Christmas recap

I have returned.

I hope you all had a really wonderful Christmas. We had snow in Delaware much to my delight! I spent Christmas morning baking cinnamon rolls. Oh. My. Goodness. They were so good. I’d never made them from scratch before and thought I’d give it a shot. I found a recipe on foodnetwork.com and it’s actually really easy. You have to set aside some time for the dough to rise, but the end result is well worth the wait. If you’re interested you can check out the recipe here.

We were able to spend time with our niece and a couple of the nephews. I had the pleasure of pretending to be Mulan for an afternoon. We both did a lot of writing, and I think we might have to two decent songs to show for it. We’ll see.

After a long 2 1/2 months of touring we’ve decided to take it easy in January and most of February. This means lots of time to read and write! Thanks so much to all of you who came out and supported us this fall. We really appreciate you. I think we said it at almost every show, but this tour really did exceed our expectations in every way. Each night felt like an intimate and unique conversation. Thank you for sharing with us and bringing us goodies. We’re feeling quite loved and very encouraged.

Today we’re on the road, headed home to our cozy East Nashville attic. I’m looking forward to snuggling in my own bed and seeing the kitties! Did I tell you that the folks we live with adopted a new cat? Her name is Addie and she’s over a year old but still the size of  kitten. She probably won’t get any bigger. So so so adorable. Unfortunately Tyler is allergic to her so I must limit my time with her.  Tomorrow I’m going to begin at least a weak of a type of food detox. Not a hardcore detox. I’m going to focus on cooking primarily with vegetables and fruit. It should be healthy, and hopefully tasty!  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Until next time.

 

Christmas cookies

Guess what?! We’re in Delaware. But that’s not all…we’re in Delaware and it SNOWED!!! I’m terrible at driving in snow. I avoid it at all costs. But, I love looking at the beautiful white stuff and making snowmen. I love the smell of snow and the sound of snow. Have you ever noticed that when it snows everything is still? There’s a refreshing silence. It’s quite peaceful.

Tomorrow we’re going to make fudge. I’ve never made fudge before but I’ve heard that it’s pretty easy and I found this great recipe for cinnamon chocolate fudge online. It looks delicious. I’ll let you know how it goes. Are any of you baking for the holidays? What kind of yummy treats do you fancy? My grandma sent me home from Florida with something like five different kinds of cookies. Chocolate chip, white chocolate chocolate chip, spritz, lemon cookies, and shortbread – maybe more I can’t remember. Now there isn’t any need for me to bake. I just might whip up a batch of chocolate crinkles though. They are my favorite.

Well, I’d better get a move on. I hope you are having a cozy day, wherever you may be.

 

Christmas Music…

Hi friends. We’ve spent the past few days hanging out in Florida, playing a few shows and enjoying the sun. It’s hard to believe that Christmas is approaching so rapidly when you’re in Florida. But it is!

I’m not usually a big fan of Christmas music. Working in retail for too many years at Christmastime results in an overload of cheesy music. BUT this year I’ve found some really lovely music. So lovely in fact that I thought I’d share it with you. Some of it happens to be free.

Joel Rakes – Festive Mood Inducing Music Vols. 1-5. Our good friend Joel releases about 5 Christmas songs every year and gives them away for free. Joel’s a great friend, lovely musician, and he’s a stud, so you’ll probably want to check him out. You can listen to 15+ songs here.

Sara Groves – O Holy Night Tour Live: The Prison Show. Sara and band recorded a live show in a women’s prison. Not only is Sara Groves amazing live, she has some really fun renditions of classic Christmas songs. We’ve been listening to this one a lot. And, it’s also free. Check it out here.

Sufjan Stevens – Songs for Christmas. This lovely little box set includes lots of fun original Christmas songs by Sufjan. It’s a mellow little collection.  The perfect accompaniment to fireside chatter and hot chocolate. Check it out here.

Blood:Water Mission Christmas Compilation 2010. Blood:Water Mission was founded by Jars of Clay. It is a grassroots organization that empowers communities to work together against the HIV/AIDS and water crises in Africa. We’re honored to have “Break Forth O Beauteous Heavenly Light” included on this year’s compilation. You can download the songs over at Brite Revolution. If you’re in the Nashville area you can pick up a copy at Edgehill Studios Cafe. It’s $10 and 100% of the proceeds go to Blood:Water Mission.

Music City Unsigned Family Christmas. We love this CD and if you haven’t checked it out yet, you should. You can download three songs for free here.

Sandra McCracken – In Feast or Fallow. This isn’t technically Christmas music, but it’s certainly truth-filled and I love it. My favorite track is Give Reviving. This is a beautiful collection of modern hymns and I highly suggest you give it a listen. Here it is over at the itunes store.

And of course, our Christmas EP Love Came Down is available over at our store. Download and enjoy!

-jenny

 

Important things (well, I think they’re important anyway)!

Firstly, it’s been a while. We finished a run of shows in Clemson, SC on Friday. it was a blast. Seriously. So so so much fun. Thank you to all who came—especially those who were in the midst of finals! We truly appreciate you.

Secondly, you may have heard us mention our friends over at Music City Unsigned and the fabulous Christmas compilation CD they’ve put together. Here’s the deal, MCU is an awesome organization that supports lots of independent artists in Nashville. They’ve been so good to us since we’ve been here and we’re honored to have our song Love Came Down at Christmas on the CD. All of the songs were recorded live in analog, meaning you’re in for a completely organic listening experience. And while you may have heard a couple of the songs before, each recording is new and unique to the project. These lovely folks (and us!) lend their songs & talents:

Amy Stroup
Elenowen
Aron Wright
Sandra McCracken with Derek Webb
Holley Maher
Andy Osenga
Heather Bond and Brandon Ingle
Daniel Ellsworth with Alva Leigh
Angel Snow

You can order a physical disc or get a download here.

Thirdly, if you’ve forgotten we have a Christmas EP that we released last year available over at our website. They make great gifts! And you can get yourself a digital download and start listening now if you’d like!

I think that covers the businessy things. But I will remind you again that Faint Not is still available over at our website and on itunes!

We received a bunch of gifts on this last leg of tour. I thought I’d share some of my favorites. They really are amazing. In no particular order:

1. The Mobile Foodie Spice Kit. This is seriously amazing. It’s little description reads, “Organic spice kits for foodies on the go.” And that’s exactly what it is. Take a look at the full description here.

2. Chocolate covered espresso beans. The key to my heart.

3. A one-eyed cat beanie baby. They’d gone to the trouble to remove one of the eyes. Adorable.

4. One of our gift baskets included Capri Sun. I don’t think I’d had a Capri Sun since 5th grade.

5. And I think we received something like 3 or 4 pounds of coffee in the span of a week. No complaints from me.

Those are the top 4 I think. Thank you thank you thank you!

Today we’re on our way to Florida. It will be a long journey, but we’re both really excited to get out of the 20 degree Nashville weather. We’ll be playing a few little things here and there before heading back to the east coast for Christmas.

have a lovely day friends,

jenny