Bread-o-Rama

Ok, let me give you a little background on this. We've always loved being able to help someone during this time of the year. The past two years have been hard for us and we haven't been able tot do that. This year is the same. We feel that we really need to be doing something because our kids are old enough to understand and they need to be serving (and so do we). We decided this year that we would do a family service project to raise some money to help serve others. We decided that we would offer to make bread or rolls for Thanksgiving to those who wanted it. We were going to go to three places to sell it- work, the neighborhood/ward, and family/friends. Well, we put out sign-up sheets at work and people went crazy. We had so many people sign-up that we couldn't possibly do anymore than that. A few of our friends wanted some to, but that was it. We didn't go to neighbors or family because there was no way I could make that much.

Monday night and the majority of yesterday were spent in the kitchen. I went to the church for about 5 hours yesterday so I could use two ovens and then came home and worked for another 5-6 hours. Monday night I spent about 5 hours baking and it hurt so bad standing on my toe that long. It was so swollen and throbbing. I didn't know what to do considering I had so much more work that had to be done the next day. Mike gave me a blessing and said the pain wouldn't be noticeable the next day- and it wasn't. I was so grateful.

I ended up using 40 pounds of flour to make the 40 dozen rolls and 17 loaves of bread. I was covered in flour and so was the kitchen. You can see the picture of the kitchen at the end of the night- it was insane. I just can't believe I got it all done. Mike, Ty, and I delivered all of the baked goods today and people were so generous. We asked for $2 for a doz rolls or a loaf and people gave us extra on top of that.

I'm excited for the last part of this project- the helping part. We're going to pick someone and then have the kids help buy the gifts and deliver them. This is the best part of the season. There are just a lot more opportunities to serve and give and I want our kids to learn that. A friend told me of an idea that she does with her family. They use the idea from the book "Christmas Jars". Everyone in the family has a jar and they save up their change all year. When it's Christmas time, they keep a look out for someone who might be able to use the extra money. When they find someone, they give them the jar full of change. On Christmas Eve, they tell the story of who they found and why they gave them the jar. I thought that was a great idea. Maybe that's something we can do next year. Anyway, what a neat experience. I look forward to the coming experience with my family. Some of the butter topped goodness.
A few of the bags full of rolls.

The messy kitchen right before the last batch was done (you can see it rising on the stove). Even though it looks dirty, I promise it is all sanitary. Between me and Mike, I think every dish was washed 20 times, the counters were scrubbed between each batch, and my hands were so dry from washing them every other second that they hurt. Glad it's over, but I look forward to next year when we can hopefully expand this a little and add some friends to the baking process.