I'm Kara. I create content about personal growth, productivity, and technology, faith, and my well lived life. Subscribe to my weekly newsletter to get a fresh new article, a roundup of anything I published this week, and other fun stuff in your inbox (most) Monday mornings.
"Yes, and..."
Published about 2 months ago • 3 min read
I'm taking an intentional hiatus through January 5. I'll see you back here then. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season.
Giving Grief the "Yes, and..." Treatment
My well-loved copy of the Cinnamon swirl bread recipe, complete with a little bit of mom's handwriting!
I’ve been struggling with the holidays this year. We lost my mom in January of 2021. Ever since, the holidays have been different. And, while I’ve missed her presence every year, this year has felt harder and more grief filled.
Our current western culture seems to shove grief away in the dark, dusty back corner of the smelly basement closet. We give grief a timeline (when you’re lucky to receive bereavement leave). No more than 1 - 3 days for immediate family. Grief looks at that timeline and says, “hold my beer.”
I was already thinking about grief and processing my own grief this holiday season. If you’ve been around here for any time, you’ve heard me talk about Gretchen Rubin and Liz Craft - hosts of the Happier podcast. They recently lost their dad - someone they’ve talked about many, many times on the podcast. On the sister podcast to Happier, Happier in Hollywood, Liz and her writing partner Sarah were talking about the loss of Liz’s dad. Liz shared something a listener shared with her - leaning into the “Yes, and…” of grief to give your joy space.
As you enjoy the holiday season, if grief is a companion in your life , I encourage you to give it space while also making space for the joy, happiness, laughter, and light.
I’m going to spend some time in the kitchen. It’s the space where mom and I were the closest. I was her sous chef - one of the few places at that point in my life where I easily accepted the role of assistant and led from my level rather than trying to ascend some ladder to get to the mythical top of the game. Instead, I loved nothing more than apprenticing to my mom and continuing to learn from her. I even forbade Gayle from bringing tube cinnamon rolls into the house this holiday season. We will have mom’s Cinnamon Rolls, based on the cinnamon bread recipe from Welliver’s restaurant near where I grew up.
How will you celebrate the holidays this year? What important traditions keep the memories of those you’ve lost in your heart, even as you go forward into new traditions?
Mom taught that a recipe is merely a road map - and you can follow as many detours as you want. If you're a little less comfortable with creating your own detours, here are some tips and ideas for turning the bread recipe into delicious cinnamon rolls.
At step 7, put parchment paper on a large sheet pan instead of greasing loaf pans.
At the end of step 7, BEFORE you roll the dough in step 8, cut the dough into individual strips (you'll roll each one separately for a cinnamon roll.). A pizza cutter or very sharp knife both work well here. (Note, you can cut them into individual slides after rolling in step 8 too. We just found through trial and error this way is slightly easier, even though it's more time consuming.)
Optionally, in step 7, you can add some finely chopped nuts (pecans are my favorite) to the butter and cinnamon sugar to add even more delicious goodness.
In step 8, roll each of your individual strips up and place on your sheet pan.
Whether doing break or rolls, this recipe's second rise for 35 - 45 minutes can be done in a warm area or you can "cold rise" them overnight. Mom and I once made over 150 of these for the Community Easter Sunrise service. We let them cold rise on their sheet pans in the house and mini-van overnight and baked them between ovens at our house, the church, and the community center where we were having the service and breakfast starting around 5:30 on Easter morning. The van smelled heavenly for a couple of weeks after!
I can't remember exactly how long these need to bake when you're doing them as cinnamon rolls AND ovens vary wildly! I'm thinking it's 20 minutes, but I'll start checking them at around 15 minutes. Cover them with foil to prevent over-browning at no later than 10 minutes (I'll probably do 8).
Prefer a different frosting? Go for it! Chocolate, Caramel, Peanut Butter, Cream Cheese - they all work BEAUTIFULLY on these cinnamon rolls.
I'm Kara. I create content about personal growth, productivity, and technology, faith, and my well lived life. Subscribe to my weekly newsletter to get a fresh new article, a roundup of anything I published this week, and other fun stuff in your inbox (most) Monday mornings.
