Christmas

The highlight of our holiday arrived during our Christmas Eve service at church.

We were all feeling a hole in our celebration because our eldest grandchild could not get off work. Christmas is a busy day at Disney World and she was in Orlando working. We were trying to accept that she was grown and this was a normal part of growing up, but we were all a bit sad. The worship service had just begun. My son-in-law was the liturgist for the evening and was preparing to read the scripture when I noticed my tall, handsome grandson walk into church. He had a girl with him. I wondered who this girl was when I recognized that it was my sweet granddaughter smiling at her brother's side. I left my place in the bell choir to hug this beautiful girl who had surprised us all and was not working at Disney World after all. When I looked up at her dad he was grinning and crying. This girl was the best present this family could receive.

It was wonderful to have my children and grandchildren together for Christmas. We enjoyed presents, food , conversation, games and laughter. In the afternoon we all enjoyed a nap and then settled in for more fun, laughter and conversation.




Tomorrow we drive to West Virginia for two days to visit with grandchild number eight. We have not seen her for many months and it will be good to see how much she has grown.

We do feel blessed with the love of our wonderful family.

Merry Christmas

God bless us, everyone!

Party

This weekend I am hosting my first annual Christmas blog party. You are all invited. It's an open house potluck so do come any time. I'll be providing some delicious home made eggnog, both with and without the brown liquid flavoring, and of course my world famous gumdrop cake. You can bring whatever you think we need to make it a real party.

The tree is decorated and I have all your presents wrapped and waiting by the prettiest tree we ever did have. I bought them all at the alternate gift bazaar I recently attended.

For my kids, grandkids and my Fowler cousins I purchased a gift of sight by paying for cataract surgery and eye care for someone who would otherwise be blind. This gift is in honor of Granddad Fowler and Gramma Byrtle, who lived their last years in blindness.

I next purchased training for a village health care worker and midwife in a village where there is no health care. I am giving this to my nurse friends, Cazzie, Julie, and Rosemary. I just knew you all would like it.

Sling, I got you something special. I paid for kitchen and bathroom cabinets to be used in a Habitat for Humanity home. I doubt they will be as beautiful as the ones you can build, but they will be appreciated by a family moving into their own home.
For my quilter friend ,Anne, I bought two warm blankets to keep a homeless person warm. They are not the beautiful works of art you create but they are warm.

I next bought some school supply kits to help needy children. I picked these for Lorraine and Jeannie and Tracy who work so hard to see that their kids have a good education.

Greeny, I knew this was just perfect for you. I picked garden tools and seeds to help people in the third world grow a garden so they can have good food to eat and to sell.

Middle Child, I had to think a bit before I picked your gift. Then I remembered you once said rain water was your favorite drink. For you I bought the gift of fresh, clean, safe water. You are helping people in Guatemala enjoy cool, clear water. Yolinna, thank for helping me pick out this gift.

John, I bought you a flock of chickens. I figured in your busy, full household you wouldn't mind having a bunch of chickens running around and laying eggs. Or maybe you can throw them in the back of the truck and tell a wonderful story about them. I know they will be appreciated.

I am giving Craig and Diane the gift of nutrition education and good food for the hungry to say thank you for all their work in bringing food to our tables.

Just Me, I am giving you a donation to the interfaith food pantry. It just seemed like the right gift from this Christian lady to the rabbi's wife.

Now that the gifts have been opened, enjoy another round of eggnog and enjoy the company of friends here at our blog party.

Merry Christmas. God bless us everyone.

Concert

One of my favorite things is being part of the senior chorale. Almost a hundred of us old folks get together every Thursday and practice singing. I had never been a part of a singing group until I retired and I find I really love it. My fellow chorale member are a lively bunch of people who love life. We have a great time together. Our young director is quite demanding and works us hard. I think we sound pretty good when we finally get ready to perform. Our holiday program this year was all hallelujah music. All the songs were based on that wonderful word, hallelujah. It was great fun to perform before an audience of over 500 people.

Gumdrop Cake

I have just put the gumdrop cake in the oven. Now Christmas can come.
This cake was made by my mother-in-law every Christmas and I have made it now for the past forty-seven Christmases. My daughter has been making one for the past twenty-four Christmases. It takes a little bit of time because you have to cut up two pounds of gumdrops into small pieces. It is hard because the pieces always stick together and the knife gets all sticky. The effort is worth it and the cake is part of what makes Christmas really Christmas. It looks like a fruit cake but tastes much better.

What food makes you know that Christmas is almost here?

Gumdrop Cake
By Gramma Kay

1 lb. seedless raisins
2 lbs. Gumdrops – No black ones (Buy lbs. ‘cuz we always snitch)
4 cups sifted flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
¼ tsp. cloves
¼ tsp. salt
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1-cup margarine
1 cup chopped nuts
1 tsp. vanilla
1 ½ cups applesauce
1 tsp. baking soda dissolved in 1 Tbs. hot water

Cut up gumdrops into sifted flour.
Add nuts and raisins. (If you don’t mind picking them out later)
Add all other ingredients

Bake in big wax paper lined pan for 2 hours on low oven (250 – 275 degrees)

A family tradition every Christmas !

Cell Phone

I have lost my cell phone. I really don't use it a lot, but I do feel incomplete without it. What if I need to call someone? What if someone needs me? If I can't find it I will have to recreate my whole phone book. That will be hard. I do hope I find it soon.

Could you get along without your cell phone?

Holiday Eating Tips

I received this in a recent email. It contains important advice for this time of year.

1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit.  In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately.  Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.

2. Drink as much eggnog as you can.  And quickly.  It's rare.  You cannot find it any other time of year but now.  So drink up!  Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip?  It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnog-alcoholic or something.  It's a treat.  Enjoy it.  Have one for me.  Have two.  It's later than you think.  It's Christmas!

3. If something comes with gravy, use it.  That's the whole point of gravy.  Gravy does not stand alone.  Pour it on.  Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes.  Fill it with gravy.  Eat the volcano.  Repeat.

4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk.  If it's skim, pass.  Why bother?  It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.

5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating.  The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free.  Lots of it.  Hello?

6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's.  You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do.  This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge.  Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention.  They're like a beautiful pair of shoes.  If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.

8. Same for pies.  Apple, Pumpkin, Mincemeat.  Have a slice of each.  Or if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin.  Always have three.  When else do you get to have more than one dessert?  Labor Day?

9. Did someone mention fruitcake?  Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost.  I mean, have some standards.

10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention.

Astronomy

My astronomer took this picture as he left work one evening this week. He loves it when the night sky does something spectacular. Seeing the moon between Venus and Jupiter fits his idea of spectacular. He called to make sure I went outside to see this unusual sighting. It is unusual to see such bright stars in the evening sky. I was glad he made me look skyward.

According to Bob Ryan, our local TV weatherman, if you took one trillion dollar bills and stacked them end to end, they would reach from the U.S. treasury building to the planet Venus. Venus is far away. One trillion is a very big number.

Kennedy Center

Last night we completed a lovely holiday week-end with a trip to the Kennedy Center. I always enjoy attending performances there. It is such a glamorous place and it touches me with a sense of history. Last night we sat in the beautiful concert hall and listened to some outstanding music, a performance by the honors musicians in our local county schools. The band was excellent, as was the orchestra. After the intermission the elementary school honors chorus sang. In the center of the front row was my beautiful young granddaughter. The concert hall was filled with their sweet, young voices and I began to cry. My grandbaby was singing on stage in the Kennedy Center. It was a lovely moment that just overwhelmed me.

She beamed from the stage and waved to her family. Many of the big family who love her were there. Besides her grandparents, her mom and dad, her sister and brother, her dad's girlfriend, her mom's boyfriend, and her mom's boyfriend's mother came to share her moment of glory. She is loved by all of us. We are a modern American family.

25 Blessings

I've been challenged to name twenty-five things for which I am grateful. Here's my list in no particular order.

1.The aroma of coffee first thing in the morning.
2.Baking cookies with my granddaughter.
3.The telephone. I would miss so much without my phone.
4.My family. We come from a long line of love.
5.My happy bell place. I love my bell practice sessions. Laughter and music make a good combination.
6.Old pictures that bring back a lifetime full of memories.
7.My country. I love that this nation is able to change it's leaders peacefully with the voice of the people being heard.
8.The Bible. I love the lessons I learn every time I study this book.
9.Water aerobics. It is wonderful to find an exercise that I enjoy and does not make my knees hurt.
10. Chocolate
11. Blogging. I love the community of friends that I have found in Blogland.
12. My washer and dryer. Never let me forget that laundry means I have clothes to wear.
13. Sleeping with the man I have loved for more than forty-seven years.
14. I love the gift of time that comes with being retired. I have time to play.
15. My hearing. I love that I can listen to music and the giggles of my grandchildren.
16. Good books that make me think and carry me to faraway places.
17. God's amazing grace.
18. Long conversations with good friends.
19. A big world full of interesting, beautiful paces yet to be explored.
20. Lilacs, and roses, daffodils, gardenias, sweet peas, petunias ,tulips and all the flowers that make the world so pretty.
21. Eagles soaring high in the sky.
22. Children's drama and music productions, and the people who work so hard to make them possible.
23. Modern medicine and good medical facilities nearby
24. Family reunions.
25.Faith that gives me hope for tomorrow.

What are you thankful for today?

Pierce Butler

This picture was taken in 1939, the year Pierce Butler died. The baby in the photo is my beloved husband. He is being held by his Uncle Pierce. It was not until the family gathered at my mother-in-law's funeral that I learned the story of why Pierce received his name.

During World War I my husband's grandparents lived in a small town in Minnesota. They, like most of the country, were caught in a patriotic fervor caused by the Great War. When it was learned that the local banker was a German sympathizer many of the townsmen, including Grampa Charles, became very upset. They were indignant that a prominent citizen sympathized with the enemy and decided to teach him a lesson. One night a vigilante group kidnapped the hated German sympathized and took him outside of town where they tarred and feathered the poor man. Grampa Charles ended up in jail for his participation in the incident. A young lawyer in town volunteered to represent Charles. The lawyer was Pierce Butler. Grampa promised the lawyer that if he could get him out of jail then he would name his next son after the lawyer. Grampa was released from jail without being convicted of any crime. A year later Grampa became the father of child number eight. As promised the boy was named Pierce Butler.

A few years later the lawyer was appointed to the Supreme Court by Warren Harding. Pierce Butler served on the court for sixteen years. He was known for his conservative views and was part of a group referred to as the Four Horsemen for their opposition to most of FDR's New Deal policies.

Got any good stories in your family history?

16

Tonight our family gathered to celebrate DQ's sixteenth birthday. We had steak, baked potatoes and Caesar salad at the birthday boy's request. Of course we had chocolate birthday cake. I love that my family lives close enough that we can frequently celebrate together.

DQ was adopted into our family when he was three years old. We love this boy and rejoice that he is ours.

How did you celebrate turning sixteen?

Old Pictures

I have been going through old pictures for the past week. It is a bit overwhelming to wade through this treasure of memories. They are stored in boxes, drawers, and old albums. There are at least a million of them, maybe a billion. Some are of people and places long forgotten. Some are priceless treasures with powerful memories. What do you with all of your old pictures? What shall I do with mine? There are just so many of them.

This pictures was made in 1992. It was taken on my mom's last visit here, the visit where she first met her great grandchildren, Ashley, John and Samantha. This one is obviously a treasure that should be passed on to the next generation of my family.

Christmas Cards

For more than sixty years my mother-in-law sent out her Christmas greetings on postcards. She wrote a little note that reflected what was going on in her family and in the world. Her brother the printer made them for her at no cost. Postcards were only a penny each when they began sending these notes in 1941. Reading through them now I see her life unfold. She writes of her boys and how they grew. She writes of the world and how it was. She talks about the joy of grandchildren and the travels she and Bill enjoyed in retirement. At the end she talked about the loneliness of widowhood and her hope for the future. We always looked forward to her Christmas card, eager to see what she had to say each year.

I looked through these cards last week and was stuck by how little the world has changed. Her card from 1952 could have been written this year. She talks about the big changes coming to Washington, about the economy, about climate change, about her hope that the war would soon end, and how she hopes that all the changes will be good for America.

As we go through today's big political and economic changes, I find comfort in knowing that it was all going on in 1952 and we are all still here.

Lucerne Valley

While going through a box of old pictures this week I found this one that I had never seen before. This is a picture of my husband as a boy with his brother and cousins near his Aunt Ruth's cabin in the desert near Lucerne Valley in California. You just have to love this picture of boys gathered around the skeletal remains of some animal they had found while playing near the cabin.

The cabin was a favorite vacation spot for my husband's family. It was a twenty by forty foot concrete block building with a shady porch and an outhouse that my husband remembers building. There was no electricity, no running water and no neighbors for miles. He and his cousins spent hours roaming the desert. He learned to shoot a rifle there, although the rabbits he tried to hit were relatively safe. He learned to shoot a bow and arrow and then to hunt for arrows all over the desert. At night everyone dragged old mattresses out from the cabin and slept under the stars. It was dark and clear. You could see shooting stars falling out of the sky.
It is a place full of wonderful memory.

Where did you play when you were a child?

Kay

Today is my mother-in-law's ninety-eighth birthday. Kay's life was dedicated to her family. She loved her husband and three sons enormously. Her grandchildren were the light of her life. She delighted in them. When they were little she taught them all the songs she had sung to her boys when they were little. She was a wonderful grandmother.

Shortly before my father-in-law died Bill helped her to tape-record all the nursery songs she had sung with the little ones. They are both gone now. We miss them. This recording is a priceless treasure. Here is the voice of eighty year old Gramma Kay singing one of her favorites,Red Wing.

Happy birthday, Gramma Kay.

Church

Sunday is my favorite day of the week because it is church day. I love going to church for all sorts of reasons. I'll talk about yesterday to see if I can explain.
I slipped into a pew next to my daughter and looked around the room and smiled. People I love are everywhere I look. I feel a sense of community and belonging. In the four years since we came here this group of believers has become family. I feel like I am part of a lovely family reunion where all the generations come together to celebrate that we are family. It is a warm, safe feeling. Then the music began and we sang,

Shout to the Lord, all the earth,
Let us sing
Power and majesty, praise to the King;
Mountains bow down and the seas will roar
At the sound of Your name.
I sing for joy at the work of Your hands,
Forever I'll love You, forever I'll stand,
Nothing compares to the promise I have in You.

The music and words began to fill me and seemed to thin out the space between God and me. God felt near. We prayed together. I love to hear the voices of this family when we pray. I think God smiles at our worship.
Yesterday two children were baptized. It was awesome to see this young family dedicate themselves to teaching their children to learning about a loving God and then to hear the congregation promise to help to show these little ones that God is love. It was a moment of sweetness.

After worship service we all met again in the fellowship room. Coffee is an important part of becoming a family. We talk and share life with one another. Yesterday we had something extra, The Christmas Gift Market. This was a chance to see some of the different mission activities people in the church support. Instead of buying trinkets to give as Christmas gifts we are honoring others with a gift to a worthwhile charity. There were all sorts of opportunities to help others in need. I went shopping for all of you, my blog friends. I will wrap up something for each of you to put under our blogland Christmas tree.

I am a Christian. Church helps me to worship the Almighty. I feel blessed.

Emotion

This has been an emotional week for our country. It is hard to not be touched by the euphoria and excitement seen over and over again on the faces of people from around the world. It is touching to see the tears of people who have seen an impossible dream come true. There have been spontaneous celebrations everywhere. It is an amazing thing to watch. So much emotion and joy is a wondrous sight

Today I sang in a Veteran's Day program at the local senior citizens center. It was a day meant to honor those men and women who have served our country in the military. At one point in the program we sang an armed forces medley. As we sang the veterans in the room stood to be honored. These men are now elderly. They need canes and walkers to help them move. They are mostly veterans of World War II, men who are proud of their service. Many were overcome with emotion as we honored them and thanked them. One little old man stood with difficulty as we sang the Marine Corps Hymn. He stood as tall and as straight as his frail body would allow and he cried. I missed a couple of notes as I watched this man. This man and the others in the room did what needed to be done to protect and to serve this nation. It is because of what these men have done that we are able to vote. Our celebrations of post-election victory come because brave men and women like these have been willing to serve their country. I wanted to cry with thanksgiving as I watched them.

May we always be thankful for those who have been willing to serve our country.

Prayer

Almighty God,

Today I am praying for this nation of mine, this country that is my home. I am thankful for this country and all the good things that come to me because I am an American. I love this country. Today we are ending a long, difficult presidential election. I am thankful that this campaign has been fought with words and ideas instead of with war and guns. The words, though, have been painful. This long period off emotional campaigning has left us tired and fearful. I pray that when tomorrow is over we can begin to heal. I pray that we can grant one another grace and forgiveness. I will be disappointed if my candidate does not win, but I promise to pray for whoever wins tomorrow. I will pray that our next president has the wisdom, the courage, and the good health to lead this country to a better place.

God, heal our land. Bless us with grace peace.

My eleven year old granddaughter celebrated her October birthday last night with a Halloween party. It was great fun. Her friends gathered in their costumes in time for pizza and a few games before heading down into the very scary basement. Her thirteen year old brother and his friends had created a haunted house there complete with the body parts of an old witch. I'm not sure how scary it was, but there were lots of screams and excited kids running in circles. After being thoroughly frightened the kids settled down to watch Michael Jackson in his Thriller. Most of these eleven year olds had never seen it. Then it was time to get flashlights and head out for an evening of trick or treating which was well chaperoned by my devilish daughter and her beau, George W.

I hope you all had a delightfully devilish Halloween