Author Archives: Ellen

Applesauce Spice Cake

 

Applesauce Spice Cake

1 pkg. yellow cake mix
1 pkg. 4 serving size jello instant vanilla pudding
4 eggs
1 cup applesauce
1/2 C. water
1/4 C. oil
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. all-spice (optional)
1/2 raisins finely chopped (optional)

Combine all ingredients in large mixing bowl of electric mixer and blend then beat at medium for 4 minutes. Pour into well greased and floured 10 inch tube or fluted tube pan. (I’ve used a bundt cake pan and angel food cake pan). Bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. DO NOT UNDERBAKE. Cool in pan for 15 min. remove and cool on rack. When the cake has cooled and before I serve it I give it a dusting of powdered sugar.

This goes really well with whipped cream or a good vanilla ice cream, too. This has become a favorite in my house and is requested for birthday cakes very often.

We are going to celebrate four birthdays on Saturday evening, our December girl and our January boys and girl. We will have 4 individual mini cakes for the event. Two of this Spice cake, a lemon cake and a Chocolate cake. I’ll have lots of photos and posts in the coming weeks of all our Christmas time and beyond celebrations!!

I hope Jesus was at the center of all the Christmas festivities with your family and friends!

Merry Christmas 2025

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly host praising God and saying,

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“Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among those

with whom he is pleased!”

С Рождеством Христовым

(S Roždestvom Khristovym)

On the birth of Christ a very Merry Christmas to you and yours!

My Talented Helpers

These kitchen helpers took over and whew after a few hours things got done.

Addy has mastered the art of kneading. She says it’s because she helps her mom make tortillas often.

After chopping nuts, JJ decided it was more fun to wash the dishes. He said it is fun to wash dishes the ‘old fashioned way’.

We had to wait for a couple hours for this dough ball to double in size. In the meantime we also managed to get one tray of Russian Tea Cookies done. I did not have a resident photo taker available and sticky hands did not help for me to take photos. My helpers went home for lunch and we went out for Chinese giving the dough time to rise.

When we got home from lunch the dough was ready. The finished product will be delicious but both loaves cracked. I think I rolled the dough too thin before rolling it up and baking it with the nut filling.

 

I need to make these more than once a year so I can master the method.

Today is Christmas Eve Day. The main celebrations start tonight into tomorrow. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas.

Baking Day & Nostalgia

Today is baking day with the Grands.

Baking with Baba when they still needed a chair to stand on to reach the counters.

2022

2023

Baking day last year! They are taller this year and the mixing and rolling will be simpler for these two! Here’s hoping we remember to take a couple photos this morning!

Back to the present…

We woke up to an inch of snow on Monday but that has been washed away by rain. Between the rain and the snow we’ve had beautiful skies as you can see in the collage above from our Colville kids’ driveway.

Our Westside kids attended a early Christmas Eve service at Canyon Hills. Canyon Hills scheduled several Christmas Eve services this year and last night was their first of 8 services stretched out over 3 days!

We will be attending our Candlelight Christmas Eve Service at First Baptist Colville on Christmas Eve at 5pm.

I’m feeling a wee bit nostalgic looking at some photos from Christmas past…

I posted this one on Facebook yesterday.

Me, my sister Kathy and my sister Vera in Montebello, California 1967.

All eight of the Bagdanov siblings.

Our mom and pop.

Christmas Day growing up we had church on Christmas day regardless of the day it landed on. In the photos above taken on Christmas morning we were all dressed and ready to drive to Los Angeles for our Christmas services. We’d come home for lunch and then back to church in the evening. This might have been the last year we split our Christmas day at the Molokan church in the morning and the Russian Baptist Church in the evening.

I’ll save more nostalgia for another day.

Nativities

…the occasion of a person’s birth. A picture carving or model representing Jesus Christ’s birth.

Even though the Wise men from the East did not appear on the scene till months after the birth of Jesus they are depicted in many traditional Nativity scenes. I like to try to put them far off as if they are still traveling.

“My Christ he is the Lord of lords,

He is the King of kings

He is the Sun of righteousness

With healing in his wings.

My Christ, he is the heaven of heaven

My Christ what shall I call?

My Christ is first, my Christ is last,

My Christ is All in All.”

I had to wait till dark to get a good shot of the nativity set we like to put above our front door.

When JJ was here last Monday afternoon, he set this Little People Nativity on the window ledge.

‘Welcome to our wondering sight,

Eternity within a span!

Summer in winter! Day in night!

Heaven in earth! And God in man!

Great little One, whose glorious birth

Lifts earth to heaven, stoops heaven to earth.’

Quotes taken from Christ’s Glorious Achievements, What Jesus Has Done for You. by C. H. Spurgeon

Here are the last few sentences from this book:

“I hope that among those who have read these pages there will be many whom the Lord Jesus has specially redeemed with his most precious blood, and I trust he will appear at once to them, and say, ‘I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.’ By grace omnipotent may you be  made to yield to the Lord with the cheerful consent of your conquered wills, and accept that glorious grace which will bring you to praise the seeking and saving Saviour in heaven.”

May the miracle of Christmas and the redemptive, saving work of Jesus Christ on the Cross lead you to repentance with belief and new life in Him. He alone gives us grace and peace.

See Amid the Winter’s Snow ~ Hymn

See Amid the Winter’s Snow

See amid the win­ter’s snow,
Born for us on earth be­low,
See, the gen­tle Lamb ap­pears,
Promised from eter­nal years.

Refrain

Hail thou ev­er bless­èd morn!
Hail re­demp­tion’s hap­py dawn!
Sing through all Je­ru­sa­lem:
Christ is born in Beth­le­hem!

Lo, with­in a man­ger lies
He who built the star­ry skies;
He who, throned in height sub­lime,
Sits amid the cher­ub­im!

Refrain

Say, you ho­ly shep­herds, say,
Tell your joy­ful news to­day;
Wherefore have you left your sheep
On the lone­ly mount­ain steep?

Refrain

As we watched at dead of night,
Lo, we saw a won­drous light;
Angels sing­ing Peace on earth
Told us of the Sav­ior’s birth.

Refrain

Sacred In­fant, all di­vine,
What a ten­der love was Thine;
Thus to come from high­est bliss
Down to such a world as this.

Refrain

Teach, O teach us, ho­ly Child,
By Thy face so meek and mild,
Teach us to re­sem­ble Thee,
In Thy sweet hu­mil­ity!

Refrain

Words: Edward Caswall, 1851.

A Few Favorite Things

Deck the halls with boughs of holly Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la, la, la

’Tis the season to be jolly Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la, la, la

Here are a few Christmas treasures scattered here and there around our home.

 

On Monday, I’ll share our nativities.

Hopefully I’ll get some baking done next week. These are on my list.

imgp1231_zpsbvbpjag4

These “melt in your mouth”. There is no other way to express it.

Russian Tea Cookies

1 C. butter
1/2 C. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2-1/2 cups sifted flour
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup nuts, finely chopped

Cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla, flour, salt and nuts. Mix well. Form into small balls and flatten a bit. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 F  10-14 minutes. While still warm roll in powdered sugar. After cool, roll again in powdered sugar. Yields 3-4 dozen.

What is on your list for Christmas baking, if anything?

Truth for Today #174

Friday December 19th

On Fridays my posts will include verses that stood out in my readings from the Bible during week. One, two, three or maybe more. If you have a verse/verses that you read during the week and would like to share, leave it/them in the comments and I will add it/them to the post. Let’s continue to dig deep into God’s truth.

The verses that you share are appreciated and so encouraging, I’m thankful for them and for each of you! 

Announcement: I will be pausing my Friday Truth for Today Posts until the New Year, resuming on January 9th.

Hebrews 3:1-6:

Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in the heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses–as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

Hebrews 3:12-15:

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

From Dianna:

“And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,”

Luke 1:76-78 KJV

From Vera:

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭1‬:‭23‬ ‭ESV‬‬

From Barbara:

Luke 1:45

Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her.

Everyday Images ~December Prompts

December Prompts – Everyday Images #77
I’ll be linking up with Kym at A Fresh Cup of Coffee.
(at home, collection, love, white, traditional, pine)
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at home (monthly)
collection
love
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
white
traditional
Christmas cards are a tradition that I enjoy and cherish. Hope it doesn’t completely die out!
pine
Pine bough garland around our front door of our former home.
Currently at our home we are surrounded by evergreens but they are more of the fir variety and not pine.
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Hope all is well in your corner of the world as you anticipate Christmas and all that it means to humanity.
We’ve had this little tin for years and the scenes go well with the Bible verses from Luke.
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“And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.’
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
(Luke 2:8–14, ESV)
This last scene comes later in the Christmas events before Joseph, Mary and Jesus flee to Egypt to escape King Herod’s evil plans. The Wise men and Joseph are warned by God about Herod.
My little tin also has a scene with a Little Drummer Boy which comes from a popular Christmas song but isn’t in the Bible.

Checking the List, Hodgepodge

It’s time for another Wednesday Hodgepodge thanks to Joyce From This Side of the Pond! 

WE are having a high wind/rain event here in the PNW (Pacific Northwest) and our power has been knocked out a couple of times already. It will be an iffy day for visiting blogs. Our region is really being hammered!! 

1. What’s one thing on your to-do list that you want to get done, need to get done, or that must get done before the year ends? 

I want to make a favorite from our dear mom for our Christmas gathering, Roolyet. You can see the recipe here.

2.  December 17th is National Maple Syrup Day…are you a fan? Do you like maple flavor in other food items such as candy, cookies, donuts, oatmeal, hot toddies, coffee? 

We enjoy Real Maple Syrup on our Swedish Pancakes, regular pancakes, waffles, etc. I like maple bars, the donut variety.

3. Time magazine names a person of the year every year.  The tradition started back in 1927 with a ‘man of the year’ but has since changed to recognize not only an individual, but also to consider the impact of a group, movement, or idea that most influenced the year. The selection is not always someone or something good (think Hitler in 1938 and Stalin twice). 
This year they’ve named The AI Architects as their ‘person of the year’. What say you? Is this a good choice, an obvious choice, a logical choice? Who do you think should have been named person of the year? 
~
I think Time Magazine is sticking it’s head in the political sand or suffering from TDS syndrome in refusing to name President Donald Trump as the man of the year! Donald Trump definitely is on the minds of those who love what he’s doing and those who hate him and can’t get him out of their minds. Being on the minds of so many, he is a logical choice. Love him or hate him he is making an impact!

4. What’s a city, state, or country you’ve visited that you never care to visit again? Tell us why. 

South Chicago. We made the mistake of taking a driving route from Wheaton college to the Chicago Museum of Art through south Chicago and it did not feel safe. The tension on the streets was palpable. I would never drive through there again.

5. Next Sunday (December 21st) marks the first day of winter (or the opposite if you’re living down under). What’s one thing you love about this new season? 

We love Winter. All of our children were born in Winter. Christmas is in Winter.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Let the Stable Still Astonish
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Let the stable still astonish:
Straw-dirt floor, dull eyes,
Dusty flanks of donkeys, oxen;
Crumbling, crooked walls;
No bed to carry that pain,
And then, the child,
Rag-wrapped, laid to cry
In a trough.
Who would have chosen this?
Who would have said: “Yes,
Let the God of all the heavens and earth
Be born here, in this place”?
Who but the same God
Who stands in the darker, fouler rooms
of our hearts and says, “Yes,
let the God of Heaven and Earth
be born here–
in this place.”
– Leslie Leyland Fields