Good Morning!
It’s Saturday!
On this day in 1889 the first jukebox made its debut in San Francisco, at the Palais Royale Saloon.
In 1936 the first edition of “Life” was published.
In 1985 gunmen hijacked an Egyptian jetliner en route from Athens to Cairo. The plane was forced to land in Malta.
In 1988 Wayne Gretzky scored his 600th National Hockey League (NHL) goal.
And in 2001 a crowd of 87,555 people watched the Texas Longhorns beat the Texas A&M Aggies 21-7. The crowd was the largest to see a football game in Texas history.
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Quote of the Day
“Frequently the more trifling the subject, the more animated and protracted the discussion.”
Franklin Pierce
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Today is the birthday of Tyler Simpson of Satellite Soul.
It’s also Bruce Hornsby’s. You’ve probably heard this song before. But on this one he has a little help, and it’s played in a different style and tempo.
And Satellite made me think of this. 🙂
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Wandering Views 
Morning all. It is the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Remembering shopping on that day a few years ago when I was down to my last two dollars. Went into the store to get margarine for 39cents and prayed the Lord would let me keep a thankful heart. I saw friends who had suffered with ill health and remembered to thank the Lord for the good health that I and my children enjoyed.
In the next week God provided over and above to meet all of our needs in ways that I could not have even imagined. And He continues to do so.
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Thnks Jo. I recently began to realize all the many things I have to be thankful for. Even the “setbacks” have turned out well. I am tempted to tell some here who are having a hard time how some of the things, missed promotion opportunities, even Elvera’s miscarriage, have turned out for the best, though they were never “good”.
But I’m afraid to sound “Pollyannish”; like some who say “everything works for the best”, when that may not be so.
I could tell how my life might have changed for the worse if my brother had not been killed in 1952. Having said that, I still wish I had my brother. What I’m saying is that things work out, but the event is never “good”.
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From yesterday.
It is almost certain that Jesus wasn’t born in December.
There is no Biblical reason for celebrating the birth of Jesus. The church was never charged with doing so.
However, sometime during the Middle Ages, the Church decided to have Christ’s Mass in lieu of the pagan celebration of the solstice.
Then, Saint Nicholas, a real man, got involved, and people started giving presents. The extreme shopping mania is recent; in my lifetime. When I was a kid, the dime stores and main street were decorated and people bought presents for each other. But the “Black Friday” and other shopping frenzies were not yet present. (Not to the extent it is now. Roosevelt changed to time of Thanksgiving so that the shopping season would be longer.) Watch the old movies about Christmas. They give a better idea of the Spirit of Christmas than we get now. I think Television is the main culprit here.
Christmas has no scriptural support. Kwanza is a recently invented excuse to avoid the Christ and his birthday. It is artificial and has no reason for being.
Hanukah, OTOH is a legitimate Jewish holiday. The Feast of Lights is the same holiday that Jesus celebrated in John 10:22 “And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.” Same celebration. There’s an interesting and important story behind that. But too extensive to tell here.
Having established that it is a holiday. Christ is the reason for the season, and I resist every attempt to secularize it. Men’s Warehouse has special holiday sales on TV. I refuse to patronize people who have “Holiday Sales”. Which is most. It is Christmas. I say “Merry Christmas” to everyone. But we had a Jewish guy who worked with us. He said “Merry Christmas” and we said “Happy Hanukah”. And everyone had a good time.
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I have not researched the tradition of the Christmas card. Did people originally use the cards as a vehicle to send news about their families?
Do some people think it would be more appropriate to celebrate the overshadowing of Mary by the Holy Spirit or the pregnancy rather than the resulting baby Jesus?
People could get just as sentimental over the overshadowing or the pregnancy but because much is unseen in those circumstances, it would be hard for an artist to illustrate. It seems to me that with all the illustrations of the holy family that artists are using their God given talents to give glory to God and to remind people of the miracle that was a needed part of God’s plan to culminate in salvation. Seems like an appropriate reason for celebration to me.
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Happy Saturday, everyone. It feels like the Saturday after Thanksgiving to me since we had our missionary Thanksgiving on Wednesday. It was the day after our team meetings so everyone was together. We had a traditional Thanksgiving meal and then had team competition in the evening. One of our short-term missionaries planned the games and put everyone into teams. It was fun and everyone participated from the 5 year old MK right on up to the 60+ missionary. Phos was on the red team. I was on the blue. Blue won even though we appeared like an underdog team. 🙂 We jumped to the lead and never gave it up though red did tie with us once.. It was a fun day. We played a mixture of games from volleyball to balloon toss to scavenger hunt to trivia quizzes and mind games. That was nice for people like me who can’t participate much in the physical challenges, but can contribute in the mental challenges. We need to do fun things like that together every now and then.
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😆
ajisuun beat up on Phos and her team.
We can’t wait to hear Phos’ side of the story. Likely a blown call by a referee.
We’re fixin’ up for next Saturday. TSWITW is finished with me now. But I can’t get out of hollering range.
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I saw the Christmas card discussion yesterday. I personally don’t send out Christmas cards. It’s too expensive, especially from here, and not worth it in my mind if all I can do is sign it. (And that’s all I would have time to do!) Cards are nice to receive, but as for me, any card is a waste if there is nothing of the sender in it. If it’s specially chosen card for your birthday that says something meaningful then maybe it’s okay to send just the card and sign it. I am very disappointed when I receive a card that just has a signature in it. Some people who send Christmas cards only contact you once a year. I want to know what is happening in their lives. I am someone who loves getting the “dreaded” news letter. I care about the people. The card is nice, but it’s going to get thrown away. The news about the family will stay with me and help me to remember them and pray for them.
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Chas, Are you implying that I couldn’t beat Phos unless it was somehow unfair???!!!
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😀
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As usual, Chas has a reasonable, well argued point. Thank you.
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I am a Happy Mommy this morning. We are having “girls” weekend at home. It is just BG, Lulabelle and me with an added guest last night. (Amos scooted off for boys weekend with George and Mr. P and his friend from Maryland are in Tuscualoos for the game).
BG had a bad dream about 4 this morning. I woke up and she was standing at the side of my bed with her pillow asking me if I would take her to the bathroom, she was scared. Now, I am not cruel enough to be happy my child had a bad dream, but I am mother enough to have enjoyed having her scoot up next to me, wiggle her way into my arms and fall asleep.
When they are small and it seems like every night they have an excuse to climb in your bed and you think you will have to go to college with them, when will I get my bed back”? it seems endless, but when they are 16 and need you like that—well, there just is nothing sweeter to a mother’s heart. ❤
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🙂
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Stayed up way too late reading (1), woke up way to early (4:30), gave up trying to go back to sleep (5:30), simply got up to start working on my lengthy work list about 1/2 hour ago.
But I did sign all the Christmas cards, make and stick on all the return address labels, and updated the Christmas list–while I watched a brain-dead 1937 screwball comedy with my husband.
Now I just need a decent photo of the adorable newest granddaughter and to write the author part (special insert!) of the letter.
And write 2K words on my manuscript today, upload photos and do a hundred other things.
At least I’m not my sister-in-law–who just got back from nine days in India and sent me an email: “Am I really having 50 people over for dinner next week? Or is Thanksgiving today?”
🙂
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In other news, my BG called sobbing and frantic last night: “Do you know what the license plate number of my car is?”
Do you people get out-of-the-blue questions like this when you merely answer the telephone?
She’d come home late the night before, the apartment building was being painted and she had to park on a different street in the dark. When she went to her car yesterday at 5, it had been towed.
She called the number on the parking placard, but the police would not discuss whether they had the car or not until she supplied the license plate number.
Which no one had.
Not even the insurance company.
(I was reduced to searching FB photos looking for a photo of the front end of her car . . . no luck. I’m going to take a photo of mine when it’s light out!)
The CA DMV, even if we could have gotten through to a reasonable person, was closed.
We had the VIN number, photos of the car, descriptions, etc., but not the license plate number.
I was hunting up the police phone number to play the part of the exasperated responsible mother, when she called back. “I’ve taken care of it. Call off the posse.”
And like that, she was done.
It took an hour for my heart to stop racing.
Followed by a sweet text exchange. “I have the best friends. They helped me, made me dinner, fed me ice cream and cheered me up. I love living here.”
This, her senior year, has been spent in a compound of CRU friends–finally living in the Christian community she’s needed all these years. She is beyond grateful for the fellowship and encouragement–and I am, too.
So, despair turned to joy and the universe is right side up once again.
But I’m still going to take a picture of my license plate . . . 🙂
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Michelle, wow! Glad things turned out okay and your BG had such support!
Kim, sweet! I still love it when my 25 year old BG calls me ‘mommy’ and cuddles with me!
Re: Christmas cards. Hubby always paints a picture for the front of our card. One year we had a small fire as a result of airbrush repairs gone wrong and he burned his hand quite badly (to the point doctors were worried about losing his thumb) and we bought Christmas cards that year. Boy did we hear about it! People were very disappointed they didn’t get a Tim & Kare original (print). One year he even did a quick water-colour on each individual card! So we carry on and keep sending out home crafted cards. Last year we sent a scan of the picture to Apple and had them print our cards. They were gorgeous (if I say so myself).
I love getting cards as they are a connection to the people we’ve cared about in the many places we’ve lived. They also become part of my decorations as I hang them in a couple of old window frames with wires strung across to hold the cards. While I enjoy reading about peoples lives in the past year, you can’t use the letters alone as decor. 🙂
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Wow, michelle! That is a problem I never thought of having. Good information. Our newspaper recently had a contest where license plate numbers were listed. I don’t have mine memorized, even after that.
I love the Christmas newsletters. The more a family expands, the harder to keep track of nieces, nephews and their off-spring etc. It is helpful to have the latest news and the names etc. I keep some letters through the year, just in case I need to look for a certain name or some other information that I have forgotten.
I don’t put a lot of sad information in my letter, although, if it calls for it, I have. I would not want others to be burdened or sad. I try to think of any changes in the last year. As Chas said, it is not always easy to find anything. I remind others of our hobbies and/or other ways we would connect with them. I try to give a little view of our lives, since we don’t see these people regularly.
Kim, 🙂
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I have a large Christmas ‘ball’ crafted with Christmas cards we received. The cards are edged with gold braid and the ball has pearls, too. I enjoy taking it out every year. I made it after seeing my grandmother’s many years ago.
We used the same process to make wedding table decorations with copied family photos. Some photos were put in silver holders. Otherwise, the ‘balls’ were made small enough to be on the tables. They were great conversation starters.
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Kim, your story about your BG made me smile.
All my life I’ve looked forward to being a mother. And being a stepmother is bittersweet–those photos of cute two-year-olds hold no “memories” for me. Someone has to explain what was happening in the photo. Much like I missed the first half-century of my husband’s life (every bride misses part of his life, but most miss less than that), I missed my girls’ entire childhood and most of their adolescence. Both were already teenagers when I entered their lives. So to me it’s a little sad to look at childhood photos.
But I absolutely revel in the small but comfortable interactions in which I feel like a mom. Yesterday we went over to my in-laws for supper and to watch the IU game. My husband is an IU fan, as is has dad, and our younger daughter. The others in the family (me, Mom, older daughter) don’t really care much. Well, our younger daughter had to work last night, so she went upstairs to sleep for a few hours after the game, and her grandmother told her there was an IU throw by the bed that she could use to cover up, and I asked if Grandma had a U-Conn throw, since she might prefer that. My kid looked right at me with a big grin, protesting that idea. She knew my teasing was affectionate, and there was affection in her protest. The way she looks at me is just different than it was two years ago, when I was a virtual stranger (to her) living in her house. I was her dad’s new wife at that point, nothing more. Now I’m family. Not quite a mom, I know, but close enough to feel sweet to this mama, because she is mine. (Her older sister was “mostly comfortable” with me quicker. I had to earn my way in with her older sister in some areas–she’s a more private person–but she seemed to accept me, emotionally, as “family” quicker.)
Anyway, it is really a priceless feeling.
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It is interesting hearing the different viewpoints about the Christmas cards and letters. I really like the idea of the handmade cards.
I do enjoy a newsy letter or email from someone. I think from my experience at times when I have gotten such letters with Christmas cards it has felt like people are saying God loves them more than others because they have such a pile of blessings. I suppose if people could be more sensitive to what the people are going through whom they send the cards to it would make a difference. In other words, I could send our good news of my son’s fully funded combo grad/PhD program to my cousin who has a son of similar age who was in an auto accident that dashed his college dreams. Would that make for a happy and merry Christmas letter or end up being another reminder of their loss? It all depends on where the receiver is at in life. When I have had down times of loss, a simple card expressing the hope found in Christ was more uplifting than hearing about all the blessings of others not that I would want them to lose their blessings. I would like to know the news of how they are blessing others instead of hoarding all the blessings for themselves. That would be worthy reading in a Christmas letter since Christmas is about giving.
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I think you’ve been wise all through this process, Cheryl, recognizing your daughters had a well-loved mother and being sympathetic to them. That may come from your personal experience with your own father’s death, but I believe it has been a helpful healing balm to them.
Now I’m crying . . .
Grief and mourning are such complex things and I don’t know that anyone does them well. But giving each other the space and understanding–not taking things personally–can go a long way toward smoothing out the bumps of life. You and your girls had to face that mortality earlier than most. It has served you well here, and undoubtedly will serve them well in the future.
It cannot be easy to see someone in your mother’s “place,” even though you emotionally understand your mom is gone. But as Christians, your family has the hope of seeing her again–meeting her for the first time for you. That’s a priceless gift.
Even as an adult with children and a home far away of my own, it was difficult for me to see my father with a girlfriend after my mother died. Intellectually, I understood completely she was good for him. I even liked her after we got over the profound awkwardness of their relationship.
But it was hard, and there was a check in my heart and mind for a long time whenever I saw them together.
It wasn’t personal, it was somewhere deep inside and had far more to do with missing my mother than caring about my father’s decisions.
Anyway, that’s this morning’s insight. 🙂
Back to work. Blessings to you, good and faithful servant.
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I do keep the cards and either use them for decoration or for making Christmas crafts with the children in Sunday School. Instead of throwing cards away people could give them to Sunday School teachers.
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Good point, Janice. If I suspect my Christmas letter will trouble some, I either don’t send it (writing a note instead), or I edit the letter for that person.
For example, if I’ve traveled near where someone lives (say, Alaska), and I didn’t call, I edit that out of the letter . . .
Similarly, if I know someone has lost a family member during the year, I try to be very sensitive to what I write–and usually include a deeper note on the card.
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I really need to eat breakfast–KI, can you send AJ a photo of that card ball and maybe he could post it? Or, put it up on FB? Sounds like a great idea.
I keep all my cards and letters in a basket and read through them a couple times over the holidays. I save them for the next year and usually read them before writing that year’s Christmas card. Hmm. I wonder where that basket from last year is in this new house?! 🙂
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Cheryl, when you get to be a grandmother you will have an extra dose of joy in the experience. 🙂
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I have a table-top wrought-iron card holder in the shape of a Christmas tree I got years ago from some mail order catalog. But I’ve also strung cards across the fireplace on a ribbon. And then there’s also the little painted wooden bucket with Santa on it that came from my late aunt — very handy for storing cards as they come in the mail and before I can display them.
So far, though, I’m not feeling as festive as usual.
I need to go grocery shopping today for a homeless mission our church supports — we all fill up bags of groceries to be delivered and they’re do back at church tomorrow morning.
Ajisuun, thanks for the fun description of “missionary games.” 🙂 Sounds like you all have lots of fun amid your work.
Jo, thanks, too, for the recollection of your “lean” Thanksgiving year and how God provided. He always does, but it’s tough when we’re going through them. And we’ve all been there, will probably be there again in one way or another.
And Chas, I agree with your perspective on life’s ups and downs — the “downs” aren’t “good,” but being God-ordained, they work out someway, somehow. God is always good.
Kare wins the best Christmas card contest, hands down.
Now I’m going to go make sure I have my license plate number stored in my phone somewhere. 🙂
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My oma would get so many Christmas cards that she would hang a double string on each of the 4 walls of her living room plus one from each corner to the kitty corner one. I’ve never received that many cards, but it would be awesome to get that many 🙂 Granted, it was a small living room, but it was still a LOT of cards.
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My former roommate (we were in our 20s when we shared an apartment together) came from a very large Irish Catholic family, complete with a few nuns & lots of Knights of Columbus among them. I’ll never forget the first Christmas in our apartment — and the absolute deluge of Christmas cards that came in for her.
Coming from the small, Scottish-Protestant side of our family (the Catholics were my cousins), I’d never seen so many cards in my life. I was genuinely impressed.
Every day, mounds of them would arrive, which she then strung up everywhere.
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Michelle, Dad had been gone for several years and I was an adult when my sister said something about hoping that Mom married again, and mentally I kinda went “whoa, not sure how I feel about that one!” Within a few years Mom was openly dating. And the man she ended up marrying was such a sweet love story, and he was such a good man, that it was extremely easy to love him and accept him. (Not to mention I was in my early thirties by that time, or maybe my late twenties.) Though I hadn’t met my eventual stepfather until he and my mom were dating, he and his own late wife had been close friends of my parents, to the extent that one of their daughters was named for my mother (named for my mother and another single missionary their church had sent out; the middle name was my mom’s, but she was called by her middle name) and my older brothers knew the couple and called them “aunt” and “uncle.” So to have the surviving spouses in that friendship come together in marriage was very sweet. And he was such an amazingly good man that I felt privileged to know him, even just for a couple years and not particularly well.
It was extremely hard for my oldest niece to accept it when her dad was dating again less than six months after her mom’s death, and remarried less than 14 months after she was buried. That daughter was grown and married with her own family, but she felt it as an insult t her mom. It wasn’t, of course; it was her father’s loneliness that drove him to remarry so quickly.
My husband was wise in (1) waiting till his daughters were older to remarry (he made the decision when their mother died that they were the wrong age for such a consideration) and (2) talking to them periodically about the possibility that he would marry again someday. They also saw the example of their great-grandmother who was dearly loved by their father and grandfather, but who was not actually “blood,” since she was their grandfather’s stepmother.
Yes, Janice, I think that being a grandmother will be extra special, and I think it will also create a bond of its own with the girls. The other day I was thinking that I really just don’t get how grandchildren kind of “unseat” their parents in some grandparents’ minds. That is, you’ll hear a grandfather talk about going to see his grandchildren rather than saying he’s going to see his children, or his children and their families, or his children and grandchildren. It’s as if the relationship with the grandchildren is more important, and I really just don’t get that. (But then, I never had grandparents.) But I realized just yesterday that for me, I will know the grandchildren from their first day of life and (Lord willing) will have those memories of bedtime snuggles, kisses, stories, and baths. And while the girls have some connections with their grandparents that they just don’t have with me (going to grandma’s house to make cookies with her is special, but here we generally bake separately), I will likely have the opportunity to be the one making those memories with the next generation, and sharing the love of their children will probably bring a new level of bonding with the girls. And their love for their own children will help them “see” my love for them more, as well.
Also, a year and a half ago when I was still quite a newlywed, I had the opportunity to chat with a woman who’d had an experience similar to mine: she’d been single and a bit older, and married a man with children. I think that was a divorce and not widowhood, if I recall correctly, and thus more complicated, but the father had full custody of the children. They were several years younger than my girls, and the couple ended up having at least one child together. Anyway, it had been fifteen or twenty years of marriage for them, and I thought she might have some “tips” for me. But talking to her told me, instead, that we had it good, because the girls already “accepted” me more than her stepchildren accepted her, even though she had entered their lives before they hit adolescence and had been a mother to them. It made me sad for her, and made me appreciate all the more that our transition has been 95% smooth. Now, she has her own blessings, including biological children and more years with her stepchildren, but my experience is very good.
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Re Christmas letters: Michelle hinted at this, but one of the blessings of doing them on computer as opposed to, say, typing them up and then getting them photocopied at Kinko’s, is that one can indeed change them up a bit for various people. I’ve done that a little bit. I might have a slightly different version for professional contacts (former co-workers) than for family, for example. And I always leave a little bit of room at the bottom so I can handwrite at least a sentence and the signature. I’ve also e-mailed a few copies to people rather than mailing them, which saves on colored ink, but I really only do that if I don’t have a mailing address or someone asks for a copy after I’ve already mailed all I printed.
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License plates, I would think, because that is the thing stolen and put onto stolen cars, it would be low on the list of proving things.
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So, the fourteen year old boy made his green bean casserole (three thirteen by nine pans) and his apple cobbler. Sixteen year old has the apple cider ready to go with lots of interesting seasoning. Twelve year old girl has been table setting and all for the thirty expected sitters. We have a very long table. Some folk brought in the benches from the picnic table for seating. Six year old is opening and prepping the black olives, green olives, pickles, cranberry sauce, apple sauce, etc. Soon the seven year old will be in to get the corn and beets going and then we should be ready for company. And I have plenty of time to sit here chatting with you. What? Never mind, got to go. Back soon.
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Mumsee, what a wonderful picture you painted! I would love to be there 🙂
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mumsee, what time is dinner?
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Okay, all is well. The older child helping the younger child moved the younger child’s chair and younger child tumbled off but she is fine.
Dinner is whenever the guests arrive. Some are coming from two hours away, some from five, some from six. It is on target for oneish.
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Mumsee is making me hungry! Yes,when is dinner? Be right there, virtually.
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Lucky Me! I can envision the whole thing. Thanks for sharing Mumsee.
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Now the sixteen year old boy chef is putting zesty glaze on the ham he is roasting. He is mixing brown sugar, dry mustard, orange zest, and apple cider. Should be good.
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Oops, his turkey is done.
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I meant to tell all of you this morning how much I missed my Daddy. 🙂
It wasn’t for the normal reasons I missed him. I was actually thinking bad thoughts as I missed him this morning.
There is an elderly gentleman down the road selling turnip greens, mustard greens, and collards. I had bought some turnips and mustard from him a week or so ago, but Mr. P cleaned and cooked those. He doesn’t know how to wash all the grit out of the greens for squat AND he adds sugar and vinegar when he is cooking them! I know! It is an abomination and just part of that Yankee influence he brings!
So, yesterday, I once again had a $5 bill on me and stopped and bought a “mess of turnips”. Sometime around 4 this morning I remembered I had left them in the back of the truck, so this morning I made bacon and cinnamon rolls for my girls and I was standing in the kitchen drinking my coffee and picking the leaves off the stems and rinsing and re-rinsing those greens and THAT is when it hit me. I sure did miss my Daddy. If he were alive I would still have him convinced that I didn’t know how to rinse all that grit off those greens and de-stem them and cook them. He would have done it for me and HE would have made the corn bread with the extra thick crust that I can’t make.
Instead, I cooked the greens and they were mighty tasty if I do so so myself and I made my cornbread that is really good but doesn’t have the extra thick crust, so my late lunch was a bowl of turnip greens and then a square of cornbread with some pot likker.
It was all good, but would have been better if I hadn’t been the one to have to rinse and repeat and rinse and repeat on cleaning those greens.
Mr. P’s friend from Maryland told him that he is now a vegetarian. That has made me shuffle my dinner plans for tomorrow night. We will have baked sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts (you would like mine with butter and lime juice), broccoli, and I am not sure what else. I am not sure if he is just vegetarian or total vegan. We shall find out.
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My son and his wife send out a family picture card. His wife spends all year taking family photos at different places they go and then chooses one. I think that I may have taken last year’s on the ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles. Can’t wait to see this years. So I love to get family pictures and the newsy letters. It is too hard to try and keep up otherwise. And I save those pictures. Some of them are up on my small bulletin board here.
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Mumsee! You and your crew can come for dinner any time! You’re cooking, of course! 🙂
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When our son was in the growing up stage I did send out an annual picture to as many as I could when I sent out the Christmas cards. I do enjoy seeing the pictures but realize not everyone can afford to do that.
I guess I sound a bit like a grump about the Christmas letters. It was just last year someone at church told me how much it hurt to receive one about a friend’s perfect and over achieving children when my friend’s children have pretty big health issues. Another friend has had a similar reaction to such letters so I know I am not a lone ranger about this. In recent years I have not received any to be bothered by, but when current friends suffer and have additional pain brought about by a Christmas letter, well it gets to me. Hopefully. all of you who have favorable opinions of the letters have only received letters that are uplifting and bring joy. I just wish everyone could be equally sensitive and take the time to make the changes to the letters that make the letters appropriate to the recipients’ situations.
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Does anyone have any craft ideas using dried beans? Our lesson tomorrow is on Joseph and how he stored up food for the years of famine. There is a cute activity for the children to race to carry spoonfuls of dried beans to a storage bin. Just need a craft to use those beans and not just throw them away. Maybe something to display at the Thanksgiving celebration? These are 4th-6th graders so they can do more challenging crafts.
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For everyone who gets disturbed about receiving cards from people who say their grandchildren are the smartest and best in the world.
Relax, this is just wishful thinking on their part.
My grandkids are doubtless the cutest, smartest and best overall in the world.
😉
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The best thing to do with dried beans is to soak them overnight, then pour out the water.
Add fresh water and a ham hock and cook them for hours until the ham falls off the bone.
Works like magic.
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Cheryl – I was surprised to find that I love my grandson just as much as I love my daughters. I almost feel guilty about that. Maybe the other grandparents here can tell me – Do you find this true for yourselves (that you love your grandchildren as much as you love your children)? Or do I feel this way because Forrest lives with me, & I am a big part of his daily life?
My mom was a better grandmother than mother. That actually helped heal some past hurts.
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Mmmmmm…
Turkey. 🙂
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Karen, Yes, we do, too. But then we’re in almost the same situation as you since they live upstairs from us.
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We got a three page Christmas letter one year from a family we knew from college that curdled my stomach. I’d had a very tough year–a miscarriage, never-ending house sale, husband out to sea 75% of the time, auto accident (husband out to sea), “wife with worst deployment” award three times, hurricane (husband out to sea), child prepped for surgery six times (husband out to sea every single time), and then a complicated pregnancy in an apartment after an across country move while we awaited housing. There were other difficulties, I’ve mercifully forgotten.
This woman, who lived in the same town as her sister, mother, best friend and childhood church, wrote a letter detailing the horrors of having a child come down with chicken pox while her husband was on a week-long business trip, plus the inconvenience of having a painter in the house redecorating the living room.
She went into detail about how awful and difficult it was for her.
I remember reading that letter and thinking I simply could not respond, her point of view was so out of kilter to the reality of other people’s (mine) lives. I never sent them another Christmas card, I was so disgusted.
I’m older now. I guess this was hard for her. I know her husband babied her. I should not have been comparing my circumstances to hers. But I felt she was completely tone deaf to have presented such a picture of her family. I’m sure she’s much more mature now, but that year, it was simply too much for me.
I guess that’s why I’ve specifically tailored some Christmas letters over the years, or tried to be humorous, because there’s no way I can guess at the true horror so many people are going through.
Jesus is the reason for the season. What kind of Christmas letter would he have written? Why, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John did it for him. 🙂
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Linda – It’s often a challenge, but quite a blessing, isn’t it?
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An almost-an-atheist Facebook friend of mine (we went to high school together for a while) shared a George Carlin quote…“There may or may not be atheists in foxholes, but I am certain there are none in the Ku Klux Klan.”
I replied, “There may or not be atheists in the Ku Klux Klan, but there definitely WERE atheists running some of the most despotic & cruel regimes in the 20th century.
“(This is not to say all atheists are bad. But atheists are people like anyone else, with their own biases or prejudices.)”
She replied that Hitler, Stalin, & Pol Pot were not actually atheists, & shared this link…
http://www.examiner.com/article/refuting-the-myth-that-hitler-stalin-and-pol-pot-were-atheists-1
I reiterated my point that atheists are people like everyone else, & they have their prejudices like everyone else.
She retorted, “They’re not in the Klan.”
She often shares things meant to show the “superiority” of atheists. (Although she claims she isn’t totally an atheist herself.)
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Goodnight to you all. Have a sweet sleep & a wonderful Sunday!
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I thought I’d share last year’s Christmas card with y’all. (Did I get that right, Southerners?)
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Oh Kare, that is lovely. That would be up on my wall all year long and framed too.
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Kare, that is truly a wonderful gift for those who received it.
I am on the list to get emails fro the George W. Bush center and the former President has done a painting of a Cardinal (red bird) which has been turned into an ornament with a nice silver frame around it. Your husband’s card made me think of it.
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Let’s see if this link works:http://www.bushcenter.org/blog/2013/11/20/president-bush-artist-behind-2013-bush-center-ornament
On a closer look I don’t think it is a silver frame.
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On that Bush Center link you can find where he and Laura were on Jay Leno. If you have the time it is well worth a watch. A lot of good humor is expressed and you will feel happy for the watching.
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Someone was cracking at the office the other day that at least W found his real calling. I almost said “Yeah, and while the current president is still looking for his?”
But I refrained. 🙂
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Thank you. These birds are pine grosbeaks – the red one is the male. They frequent our feeders in the winter – that picture was painted from a photo taken in our yard.
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Up late last night and up early this cold morn. I just checked email after reading prayer requests here. I received an email about our local library having a program by author Stephen Davis. His book is What the Yankees Did to Us:The Bombardment and Wrecking of Atlanta. I think it would make me too sad to listen to this. It goes further into the destruction than any other author has ventured.
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Still looking for divine inspiration as to what to do for the dried beans craft this morning. I woke up with dried beans in my brain. Chas said to soak them and cook them. Then we could mash them and make creations. Somehow dried bean crafts are more appealing. 🙂
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Hopefully we won’t have dried bean bombardment in the classroom. 🙂 That was a mash up of two posts. I need to go back to sleep! Actually, I thought I might catch Jo and get some craft ideas.
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Years ago we made an owl using dried beans. Different kinds for the different parts of the owl. It was great. Just beans and glue, but someone must have had a pattern.
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We made it on flat cardstock or perhaps a piece of cardboard to support the weight.
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Thanks, Jo, for that idea. These children are quite creative and I just need to give them some suggestions for those who do not have their own ideas. Maybe they can make an owl and a turkey to give as awards at their Thanksgiving dinner. Who is the wisest and who eats the most turkey! One is a hoot and the other is a gobbler, LOL.
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Good Morning Everyone. It is once again chilly in the Sunny South. Poor Lulabelle is distraught, she is going on her second day without her person/playmate.
BG just skipped the bad dreams last night and curled up in my bed.
My ex sister in law told me yesterday that my problems with BG go beyond Mr. P and that she and I need to go to therapy together. We did that before.
BG confessed to me that she skipped part of school on Friday. I am not sure what to do with that information. I have no power left to discipline her myself and I no longer feel I can talk to her father.
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Kim – She misses you. Maybe life at Daddy’s isn’t as peachy as she thought it would be.
I’m thinking (& I could be wrong) that maybe you should tell George about Friday, but tell BG ahead of time that you need to tell him. It seems to me that if he finds out, & that you already knew, that could create new problems. (Again, I could be wrong. This is just my thought.)
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It’s chilly here, too. Pretty day out there, though, looks nice and bright.
Today we embark on Rom. 8! 🙂 One of the commentaries I use (James Montgomery Boice) refers to Romans 8 as “the greatest chapter in the Bible.”
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It’s very windy & cold here in lovely Connecticut. I’m trying to keep comfy & warm in my nice thick sweater, & my L.L. Bean slippers.
Romans 8 certainly is a great chapter, Donna.
(Wondering why Donna’s name didn’t highlight so I could tag her. Oh, yeah, this isn’t Facebook. 🙂 )
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Our pastor is starting a new sermon series next week. The theme is “It isn’t about the presents, it’s about the Gift”.
The Lottie Moon collection for foreign missions is starting in the SBC next week. Our church, out of over 44,000 in the SBC, is #95 is offerings for foreign missions. We are not a megachurch.
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It was 22 degrees outside my house when I got up this morning. It has since zoomed up to 37.6 degrees.
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Sunny here in Ukarumpa and it will be another day in the 70’s and 80’s on Monday morning. Off to school. As we don’t have Thanksgiving or any days off this week, I will start the Christmas story this week. I like to take 3 weeks, so this week will be the Angel Gabriel visiting.
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The sanctuary at church was only about 44 degrees when we arrived; an hour and a half later, the end of Sunday school, it was up to 55. We all sat with our coats on, even the teacher. Mosty of the students had gloves; the teacher didn’t wear his gloves, but did wear his scarf. By the end of Sunday school (sitting and not moving around), my husband and I were both too cold to warm up easily. (I was wearing a dress.) He had a headache. We ended up leaving a few minutes into church because he was afraid of getting sick (he had a recent sinus infection and didn’t want a rerun). I don’t know if they usually turn the heat up on Saturday, or keep it at a warmer weekday temperature, or what, but whatever usually happens in winter didn’t happen this week, and it was fairly uncomfortable.
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Cheryl, brrr. Were there little puffs of frosty air visible when anyone spoke? 🙂
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The children seemed to enjoy making their dried bean and barley creations. We had some cute turkey and owl awards, one dragon (which would be for the grumpiest meaning the boy determined he would get that award), and a barley bunny. These were all made from foods that Joseph could have put in his storage bins. It was something different for the class and everyone was willing to participate. The autistic boy made a stand for his which was very creative.
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Our pastor is planning to do an in depth study of the book of Luke with the congregation. I have always really liked reading in Luke so I am happy about his choice.
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Sometimes you’ve just gotta get down the stairs in a hurry.
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AJ could probably get a lot of comments from this story about why people in poverty make some of the decisions they do: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-tirado/why-poor-peoples-bad-decisions-make-perfect-sense_b_4326233.html
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We got part way through Rom. 8:1-4 today, we’ll finish that portion up next week. It is such an encouraging chapter — but only when taken in light of what came before it in Ch. 7.
I surrendered and turned on the heater today. I’m still waiting for a new furnace filter to arrive, but the chill inside got to be too much for me this afternoon, even with my sweatshirt on. I have one of those old houses that goes to extremes depending on the weather outside; very, very cold or very, very hot.
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Yep, Donna, we understand. The weather in your area goes to such extremes, very very cold to very very hot, that a house might well do the same.
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Loved that dog on the stairs routine, Donna. Since we have a split level with stairs maybe I will try the quick way down. Surely it would help to flatten the tummy after Thanksgiving dinner (barf).
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No, Janice, that’s “arf.”
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I see Cheryl has mocked me once again about the weather. Hmph! I will turn the other cheek.
Border collie silliness:
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I never knew Border Collies could look so much like stalking cats.
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Genetically, bc’s are supposed to be the breed closest to wolves (hmm, auto correct wanted to say closest to ‘wives’).
But yeah, they also have some very cat-like moves.
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Donna, my husband was watching an art video tonight (an artist painting outdoors and showing what he is doing), and periodically on those things something interesting will happen somewhere else in the scene, and the video shows it. The one he watched tonight had sheep and border collies in the background, and at one point a man got on his ATV . . . which already had two dogs on it, both of which stayed on . . . and his third border collie ran alongside.
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