is the recipe I use for successful Christmas smiles:
Rich Rolled Sugar Cookies ( this recipe can also be found in Joy Of Cooking )
Beat on medium speed until fluffy and blended:
1/2 pound ( 2 sticks ) of butter, softened
2/3 of a cup sugar
Add and beat until well combined:
1 large egg
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 of a teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
Stir in until well blended and smooth:
2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
Divide the dough in half. Place each half between 2 sheets of wax or parchment paper. Roll out to a scant 1/4 an inch thick, checking the underside of the dough and smoothing any creases. Keeping the paper in place, layer the rolled dough on a baking sheet and refrigerate until cold and slightly firm but not hard, 20 to 30 minutes.
Position a rack in the upper third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease cookie sheets.
Cut out cookies into desired shapes, and place on cookie sheets. Bake for six to nine minutes, cool, and enjoy!
I hope you too find success with this recipe. I did.
Maddie
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Honor
Ok, so I bluffed the other one. My reader asked for a thought on honor, not on honesty. My mistake. Now I will do one one on honor.
To have honor, in my books, is to try to keep to your word. To me, if you try your hardest at whatever you are doing, and if you actually do try, it should not matter if you get it done quickly. Lying is not good to do. It shows lack of honor, and also lack of smarts. When you cheat in doing things, it is no honor too.
Honor cannot be bought; it must be earned. Even when times are the toughest, and it seems like you have to be dishonorable, you can always work through it. Dictionary.com defines honor as: Honesty, fairness, or integrity in one's beliefs and actions.
We all live by a code of honor. Mine is to try to never lie, and not take the easy way around things if it means breaking a promise. Keeping an important secret for my friend is something that not everyone can do. I have trouble keeping secrets. Keeping secrets shows honor to the person you are keeping it for. Keeping bad secrets, however, is not ok.
Next week,
Maddie
To have honor, in my books, is to try to keep to your word. To me, if you try your hardest at whatever you are doing, and if you actually do try, it should not matter if you get it done quickly. Lying is not good to do. It shows lack of honor, and also lack of smarts. When you cheat in doing things, it is no honor too.
Honor cannot be bought; it must be earned. Even when times are the toughest, and it seems like you have to be dishonorable, you can always work through it. Dictionary.com defines honor as: Honesty, fairness, or integrity in one's beliefs and actions.
We all live by a code of honor. Mine is to try to never lie, and not take the easy way around things if it means breaking a promise. Keeping an important secret for my friend is something that not everyone can do. I have trouble keeping secrets. Keeping secrets shows honor to the person you are keeping it for. Keeping bad secrets, however, is not ok.
Next week,
Maddie
Monday, November 28, 2011
Honor- A Full Detail Think A Thought- Reader Request
Finally, someone has put in another request. I was worried I was losing readers .... This request comes once again from Mr. Wayne, who seems to like to cover deep down and very serious topics. Well, as an everything site, I will try my best to fulfill his request. Honor again. And my very own code of honor. Well, I might as well start at the beginning.
Honesty started right back at the start of time. Honesty is to never lie ( though all of us lie at least once in life, some of us more than once.) Honesty is to never take the easy way out if it means breaking your word or lying to someone, especially family. Sometimes lying seems the easiest thing to do. Especially if you already have done it. Then it becomes so much easier, and you find it hard to tell the truth.
When you start with one itty-bitty lie, you think, ok. I am not doing anything that wrong, and I won't get caught. So you think. Because once you go into one lie, it connects into another. It all adds up to one big mess, and if anyone should know, it's me. You start with one lie. Then another. And another and another. And once you get about five lies, you have to remember them, because if you don't, you get crunched. Soon you have one million lies that you are trying to remember, and then you let one slip and BAM! You are in trouble.
The Aftermath
Once you are found out, it's going to be rocky between you and whoever you lied to. They will be mad at you, and if it's your parents you lied to, then you are in big trouble. They could punish you, ground you, make you write one thousand lines of writing, or send you to your room. You will also get talked to, and will hopefully learn your lesson. If you lie a second time though, the punishments usually double, and so does the speech. Sometimes, after you have lied, if you tell the truth, the person might go easy on you. It will show that you can tell the truth even in a tough situation.
I hope you learned a good lesson in truthfulness. If you want to know more on any subject, please comment as instructed.
Maddie
Honesty started right back at the start of time. Honesty is to never lie ( though all of us lie at least once in life, some of us more than once.) Honesty is to never take the easy way out if it means breaking your word or lying to someone, especially family. Sometimes lying seems the easiest thing to do. Especially if you already have done it. Then it becomes so much easier, and you find it hard to tell the truth.
When you start with one itty-bitty lie, you think, ok. I am not doing anything that wrong, and I won't get caught. So you think. Because once you go into one lie, it connects into another. It all adds up to one big mess, and if anyone should know, it's me. You start with one lie. Then another. And another and another. And once you get about five lies, you have to remember them, because if you don't, you get crunched. Soon you have one million lies that you are trying to remember, and then you let one slip and BAM! You are in trouble.
The Aftermath
Once you are found out, it's going to be rocky between you and whoever you lied to. They will be mad at you, and if it's your parents you lied to, then you are in big trouble. They could punish you, ground you, make you write one thousand lines of writing, or send you to your room. You will also get talked to, and will hopefully learn your lesson. If you lie a second time though, the punishments usually double, and so does the speech. Sometimes, after you have lied, if you tell the truth, the person might go easy on you. It will show that you can tell the truth even in a tough situation.
I hope you learned a good lesson in truthfulness. If you want to know more on any subject, please comment as instructed.
Maddie
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Blackout
Last night, as I was writing my Think A Thought, the power WENT OUT! I was afraid at first. Then Dad came downstairs ( he had been putting you-know-who to bed) and was stumbling around looking for matches. Soon we had a few candles going, and I found a flashlight. Finally, we decided to go up to bed. 15 minutes later, the power comes on.
With our luck, all the downstairs lights were on. Dad went down to get the lights, and I followed. Black outs are scary at first, but then they are cool. You get to sit in the dark with candles and flashlights and chill. I was going to write about my trip to NJ coming up later today, but the lights out gave me a whole new topic.
I will be out of state for the week, so there will be no think a thought the rest of the week. I don't want my followers coming on and finding nothing to read. The blackout is the second one this year. Back in NJ, once a month was the basis for blackouts. Up here, it is rare if you get 5 in a year.
Next Week,
Maddie
With our luck, all the downstairs lights were on. Dad went down to get the lights, and I followed. Black outs are scary at first, but then they are cool. You get to sit in the dark with candles and flashlights and chill. I was going to write about my trip to NJ coming up later today, but the lights out gave me a whole new topic.
I will be out of state for the week, so there will be no think a thought the rest of the week. I don't want my followers coming on and finding nothing to read. The blackout is the second one this year. Back in NJ, once a month was the basis for blackouts. Up here, it is rare if you get 5 in a year.
Next Week,
Maddie
Monday, November 21, 2011
Friday, November 18, 2011
Poetry
I seem to have grown obsessed with poetry. For one, it is an easy think a thought, and two, it's easy to do. So here are 2 more poems for you to enjoy.
Thanksgiving
A nice aroma fills my nose,
Oh, what can it be?
It kind of smells like spices so I think it's my turkey!
Today will be a feasting day,
With goodies for us all,
Some of us like pumpkin pie,
In sizes big or small,
Today is when we thank the Lord for our healthy living,
For today is our only one Thanksgiving.
Puppy Run
Puppy run, puppy run, my puppy loves to play,
Round n' round the garden, every day.
He runs and jumps and tumbles around,
Then he comes in all worn out from his play,
And content to lay down in every way.
Thanksgiving
A nice aroma fills my nose,
Oh, what can it be?
It kind of smells like spices so I think it's my turkey!
Today will be a feasting day,
With goodies for us all,
Some of us like pumpkin pie,
In sizes big or small,
Today is when we thank the Lord for our healthy living,
For today is our only one Thanksgiving.
Puppy Run
Puppy run, puppy run, my puppy loves to play,
Round n' round the garden, every day.
He runs and jumps and tumbles around,
Then he comes in all worn out from his play,
And content to lay down in every way.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Advertisements
Hi there! It's me again, and I have good news. Maddie's Think a Thought may have new followers soon. And you know what new followers mean. New posts! Well, there are new posts every day, but these will be reader requests. ( Don't be shy, if you want to know about something, just comment, and I will see what I can do for you.)
Now, you might ask, why will the site hopefully have more members soon? Well, that's simple. Advertising! I will be advertising my website in my library, and hopefully before Christmas I will have more than 3 members ( No offense). If I get about 20 more PUBLIC followers, then I might start using a program called AdSense. AdSense allows me to put real, yes real advertisements on my website. And, on top of that, for each click on an ad, I get paid!
So readers, please be ready. I will also be adding some new items, like whenever a new post comes out, you will get e-mailed. Also I might add a search box. Then, if you have a favorite post that you want to show your friend, you don't have to go through ten pages to get to it. Just put the name in the search box and- WHAMMO! Your favorite post.
Cya later,
Maddie
Now, you might ask, why will the site hopefully have more members soon? Well, that's simple. Advertising! I will be advertising my website in my library, and hopefully before Christmas I will have more than 3 members ( No offense). If I get about 20 more PUBLIC followers, then I might start using a program called AdSense. AdSense allows me to put real, yes real advertisements on my website. And, on top of that, for each click on an ad, I get paid!
So readers, please be ready. I will also be adding some new items, like whenever a new post comes out, you will get e-mailed. Also I might add a search box. Then, if you have a favorite post that you want to show your friend, you don't have to go through ten pages to get to it. Just put the name in the search box and- WHAMMO! Your favorite post.
Cya later,
Maddie
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