Well, it's the day before the day before Christmas Eve. Ready or not, we are heading full steam ahead to that magical day of the year when everything seems possible and everything feels so peaceful. I have an old Barbara Mandrell Christmas CD and my favorite song on that has these lyrics:
Once again the windows shine with pretty lights.
Once again our loved ones gather at our side.
Busy crowds of strangers greet each other with a smile.
There’s Christmas in the eyes of every child.
Once again the presents resting by the tree.
Once again we worship one who came for you and me.
I hear choirs of voices as they’re singing out his name.
Again we tell the story of how the Christ child came.
Once again around the world heads are bowed in prayer
Once again the promise of peace is in the air
But soon will come the morning and the feeling will be past
I can’t help but wonder why the feeling only lasts.
Chorus:
One night a year we believe in peace on earth
One night a year we praise our Savior’s birth
I wish every night the whole year through could be like Christmas Eve
When love’s pure light is shining everywhere – one night a year.
It is so nice this time of year when the majority of people you see are so friendly and although everyone is in a hurry, most seem more patient. I was in Michael's yesterday doing a little last minute shopping and when I was checking out, the clerk who was ringing up my purchase made a comment to the other clerk "oh, you are so politically correct". Then she took my money and said "MERRY CHRISTMAS". I wished her a merry christmas also and thanked her for saying Merry Christmas. She said, "well, it is Christmas darn it so Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas". It was great to hear rather than the sad little Happy Holiday that most clerk's have to say.
Now granted the word Holiday comes from Holy Day but it's not the same. So I wish to each and every one of you MERRY CHRISTMAS AND PEACE & GOODWILL TO ALL MEN UPON THE EARTH. And to my family, I say THANK YOU for being you and standing up for what you believe in and for putting up with this old aunt/mom/sister no matter what.
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Monday, December 19, 2005
Christmas Memories
Saturday, we had a brunch at the church and a Christmas program. They called me several weeks ago and asked me to talk a little on Christmas traditions or memories or whatever.
When I start thinking of Christmas traditions, I always go back to memories of my childhood instead of what we are doing now. My first thought of Christmas is always of the wonderful Christmas Eve programs at the church – I miss those so much. It was so fun to go and watch the little children perform the story of Christmas and then to visit with Santa afterwards and get that infamous bag of peanuts, a couple of pieces of candy and an orange. It seems as a kid, we didn’t eat a lot of fruit – usually had tangerines around at Thanksgiving and an orange in our stocking (quite frequently, I’m sure that was the one that we had received the night before in our bag of candy from Santa).
We always went to the tree lot over near the Gann’s house to get our tree. That was always fun. I remember the old tree stand we had – it didn’t have anywhere to put water in, was more like a little wheel thing with spokes and dad would have to whittle down the trunk to fit into that little hole.
I think of the pillow cases that Mom made us. The pictures on it of a little boy and a little girl standing by a fireplace where the stockings hung. The words Twas the night before Christmas across the bottom. I remember how the first of December every year, she would put those on our pillows and we would get to sleep on them for the whole month. I was so glad when she had the lady make dolls out of pillowcases so I could get mine made into a doll to set out at Christmas. Since I’m probably a little old for a Christmas pillow case now but it is one thing I decided to make for my grand-daughters this year to pass that tradition along – not sure why I never made them for my own children.
I think of the brach's chocolate drops that dad would always buy - not sure if these are still around or not. The cherry and raspberry ones were the best. Course orange was good and lemon was okay. I remember us kids, scaping a piece of chocolate off the bottom to see what color was inside or sometimes taking a tiny bit out of the corner. When we got to the bottom of the bowl and almost out, the white ones seemed to improve in flavor. And Dad always had that can of hard candies around - some of them were so pretty with little flowers in the center that it seemed sad to eat them.
I remember Aunt Ora would always send Grandpa Carter (my grandpa that is) a box of See's chocolates at Christmas (that was back when you could only get them in California or big cities). We would go to his house and he would always let us choose just one piece - they were so delicious.
I remember when Grandpa Carter called us all excited because he had bought one of those new fangled artificial trees. We had to go up and see it. Oh my goodness – if any of you have never seen one of the first artificial trees, you really missed out. It looked like some kind of futuristic space tree – made of aluminum that looked like fringed tin foil. You didn’t put lights on this tree – no way, instead there was this light that sat on the floor and had a colored disk that turned in front of it. The disk was see through and was divided into 3 colors – kind of like cellophane so as this rotated, the tree would turn from red to green to yellow. Grandpa was pretty proud of that tree.
I think of Christmas dinners – turkey and ham. Mom always decorated the ham so pretty with pineapple slices and a cherry in the middle or sometimes she would cut criss crosses across the top of the ham and put a whole clove in the middle of each of them. Always her delicious raisin sauce – always Dad trying to sneak a piece of ham before it was time to eat. Always we had to eat right at 12:00.
We always got to open one present on Christmas eve which was a pair of pajamas or a new nightgown. That way, we looked presentable for those awful Christmas morning pictures – well, at least our clothes were decent.
So as I reminisce about Christmases long past and Christmases more recent I find that somethings have changed - like tamales for dinner instead of turkey means I don’t spend all Christmas day in the kitchen, artificial trees that look almost real can be put up extra early and left up to brighten new year’s eve, the family has grown and spread across 5 states so we can’t all gather at the farm as a family to celebrate the holidays. But one thing always stays the same for me - it’s a time to think of family and how blessed I have been in this life. And also to remember that first Christmas so long ago when our Savior humbled himself and came down to this earth to live and die for us that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father once again and be reunited with our dear Dad and others who have passed on before.
May you all have a wonderful Christmas and remember to include Christ in your celebration of his Birthday.
When I start thinking of Christmas traditions, I always go back to memories of my childhood instead of what we are doing now. My first thought of Christmas is always of the wonderful Christmas Eve programs at the church – I miss those so much. It was so fun to go and watch the little children perform the story of Christmas and then to visit with Santa afterwards and get that infamous bag of peanuts, a couple of pieces of candy and an orange. It seems as a kid, we didn’t eat a lot of fruit – usually had tangerines around at Thanksgiving and an orange in our stocking (quite frequently, I’m sure that was the one that we had received the night before in our bag of candy from Santa).
We always went to the tree lot over near the Gann’s house to get our tree. That was always fun. I remember the old tree stand we had – it didn’t have anywhere to put water in, was more like a little wheel thing with spokes and dad would have to whittle down the trunk to fit into that little hole.
I think of the pillow cases that Mom made us. The pictures on it of a little boy and a little girl standing by a fireplace where the stockings hung. The words Twas the night before Christmas across the bottom. I remember how the first of December every year, she would put those on our pillows and we would get to sleep on them for the whole month. I was so glad when she had the lady make dolls out of pillowcases so I could get mine made into a doll to set out at Christmas. Since I’m probably a little old for a Christmas pillow case now but it is one thing I decided to make for my grand-daughters this year to pass that tradition along – not sure why I never made them for my own children.
I think of the brach's chocolate drops that dad would always buy - not sure if these are still around or not. The cherry and raspberry ones were the best. Course orange was good and lemon was okay. I remember us kids, scaping a piece of chocolate off the bottom to see what color was inside or sometimes taking a tiny bit out of the corner. When we got to the bottom of the bowl and almost out, the white ones seemed to improve in flavor. And Dad always had that can of hard candies around - some of them were so pretty with little flowers in the center that it seemed sad to eat them.
I remember Aunt Ora would always send Grandpa Carter (my grandpa that is) a box of See's chocolates at Christmas (that was back when you could only get them in California or big cities). We would go to his house and he would always let us choose just one piece - they were so delicious.
I remember when Grandpa Carter called us all excited because he had bought one of those new fangled artificial trees. We had to go up and see it. Oh my goodness – if any of you have never seen one of the first artificial trees, you really missed out. It looked like some kind of futuristic space tree – made of aluminum that looked like fringed tin foil. You didn’t put lights on this tree – no way, instead there was this light that sat on the floor and had a colored disk that turned in front of it. The disk was see through and was divided into 3 colors – kind of like cellophane so as this rotated, the tree would turn from red to green to yellow. Grandpa was pretty proud of that tree.
I think of Christmas dinners – turkey and ham. Mom always decorated the ham so pretty with pineapple slices and a cherry in the middle or sometimes she would cut criss crosses across the top of the ham and put a whole clove in the middle of each of them. Always her delicious raisin sauce – always Dad trying to sneak a piece of ham before it was time to eat. Always we had to eat right at 12:00.
We always got to open one present on Christmas eve which was a pair of pajamas or a new nightgown. That way, we looked presentable for those awful Christmas morning pictures – well, at least our clothes were decent.
So as I reminisce about Christmases long past and Christmases more recent I find that somethings have changed - like tamales for dinner instead of turkey means I don’t spend all Christmas day in the kitchen, artificial trees that look almost real can be put up extra early and left up to brighten new year’s eve, the family has grown and spread across 5 states so we can’t all gather at the farm as a family to celebrate the holidays. But one thing always stays the same for me - it’s a time to think of family and how blessed I have been in this life. And also to remember that first Christmas so long ago when our Savior humbled himself and came down to this earth to live and die for us that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father once again and be reunited with our dear Dad and others who have passed on before.
May you all have a wonderful Christmas and remember to include Christ in your celebration of his Birthday.
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Almost Christmas
It's been a while - time is passing so quickly and there's no way I'm going to ever get the things done I need to get done in the next 8 days. Finally I got my packages and cards (at least most of them) mailed on Monday. Have to get the rest of them in the mail - i know they will be a few days late. Hope to get tamales made Saturday and have to finish a christmas stocking for the new baby.
John left today to go to Casper on business. He'll be back tomorrow evening and then Sunday he is flying to Canada for 4 days on more business. Hopefully the weather won't be so bad that he gets stuck up there. On the 23rd, we are heading to Colorado to spend Christmas with the granddaughters (and their parents of course). Quick trip as we have to be back by Tuesday morning to go to work. Hopefully the weather will cooperate to allow us to make the trip down there.
I love Christmas - even though we aren't going to be home, I had to put up both trees, lights everywhere and am listening to the christmas country channel on xm radio. It's so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle though and overlook the reason for the holiday. Time to pull out the Christmas books and spend some time reading all the good stories that I enjoy every year at this time to renew my Christmas spirit.
I am enjoying the peacefulness of winter. Every morning in this cold, I get to bundle up and go out to feed the horses. Like clockwork at 7:20 they are either waiting for me at the barn or just ambling down off the hill. On Tuesday, I had arranged for the ferrier to come and remove their shoes for the winter - he was going to be here at 8:30 - perfect timing. I would feed the horses, they could eat until 8:00 and then I would catch them up and tie them to the post so they would be waiting for him.
Well, of course, the horses decided to change their routine and by 8:15 they hadn't showed up at the barn yet. So, I went on a horse hunt - they like to sleep about as far away from the house as they can get so that is at the far northwest end of the property. The wind was blowing like crazy as I headed out to find them. Climbed up the ditch bank, crossed the bridge and headed over the hill, finally, they saw me and Dudley decided to come toward me. Badger was following, so I turned around and headed back toward the house with them practically on my heels.
Right before I got to the bridge, they stopped and decided to head back up the hill. I called to them, crossed the bridge and started on down. They headed east which wasn't the same way I was going but I figured they were just going to their normal place to cross the ditch. I got back to the barn and they were still up on the hill watching me. I grabbed the grain bucket and waved it at them and they started walking further east and down the hill.
I expected them to come around at any moment and after 5 minutes when they hadn't, I decided I was going to have to go back up the hill and entice them in with a few mouthsful of grain. Wasn't looking forward to that too much as I really do not like walking down an icy hill with two big animals at my heels wanting food. I headed up the least steep hill and expected to find them when I got to the top but instead, I saw nothing.
I turned back around to head a different direction and then saw that they had gone clear back around and were both at the barn eating nicely. I stopped at the house and picked up the halters and lead ropes and went out to catch them and tie them up. Just in time as 2 minutes later the ferrier showed up to do his job. So all turned out well, except for the fact that Molly and Remington took off for another one of their 9 hour runs.
John left today to go to Casper on business. He'll be back tomorrow evening and then Sunday he is flying to Canada for 4 days on more business. Hopefully the weather won't be so bad that he gets stuck up there. On the 23rd, we are heading to Colorado to spend Christmas with the granddaughters (and their parents of course). Quick trip as we have to be back by Tuesday morning to go to work. Hopefully the weather will cooperate to allow us to make the trip down there.
I love Christmas - even though we aren't going to be home, I had to put up both trees, lights everywhere and am listening to the christmas country channel on xm radio. It's so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle though and overlook the reason for the holiday. Time to pull out the Christmas books and spend some time reading all the good stories that I enjoy every year at this time to renew my Christmas spirit.
I am enjoying the peacefulness of winter. Every morning in this cold, I get to bundle up and go out to feed the horses. Like clockwork at 7:20 they are either waiting for me at the barn or just ambling down off the hill. On Tuesday, I had arranged for the ferrier to come and remove their shoes for the winter - he was going to be here at 8:30 - perfect timing. I would feed the horses, they could eat until 8:00 and then I would catch them up and tie them to the post so they would be waiting for him.
Well, of course, the horses decided to change their routine and by 8:15 they hadn't showed up at the barn yet. So, I went on a horse hunt - they like to sleep about as far away from the house as they can get so that is at the far northwest end of the property. The wind was blowing like crazy as I headed out to find them. Climbed up the ditch bank, crossed the bridge and headed over the hill, finally, they saw me and Dudley decided to come toward me. Badger was following, so I turned around and headed back toward the house with them practically on my heels.
Right before I got to the bridge, they stopped and decided to head back up the hill. I called to them, crossed the bridge and started on down. They headed east which wasn't the same way I was going but I figured they were just going to their normal place to cross the ditch. I got back to the barn and they were still up on the hill watching me. I grabbed the grain bucket and waved it at them and they started walking further east and down the hill.
I expected them to come around at any moment and after 5 minutes when they hadn't, I decided I was going to have to go back up the hill and entice them in with a few mouthsful of grain. Wasn't looking forward to that too much as I really do not like walking down an icy hill with two big animals at my heels wanting food. I headed up the least steep hill and expected to find them when I got to the top but instead, I saw nothing.
I turned back around to head a different direction and then saw that they had gone clear back around and were both at the barn eating nicely. I stopped at the house and picked up the halters and lead ropes and went out to catch them and tie them up. Just in time as 2 minutes later the ferrier showed up to do his job. So all turned out well, except for the fact that Molly and Remington took off for another one of their 9 hour runs.
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Recipe by request
Here's one for Elise:
Green Chile Dip
2 cans cream of celery soup (I use 2 cans cream of mushroom with roasted garlic instead)
1/2 carton frozen Baca's green chile
1 round steak cubed
garlic to taste
season with salt, pepper
Brown meat. Add soup, chili and seasoning. Simmer on low for 30 minutes. Add cheese if desired (I always put in lots of cheese cause it's one of the 3 CH'S - cheese, chips and most importantly chocolate).
Serve with chips (or if you want, you can roll this in a tortilla).
Green Chile Dip
2 cans cream of celery soup (I use 2 cans cream of mushroom with roasted garlic instead)
1/2 carton frozen Baca's green chile
1 round steak cubed
garlic to taste
season with salt, pepper
Brown meat. Add soup, chili and seasoning. Simmer on low for 30 minutes. Add cheese if desired (I always put in lots of cheese cause it's one of the 3 CH'S - cheese, chips and most importantly chocolate).
Serve with chips (or if you want, you can roll this in a tortilla).
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
It's Snowing!!
Okay so maybe winter is here or hopefully we'll be blessed with an indian summer in a few days. Summer was so hectic that I kept wishing it would be over so life would settle down. So okay summer is over but I don't think I'm ready for winter either. I'm thinking maybe it's the stress knowing the barn isn't built (won't even be started until after Oct 10th) and we don't have hay put up for the horses.
And this weekend antelope season starts so we get to go camping for a few days to get some meat for the freezer - yeah fun. Mind you, there are antelope 1/4 mile behind the house, I see them all the time when I go walking but we can't shoot those, we are going to drive 4 hours northeast of Broadus and find some foreign animal to bring home. Normally, camping out for antelope season consists of staying in a local motel and dining out - the motels are pretty bad in Broadus but better than nothing. However, some fool this year decided to book all 3 motels and have a wedding the opening weekend of antelope hunting. Maybe we should go hunting for him.
Anyway, since the weather is cooling off, it's time to start cooking warmer meals - something that will stick to your ribs besides oatmeal. So, I decided to cook John's favorite last night and felt I should share the recipe. Many years ago (actually back in 1977) we were in California and found this little hole in the wall mexican restaurant - we both ordered steak picado and it was so good. As we ate, we took notes on what we thought was in it and went home and created our own. With 4 peppers, it's a bit spicy but you know how that is, sometimes 4 peppers can make something hot and the next time, there's no heat at all in the meal.
So here you go, I hope you enjoy it:
2 pounds round steak – cut in ¾” cubes. (I use venison or antelope)
Brown in pan with a little oil until done.
Remove meat and any juices from the pan.
1 whole onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic
4 cerrano peppers – sliced thin
Fry onions, peppers and garlic until the onions are translucent
Throw the meat and juices back in the pan.
Add 3 chopped tomatoes and 1 bunch of chopped cilantro.
If it seems dry, add 1/3 cup of water
Simmer 20-30 minutes and serve with tortillas and beans.
And this weekend antelope season starts so we get to go camping for a few days to get some meat for the freezer - yeah fun. Mind you, there are antelope 1/4 mile behind the house, I see them all the time when I go walking but we can't shoot those, we are going to drive 4 hours northeast of Broadus and find some foreign animal to bring home. Normally, camping out for antelope season consists of staying in a local motel and dining out - the motels are pretty bad in Broadus but better than nothing. However, some fool this year decided to book all 3 motels and have a wedding the opening weekend of antelope hunting. Maybe we should go hunting for him.
Anyway, since the weather is cooling off, it's time to start cooking warmer meals - something that will stick to your ribs besides oatmeal. So, I decided to cook John's favorite last night and felt I should share the recipe. Many years ago (actually back in 1977) we were in California and found this little hole in the wall mexican restaurant - we both ordered steak picado and it was so good. As we ate, we took notes on what we thought was in it and went home and created our own. With 4 peppers, it's a bit spicy but you know how that is, sometimes 4 peppers can make something hot and the next time, there's no heat at all in the meal.
So here you go, I hope you enjoy it:
2 pounds round steak – cut in ¾” cubes. (I use venison or antelope)
Brown in pan with a little oil until done.
Remove meat and any juices from the pan.
1 whole onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic
4 cerrano peppers – sliced thin
Fry onions, peppers and garlic until the onions are translucent
Throw the meat and juices back in the pan.
Add 3 chopped tomatoes and 1 bunch of chopped cilantro.
If it seems dry, add 1/3 cup of water
Simmer 20-30 minutes and serve with tortillas and beans.
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