I hope you are all enjoying this Advent Season, and taking time to be still with family and friends, and especially with Jesus. I know how hard this time of year can be… with all the things on our “to do” lists and the pressures we may feel to have everything organized and “perfect for the holidays.” I haven’t finished everything I wanted to do yet… Christmas Cards, daily Advent Journaling, Christmas cookies… but I have had to choose not to make these things as important as the reason for this time of year.

I know we get things set in our heads as to what we want to accomplish (that “got to do” list) and that’s fine, but let’s not worry about making this the “perfect” Holidays and choose to be more intentional about our time with family and the Lord. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized spending time with family and friends, choosing to take time to sit with the kids and just talk or cuddle or watch a Christmas movie, and getting up a little earlier to spend time with Jesus to hear what God has to say is so much more important. Friends… It’s not the THINGS that matter, it’s the I AM that matters.

John 15:15 reminds us: “I Am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever ABIDES in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

As I wrote in my last blog post, I pray you don't get lost in the Hustle and you take time for the Hushed moments of this expectant time of Christ’s birth. The Lord will show us what is truly important and He will help us with all that He wants us to do, when we abide in Him. So my prayer for you is to rest in knowing He knows all that needs to get done, all that you want to do and all that He has for you and your family at this time of year. So take time for Him and ask Him to show you what truly makes this Advent Season so special.

In celebration of that… every year since I can remember being a kid, we have made a Birthday Cake for Jesus! It is a special tradition we carried over to our own family and we have loved this part of Christmas Day where we celebrate and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus with our family and friends. Here is an old photo of one of our cakes, and the recipe (and a little video) following:

Happy Birthday Jesus Ice-Cream Cake:

1 Pound Cake

1 Gallon Peppermint Ice Cream

2 Cans Whipped Cream (or 2 cups of homemade)

1 Box Candy Canes

1 Glass or metal bread loaf pan

Parchment Paper

This cake is super easy and I love that about this recipe. It’s simple, takes hardly no time at all, and is a beautiful way to get your kids or grandkids involved in being intentional about celebrating Jesus and the reason for Christmas in the first place.

I buy everything a few days before Christmas and assemble most of it together and freeze it.

To make the cake:

Freeze the pound cake for a few hours to harden it. Then take it out of the freezer and cut into two or three tiers, depending on how much ice cream you want to fill it with. Line the glass or metal loaf pan with parchment paper, using enough parchment to come up and over the sides of the pan. This will make it easier to remove after everything is hardened together and you want to prepare it for presentation on Christmas day. One you have lined the pan, place one layer of the pound cake in the bottom of the loaf pan and cover it with a layer of peppermint ice cream. I usually take out the ice cream 20 minutes before I’m ready for this step so that the ice cream with be soft and easier to take out and spread over the cake. Repeat this process as man times as you like for the layers to come to the top of the pan. Once you have assembled the whole cake, put it back in the freezer in the pan and cover it with clear wrap or foil, making sure to seal it so it doesn’t get frost on it. Leave in the freezer until you’re ready to serve it.

When you are ready to serve it, crush some of the candy canes and make some whipping cream (or have a can of Ready Whip ready). Take out the cake from the pan, remove the parchment paper and set on a nice platter. Cover the cake with the whipping cream and then add the crushed candy canes and enjoy! We usually put a few candles on the cake so the kids can blow out the candles when we are done singing Happy Birthday to Jesus.

Here’s a little video of us singing Happy Birthday to Jesus back in 2016. Victoria and Dany had just gotten married… by the way it’s there 3rd Wedding Anniversary TODAY… and we had Dany’s whole family from Italy with us for Christmas. It was SO much fun to have a bunch of Italians here to share this time of year with them!

We were still in California, so it’s fun to see our old house and how young the kids were.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and no matter if you go get a cake at the grocery store or make this one, I hope you enjoy this Christmas with your family and friends and celebrate Jesus and all that He has done for us!

If you have a special way to celebrate this Advent Season, we’d love to hear about it!

I’ll share some of the pages in my Advent Journal on our Instagram later today… Yes, I’m still behind on making the pages look cute and writing what we’ve done each day… but I am still enjoying the process of writing the Bible Verses down and reflecting on the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ!

Hugs to all,

Laura McCollough