Merry Christmas to All!

This year is a different Christmas for us.  Since AT has been born, we have always gone to Tennessee for Christmas, except for one year.  Another year, we went for Thanksgiving plus Christmas.  Whew!  That was too much.  We usually don't go to Tennessee for Thanksgiving.  This year, however, we went for Thanksgiving and stayed in Oklahoma for Christmas.

Last night was midnight mass.  I think it was AT's first.  The Tennessee family does not go to midnight mass so AT has not have that experience.  When AT was little, we went to the children's evening mass, rather than make her stay up late.  For EM, the cradle Catholic, midnight mass was a must-do childhood tradition.  So this year, we were at midnight mass at our church.  AT was totally convinced that she would not be able to stay awake through the midnight mass.  We seriously pointed out that she would have had no problem if it were a sleepover, rather than midnight mass.  The service was lovely.  Lots of Christmas carols.  Our choir is the best it's ever been.

Then home and immediately to bed.  This morning, AT was up about 7:30, totally manageable for me.  We cheerily opened our gifts and had a big breakfast.  AT peeled off to watch movies, using her new iTunes card.  I am now happily typing using my new keyboard, which is much more nicer than my old keyboard.  Next there might be a nap.  EM is already napping.  We have a fire going.

The adventure of the morning was with the dog-that-we-have-NEVER-seen-get-up-on-a-couch.  This dog is currently wearing Christmas bells on her collar.  So cute!  The dog got two rawhide bones for Christmas.  She can demolish any chew toy in minutes. Once, when I said that to a dog trainer, the trainer said to get the dog a black Kong, that she had never seen a black Kong destroyed by a dog.  So we bought the dog a black Kong and she chewed the top off within 30 minutes.  Back to this Christmas morning, the dog got her first bone, ran around the house to make sure we would see and be jealous of her lovely gift, then chewed it up immediately.  She was given a second rawhide bone (big mistake).  Later, AT and I retreated to the fire in the den and there was some horribleness on the couch.  It looked like an animal had been killed on my couch. I never would have known what happened, except there, shoved deep behind the couch cushions, was the second rawhide bone.  The dog had chewed until her gums were raw and bleeding, then buried the second bone in my couch.  Fortunately, she selected the couch with a cover on it.  The cover is already washed, stains out, and is in the dryer.  And, yet, this dog has never been seen on a couch.

I will start cooking today at 3:00, although much of it is already done, so it won't be hard.  We are having a non-traditional dinner, according to me.  Ham, mac and cheese, green beans, spinach casserole, three salads, and three desserts.  There will be lots of leftovers, days of me not in the kitchen!  A traditional dinner for me would include the ham, but with addition of greens, mashed potatoes, and dressing.  Since I'm the only person here who is crazy about those three things, I didn't make them this year.  As a lovely aside, my grandmother, who was proclaimed at the best greens cooker in our family, used to can greens for me.  It was like having her in my kitchen with me when I opened them.  I gave one jar away and am now regretting that.

Sleet is falling.  Currently, we are promised three inches of snow, down graded from 6-8 inches.

Drat!  Now I'm trying to nap on the now-famous couch and the dog is totally convinced that I am covering up her bone.

Merry Christmas to all!

Off on an adventure - to Nashville by 4:00 PM.  It is now 5:30 AM. We are leaving town, seeing the lights of the big city in the distance.  AT is snuggled up in the back seat.  We have always been in unison as a family about leaving early for these road trips (we often have left at 2:00 AM) but, this time, AT struggled to get up.  She may be already asleep.

I have my sugar-free-vanilla-medium-iced-coffee, the nectar of the gods.  I am sensitive to caffeine so I won't be falling back asleep.  EM is almost always the driver. I love to drive on long road trips, but I am a better passenger than he is, so I read, snooze, now blog, sightsee.

This trip, we are taking the small car, rather than the pickup.  The car costs half as much in gas obviously.  We have a pre-trip ritual.  He says, "We'll take the car to save money."  OK.  Then a few days before, he says, "We'll take the truck, to be comfortable."  OK. He's our household mechanic; he has the final call in this area.  But this time, due to a knock in the truck, there was no changing our mind about which vehicle to take.  We are saving money and packed into this car without an ounce to spare.  Hope my back has a much fun as I plan to.

The fog is beautiful this morning, not a problem on the highway at all, but making beautiful views with an accompanying sunrise.  Carl says the fog slips in on cat feet, but it rests in an Oklahoma field with cattle only half visible, seeming to float over the fog-filled pasture.  I wonder if it causes them concern as they look at their brethren floating without legs.

Our plans are to have a trip with laughter, food, communion of family, shopping, sightseeing.  My sister has a new/old house.  I can't wait to see it.  I have a nephew, parents, sisters, brother-in-law.  Life is good.  Happy Thanksgiving to all!  

An Evening in OKC

On a recent Friday night, AT announced her Friday spend-the-night plans too late in the evening for EM and me to go to dance lessons. We'd love to say, "Aren't you going somewhere tonight so we can go to dance class?" We also can make her go to class with us or she's old enough to stay at home by herself, but we made a policy to be relaxed this summer and just wait to see if she makes plans for herself. When we go to dance class, we head for the city at about 6:00 and AT's plans were announced at 6:30. Of course. We dropped her off to a girlfriend's for the night, then, what to do, what to do? It took us a little while to make a plan (after the evening was over, we thought of several things to do, of course).

 Often our evening plans center around putting some miles on the hot rod.  EM suggested we drive the hot rod to Oklahoma City and drive around downtown. We arrived about 9:00 PM. Those of us who are familiar with downtown OKC are amazed at the changes that have, and still are, taking place. Streets that have been one way for over 20 years are now two-way. Many landmarks are gone. At the center of these changes is the new Devon Energy Tower. It's 50 stories tall, by far the tallest building in OKC. It was the first time we had seen it at night. Each corner of the building had changing streaks of light. It is amazing. We did not stop, but we saw many people walking downtown and in the parks, even though it was dark. Unfortunately, I did not take a camera. The night lights were beautiful. We're going to have a repeat trip with a camera.

 Next, we moseyed up north through the Asian District to Whole Foods. All that area looks revived also, with no small part of the credit going to Chesapeake Energy. Instead of a tall building, Chesapeake has a campus, that goes on for blocks and blocks. Landmarks have disappeared from that area also. At Christmas, they decorate hundreds of trees, very beautiful. In years past, we would have been able to find our way around OKC expertly, but, due to all the new buildings, we had to search a bit to find Whole Foods. I've only been there twice and was excited about going there again. Never mind the organic and healthy, which I do appreciate, but I like to eat weird, ethnic foods (which is often healthy) and Whole Foods is the holy land for that. Unfortunately, we arrived at 10:00 PM and it closed at 10:00. Poo. Another identical evening must be planned, camera in hand.

 Today, a man asked EM if the car made it easy to pick up women. EM replied that the car usually carried around his wife, but that last night two women were taking our photos with their smart phones. That was a new one for us. So I guess we're somewhere on someone's Facebook page today. We (EM) often have people comment and ask us questions about the hot rod, as we drive through town. Once a guy leaned out his car window and said, "Isn't that car too heavy to be on the street?" He was serious. It's really fun.

Lazy Girl's Skinny Iced Coffee

It's been a very long time since I have posted a recipe on the blog.  There are so many recipes on the Internet that I rarely come up with something that hasn't already been done.  There are some delicious iced coffees on the Internet. There is International Delight Iced Coffee that already made for you, 150 calories in one cup.  There is another recipe made with sweetened condensed milk that sounds delicious, that I haven't tried.

This recipe below is my own, lazy and easy.  It only has 40 calories, not per cup, but per glass.  It uses instant coffee and if you are a serious coffee connoisseur (I am not),  you may not be interested in this recipe.  If you are interested few calories and ease of preparation, this recipe is for you.  Please tweak to please yourself.

Lazy Girl's Skinny Iced Coffee

Fill a tall glass about 1/3 full with water.
Microwave for 20 seconds.
Add 1/4 teaspoon Stevia and 1/3 teaspoon of instant coffee in the water.
Add the smallest drop of vanilla or orange extract.  Stir.
Add ice to the glass.
Fill the glass with skim milk.  Stir.

Yum!  Start to finish in under one minute.

History

My mom was raised on a farm that has been in her family since Civil War times.  She and her brother still own that farm.  By the time I came along, my grandparents lived on the farm in a house that was built in the 20s.  My grandfather was the youngest of eight children (I think).  My mom completed the family tree for the family in 1987.  After receiving her copy of the family tree, one of my grandfather’s nieces, by then an old woman, wrote this letter to my mom about her memories as a grandchild coming to her grandparents’ homeplace.  This house was on the same land where my mother grew up, although a newer house had been built in the 1920s.  The wood lot in the letter is the same one I played in when I was a child over 50 years later.  This kind of information is fascinating to me.  If I could write historical fiction, it would be bridging from family history like this.  But that will never happen.  Below are excerpts of that letter.

Dear _______.

The picture I have sent to you is the only one I have seen of the family.  You keep it and show it to the girls.  I have arthritis so bad in my feet and hands.  I do not care for such as this as I once did.

If we were together sometime I could tell you about the homeplace and the large wood lot.  The house was east of the house where your mother lives.  And a large wood lot between it and the road.  Maybe you have seen the old house.  There was a large pond in the south end of it and during the fall all the neighbors would take their hogs on the same day to the pen and kill them.  Make a scaffold and a fire and cut and dress them at the pond.  Had large vats to put them in hot water.

After the hogs were dressed and pieces cut off, the children had to turn the sausage mill as the women made sausage sacks and stuffed the sausage in the sacks.  Clean the heads and cook them in large black wash kettles.  Run them through the mill where the sausage was ground then pressed in large pans with large tops are pressed down.  That was how they made the souse.  The next day all the fat pieces of meat were cut, clean and put in a kettle and the children all had to stand by the large black kettles and keep the fire built up and the pieces of meat cooked.  Then the pieces were dipped out of the lard.  These were the cracklins used in making corn bread.  The lard was taken from the kettles and put in large lard stands.

The most fun the grandchildren had was the time of year when all of us had to go to the pasture north of the house where they had raised geese and chase them until every one of us had caught one each.,  We would take them to the buggy house (the garage today) where all the women would pick the feathers to make pillows and feathers beds.  That was used instead of mattresses.  

Uncle Onice [my grandfather] was the only child [an unmarried adult] at home and got all kinds of toys, tops, and other things for all of us to play with when we were there.  He enjoyed playing with them too.

When the wheat was ready to cut and thrashed in the wood lot by the pond, there would be a large pile of wheat straw left in the woods by the large pond.  All the women would work together and make new straw beds to use for the mattresses.  Under the feather beds, we got new mattresses each year when wheat was thrashed.

All the children in the neighborhood went to Tatumville to school.  The building was north of the church.  Elsie had a buggy and Ole Red.  She picked Vada, Parker and myself up and we rode to school with her.  The school was a 2 year high school.

Elsie and Babe got married and left school.  That left the three of us the last ones north of the school.

Pops started driving two mules to his wagon and taking us to school.  On the way down there was children standing out in front of their house waiting for the wagon.  When school was out in the afternoon, Pops was waiting in the wagon for all the crowd to crawl in.  When time came for him to go to work in the field, we all had to walk.  We took our lunch with us in a tin molasses bucket.

One day we had had a hard rain on top of frozen ground and the road was getting soft in places.  One morning Parker was leading the way and stepped in a soft place and went under to his knees.  It took all of us to pull him out.  Nada and I had to go back home with him after we had scrapped all the mud off that we could.

I was in 5th grade and Pops heard they were going to give exams in Newbern for a new rural mail carrier.  He said for fun he though he would go to town and take the exam.  It shocked him when he was notified he make the highest grade.

He sold his house and farm, traded his mules for two pretty horses, his wagon for a buggy and we moved to Newbern.

Fifty years later, I had my own “Uncle Onice” to play with at that same farm.  My Uncle John (who was Onice’s son) was not married when we were little and played tag, Old Maids, Authors, and Monopoly with us.  He chased us, and made us popcorn.  I got to ride on the tractor and the combine.  History does repeat itself, and probably much more than we realize.  

Heavenly Father, Help Us Remember

I am about to gear up to start school-school and to start church-school, i.e. Sunday School, i.e. Religious Education.  I teach fourth graders in RE and it is great fun.  This is a prayer that we prayed in RE last year and will pray again this year.  The prayer is not my original idea.  I heard such a prayer for RE teachers, loved it, and came home to copy the idea, adapting it for my fourth grade class.  At their age, their main areas for ministry are at home and in their classroom.  It is so easy to forget that the irritating, loud, not-so-smart, attention-seeking, or out-of-place child sitting in the next desk is a person, too, loved by God.  I guess it's easy for adults to forget, also.  

Here's the prayer...

Heavenly Father, help me to remember that the boy, who pushed me in line at lunch today, may be very hungry, because he does not have much food at his house and school lunch in the only time his stomach is full.

Heavenly Father, help me to remember that the girl who always gets in trouble in class for not paying attention, has a dad who yells at her every day.  She has a hard time thinking about school because she is worried about going home.

Heavenly Father, help me to remember that the girl whose paper you saw, the one with the F on it, that girl has no one at home to ask her what her grades are, no one to pay attention when the grades come in the mail at home.

Heavenly Father, help me to remember the girl in your class who cannot read does not have any books in her home.  No one snuggled with her at night and read to her when she was little before she fell sleep.   No one else can read in her home either.

Heavenly Father, help me to remember that the boy in class, who is so loud and so obnoxious, has no one paying attention in his life.  He sometimes feels invisible when he's not loud.

Heavenly Father, help us to remember that the boy in your class, who falls asleep almost every day in class, that he has teenage brothers who play loud music every night until 3 in the morning.  There is no one to remind them that their little brother needs his sleep.

Lord Jesus, help us to remember that the girl who cries anytime the teacher talks to her, that she has a little sister who is very sick.  Her parents needs to spend all their time with the little sister and she is feeling very scared and lonely now.

Holy Spirit, help us to remember that what we see is not the whole story.  You take care of everyone, but help us to remember that we must  be your arms, your voice, your legs.  

Help us remember.

Amen

That's My Girl

2:30 pm "I've decided to become a vegetarian. You'll have to take the chicken out of the chicken noodle soup."

 7:00 pm "Would you make me some pigs in a blanket?"