Friday Five: Going Forward & Looking Back

"Looking Forward, Looking Back"
Quilt made by Helen Godden

Singing Owl brings today's Friday Five for RevGalBlogPals:
I'm not a big fan of New Year's resolutions, but it does seem a good time for some reflection and planning. For the last few days I keep thinking of Psalm 90:12 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Among other things, that seems to say that reflection is in order if we want to learn and grow.

For some of us, this has been an incredibly difficult year; for others it has been a year of many joys. For all of us, there have been challenges and questions and there have been blessings and--maybe even an answer or two! As we say our goodbyes to 2010 and look towards 2011, share with us five blessings from 2010 along with five hopes or dreams for 2011.

2010:
1. The blessing of our first grandchild--sweet Avery, daughter of oldest son DC and wife AA.

2. My Christmas tree present from all my children to replace the empty space in our backyard. This past summer we had to chop down a rotten ash tree.

Brothers DC and BJ
who picked out and planted the live oak tree.
Dec. 26, 2010

3. Lots of wonderful trips with friends and husband CB in this past year.

4. Having two different occasions with all my children--the surprise at my 60th birthday celebration when AE and KA came from Seattle to Austin, and this Christmas with everyone here. I am certainly blessed to have so many children (and a grandchild) when I have few relatives left in this world. (I'm also glad that CB and I are 60 years old!)

5. The blessing of meditation/contemplative prayer nurtures and sustains me.

2011:
1. Going to visit MJ in Spain. She will be an exchange student in Granada for this spring semester.

2. An immediate hope is to stay one week at Lebh Shomea, House of Prayer in Sarita, TX in January. I have not been there for about two years and really want to be in the quiet.

3. Clean out and de-clutter. I made some starts in 2010 by donating clothes and books; I even sold about 25 books on Amazon.com!

4. Renew my pledge to healthier eating with the help of Weight Watchers, the local Farmers Market, and knowledge of Fair Trade practices.

5. More visits with my children and especially watching granddaughter Avery grow.

Almost a smile!

Avery, 5 weeks old
Dec. 26, 2010

Avery is probably yawning here, but we keep hoping she is learning to smile. That will happen soon!

2011 calendars

I love wall-hanging calendars. I usually have three--in the kitchen, in the laundry room, and in my office. In past years I usually got calendars with pictures of trees. This year I have Asian and Inuit art calendars, plus a Book Lovers one.

When I was in junior high school in Japan, I started writing friends' birthdays on the appropriate calendar boxes on New Year's Day. That tradition continued until a few years ago when I started writing the names on their corresponding spots a few days earlier--at the end of the previous year.

I spent 1+ hours doing this tonight, while CB was at choir practice and MJ was out to dinner with a friend. I really enjoyed doing this, loving each person as I wrote his/her name down. It was fun to write "Avery is 1!" on Nov. 22, 2011. (I only specify ages for my children and grandchild.)

Now that Facebook announces friends' birthdays, this hand-dating is not so necessary, but I like to do it. Besides, not all my friends are on FB.

I know I have forgotten some blogging friends' birthdays, because the only one I wrote on calendars tonight was "Catherine W." who intermittently blogs at Come to the Table. Email me if you want to remind me of your birthday, and I will be delighted to write your name on my calendar.

Too fat to fit!

Poor Santa! I am feeling this way, as I keep snacking on the few cookies and goodies left around after our children's departure. Some thoughtfully gave me fair trade chocolate bars and now I keep snitching little bits. What won't I fit into?

Turkey Chowder

Most of my family (minus the two vegetarians) like to make and eat Turkey Chowder after Thanksgiving and Christmas, since we're a family who has turkey on both holidays. Ever since I discovered Jane Brody's Good Food Book in 1986, I have made Turkey Chowder several times a year.

With so much company this year, I cooked two turkeys for Christmas dinner. I have never done that before. Having a lot of turkey left, I gave good portions of it to BJ and DC/AA to take home with them. I knew AA planned to make Turkey Chowder, just I am going to make it tomorrow night. However, I did not realize that bachelor BJ would make it, too; he called me on his way home from work today to ask about the ingredients so he could buy them for tonight's meal!

Since we like this recipe so much, I decided that I should post it here:

Turkey Chowder

1 ½ Tbsp. butter

1 onion, thinly chopped

(optional ¼ cup chopped green pepper—I don’t use)

1 ½ cups chicken or turkey broth

2 cups diced carrots (about 3 medium)

3 cups peeled, diced potatoes (about 3 medium)

1 cup thinly sliced celery

½ tsp. salt

3 cups cooked, diced turkey or chicken

1 17-oz. can cream-style corn or pour in frozen corn kernels

½ tsp. dried thyme leaves

½ + tsp. Mrs. Dash

some drops of Tabasco Sauce

3 cups milk

1. In a large saucepan, melt the butter, and sauté the onion (and pepper) until they are tender.
2. Add the broth and carrots. Heat the chowder to boiling, reduce the heat, cover the pan, and simmer the chowder for 5 minutes.
3. Add the potatoes, celery, and salt. Simmer the chowder, covered for another 10 minutes or until the potatoes and carrots are tender.
4. Stir in the turkey, corn, other spices, and milk. Heat the chowder thoroughly, but do not let it come to a boil.

Brody, Jane. Jane Brody's Good Food Book. NY: W. W. Norton and Company, 1985. 347.

Are they gone yet?

Is it safe to come out? Are they gone yet?

Our cat has been hiding in the bathroom for the last week. With six dogs around, two of whom were allowed in all parts of the house (unlike the other four), she stayed in her bed in the pink bathroom all the time. Last year I took a picture of her doing that during the visit of three of our children and five dogs.

Everyone left today (and yesterday), so the house is very quiet, except for the washing machine running. It was wonderful to have all our children, their spouses, dogs, and one grandchild here for Christmas. Most of the Christmas cookies have also disappeared, which is very good for CB and me.

BJ left with Troy yesterday, because he had to go back to work in Houston today. About an hour ago two cars left with our remaining children. Youngest daughter MJ is driving AE and KA and Morgan cocker spaniel to the Austin airport so they will fly directly to Seattle this evening. MJ will then spend the night in Austin with her oldest brother DC and his wife AA and baby Avery tonight. That family left earlier today with their bulldog Sampson.

The children gave me a tree for my backyard for Christmas. I love my new live oak tree! CB is outside now staking it up.

I will download and post pictures later.

Merry Christmas!

Love at Christmas

Maria Lactans
Artist: Reni, Guido, A.D. 1575-1642

Love came down at Christmas,
love all lovely, love divine;
love was born at Christmas:
star and angels gave the sign.

Worship we the Godhead,
love incarnate, love divine;
worship we our Jesus,
but wherewith the sacred sign?

Love shall be our token;
love be yours and love be mine,
Love to God and to all men,
love for plea and gift and sign.

---

Words: Christina Rossetti (1830-1894), 1885

Advent Prayer

Dear God, the troubles of our world have left many of us speechless. We don’t know how, in the numbness around jobs lost, illnesses we don’t have the resources to cure, a planet imperiled by the accumulated effects of our greed, and the seemingly endless presence of war and violence, to say our prayers. We are lighting candles, though – in our Advent wreaths, quietly, in side chapels of our churches, in our rooms where no one else but You can see. The candle flame is our prayer, wordless but filled with meaning, with petition, hope, and faith. And the candle flame is your answer to our prayer. You lighten our darkness, O Lord. Amen.

-- Marc Andrus, Bishop of California

With thanks to Ellie at The Anchorhold.

This prayer is also posted at A Place for Prayer today. Please visit this ministry blog of RevGalBlogPals.

December 21, 2010

Today is CB's and my 39th wedding anniversary! Somehow "39" sounds worse than next year's 40. It is amazing to have been married so long. Tonight at dinner, CB told me that it took us 39 years to get a grandchild! (That doesn't make sense in some ways; it took us that long to have a child who is 31 years old.)

AE and KA flew from Seattle with their cocker spaniel Morgan today. MJ went to Austin to pick them up; they are driving here right now. They should all arrive sometime after 11 pm. YAY! It's too bad it is so warm and humid right now.

The other children, one grandchild, and two dogs will arrive tomorrow. What a full house we will have, and how happy we are!

I am very grateful for my life, family and friends.

My beautiful grandbaby!

Avery is coming to visit on Wednesday, along with her parents and dog Sampson!

Friday Five: Christmases Past

Memories of Christmases past include:

1. The Christmas candles pictured above. I remember collecting more each year while I was in elementary school. I would arrange them under the tree with little houses my mother had to make a village scene on sparkly tissue paper. Since I was an only child and there was no extended family living nearby as we lived on military bases, we did not have many packages under the tree.

2.The stocking I always hung up was made of red net like the one below.In contrast to this, my mother made handmade (needlepoint) stockings for my children, which we still get out every Christmas.

3. I excitedly anticipated Christmas when I was 9 years old, but it seemed ruined for me because I began to vomit before we opened gifts. I still remember feeling so ill that I did not care about Christmas at all, not even about presents.

4. I would write a letter to Santa Claus each year to tell him what I wanted and leave the letter on a windowsill outside, because the north wind would take it up to him. When I looked later, it was always gone!


5. When I was in second grade I learned about the reality of Santa Claus. I searched my parents' closet and found the high-heeled bride doll I'd asked Santa for. She was beautiful! I did not let on that I didn't believe in Santa Claus for awhile--at least, not until the new year.

(This is what she looked like in my memory!)

Growing up, Christmas for me was mainly a secular holiday with emphasis on Santa Claus, gifts, and family. My parents did not go to church and did not discuss faith at all.

Hope as a sign that "God is with us"

©2010 Susan Elliott and Jay Sidebotham;
Courtesy of Church Publishing, Inc.

Advent daily calendar on Explore Faith.Org.

"Joseph and Mary's Advent Vision"

A couple sat outside their destroyed home in Gojra, Pakistan
(in August 2009)

"When I think of them, I imagine a gentle young couple in dire straits in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq or Haiti. In my image, they have no money, no possessions, no home, no healthcare, no bank account, no car, no job, and no prospects. But they do have hope. Their hope is in God."

This is how Father John Dear described Mary and Joseph in his column entitled "Joseph and Mary's Advent Vision."

"Joseph and Mary, poor in possessions but rich in faith and hope, envision a God of love and peace and God’s reign of love and peace, so they could envision and say ‘Yes’ to their Christ of love and peace. There is the Advent story in a nutshell."

by Amos Ferguson

Go here to read Father John Dear's article.

Today's mail!

Avery, 2 weeks old

Avery's mommy is so thoughtful to send this picture along with the thank you note to Grandpa and me! I love getting notes, Christmas cards and pictures in my mailbox! It is fun to look into the mailbox this time of year.

Silent Monks Singing The Hallelujah Chorus!

Turn your volume up and watch this full screen!

Avery and her mommy and Sampson

AA, Avery, and Sampson

I love this picture of my daughter-in-law holding her baby daughter Avery, with Avery's big "brother" Sampson. AA has such a sweet smile sitting there with her loved ones.

Friday Five: Who or What Makes You Smile?

Mary Beth brought us today's Friday Five at RevGalBlogPals:

So, for today's Friday Five: What lifts you up when you are low or troubled? Who helps you remember that you are not alone, it's getting better all the time, etc.?

Your five responses can be people you know, people you DON'T know, music, places, foods, scripture, surprises, something you do for someone else. It could be a pair of slippers. It could be a glass of water.

1. Mail--snail mail, email, cards, comments on my blog!

2. Baking--I love to bake cookies, so Christmas is a good time to do that. (Though I have not done this yet.) When we lived where it was cold and gray in the NW and in the NE, I baked and cooked a lot.

3. Laughing--I especially laugh when my kids tell me stories and with friends.

4. Phone calls--This is ironic, because I rarely call anyone! But I feel like it is a gift if one of my kids or a friend calls. (So why don't I do it??)

5. Writing the ABC's of gratitude--I learned this long ago at Al-Anon. It is a good thing to do! Once I even did it on this blog, using a different letter for 26 days.

Bonus: I don't care about "Jingle Bells Rock," though it is a bouncy tune.

Advent Longing

Eagle Nebula, Hubble Telescope
(what I cannot see)

In the darkness of the season, in the silence of Mary's womb,
new life waits and grow.
Hope is shaped in hidden places,
on the edges, in the depths
far from the blinding lights and deafening sounds of consumer frenzy.

In the darkness and silence of my own life,
I wait,
listening for the whisper of angel wings,
longing for a genuine experience of mystery,
hoping for a rekindling of joy and the establishment of peace.

I lean into the darkness
and silence.
Expectant.

~~Larry J. Peacock

(Larry James Peacock is pastor of Malibu United Methodist Church, Malibu, California. For over 20 years he has visited monasteries and retreat centers to chant the Psalms and learn a daily rhythm of prayer. Among the places he has traveled are the Taize Community in France and the Iona Community in Scotland. A spiritual director since 1988, Larry has served on the faculty for both the Five-Day and Two-Year Academy for Spiritual Formation (sponsored by Upper Room Ministries) and has led numerous retreats. Beyond college and seminary, Larry's continuing education includes a sabbatical at Pendle Hill, a Quaker center for study and contemplation; the Two-Year Academy for Spiritual Formation; and the Institute for Spiritual Direction and Retreat Leadership. Larry is married to author Anne Broyles; they have two children. He is a part-time potter and an occasional juggler.)

This prayer is also posted at A Place for Prayer today. Please visit this ministry blog of RevGalBlogPals.

Seeking

With thanks to Bob Seal at Non-Duality Cartoons.

2 week old grandbaby

Avery, 2 weeks old

To risk

To laugh is to risk ...

appearing a fool.

To weep is to risk ...

appearing sentimental.

To reach out for another is to risk ...

involvement.

To expose feelings is to risk ...

rejection.

To place your dreams before the crowd is to risk ...

ridicule.

To love is to risk ...

being loved in return.

To go forward in the face of overwhelming odds is to risk ...

failure.

But, risks must be taken, because the greatest risk of all is to risk nothing.
Those who risk nothing ...

do nothing, have nothing, are nothing.

They may temporarily avoid suffering and sorrow, but
They cannot feel, learn, change, grow, live, or love.
Chained by their certitudes, they become slaves

Forfeiting their freedom.

Only the person who risks is free.

- Chuck Swindoll

"To our darkness bring your light"

This morning our choir sang this song for the offertory. The words are profound. Read it as a poem and/or a prayer.

“How the World Longs for Your Birth”
words: Anna Briggs, tune: Nun Komm, der Heiden Heiland

How the world longs for your birth, bearing news of human worth;
to our labour bring your mirth, Maranatha, come, Lord, come.

How the earth awaits your seed, parched and barren from our greed;
now to hallow it we need: Maranatha, come, Lord, come.

How we ache to know your peace; wars and weapons still increase;
bid our fears and hate to cease: Maranatha, come, Lord, come.

How our minds for healing long, broken bodies to be strong,
wounded hears to learn your song: Maranatha, come, Lord, come.

God, who sets your people free, God, who comes, our flesh to be,
now we wait, your reign to see: Maranatha, come, Lord, come.

To our darkness bring your light; fill our longing eyes with sight.
In our lives shine ever bright: Maranatha, come, Lord, come.

Labyrinth at All Saints Episcopal Church

Corpus Christi, TX (Dec. 2, 2010)

There is a labyrinth walk every Thursday evening at our church. For Advent there are scheduled special walks. The one this past Thursday was more beautiful than I can ever describe--complete darkness and silence, with some candles scattered around the labyrinth. It offered a deep experience of immersion in the Holy (or prayer).

Look!

Stop. Look. Listen.

A friend emailed this to me, and I had to put it here.

Friday Five: Christmas Markers

KathrynZG gave us today's Friday Five for RevGalBlogPals:

Whether a RevGal or a Pal most of us in this cyber community have enhanced responsibilities during this time of year. We also have traditions - religious and secular - that mark the season for us in a more personal way. For this Friday Five please let us know five of the things that mark the season for you.

1. Christmas Cards and letters--I LOVE (snail) mail and really, really like hearing from friends and family after long periods of silence. I still like to send out Christmas cards and have come to believe that a (dreaded "form") letter printed out is so much better to get than a card with only a signature.

2. Christmas Cookies--I like to bake lots of different kinds of Christmas cookies, probably because my mother did. Being on the Weight Watchers diet may or may not help me resist from eating them (and snippets of the dough), but I will be baking them anyway.

3. Poinsettias--I love to get poinsettias every year. In fact, I bought some yesterday, and they make up the only Christmas decorating I have done so far this year. One healthily green poinsettia plant lives on from last year.

4. Nativities/creches--Every since my cousin Margaret (who I have visited in Calgary) gave me my first nativity scene when I was about 7 years old, I have liked them. It turns out that I collect them. Below is a picture of that original one that Margaret gave me, which may have been the precursor to my love and attentiveness for Mary holding baby Jesus, instead of leaving him alone in the manger.

5. Christmas lights--We have none up yet, but it's fun to see the sparkling lights on houses around. I like the colored lights more than the completely white collections.

Bonus--What I dislike the most--all the advertising and hype that begins around Halloween.

New baby picture!

Avery
9 days old
picture taken with her mommy's phone

Advent Prayer

Father in heaven, you came to earth in the person of your Son, Jesus Christ. As the coming of your Spirit upon Mary inspired her to welcome the One who is her child and her lord, so also open our eyes to the gift already given. Forgive us our restless searching for your presence according to our expectations. Direct our searching according to your gift. May we, like the star-led sages of old, be ever guided to the appointed meeting place in the Child of Bethlehem.

In him and by him, let us be found by you. With your apostle Paul we would put on the Lord Jesus Christ, wearing his humility as our robe of splendor. Forbid that we seek any glory that is not his. In his childhood, we become as little children. In his teaching, we are trained to delight you by our service. In his miracles, we are changed, like water into wine, our vain ambitions transformed into obedience to your call. In his suffering and death, we share in his victory over every wrong within us and without.

Fill, we pray you, our every moment with his threefold advent. As then he came and now he comes and will one day come again, awaken us to the then and now and one day of his presence in this present moment. As we put on the Lord Jesus Christ, may all our time be clothed by eternity until we find ourselves at last in the home you have prepared for seekers and searchers who, in our seeking and searching, were hopelessly lost. Give us, we pray, the grace to surrender to being found.

This we ask in the name above every name, the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Let it be.

~~Richard John Neuhaus

Neuhaus, Richard John. "Prayer." God With Us: Rediscovering the Meaning of Christmas. Ed. Greg Pennoyer and Gregory Wolfe. Brewster, Massachusetts: Paraclete Press, 2007. 20.

This prayer is also posted at A Place for Prayer today. Please visit this ministry blog of RevGalBlogPals.

History of Christmas Part 3: Santa touches his nose

I read in The Battle for Christmas by Stephen Nissenbaum that Clement Moore had St. Nicholas face the narrator (or us as the reader) and place his finger "aside of his nose." "This is a meaningless phrase today, but in the late 18th and early 19th century the gesture seems to have represented the equivalent of a secret wink--a visual way of saying something like 'Shh! I'm only kidding' or 'Let's keep it between the two of us'" (85).

In fact, this is attributed back to Washington Irving's book A Kickerbocker History in his story also entitled "A Visit from St. Nicholas" because he has St. Nicholas appearing in someone's dream, which concludes "'And when St. Nicholas had smoked his pipe, he twisted it in his hat-band, and laying his finger beside his nose, gave the astonished Van Kortland a very significant look, then, mounting his wagon, he returned over the tree-tops and disappeared'" (86).I found it so interesting that the signal of touching his nose meant that St. Nicholas was indicating the understanding that "'We know I don't exist, but let's keep that between you and me!'" (86). I remember seeing various pictures of Santa during my life with him touching his nose, just like this one from a Christmas card:


And remember from yesterday's post about Santa Claus that St. Nicholas turned into an elfin size? Eventually, he grew larger, especially through the cartoons (1863 to 1886) drawn by Thomas Nast (87-88).And here is the famous Nast portrait of Santa that you may already be familiar with (where I think he looks much larger):


Nissenbaum, Stephen. The Battle for Christmas. NY: Vintage Books, 1996.

History of Christmas Part 2: Santa Claus

1810 by Alexander Anderson
commissioned by New York Historical Society

Although many of us believe that the idea of "Saint Nicholas" originated in the New World in New Amsterdam or during the British occupation, this is not true according to modern scholars. A preeminent scholar of Saint Nicholas, Charles W. Jones, states that "nobody has ever found any contemporaneous evidence of such a Saint Nicholas cult in New York during the colonial period" (63). The claim that Dutch settlers, in 1626 introduced Sinter Claes to New Amsterdam (to be New York) is an invention of Washington Irving (A History of New York, started in 1809).

• One of author Washington Irving's most lasting contributions to American culture is in the way Americans perceive and celebrate Christmas. In his 1812 revisions to A History of New York, Irving inserted a dream sequence featuring Saint Nicholas soaring over treetops in a flying wagon—a creation others would later dress up as Santa Claus.

• The New York Historical Society influenced Washington Irving, who helped promote the "new tradition" of Saint Nicholas and Christmas. Further emphasis was brought by Clement Moore with his publication of A Visit from St. Nicholas [or ''Twas the Night Before Christmas]. It was composed for Christmas 1822 in New York and published 1823.

• The image of Saint Nicholas changed from a patron saint of the New York Historical Society to an elf-sized person dressed in fur with miniature sleigh and reindeer in the first two decades of the 19th century. He also changed from a judgmental figure who left good things for good children and a switch for bad ones to someone who gave presents to all (74-78).This illustration appeared in the first book-length edition

of "A Visit from Saint Nicholas" by Clement Moore in 1848.

• In the United States in 1819 and 1820, Washington Irving published a successful book of short stories entitled The Sketch Book, which contained two stories that were destined to become classics: "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." This book also included five stories about Christmas, which were set in a big estate in modern day England called Bracebridge Hall. Old customs of Christmas are presented as the norm, even though it was "'the invention of tradition,' as the historian Eric Hobsbawm has dubbed this kind of self-conscious re-creation of ostensibly old-time customs" (58).

• The Bracebridge Hall stories were very popular. They combined with the stories of Charles Dickens to create "the enduring imagery of Christmas" which we still see on Christmas cards and advertisements, where "jovial squires entertain friends and retainers by roaring fires, and stout coachmen, swathed in greatcoats, urge horses down snow-covered lanes as they bring" forth guests (60).

• Until about 1830, Christmas celebrations were celebrated with one's own social class. Slowly this changed to become a child-centered event. This was definitely new, because before the 19th century, "children were merely dependents--miniature adults who occupied the bottom of the hierarchy within the family, along with the servants" (62).

Nissenbaum, Stephen. The Battle for Christmas. NY: Vintage Books, 1996.

History of Christmas Part 1

I just finished reading the book The Battle for Christmas by Stephen Nissenbaum, which is a history of how our present American yuletide traditions came about. Published in 1996, this was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.

I was intrigued to find that worries and preoccupation with excesses in consumption and other forms of behavior have troubled (some) people for centuries.

• "It was only in the fourth century that the Church officially decided to observe Christmas on December 25. And this date was chosen not for religious reasons but simply because it happened to mark the approximate arrival of the winter solstice, an event that was celebrated long before the advent of Christianity (4)."

• "In early modern Europe, roughly the years between 1500 and 1800, the Christmas season was a time to let off steam--and to gorge. . . .Excess took many forms. Reveling could easily become rowdiness, lubricated by alcohol, making merry could edge into making trouble. Christmas was a season of 'misrule,' a time when ordinary behavioral restraints could be violated with impunity. It was part of what one historian has called 'the world of carnival' (5-6)."
  

• The tradition of drunkenness and riot in Great Britain during Christmas time occurred when poor "wassailers" extorted food and drink from the well-do-do. This reversal in roles was permitted at this one time of year, which helped to perpetuate the class system.

• The Puritans came to the New World in opposition to such excess. "In New England, for the first two centuries of white settlement most people did not celebrate Christmas. In fact, the holiday was systematically suppressed by Puritans during the colonial period and largely ignored by their descendants (3)."

• In America, during the years 1730-1800, general opinion was opening to the idea that observing Christmas could be "less obnoxious if the holiday were celebrated with piety and moderation, purged of its seasonal excesses (26)."

• Around 1800, some churches were calling for the public observance of Christmas. For the first time in 1818, five churches in Boston held services on Christmas Day (47). (Previously, none had.)

I will post more tomorrow about the growth of Christmas to include the Christmas tree and Santa Claus.

Joy

CARDS BY ANNE

For more selections of Cards by Anne, go here.

Advent

by Roger Hutchison
Advent
November 2005

Roger writes of Advent: "This painting, for me, came out of a sense of waiting--of expectation. Mary is soon to give birth to Jesus. She is searching, watching, waiting. The star in the sky is also watching - waiting. . . . The world is also in a place of waiting--a place of fear and war. We await the Christ-child. We are hungry for peace and understanding."

Little Avery

Avery holding MJ's finger
Nov. 24, 2010
Avery is 2 days old.

Traditions?

Traditions can be aids to living or rigid boundaries, maybe both. Since getting married in 1971, I have always served almost identical meals for Thanksgiving and Christmas. . . .because that is what my mother always did. I liked what she served and after her death 18 years ago, I started keeping her memory alive by doing the same.

The last two Thanksgiving dinners (not this one though) have been spent at DC and AA's house in Austin, where two families' traditions were melded together. I can see that AA is more generous than I was in that she included her husband's family's recipes, which I never even thought of doing!

With the birth of our first grandchild Avery, I knew we would have a quiet Thanksgiving at home with four of us (CB, son BJ, daughter MJ, and me). I asked the three ahead of time if they wanted the traditional jello salad (lime with grated apples and carrots, celery and pineapple chunks, sometimes with nuts). BJ said he didn't like it; MJ told me to make "a small one" (MJ is always diplomatic); CB said he didn't care.

So this time I made no jello salad, which gave me the extra time to try to make a homemade pie crust. That was definitely a break in (my) tradition, as I have used frozen pre-made pie crusts since I had children (or for the past 31 years). That was definitely time-intensive, with chilling the pie dough before rolling it and chilling the prepared pie crust before baking it. But the result was markedly better, and here for years I had thought the pre-made ones were the same as those homemade! (This despite the fact that I've always made the top crusts for meat pies. . . .)

The resulting meal had no jello salad and two vegetables instead of one. I am pleased with the beets I bought last week at the Farmer's Market, which I tried with an orange sauce. We also had our usual steamed broccoli with cheese.

Doubting my ability to make the pie crust, I bought frozen ones to have in reserve. After making the homemade one, I also used one of the pre-made crusts with the regular pumpkin pie filling. So in an unusual turn of events, we had two pumpkin pies, which we compared last night after we saw the new Harry Potter movie. (Homemade crust won, but so did the regular old pie filling with concentrated milk and not cream.) There was a break in tradition in that the second pie was not pecan, which oldest son DC always wants.

These minor alterations in our menu brought me to the realization that I can be freer about holiday meals. It was fun to experiment with the pie crust and the beets. Perhaps I have been too rigid, trying to be the "plastic" version of my mother. . . . All I want is to serve good food that people like! I know the freedom is to choose, whether the traditional or the new and accept it all as a celebration of family. . . .and I am still open to fixing jello salad if the two older kids want it!

Friday Five: Pie-ola!

Songbird brings today's Friday Five for RevGalBlogPals after telling us a good story about a pie-filled Thanksgiving.

Please answer these five questions about pies:

1. Are pies an important part of a holiday meal?
Pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, though the men in my family like pecan pie for any occasion.

I have not paid much attention to pies over the years and succumbed to buying frozen pie shells until this year. For this Thanksgiving, I was inspired by the recent purchase of (a used copy of) The Art and Soul of Baking and made a pie crust from scratch. It did taste much better, so I'll have to do that from now on.

2. Men prefer pie; women prefer cake. Discuss.
I don't think that is true of my family, although my dad mainly liked pecan pie. One son BJ does not like desserts of any kind, which makes him an anomaly in our family. Oldest son DC likes both, but probably prefers pecan or apple pies. Husband CB likes any dessert, especially ice cream (or whatever with ice cream). I like cookies more than both cake and pies.

3. Cherries--do they belong in pie?
I am indifferent, so sure they do.

4. Meringue--if you have to choose, is it best on lemon or chocolate?
I do not like meringue that much, but I'd put it on lemon before chocolate.

5. In a chicken pie, what are the most compatible vegetables? Anything you don't like to find in a chicken pie?
For chicken or turkey pot pie, I always include carrots, onions, celery, potatoes, and peas. I don't think that peppers or green beans go in it.

Name Calling

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Photo: Keith Syvinski, Autumn Colors
Design: Patricia Carlson
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Grandparents in love!

Avery (2 hours old) and Jan

Avery (16 hours old) and CB