Christmas day is over...but the Christmas season is not over for me.  I begin the days of Christmas as soon as Christmas is over.  I think the technical term for it is ephiphany.  Noah Webster's definition of ephiphany in 1829 was

EPIPH'ANY, n. [Gr. appearance; to appear.] A christian festival celebrated on the sixth day of January, the twelfth day after Christmas, in commemoration of the appearance of our Savior to the magians or philosophers of the East, who came to adore him with presents; or as others maintain, to commemorate the appearance of the star to the magians, or the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. Jerome and Chrysostom take the epiphany to be the day of our Savior's baptism, when a voice from heaven declared, "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased." The Greek fathers use the word for the appearance of christ in the world, the sense in which Paul used the word. 2 Tim. 1.10.
  The 1913 edition defined ephiphany as this:
 

[F. épiphanie, L. epiphania, Gr. 'epifa`nia (sc. (?)

An appearance, or a becoming manifest.
Whom but just before they beheld transfigured and in a glorious epiphany upon the mount. Jer. Taylor.
An epic poet, if ever such a difficult birth should make its epiphany in Paris. De Quincey.
A church festival celebrated on the 6th of January, the twelfth day after Christmas, in commemoration of the visit of the Magi of the East to Bethlehem, to see and worship the child Jesus; or, as others maintain, to commemorate the appearance of the star to the Magi, symbolizing the manifestation of Christ to the Gentles; Twelfthtide.

 I like the mention of it symbolizing the manifestion of Christ to the Gentiles--that's me!
 The celebration of ephiphany where the  The 12 days of Christmas was taken from--a gift given on each day.  At one time I celebrated the twelfth day of Christmas (January 6th) with a winter tea at my house.  I still love the idea of having a winter tea in celebration of the culmination of the celebration of Jesus' birth.
 I would make the tea Victorian and add a snow theme to it.  I love stringing white Christmas lights on white fleece, hanging crystal snowflakes, serving white chocolate cocoa along with the tea, making beautiful white snowflake cookies with crystal sugar on them and having snowmen everywhere...oh, I'm getting in the mood just thinking about it!
There are some wonderful ideas out there that can get you enthused~ here's one I found:
http://www.tea-party-circle.com/snow-tea-party.html







  You can even spin off of other party themes (this one is a wedding) and make it work for you.



We do make the wise men move across the living room to show up on January 6th.  It's important they get to be a part of the living nativity. 
  This year I have a desire to give something to someone each day between now and the 6th of January.  The last few days I wanted to give myself to my family that got together after Christmas to celebrate.  I had a wonderful time making bread bowls with my grandchildren and decorating sugar cookies with them.
 Today's gift was to give myself extra time with the Lord--a very refreshing gift to myself.  Although I wanted it to be an act of worship toward Him, the gift ended up being for me--He always gives when we worship Him in spirit and in truth.  I was in desperate need of a refill in my spiritual tank and I'm so thankful for today's gift.
  I pray that each day between now and the end of ephiphany that I will listen very carefully to His voice and give to others exactly what He desires me to give.  That each gift will be from Him to others using me as His instrument.
  Winter is a wonderful time--let's use it to bring honor and glory to His wonderful name and keep on giving even though Christmas Day is now history!

 

 



Day # 4 of advent...
Keeping the Christmas story central in Christmas...believe me, we have a lot of wonderful things going on during Christmas! Today, John and his dad got the porch at our house decorated. This is a first for us--decorating the outside of the house with anything more than luminaries. Grandpa Charles would approve of the job they did! (lots of lights)
Inside, we have my favorite Christmas decoration--our moving nativity. Mary and Joseph have their residence on one side of the living room while Bethlehem is on the other side of our living room complete with shepherds on a hillside.
About 10 days before Christmas Mary and Joseph have a soldier standing outside of their house and a tiny note attached to their door telling them they must go to Bethlehem to be taxed.
They have a donkey and a bedroll ready to go and they begin their journey across the living room to Bethlehem.
We have wise men on the other side of the living room that begin their journey too and arrive after Christmas.
On Christmas morning baby Jesus is in his place and all is well. A star burns over the stable and the shepherds are hovering around the baby and his parents. I love the whole thing.
During the ten days Mary and Joseph move during the night and are in a new place each morning. Each year a new person or thing shows up as a gift for the pocket calendar and makes our nativity scene just a little better for next year. It might be a palm tree, flickering campfires for the shepherds, or a new tradesperson for the city of Bethlehem. The whole nativity is a hodgepodge of homemade, Fontanini, my grandmother's sheep from her nativity set or Dollar Tree goodies but that's what makes it uniquely ours. Each part of it has a special memory and place in our lives.
John begins fretting if they don't move fast enough or don't get going as soon as they get their notice. I stay content knowing that the Christmas story is being carried out right in our living room and we're keeping it in front of the children each day. In front of mom too, when it's busy it's good to go into the living room and look at the whole scene and remember what all the celebrating is really about!

 

Day # 3 of advent....Grandma AllDean's porch looks so pretty with Christmas wreaths and lights...she turned me loose!
One of the ways I love to celebrate this season and keep my perspective is to have my very own silent night. Put on the Christmas music after the kids go to bed, light some candles, get some hot cocoa or eggnog and sit in a darkened room with the fireplace and Christmas lights and just relax and think about all that you love about this season. It can be a time or prayer, a time to remember, a time to go over your grateful list, but it's a good time to just give yourself the gift of a quiet time during a very busy season!
Tonight I'm thankful for the joy of children at this time of the year, the joy of my being a child of God, a wife, a mother, a homemaker. I'm thankful that the Lord has given me a love for every role He has given me. I'm thankful for the beauty of Christmas, for the "mood" that makes people more open at this time of year, for watching my children's excitement build, for the wonderful aroma of Christmas.....I could go on and on...thank You Lord for your coming to us bringing so very much joy into our lives!

Day # 2 of the wonderful "advent" (anticipation of the Lord's coming!)....keeping a diary of sorts of your advent season. I have diaries, journals, scrapbooks of all sorts and types. I am not religious in keeping them, but my children and grandchildren will be able to piece together (or maybe I can give it some continuity before I die) of my life. You might include what really spoke to your hea...rt during this season, a special picture on a Christmas card you loved, a prayer list of your Christmas requests from the Lord, an illustration of something engraved in your memory. Whatever suits your personality this is a wonderful activity to help keep your mind on what really is important at Christmas!

 

Fall Musings....

  Here it is and September is almost behind us!  I can't believe that the month has gone by as quickly as it has!
  I began on September 1st getting my fall decorations out.  I love my wreath for the door and I love my mantel decorations.  I still don't have my dining room area where I'd like it to be, but that gives me something to look forward to!

  

      Fall makes me feel cozy and always gets me pulling out the cookbooks to see what I can fix that's comforting and makes my family feel/smell the change of the season.  I've been busy making pumpkin rolls which is one of our family fall favorites. 
      Here's the recipe for anyone that wants to try this delicious dessert!  It's pretty, you can wrap it in plastic wrap and then in foil and freeze it.  Just a little before serving take it out of the freezer and it always slices so much prettier if it's frozen!

Pumpkin Roll

  Beat 3 eggs on high speed with mixer for 5 minutes.  (This is when you're glad you have a stand mixer!)  Gradually stir in 1 cup granulated sugar.  (That's underlined because I forgot it more than once!)  Stir in 2/3 cup pumpkin and 1 tsp. lemon juice.

   Stir together:

   3/4 cup flour

   1 tsp. baking powder

   2 tsp. cinnamon

   1 tsp. ginger

   1/2 tsp. salt

   1/2 tsp. nutmeg 

  *For those of you on a tight enough budget you can't go buy ginger and nutmeg, you can up the cinnamon by a tsp. and it is still wonderful!

   Fold into pumpkin.  Spread in grease and floured 15x10x1-inch pan. (This is a smaller cookie sheet.  Be sure and really give it the greasing and flouring or lots of Pam.  You don't want it to stick!)

At this point you can top it with 1 cup of chopped nuts.  You need to press them down into the batter a little or they'll tend to fall out after you roll it up.  I don't put nuts in mine.

   Bake at 375 degrees for 13-15 minutes.  Turn onto a towel that has been generously sprinkled with powdered sugar.  Starting at the narrow end, roll the towel and cake together; cool.  Unroll and spread with the filling below.

   Filling-

   Combine:

   1 cup powdered sugar

   6 oz. cream cheese (I use a full 8 oz. package)

   4 Tbsp. butter or margarin

   1/2 tsp. vanilla (I use 1 tsp.)

  Beat smooth, spread over cake.  (Stay about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch away from the edges as it will spread when you roll it.)  Roll cake back up.  Chill. 

  I have added a section to the back of my cookbook called Fall Recipes I have so many that we love to eat in the fall!  One of our favorites is German Apple Cake.  We love it with Cream Cheese Frosting but it's also good with Penuche Frosting, Caramel Frosting or even the Browned Butter Frosting. 

   It's this time of year that I usually make UT Fudge.  Since our UT game days are over (the fans have all moved away!) I don't have as much fun making this for an event like I used to, but my family is still so in love with it.  It tastes like a Dreamsicle.

   I usually make a Maple Nut Twist this time of year.  It is a large breakfast sweet bread that you make on a round pizza pan.  You twist the outside edges of it and it's full of yummy cinnamon sugar and maple flavoring inside with a maple glaze.  My bunch usually all try to get the center out of it because it is so delicious.

   Also this time of year finds me making Pumpkin Doughnut Drops and sometimes even my Grandma Mettler's Long Johns.  Mmmmmmm.....

  Breadbaking is a given in this house but this time of year it gets better.  When you walk in a house on a fall day and the bread has just come out of the oven you can't resist going and cutting off the end of that warm bread, slathering it with butter and homemade strawberry jam or honey and slowly eating it!

  My mother's caramel corn seems to always show up this time of year too!  Can't do without an ice cream bucket full of that sitting around in the fall!

  We love soups and stews this time of year too.  Potato soup (in homemade bread bowls with lots of cheese on top) , Corn chowder, Chili, Beef Stew are just some of our favorites.

   I also make goulash with cornbread for my husband each fall.  He loves it any time of year but says it tastes better in the fall. 

   John loves projects and activities and last year we wanted to do this but my health didn't allow me much but the basics.  This year we're going to have a backyard campfire and try to learn to cook over the campfire.  I've already found the neatest afterdark craft we're going to have ready for our evening campfires. 

   It's found on this link and it is #9 of the projects.   I can't wait to see how pretty this is going to be in the dark.  We'll probably do several of them and make a perimeter around  our campfire area.

   http://toolsfortheimagination.com/2011/05/18/may-i-give-you-some-inspiration/

   I'm sure my older married children can remember how many times we took the rack out of my oven and put it over rocks on a campfire outside.  We even learned to cook breakfast in an iron skillet out there.  So much fun with kids.  Teach them some of the fun cowboy songs there are to sing or teach them the "Moose Song" that my grandkids like to sing with me!

http://www.campingdude.com/content/song/crazy_moose-1336.asp

     Well, that's my autumn musings for now...sure wish I could have everyone over for some of this fall food and atmosphere.  My husband just walked in and it's time for some vegetable soup with corn bread!

Love,

Mom

Summer Is Almost Here!

   As much as I love teaching when we get into the month of May I go back in my mind to being a little 5th grade girl sitting in my classroom.  In May our teacher would raise the windows to cool the room and although my body was sitting at the wooden desk lined neatly behind someone else's, my mind was outside under the big trees that lined our school.  I wanted so much to be out enjoying the warm breeze, the newly leafed trees and playing--not doing school.  I'm sure I wasn't a very productive student in the springtime because my heart and mind were already on summer break!
  Well, not a whole lot has changed.  I truly feel for my children when they have a hard time concentrating this time of the year.  I give them the standard lectures on how the end of the year grades are SO important so they need to focus on those last few tests, but inside I'm with them--dying to close the books and get outside!
   My husband says that the reason I love children so much is because I've never quit being one myself.  I don't argue that point because the last week as I go to sleep at night I try to think of what the children and I will do this summer.
  Sometimes I'll try to think of a theme.  I love the camp theme for kids in the summer.  You can have "cabin clean-up" each day and have a winner at the end of the week--boys against girls.  You can have a canteen and when they do good on chores and projects they earn reward money that can be spent at the canteen.  It can be chips, candy bars, granola bars, cheese crackers or coupons "good for a McDonald's ice cream cone" (each one having a value put on it in your fake money) but kids love spending money at the canteen.  By the way, the canteen is only open at certain hours of the day!
  You can have craft projects you do together.  These can be carefully disguised jobs that you're wanting to get done.  I'm trying to figure out how to slip in my "sand and paint" the little table for the front porch into a craft project for the kids this summer! 

  You can have badges that the kids earn by carrying out their craft projects or doing a nature project.  You can teach them how to make lanyards, how to sew a simple skirt, baking 101, make and paint your own birdhouse, backyard garden, etc.  All this keeps the kids busy and happy and teaches them something new at the same time.  I don't know about anyone else but I enjoy these projects just as much as my kids do.  I've been a mama long enough now that you can do just about anything with a kid and if you're into it with them wholeheartedly they're going to have a wonderful time!
  One year when I was at Alicia's helping after a baby (I believe it was Macey Joy) I brought "camp in a suitcase" with me when I came to watch the children while Alicia recovered.   I had scarves (like the boys scout and girl scouts wear) that we sewed badges (special buttons and beads) on when they earned them.  We had canteen, morning devotions, game time, craft time and rest time. (that last one was Grandma inspired and needed!)  We had cabin cleanup contest, special treats to make and eat and we even designed and made our own camp flag. On each Friday evening we had "awards night" where the kids earned their choice of $1 gifts from Dollar Tree for being the one with the most initiative on their chores or the most cheerful or that learned all of Psalms 100.   The camp was called Camp Tamarak.  (My name is Tamara Kaye and I was really pleased with the name of the camp. :)

   Something else kids love is being out at night in the summer.  My kids and I have always loved building campfires and sitting by it after dark.   You can chase fireflies, play flashlight tag, find the summer constellations and tell them stories by a campfire.  You can teach them to make S'mores, try making some hamburger packets or other campfire food, and if you're really brave you can even camp out with them in the backyard.  I have actually built tents with sheets and clothespins over a swing set and had a wonderful time camping out with my kids. 

  Children love games and adults seem to draw back from games with children because, well, because kids can sure complicate games with their playfulness and their argumentiveness with one another, BUT they love games and they need games.  So I plan a game night and make myself do it.  I've found once I get into it I have a wonderful time and it if you make rules and stick to them everyone learns about cooperation and taking turns and you learn all kinds of new things about your kids!

   When I think of summer and kids I think of several things that you cannot fail with.  Eating outside is one.  Set up a table outside and roast some hot dogs, throw the chips on the table and have popsicles or ice cream cones ready for the end of the meal and you've got happy kids!  Summer is such a fun time for outdoor meals and snacks.  I've made my kids sack lunches or bought the little plastic trays at WalMart and let them carry their lunch outdoors to eat in the treehouse or fort.  Makes it so special!

  Another sure winner is water to play in!  Rather it's just a large tub of water they're allowed to play in with toys and cups or a small pool you keep carefully maintained ,(and I know what a job this is as we had a wading pool almost every year we lived at the Swan Pond parsonage that I cleaned manuall.) kids and water love each other on a hot summer day.  One of the funnest $1 investments I ever made was a bunch of water balloons with the little gizmo that goes on your outdoor water faucet to fill them with.  So fun!  Get a big trash barrel and let them spend an hour so filling them and then let them go at it. (with you in the middle)  Makes for a good half day of fun!

   Another fun toy that kids love to play with is sheets and/or refrigerator boxes.  Have your hubby stop by an appliance store and get a couple refrigerator boxes and then you and the kids can cut, paint and play.  I've made a Noah's ark out of one for Asher's third birthday, made nice big long tunnels for the kids to play in, made a castle, a fort, a pirate ship and a playhouse out of refrigerator boxes.  You can even let the kids cut up scrap fabric and make curtains for it.  You can attach it to the side of a swing set for a huge fort or hideout.  My kids have been detectives, spies, Civil War soldiers, pirates, and the list goes on and on and a refrigerator box has been part of the props many times.  As far as the sheets, you can make a wonderful tent over a clothesline, you can create instant shade on their swing set, and you can drape them over tables to make hideouts!  I remember having the kids completely convinced that we were hiding from Indians that were attacking when we were under a draped table!  
  I know there's more but the last one I can think of is taking a walk.  Where we live now it is beautiful and it is so enjoyable to walk the neighborhood.  My kids and I take penny walks sometimes.  You take a penny along and when you come to a corner you toss the penny to determine if you're going straight or turning!  We've forgotten the penny at times and so we'll throw the water bottle or something else we find to decide is is left, right or straight!  I also turn walks into scavenger hunts.  The kids get a certain amount of points if they see wildlife, a certain color of flower, an insect, children in a yard, a clothesline and the list can go on and on.  Last year I threw in that they would get 500 points if they saw a bear!  Much to my surprise a house had a wooden bear on the porch and one of the kids got the points!  Another time it was a frog and some people had a yard full of fake frogs!  You can reward the one with the most points however you wish.  You know, the losers have to wait on him all evening or something like that!

   This summer gas prices are high, my husband is working off hours where we will be home almost every day but I am looking forward to summer.  Years ago a lady wrote in a book I read how blessed you would be if you learned to find joy in those things that were God-given and were free.  Watching children play wiffle ball in the twilight, telling stories as you sit on the porch swing and watch fireflies blink.  Bathing a baby and teaching them to play with bubbles.  Being thrilled with watching your coffee perking on a counter with dappled sunlight mixing with the steam.  There is so much to do with children that is free or almost free.  If you're struggling financially right now it isn't the time to mope because you can't run to the amusement park with your kids this year--make your own amusement park in your own back yard and have fun!  If you ask the Lord to help you see this summer through the eyes of a child you can make it the most memorable summer your kids ever have and years later they'll say, "Mom, do you remember the summer when....."  and that will make it worth it all!

With love,

Mom


 

Spring...

  I love the springtime.  I love the budding trees, the new color showing up everywhere, the way the Lord combines those colors and that everything is coming alive.  I have always loved spring in Tennessee because of the warmth in the air and the sweet smell of the honeysuckle during late April and May. 
  I also love spring because my mind begins running with ideas.  I order seed catalogs (which I usually can't afford to order from) and I pull out my patterns and begin to design clothing for the children on paper and in my head.  I dream of what project I might want to take on to make the house look more cheerful.  I sat the other night and clipped magazines with beautiful spring bouqets and birds on the nest and beautiful downy little chicks.
  This year I am hoping for a clothesline so I can hang my sheets out to dry like I did when we lived at Swan Pond.  Hanging things on a clothesline is some kind of therapy for me.  I love the smell of the sheets after they've been out in the warm sun and summer wind.
  In the spring I begin pulling out my favorite recipes for desserts with strawberries and lemon and other fruit flavors.  I go through my cookbooks looking for lighter fare for our meals and I make a "wish list" of meals to try on my family for spring and summer.  Cierra is now old enough that she and I enjoy sitting together and going through cookbooks and planning what we think would be fun to try.
   As part of my "therapy" for my last real battle physically my husband wanted me to do a sewing project that wasn't because it had to be done but just for fun.  My favorite sewing is for children so I took a 1953 pattern that had never been cut out and made it up.  Because I couldn't physically get out of the house Esther chose the fabric for me by sending photos back and forth via the computer and then buying the one I liked the best.  (Thank you, dear Esther!)
   I'm all done except the buttons.  It truly was good for me to have to plan, design, cut and sew as it kept my mind busy.  Here's the pattern (and the link to where you can buy it on E-bay).

http://cgi.ebay.com/Simplicity-4407-Childs-Jumper-Blouse-Sz-2-UNcut-Patt-/390282736051
   And although I'm not finished with putting the button's on (since I have yet to get back to town!) I'm going to include a picture of how it looks so far.  It has a tied bow in the back that is darling too. 

  Didn't that turn out so precious?  This would have been the type of dress my mother would have made me when I was little.  I have a passion for sewing vintage patterns for children but not much time to indulge in it so this was fun!
   I have a spring sewing list (longer than I can possibly get done.) but just going through my patterns with the little short sleeves or little matching linen coats over the dresses, the little boys rompers, all the beautiful new tote and purse patterns I'm seeing, the twirly skirts for the little girls and the list could go on and on.
  I have to remind myself that they will not all get done and that I need to decide which of my many ideas really matter to me, which are beyond my reach, which would take so much time I would end up neglecting my family, etc. but yet it is still so much fun sitting with pen and paper and planning it all--even if I have to put little astericks beside some of them showing that they are very likely not going to happen and are on the bottom of the list!  That doesn't change the fact that I pray about them and ask the Lord to supply all that I need for that project if it is His will!  (including strength right now!)
  Isn't it wonderful the way the Lord made us to love the changes of the seasons?  When I feel the changes coming for the new season I am so ready for that season.  I pray that you are enjoying that new warmth in the air, the rainy days, the little buds coming out and the tulips pushing their way through the garden soil. 
  I trust that you too have a case of "spring fever" and are enjoying it! 

Love,
Mom

Christmastide...

 

I truly believe the song line that says "It's the most wonderful time of the year..".  I love the season of Christmas.  I begin celebrating before Thanksgiving but I keep it a secret because my husband doesn't want to hear a peep about Christmas till after Thanksgiving!
  This year I told the children that between the fact that I wasn't even sure where our Christmas decorations were and that we were going to be gone part of the Christmas season we were only going to get out the tree and decorate it and nothing else.
  Well, Gary and the kids brought down the boxes from the attic and as we went through them it was, "Oh, we've got got get out the nativity set, Mom." and "Aren't you going to put the snow village out." and "You know every year you decorate the cabinet." and "Whose going to kill any mice we might get during Christmas if the nutcrackers aren't out?"  Being the very-sentimental woman that I am the next thing you know I had everything out except one box of snowmen I couldn't find!  So much for not getting anything out but the Christmas tree items.  I have to admit when I sit at night and look at it all I'm very glad I didn't listen to myself!
  And what is my personal favorite?  Well, I love the nutcrackers.  Asher loved them when he was little and one at a time they showed up as gifts for him from his grandparents.  The only one that doesn't belong to him is the mouse king.  He showed up on the last day of the pocket calendar as a grand finale a couple years ago. 
  We love the story of the nutcracker and our cartoon version is just about my favorite Christmas movie.  Every year if we get a mouse in the house during the Christmas season it shows up dead at the feet of our nutcrackers--but the nutcrackers are not my favorite Christmas decoration.
  I love the pocket calendar.  It began when the older children were little.  I made a homely little pocket calendar with 25 pockets and each day a little surprise or promise note showed up in the pocket.  It was put there by Ralph our resident Christmas elf.  He has been known to fix toys, hide treats and generally be a true fun friend to have in the house for the month of December.  Alicia was certain when she was little that she saw him moving through  the branches of our Christmas tree.  I really think she still is a firm believer in Ralph! :)  But the pocket calendar isn't my favorite Christmas decoration!
  I also love my Hoosier cabinet decorations.  It started with just a few and grew till the whole cabinet top was filled with Christmas each year.  One year I thought it was a little too much and decided I wasn't going to do the cabinet any more.  Alicia was already married but let me know that it wouldn't be Christmas without the cabinet being decorated-so it still is.  However, the cabinet is not my personal favorite.

   I love the snow village.  It is made up of little houses that are mostly from thrift stores and Big Lots and Dollar General stores.  We have more than one church with little carolers in front of them.  (The ones at the nicer church look a little uppity to me in their choir robes!)  We have a banker stepping out of the bank looking at his watch.  (We call him Jimmy. :)  We have a barn and it front of it are men working on cutting wood and blacksmithing.  We have a toy store, a post office, and a fire house.  We love them all and call it Nealville.  However, the snow village is not my favorite decoration.

   I love all my cozy kitchen decorations.  I have a swag with antique ornaments attached with homespun, lots of cute little snowmen, little children that sit in my kitchen window decorated in red and green, and lots of snowmen but these aren't my favorite Christmas decorations.



  My very, very favorite decoration is our nativity set.  It is composed of cheap, not-so-cheap and Fontanini.  Mary and Joseph have a home made from foam core and Bethlehem's barn is a book given to me when our older children were very little.  However, I love it because it is the theme of the month for me.
  It begins with Nazareth which is in my living room right now behind my chair.  During the move the floor disappeared so this year their home is extremely shabby, but they don't care.  One day a Roman soldier shows up to their little home and leaves a notice from Caesar on their door--they must go to be taxed.  So they put a bedroll on their donkey and begin the long trek across the living room to Bethlehem. (Which is in the kitchen this year.)

  Bethlehem is on the dry sink in the kitchen and is made up of a stable, a large star (that doesn't light up till Christmas Eve), a shop keeper, soldiers, some residents, a palm tree and animals.  The manger is empty and stays that way till Christmas Eve.  Nearby is a hilly area with shepherds watching their sheep by their campfires. 



  I love it when they all end up gathered around the newborn Jesus and the star is shining above it all.  How perfect.  The wise men even show up to worship even though I am fully aware their timing is off when compared to the Bible.  But we can't keep the nativity set out long enough to let them do it accurately!

   So far this Christmas season we've had all our hearts could desire and more.  It has snowed and given us a picture postcard yard for one day, I've been able to bake and play in the kitchen, I've been enjoying creating little gifts for my loved ones, have been able to smock a beautiful new dress for my latest grandchild who is coming to join us December 15th and have even stayed on track in working ahead in school so we're not behind when we come home from our trip!  Thank You Lord for all Your blessings and help!

 

   And just to think--this is just the beginning of this wonderful season!  I am looking forward to the many things we still have to do.   We're taking my mother-in-law to see the lights in Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg and visit Hammers Dept. Store, we're going to be making a trip as a family to see my Idaho grandbabies and our newest little granddaughter, I still have lots of ideas floating around in my head that I hope I have time to carry out, cookies and candies to make, wonderful once-a-year food to cook and Christmas books to read and movies to view. 

  Above all, it's a time to thank the Lord for coming to earth in human form that He might save us from our sins!  Thank You, thank You, thank You!

  I pray that you're having a wonderful holiday season and savoring every sight, smell, future memory, and every moment with your loved ones.  May God bless each one of you and grant you a Christ-filled, joyous holiday season.

With love,

Mom

Thanksgiving is almost here...

  I love the entire holiday season and my husband loves the holiday that is coming up next week-Thanksgiving.   Because he loves it so I love to make Thanksgiving extra special for him.  This Thanksgiving we're going to have our oldest daughter Niki, her husband Brian and their two little ones with us, my dad and  Lela and her daughter Esther and Uncle Mike (Shockley) with us.  I'll love every moment of it.  (Though I wish I could blink and have every child and grandchild gathered into my kitchen.)
   We have the old faithful recipes that we cannot imagine a holiday dinner without---Turkey and dressing, Swiss Medley, Sweet Potato Casserole, Baked Macaroni and Cheese, Cheeseball and crackers, hot rolls, pecan pie and some kind of cheesecake for dessert. (This year is a toss up trying to decide between Pumpkin Praline and Reese Cup Cheesecake.) 
  I also like to try something new each year.  This year I'm trying two new recipes.  My pecan pie is going to be a chocolate pecan pie.  Esther brought me some really, really nice Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips and I decided to use one bag for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas.  So they're going to find their way into a chocolate pecan pie.  Then I found a recipe for some Cranberry Crumb Bars that sounds wonderful and very Thanksgiving-ish so I'm trying them.  Have to make lots of desserts so I can share!
  So how about an old recipe and a new recipe?  For the old I'm going to give you the Sweet Potato Casserole.  I'm sure many of you have had it since it's a Southern recipe, but till I moved south I had only had the sweet potato casserole with marshmallows on top and I took just enough to be polite.  But when I tasted this one I was hooked, begged for the recipe shamelessly and made everyone that came to my house try it if it was on the table.  I've had more than one person that swore they hated sweet potatoes decide they hated sweet potatoes and loved this casserole and had one person tell me that if it wasn't bad manners they'd lick the pan when it was gone!  So here's my sweet potato casserole recipe given to me back in 1987!

SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE
3 cups mashed sweet potatoes
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup margarine
Mix well.  Pour into shallow buttered casserole. (I use a 9x13 pan.)
Topping:
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/3 cup margarine
  Blend flour and sugar well and sprinkle on top.  Mix nuts and butter and sprinkle on top.
  (I mix all of the ingredients into one bowl instead of doing it separately like the recipe says.)  Bake at 350
degrees for 30 minutes.
I usually make this the day ahead and store it in the fridge so all I have to do is pop it in the oven.  I usually set it out in the morning and let it get to room temperature.  If not you have to give it a little extra baking time!

Now for my new recipe this year:

CRANBERRY CRUMB BARS
1 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup cold margarine
Filling:
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 can (14 oz. sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 T. corn starch
1 T. brown sugar
1 can (16 oz.) whole berry cranberry sauce
Topping:
1/3 cup flour
2 T. brown sugar
1/4 cup cold butter or margarine
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts (I'm going to use pecans.)
  In bowl, combine flour and powdered sugar, cut in the butter until crumbly..  Press in a 9x13 pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until light brown.  Reduce oven heat to 325 degrees.
   In bowl, beat cream cheese till smooth.  Add milk and lemon juice; mix well. Pour over crust.
   In bowl, combine corn starch and brown sugar.  Stir in cranberry sauce till combined.  Spoon over cream cheese layer.
   For topping, combine flour and brown sugar.  Cut in butter.  Fold in nuts.  Sprinkle over filling.
  Bake at 325 degrees for 40-45 minutes till topping is golden brown.  Cool on wire rack.  Cover and chill for 3 hours before cutting.  Yield: 12-15 servings. 
  I think they sound (and they looked) yummy!  If my 55 year old brain can retain this thought, I'll try to post pictures of both of these after Thanksgiving! 
  I am so thankful for the Lord's tender care of me all these years, I'm thankful for the wonderful, wonderful marriage He's given me, the children He gave us and then the bonus children He gave us, for giving me faith to believe Him and to trust His word, for the new truths He gives me every day in His word.
  I've been thinking of other things this last couple weeks...I've thought so much of my children and all they've taught me, for the blessing of seeing my grown children in church and serving the Lord with all their hearts, for the blessing of seeing my grandchildren receive Christ as their Saviour, I've thought of my brother and sisters and how precious they are to me and what wonderful memories I have of my life with them, of my nieces and nephews and just little snippets of memories have come floating back, (like MaryBeth staying with me after my foot surgery to help me), I've thought of so many people that have been used of the Lord to refresh Gary and I spiritually at just the right time, of my parents and my in-laws, of friends who have remained faithful to us through the years and the list could go on and on and on....
  I read aloud to our children at breakfast this week Abraham Lincoln's proclamation http://www.classicallibrary.org/lincoln/thanksgiving.htm   concerning Thanksgiving.  In it he makes sure the people know it is God who they had to thank for their blessings and God who they should fear for His judgment on our nation (the Civil War) for their unfaithfulness to Him. He recommended thanksgiving and repentance as a nation.  My, can you imagine what would happen today if a president made a proclamation like that? 
  It made me want to search my own heart for any idols or any lack of fear and reverence for a very real Almighty God. 
  As we enter Thanksgiving week, I pray that we all will recount our blessings before God and give Him thanks and that we all will search our hearts and ask Him to grant us repentance where we lack giving Him credit and thanks where they are due.  May each and every one of you have a wonderful Christ-honoring Thankgiving Day!
With love,
Mom

The Fall Season in the Interim of Our Lives...

  Well, here we are living in a "between" home during the holidays.  My husband is between pastorates and so we're living in a rented home.  It's absolutely perfect for us and I thank the Lord every day for giving us such a wonderful home to live in during this interim of our lives. 
  We have always lived in a parsonage and so we've never owned a home.  In our early days of ministry that bothered me a little but as I grew in years and in my spiritual life I began to see it as a blessing in our lives.  Then the Lord gave me a wonderful verse about being a "parsonage dweller".
" And they lodged round about the house of God, because the charge was upon them, and the opening thereof every morning pertained to them. " (I Chron. 9:27)
  Since the Lord gave me that verse I have been very content with my home wherever the Lord might put me.  At this point He has us in a holding pattern in our lives until He gives us new and clear direction.  Needless to say this has altered our life and that includes the holiday period of our lives.
  I'm a true traditionalist.  I love things to be the same so my children and family look back and can say, "Do you remember how mom (Grandma, Aunt Tami, or whatever name fits) always made this or did this during the holidays?
  I also know that flexibility is good too.  This year I couldn't have found all my fall decorations if I tried so I decided to use nature and whatever else the Lord sent my way.  I won a little engraved pumpkin and a candle as prizes at the Wings Conference and the kids and I gathered acorns and pinecones from our yard.   I have a beautiful fireplace mantel and I wanted to decorate it for fall and little by little it was filled with beautiful fall decor. 

  Since I took this picture the Lord even added a beautiful fall vine with berries and leaves and a sign that says "Give Thanks".  My husband and children have all mentioned how pretty the mantel looks.  Thank You Lord!
   This time of year I feel an excitement building up in me.  It's time for the holidays.  I can't resist getting the cookbooks out and while we sit in the living room watching a movie I'm marking the ones I want to try to make.  This year for Thanksgiving I decided we'd have to have the pumpkin cake I made at Jennibeth's house when we spent Thanksgiving with them.
  It was after Thanksgiving and she and I were wanting to make a dessert but we'd about emptied the pantry out for Thanksgiving.  We went scavengering and found a can of pumpkin.  I'd gone through some of her cookbooks and found a recipe that called for just flour, sugar, eggs, pumpkin and spices so that was the choice.  It called for cream cheese frosting and we didn't have cream cheese so I made cooked caramel (I call it penuche but nobody knows what that is) frosting on it.  Oh, my goodness!  It was SO good and became a Thanksgiving keeper at the Neals!
    Here's the recipe:
PUMPKIN CAKE
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups pumpkin
2 cups flour, sifted
2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
4 tsp. cinnamon
   Combine sugar and oil.  Add eggs separately, beating well to combine.  Add flour, soda, salt and cinnamon to sugar mixture.  Blend thoroughly.  Bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes in pans which have been greased and floured.  Makes three (3) 9" round layers.

Now for the frosting.
COOKED CARAMEL FROSTING (EASY PENUCHE FROSTING)
(For this cake I use a double recipe.  You can double it if you want, but you'll need a strong arm or a helper in the beating stage! :)

1/2 cup margarine or butter
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/4 cup milk
2 cups powdered sugar

Melt butter or margarine in saucepan.  Stir in brown sugar.  Heat to boiling, stirring constantly.  Boil and stir over low heat for 2 minutes.  Stir in milk; heat to boiling.  Remove from heat and cool to lukewarm.
Gradually stir in powdered sugar.  Place pan of frosting in bowl of ice and water; beat until its of spreading consistency.  If frosting becomes too stiff just heat slightly stirring constantly.

  This is a wonderful three layer cake!  The one in the picture has an extra batch of icing on it.  (I do one batch for the layers and 1 1/2 batches for the outside because our family likes lots of the icing! )
  I have a little recipe holder with all my very favorite holiday recipes in it.  Our Christmas punch recipe, cheeseball recipes, spinach dip, sausage bites, baked macaroni and cheese, Swiss medley (a wonderful full-of-cheese side  dish with broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, mushroom soup, sour cream and Durkees onions), sweet potato casserole that a died-in-the-wool sweet potato hater will love, all my specialty cheesecake recipes, peanut butter pie, every truffle and fudge recipe you can imagine and the list goes on and on and on in it.  My head is already dancing with new ideas to try this year.  Can't wait to see what the Lord has in store.  I have a new cake ball truffle recipe I wanted to try and someone already brought me some dark chocolate chips they found on clearance.  They're tucked back to become truffles!
  Because of my love of cooking I like to use fall/holiday baking as an excuse to stop by the neighbors with a pie pan full of goodies and a chance to talk to them.  We have a couple near us with failing health and I so want the Lord to use us in their lives.  I love it when you knock on a neighbor's door and you can see genuine happiness in their eyes when they open the door and see you standing there.  It's also an opportunity to teach our children to help others around us. 
  John asked me the other day when I was going to be taking the neighbors some goodies and I told him probably this week.  He said, "Can we take some to the neighbors with the new kittens, because maybe they'll let me see them when we go!"  That struck my funny bone!
  We're going to have Brian and Niki with Halle and Evan for Thanksgiving this year and I'm so excited about that.  I like a FULL dining room table.  The more I have at the table the happier I am!  Niki and I are already talking about what we want to have.  She's planning on bringing a new pie recipe she found and I'm planning on--well, I can't make up my mind!  Too many good things to choose from!
  I also am working on Christmas projects this year.  The main one that I'm working on is making little nurse's costumes for the little girls in my life.  When Niki and Alicia were little my mom made them a nurse's apron and then I made them little hats out of paper.  Every time someone got sick at our house we made the couch up into a hospital bed, stuck the humidifier next to the couch (sometimes complete with tent) and the girls became nurses.
  Mike Shockley says his first memory of my girls was coming into the house to visit us and one of the boys was sick.  He said he remember Niki and Alicia running around in their little nurses costumes and bringing them their needs on a cookie sheet with a tea towel over it.  (All meals were served in the hospital bed when you were sick.)  They loved being nurses! 
  So maybe it's memory lane for me but I wanted to make the granddaughters their own nurses costume.  My pattern is a really old one but it's so cute.  On the cover the little girl has a white turtleneck on and white tights so she looks like the old-fashioned nurse of my childhood that's dressed in all white.  I have Halle's all done but getting the waist and hat fit to her perfect size.  They're quick to sew and take very little fabric.  That's good for the budget!

  

So tonight I'm listening to Old Fashioned Christian Radio, and thinking about the wonderful blessings of a sweet Christian home, good food, the wonder of fall sunsets, leaves crunching under your feet, having the blessing of grown children, grandchildren and children still around me to fellowship with each and every day, the joy of being a woman, wife, mother and grandmother and so many, many other blessings.  How can we begin to thank the Lord for his daily benefits! 

  I pray you're having a wonderful fall season and that your walk with the Lord is real and personal.  May God bless you all!

With love,

Mom



  
 

Fall Cookin"...

  The air has a different feel to it.  When I step on the porch in the morning the air is cooler and it is stirring differently in the trees.  The light through the trees that comes into my bedroom is a different shade of green--it's signalling the change of a season.  I'm so ready for the brisk days and nights and for opening the windows again and letting the cool air come through our home.
   At breakfast about two weeks ago I asked the kids what they thought of when they thought of fall meals.  They mentioned Cheesy Potato Soup, Chili, Corn Chowder (the potato soup or the chowder are served in bread bowls sometimes), Beef Stew,Taco Soup, Pot pie, Goulash with piping hot corn bread on the side, deer tenderloin fried and then  baked with warm brown gravy around it, Rotel, and other hearty comfort foods. 
  I start wanting to make my favorite desserts made with apples, pumpkins and oatmeal.  I think of desserts with caramel flavor and lots of cinnamon.  Mmmmm....out come the cookbooks and I pull out my Maple Nut Twist breakfast bread, Pumpkin Roll, Little Debbie Oatmeal Cakes (homebaked), German Apple Cake, Apple Crisp, Apple Dumplings, Monster Cookies, Pumpkin Praline Cheesecake, Pecan Pie, Spice Cake with Cooked Caramel Frosting and Pumpkin Doughnut Drops. 
  Last year I made a delicious pumpkin cake out of Jennibeth's cookbook "Dining with Pioneers Volume II". 
We had celebrated Thanksgiving together and had just about emptied out the pantry and we were looking for something to make with what was left.  She said she had a can of pumpkin left so I dug through the cookbooks and found this recipe.  It mentioned cream cheese frosting but we didn't have cream cheese so I made the cooked caramel frosting and we put it on it.  (I did a double batch since it was a three layer cake.)
It was SOOOO good!
  So in celebration of the beginning of fall I'm going to put the recipe on here for Pumpkin Cake with Cooked Caramel Frosting.  Enjoy!  I'm planning on making it in the next couple weeks and will try to add a picture here then.
  
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
4 eggs
2 cups flour
2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
4 tsp. cinnamon
  Combine sugar and oil.  Add eggs separately, beating well to combine.  Add flour, soda, salt and cinnnamon to sugar mixture.  Blend thoroughly.  Bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes in pans that have been greased and floured.   Makes three (3) 9" round layers.

Cooked Caramel Frosting (or Easy Penuche Frosting)
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/4 cup milk
2 cups powdered sugar
  Melt butter or margarine.  Stir in brown sugar.  Heat to boiling, stirring constantly.  Boil and stir over low heat for two minutes.  Stir in milk, heat to boiling.  Remove from heat and cool to lukewarm.
  Gradually, stir in powdered sugar.  Place pan of frosting in bowl of ice and water; beat until it's of spreading consistency.  If frosting becomes too stiff, heat slightly, stirring constantly.
*Remember-I double this for this cake.
   What's your favorite fall recipe?  Is there something you just have to have before the season is over?  We love food traditions at our house and these are some that we cannot imagine not having at the table this time of the year.  I hope you're enjoying the beautiful weather, the changes and the plans of the season!  Isn't God good to give us wonderful changes and such a beautiful creation?  Enjoy, enjoy!

Strawberries From Heaven....

In May I love buying strawberries and making strawberry jam. This year we had just made a move and didn't have any income at the Neal household. Strawberries are definitely a luxury especially when I had a freezer with raspberry and blackberry juice in it that could be made into jam if we were totally out.

But I decided to pray. I asked the Lord to please supply me with some strawberries. Well, strawberry season came and went and we had no strawberries given to us and no extra money to spend on them! I decided that it must not be the Lord's will for me to have strawberries this year and began making jellies and jam out of my juice and berries in the freezer.

So June passes and July is passing and I've forgotten about strawberries! Then lo and behold, our beloved UGO begins to have strawberries for $1.00! We bought some so the children could have fresh fruit and everyone was enjoying them.

One day my hubby came home and he had bought $10 worth of strawberries! He remembered that "yours truly" had really wanted to make strawberry jam. So I chopped them up and made strawberry jam. I put the extra strawberries (chopped up) into bags in my freezer.

Every so often he would bring home $2 or $3 worth of strawberries and my freezer began filling up. I now have made several batches of strawberry jam and have enough in the freezer for about 3 more batches. (Some which I plan to make up this week!)

I was standing at the sink after cleaning up the last batch thinking of how wonderful it was that the Lord gave me a "love pat" from heaven by sending me something that I didn't need but I did want. I also thought how far above He is from our small thinking. I thought the answer was "no" and really it was "yes"--just not the way I envisioned it.

Isaiah 55:8 came to mind--"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord." Oh, how true that is! How thankful I am that my God is so much greater than I am and that I can trust Him to plan my life perfectly.

Thank You Lord for my strawberries and thank You for your perfect thoughts and perfect ways!

A perfect fall day..

Dear Daughters,

I wish you were here. Today was one of those perfect fall days with rain pattering against the kitchen window while I baked Oatmeal Sandwich cookies. In between loading cookie sheets or spreading filling on the cooled cookies I sipped coffee and listened to Christian radio.
The kitchen was warm and smelled of brown sugar and cinnamon. I love the lighting in the house on a rainy day--all my small lamps seem to make it so cozy in the house. A day when you want to kiss your kids every time they walk by you. :)
Years ago I read a book and the lady pointed out that you can be a woman who always has to have something purchased to make you happy or you can learn to live within your means and find joy in the free things. That struck home since I didn't have anything material but I did have a husband and four little ones that were a great source of joy for me. I began to notice all the things the Lord has given us to enjoy.
I noticed my coffee pot perking cheerfully near the window with the steam being drawn out of the open window in the mornings. I noticed how precious little ones playing in the yard are, and how wonderful clean clothes on a laundry line look. I realized what joy bathing a baby brought me, and how good a clean house makes you feel. I noticed how wonderful baked goods smell on a cool fall day, and the look on my husband's face when he came in the house to the smell of his supper and a counter with goodies waiting. All for free-gifts from the Lord.
I also began to notice what made me unhappy with my life. If I spent too much time looking in magazines, or going shopping, or being around friends that hadn't found how to live within their means, or if I watched the unreal world of television too much then a spirit of ungratefulness would begin to find its way into my heart and life.
We lived on a very small income at that time and my house and its belongings were certainly nothing to brag about. I remember praying to the Lord that people would sense His presence in my home and that they would feel welcome and that my home's atmosphere would be what they noticed not my possessions.
People always did seem to enjoy our home and more than once people I didn't even know that well would comment on the sweet spirit in our home. People would comment on how comfortable they felt or how peaceful it was. My table never lacked for people stopping by for a cup of coffee or a meal.
Dear daughter, don't focus on what you have but instead on the spirit and atmosphere you desire in your home. We can get so caught up with material things we forget that the home is simply a tool that's been put in our house to shelter what really matters-our family.
Use that kitchen table for sewing little garments, for making costumes for your frontiersmen, princesses, and even for George Washington himself. Use it for playing games with your children while they are still at your table. Use it for wonderful mealtimes spent laughing and telling stories. Use it for tea parties, birthday parties and for coffee with friends and family.
Ask yourself what memories you want your children to have and pour your life into that. Ask yourself what memories you want to leave with your beloved husband. What do you want him to remember about stepping in the door? The warm smell of coffee and his favorite foods with a smiling face coming to greet him? Or a scowl and complaints and him wondering if he's getting a hot meal tonight?
Do you want your children to remember you in the kitchen with your apron on making cookies or slouched on the couch watching tv?
Pour your heart and life into what really matters. Get your Bible out and pick a color just for the passages that have to do with the woman. Mark them and make a note of what she's doing and where she is. Find out why things went wrong and why things went right for the woman.
Find out why you were made and where God says your place is. Memorize Proverbs 31 and make her your role model. I assure you it's a lifetime project!
This week begin to notice those things that are yours for free--your husband's smile, your baby's eyes full of love for you, a child that hugs you, the sunshine coming through your kitchen window in the afternoon, a quick nap on a rainy day--just those little love touches from your Saviour that cost you nothing.

Well, till next time your on my heart,

Mom