Still Time To Celebrate

I took three weeks off of work and go back tomorrow. I had plans, oh did I ever, and today I was feeling some remorse at not accomplishing “anything” during my break. With a little retrospection, though, I realize that I had a lovely time, very low-key, very different from my regular busy schedule.

I spent three days driving to and from St. Louis to help my daughter pack up her dorm room and move out. She’s off to Spain in a few days for a semester. What I feared would be a grueling trip, turned out to be way less stressful than I had feared and allowed me time to enjoy my daughter’s company uninterrupted for hours at a time. It also allowed me time to visit my sister in Chicago, where I crashed both nights of the trip.

I’ve spent a lot of time the rest of my break driving my younger daughter to and from basketball…school stops for a while, but basketball never does. Rather than drive home between drop-off and pick-up, I stuck around. Twice I did grocery shopping, for our Christmas dinner and then for New Year’s Day, when we have a special family meal to kick things off right. Then, I went to the local sub shop and ate a sandwich while reading a book. Not a bad way to spend my time at all.

Christmas was filled with traditions, old and new. I went to Carols and Lessons with friends and we all met back at my place afterward where we talked and laughed and really enjoyed the time with one another that we so rarely get. My daughters and I went to Mass on Christmas Eve, put out cookies for Santa, wrapped gifts, filled stockings, and slept-in on Christmas morning. We opened gifts and cooked all of our favorite holiday foods, then ate the fruits of our labors.

My son came home a few days later, and then my mom arrived. We had a mini-Christmas with them, then on to New Years Eve when we stayed in and drank our bubbly apple cider or champagne and toasted one another. New Years Day brought the pork and sauerkraut recipe, repeated every year that I can remember.

Tomorrow, I go back to work and back to crazy. There will be carpool for school and basketball, and hopefully a class or two for me at night. Work will start-up at a fever pitch and I may be traveling as well.

Tonight, however, we have one more celebration to go. We’re celebrating a milestone birthday, belatedly, with my mom. Dressed up, ready to go. Snow has finally shown up, and we’ll have a lovely dinner out before settling down in a house full of family and love before the chaos hits in the morning.

Find the Joy in the Journey…celebrate the moment, and don’t worry about the To Do List for a change!

 

Christmas Successes and Failures

Now that all my kids are home, I want to spend as much time with them as possible…and they want to go off and spend time with their friends. Given that, I pick my activities carefully. Last night we drove through the Wayne County Lightfest. It was a wonderful (captive) way to spend time with them. The girls sat in the back and my son sat up front with me. We hadn’t been to see the lights in many years, so there were quite a few new scenes, although they didn’t all make sense (dinosaurs?). There were also the older scenes that could have used a little loving care as they were missing a few bulbs.

As we started through, my youngest told me to change the radio station, and I did. I expected some teeny-bopper music, but it was all Christmas Carols…just right for the evening. We drove slowly through the exhibition, my transmission burning up at hanging in first most of the way. I rolled my window down and snapped pictures on my iPhone of my favorite exhibits. The girls were soon Instagramming videos which involved lots of loud squealing and rather un-Christmas-like dialogue. Even so, they were enjoying the show around us.

I found myself solo on my other Christmas activities. I decided to make some of the cookies. The first I tried were Russian Tea Cakes. These are an all around favorite although the kids didn’t even try them when they were younger because they didn’t like the idea that they contained nuts. I rolled the dough into balls and tried to fit them all on to one cookie sheet. Seven didn’t make it. I set the timer and went off to read my book. Some time later, I thought it odd that 10 minutes hadn’t gone by yet and I got up to investigate. It turned out that I’d set the timer but had not turned it on. I was distraught at the ruined cookies. I cooked the last seven properly…such a low yield. 

Next I decided to make Walnut Bourbon Balls…they require no cooking. I’d gone to Target (every single day this week) and picked up some of the ingredients. The main ingredient is vanilla wafers. I carefully studied the ingredient list between the Nabisco version and the Market Pantry version. I was surprised and pleased to see that the Market Pantry version was not only cheaper, but contained no high fructose corn syrup like the Nabisco version. I scooped up a bottle of Karo syrup while I was there

As I mixed the ingredients for the cookies, the irony struck me and I felt quite the fool…I’d saved my cookies from a smidgen of HFCS only to literally pour it into the dough from the Karo syrup bottle. Oh well. Maybe the bourbon makes up for it!

Next up was the tree. In all fairness, my older daughter has been a stalwart in recent years in setting up and taking down the 9 and a half-foot behemoth which has 100+ branches which are no longer well marked. It’s a thankless job which is why I waited until this morning to tackle it. It is up. It is bare. The kids find themselves otherwise occupied and unable to help…at least tonight.

Then there is the package. I was so proud of myself to get all the out-of-town gifts ordered in time, including something for my mom that I was excited to share with her. I had it gift-wrapped and typed in a personal note. I had it expedited to get there in time for Christmas…it did. It arrived at my house this afternoon…too bad mom lives over a thousand miles away! New labeling, a trip to the post office, and $11 later, it’s now on its way to her correct address.

Find the Joy in the Journey…Some things are worth doing twice so that they are done properly!

Of Magic Snow and Magi

Last night, just before dusk, snow began to fall. At first I thought I imagined the first few flakes, but soon they were coming down bigger and faster. Pretty soon, snow covered the ground. It doesn’t always snow for Christmas, so this seems magical to me. It is the kind of snow that brought Frosty to life; the kind of snow that helps bring just that extra bit of magic to a child’s dreams. As we watched the snow fall, neighborhood volunteers set up a luminary all up and down the street and soon the flames flickered every 20 feet as far as the eye could see on both sides of the street.

My children are all past the ages of believing in Santa, but that doesn’t stop the excitement. Now they are excited to get each other gifts to surprise and delight. The giving has become at least as important as the getting. They plot and giggle and keep secrets in pairs from the third child. They gather together in a way they don’t often do at other times of the year. It warms my heart to finally see that sibling rivalries will eventually fade and the bonds of family will take hold and sustain them for the rest of their lives.

They also know that Christmas isn’t just about the magic of Santa or even the giving of gifts…they know that Christmas is also a miracle. They know that God came to man in the form of a helpless infant, so unexpected, so vulnerable. They lay out the Nativity with great care, moving the Magi closer each day and hiding the baby Jesus so that he only appears on Christmas morning.

Christmas is a time when I look upon my children and judge myself as a mother. When I can realize that with all my faults, I have made a positive impression on the next generation. I realize that despite the daily travails of parenthood and childhood, we do really forge bonds of love that will endure beyond all of our mistakes.

When I got up in the morning, there was a chain of red, green, and white paper rings strung all around the room. My son’s old Brio train tracks were set up around the tree and two of his old Thomas The Tank Engine trains were set up to pull train cars around the tracks. A note from Santa informed us that he’d set the paper garland and trains up for our delight and amusement. What a nice change when Santa surprises mom and dad and not just the children!

We laughed and opened gifts from one another. An early gift was a family gift to the dog. Out first came a “loofah” style toy that has soft, microfiber nubs all over it. The dog grabbed it and ran pell-mell to the other end of the house. We called her back, and she came sans toy…next we gave her a toy that looked quite realistically like a small animal. Once again, she snatched and ran and we all howled with laughter! We enjoyed giving the dog her gifts as much as we did giving gifts to one another.

There are no more small children at our house, and it will be many years before we expect to be graced with grandchildren. But the laughter and fun we shared this morning, including the fun of surprising the dog, were plenty of joy for us this special day.

Find the Joy in the Journey…Enjoy the company of those around you, be they family, friends, or even your animal companions.

Christmas Then and Now

Is it wrong that the first thought that crossed my mind when the toaster oven caught fire was that now I could get the red one to match our mixer? It was an instant waker-upper moment though, when I first smelled burning toast and called to my younger daughter that her waffles were burning…BURNING! With Flames! She grabbed the fire extinguisher…which was a “gift” from our neighbors when we first moved into the house 19 years ago…not useful the very first time we need it! I unplugged the toaster with an oven mitt and kept the door of the oven closed to try to smother the fire. Eventually it went out, but not before filling the house with smoke. Happy Christmas Eve morning at our house!

I remember when the toaster oven was new and was the mainstay for cooking our Christmas dinner six years ago. We had spent over a year planning our renovations, working with an architect so that our house would maintain its Queen Anne Victorian charm, yet meet the needs of a modern family. We’d worked for months with the bank to secure the construction loan and we’d carefully requested bids from builders and selected the best one. But, the best laid plans…

With our plans approved by the city and our permit properly executed and issued, we moved ahead with the demolition portions of our plans…off came the old saggy porch, off came the ill-conceived added-on room in the back, down came the garage. The roof was stripped of three layers of shingles and the siding removed. Our plans had been to build the garage first, with a carriage-house-like space above it where we’d live during the rest of construction…but it was not to be. The stop-work order was like a left-hook to the head and a gut-punch combined…then a big kick to the kidney to finish us off.

We hunkered down in our house through the coldest Thanksgiving we can remember, afraid to leave town as planned to spend it with family. By Christmas we were in a catch-22 between the city, the bank, and the builder with no one willing to move. It was time for us to move out, but we had no where to go. I called numbers I read off of signs in front of houses around town that declared they were for rent…but no one was answering or returning my calls. Finally, our builder said he had an open rental and we struck a deal. But first we celebrated Christmas in our house, the kitchen now demolished leaving a very large opening between the dining room and the basement stairs.

The toaster oven and microwave oven would have to do for making dinner. We couldn’t make a turkey, so we opted for a ham…but it wouldn’t fit in the toaster oven either, so we cut it in half. Everytime we tried to run the toaster oven and microwave at the same time it would work for about 5 minutes then blow the circuit. One of us would grab the flashlight, move the plastic sheeting to the side and venture through the snowy old kitchen space to the basement stairs.  We’d memorized the circuit by then and would quickly give it a flip off then back on again, then back up the stairs and back through the plastic sheeting to the dining room.

As I look back on that day, when our spirits were down, our bodies cold, our financial future and home hanging in the balance, I shiver. I thank God every day that we survived the next two years of fighting with the city and calling the bankers (we had three…one for the construction loan, one for the home equity loan, and one for the mortgage-to-be…all with the same bank but all in different cities) almost daily to convince them to proceed with the plan or else have the whole thing fall apart like a deck of cards. Then there was the builder…they stopped everything for 5 months and then, the momentum lost, inched along with putting our house back together. It was Easter more than a year later when we moved back home…still with no kitchen, but home-sweet-home.

And today, on this Christmas morning, I am so blessed to have my children and my husband all home. We made cookies, decorated our tree, went to the family Mass at church, listened to Christmas carols, put out milk and cookies for Santa, and slept warm in our beds. The kids are all giggly and we laugh about our “Brave Little Toaster”, now cooled-off and set by the trash cans.

Find the Joy in the Journey…and in the darkest hours, hold your loved ones close and know that better days are ahead.

There is Always Some Sweet in the Bitter–Look For It

Preparations this Christmas are even more lacking than usual for me. Part of it was the chimney debacle…but it does seem like this year has had more than its share of minor set-backs that added up to me being unprepared and/or thrown off of my plans. Yesterday was just such an example. Now, to back up a minute, I get the time off between Christmas and New Years each year because my company cuts back on company holidays the rest of the year and shuts down all of its factories the last week of the year instead. I also have over 22 years of seniority, so get quite a bit of vacation and tend to take off the last work week…so I’ve got these two weeks off, but have put off a lot of Christmas preparations.

Yesterday was finally a day to catch up and also to have some fun. I started off taking my younger daughter to school and driving her and three other girls to see “Arthur Christmas”. We had a lovely time, and the movie was really sweet and entertaining. On the way back to school, however, I somehow missed a stop sign on a side street near her school…and I am SUCH a nerd about stop signs. I NEVER roll through, I always stop and count to three…and hate others who roll through. But, this time I totally blew it, missing it all together. I got a ticket right at her school and had to “please, sir, may I walk the girls into the school? They aren’t allowed to walk in by themselves.” Kowtow. Totally humble. That really threw me into a funk.

I arrived home and the dog, instead of greeting me cheerfully, dancing in excitement, came slinking to the door. A bad sign. In this case, it meant that she’d just polished off the sleeve of bagels my daughter had bought for a school event. I sent her outside, had a bit of lunch and moped around. Until I got a call from my husband who had gotten up early and driven to another city four hours away. He was in the car on the way to a drug store to get some medicine before going back to the office…he said he was chilled and shaking, even with the heat full blast…the flu. Sigh. He is afraid of needles, and normally refuses to go to the doctor. But he had agreed this year that he needed a flu shot, having contracted the flu in each of the last three years since he took his current job which requires a lot of time in airplanes (i.e. disease incubators) …but it turns out  not to be so easy to get a flu shot paid under insurance unless you go to the doctor and he doesn’t have a doctor…in the end, he never got one. Fortunately, I was able get one at my doctor’s office and get my girls to their doctor for a shot.  (Holy @#$%, that means my son isn’t protected!!)

My husband said he’d get some meds, go back to the office, then call me about what he planned to do.  Now, I know this man better than I know myself…we’ve been together for 30 years. I know that he works through illness, even runs when he’s sick…I also know that the flu is like getting hit by a Mack truck…so I was worried. His work cell phone is notoriously unpredictable, so I can’t always get through to him. I waited out the hours, periodically calling and leaving him a message. I imagined that he’d set off for home in his fevered/chilled state and ended up in a ditch (ok, I’m an anxious person…I often have “daymares” with awful endings to keep me in a heightened state of anxiousness). I thank God that he ended up in a hotel…he said he’d get up and drive as soon as he wakened, but knowing the way the flu works, I suspect he’s more likely to sleep for 36 hours than waken in 5…

Not wanting to end the day on an anxious note, I recalled that I’d made some cookie dough the night before and it was chilling in the fridge. This recipe is not very traditionally a Christmas cookie, but it is in my family. It’s very chocolaty and luscious. I will give sideways credit to Betty Crocker since it is similar to one of their recipes and I don’t know the origin of mine…just that I have a hand-written copy that I wrote out when I was about eight. I’ve tried a boxed mix that’s similar, but don’t bother with the mix, it’s awful. The original is awesome! So, here it is:

Chocolate crinkles ready for the oven

Chocolate Crinkles

½ C. vegetable oil

4 squares of unweetened chocolate, melted

2 C. granulated sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

2 C. flour

2 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

Confectioners’ sugar

Mix oil, chocolate, sugar. Blend in 1 egg at a time. Add vanilla. Sift dry ingredients into mixture. Chill overnight. Roll balls of dough in confectioners’ sugar. Bake on greased baking sheet at 350 degrees., 10-12 mintues.

And there you go…a sweet beginning and a sweet ending to a bitter-sweet day.

Find the Joy in the Journey, even when things aren’t going your way.

Getting Into the Christmas Spirit

I am Pro-Christmas, really I am! I just haven’t made any moves yet to show it. When I cleaned out my butler’s pantry I threw away the Advent candles…they were melted beyond recognition, truly, but it did seem mean-spirited at the time. Now, I have no Advent candles. I guess they sold them after Mass, but I exited the church on the wrong side and missed them. Now, if I buy some, I’ll be playing catch-up since it’ll be time to light the third candle this Sunday. Not to mention, that we did not see the booklet of Advent prayers and meditations to go through every night when lighting the candles, so we’ve missed that too.

I’ve been to the first two Advent masses, and not one single Christmas song has been played! No Joyeaux Noel, no Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel, no Silent Night…NOTHING! I blame it on the new music director, who likes to incorporate all new songs with no practice. We also have new “song books” sans music. I asked one choir member about it and she was puzzled when I said there was no music…I think modern “singers” don’t read music to such an extent that they don’t even know the difference between “music” and “lyrics”. How is that?

I haven’t put up my tree…and I’m struggling to figure this one out.  We used to go to the Christmas tree farm and cut our own tree. Eleven years ago, with a small baby to care for, I got the flu Thanksgiving week and stayed home, almost dead to the world with my younger daughter while the rest of the family went to visit my husband’s aunt and uncle. They also went without us to cut down the tree. But as I recovered from the flu, I had a terrible respiratory allergic reaction to the tree…then came down with tonsillitis. Then the flu again. Then tonsillitis again…by this time, it was Christmas. The day after Christmas my husband tried to find an urgent care facility since my doctor’s office was closed. (My throat was almost swelled shut, so I couldn’t even talk.) We went and were told we needed an appointment during the day. Sigh. Finally got into the doctor who asked if she should call the hospital and reserve a bed for me…three days later they released me and sent me home with a “push” IV that I continued for three more days followed by 10 days of oral antibiotics…then I got bronchitis. At that point, I figured it HAD to be viral since I’d been soaked in antibiotics for 16 days. Six weeks later, I finally got better. Ok, that’s a long way to say, I’ve not had a live tree since!

Last year, my older daughter and a friend put up our artificial tree, but this year my daughter told me that she’d had a bad allergic reaction to the tree last year…10 years of accumulated Christmas dust has worked its way into the branches. She doesn’t want to put the tree up this year, and I don’t blame her. So, still recovering from sinusitis, I’m not anxious to tackle the task myself. I wonder if I ignore the whole thing if someone will take the initiative to put it up??? (Watch this space…)

I’ve not bought presents, written my Christmas letter, nor organized to send out Christmas cards.  I’ve not bought the ingredients to make any of our favorite Christmas cookies and I haven’t planned the Christmas dinner menu. We haven’t put up any lighted garlands around our house either. So, I’m basically making NO progress towards Christmas!

Tonight when I got home from work, I decided to do at least ONE thing to celebrate the season, so I dug out two things…our Nativity and our musical Christmas mouse. Now, I remember fondly the tradition of putting up the Nativity from my childhood. Out would come an old cardboard box filled with tissue paper-wrapped figures. We three sisters would take turns taking a piece out, trying to decipher the figures by the size and shape of the scrunched paper around them. I’d go for a small one, hoping for the baby Jesus or at least his guardian angel…only to get a small sheep. When we’d taken all our turns we’d un-wrap our figures and place them in the Crèche, hanging the angel last.

I recall the only time I ever went to a Black Friday sale, before they even called it that, it was to get my own Nativity. I rushed in the door and straight to the display and snatched up the set with 5” figures. Then I puzzled over whether I really wanted the 7 incher…meanwhile an older couple, one too old to have young children, but the right age to have young grandchildren appeared to be about to snatch it out of my hands! There was only one set of each size and I clung to the 5 inch-size  for dear life and bought it. I’ve since purchased a few extra figures including the Wise Men, the Guardian Angel, the Drummer Boy, and assorted other figures.

I did not have a childhood tradition with the musical Christmas mouse, or as the box reads: Magical Musical Maestro Mouse! This was a gift from my father and his wife and we bring him out and turn him on at Christmas. There are 12 rectangles representing various Christmas songs, and if you place one on the music stand, the mouse will declare that he’ll play the song and the keys will move as the song plays out. It’s quite entertaining!

So, although I’m late to the party on traditional Christmas trappings, the Spirit fills our house and our hearts.

Find the Joy in the Journey…especially at this time of year!