Holidays – Page 2 – Me, Myself and I

Holiday Traditions

Each family has a set of holiday traditions. What is a tradition?

a belief, principle or way of acting that people in a particular society or group have continued to follow for a long time, or all of these beliefs, etc. in a particular society or group.
dictionary.cambridge.org

Depending on the country where you were born, family heritage, and other factors, we all have different Christmas traditions.

Opening presents vary from family to family. Some open family gifts on Christmas Eve, creating room for the gifts arriving from Santa Claus to be opened on Christmas Day. One family I know open gifts on Christmas Eve with all the family, then feast and games on Christmas Day. My family has always opened gifts on Christmas Day, until everyone left home. The day of opening gifts at our home was scheduled when family members were able to come over to celebrate Christmas.

This year, my husband and I have made another change, we will open gifts on Christmas Day. We are not having a Christmas celebration with other family members at our home. So, we will go back to the original tradition we were both raised with, opening gifts on Christmas Day. Then we will go for a short visit and food at my daughter’s house, provided my husband and I are not sick.

The timing of putting up the Christmas tree. Most of the family put the Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving. I was raised with a Christmas tree being harvested and decorated the day after Thanksgiving. But when I started my own family I changed the date. My birthday is in the first part of December. I was tired of Christmas crowding my birthday. Hence, I decorate the Christmas tree after my birthday. Those of us who had the opportunity of being born in the month of December, have a lifetime of sharing our birthday with Christmas decorations and traditions combined and often over powering our own celebration.

Gingerbread houses, beautiful creations of decorated cookie structures. I do not know the origins of decorating gingerbread houses, but their beauty has always drawn my attention and fascination. As a child, we never decorated gingerbread houses, but on occasion would make gingerbread cookies. When my children were little, we did not decorate gingerbread houses. Not until my youngest daughter was a freshman in college, I purchased a kit, and we decorated gingerbread houses. From that first start, my other children started buying kits to decorate gingerbread houses. Now, every year each of my children’s family as well as myself decorate gingerbread houses for Christmas. A new tradition in our family we all enjoy.

Hanging the stockings with care. Growing up, we hung our stockings on a bookcase, as we never did have a fireplace. My children when they were small, their stockings were hung on the dining table on Christmas Eve, as I did not have a place to hang stockings. We moved several times, and the place in the different homes changed, sometimes stair banisters, bookcases and a few years from an old piano. What went into the stocking never changed. I would place in each stocking : an apple, an orange, peanuts, then some chocolate Santas and always a peppermint candy cane, a new toothbrush, socks and lastly a penny for good luck in the coming year. I have stopped putting peanuts in the stockings as it is too messy. When family comes to visit for Christmas I add travel size lotion, hand sanitizer, or a loofah into the stocking instead of socks or a toothbrush.

I always make the cinnamon rolls, chocolate chip cookies and church window candy rolls. Some years I bake more. But those three items are always made at Christmas. The years I have the time and energy to bake more, I give the extra cookies and baked goods away to friends and family. With the baking and cooking I do at Christmas, one our New Year’s resolutions is to always lose weight. The first few months of the New Year we are on a diet to lose the weight gained at Christmas.

The way we celebrate our Christmas traditions change with the stages of life we are in. When my children were young we did many more family traditions of playing games, watching certain movies and cooking together. Today, there are only two of us at home. I no long spend three to four days baking and cooking with my children. I cook the standard three recipes that in my heart have to be made for our celebration. Under the Christmas tree looks lean as there are not many gifts compared to when I had four children at home. To fill the emptiness, I decorate under the Christmas tree, with a Christmas town or train or reindeer. The traditional turkey dinner with all the fixings is a little too much food for two people. I have sent invitation to have others join us for Christmas dinner, only they have their families or friends they spend the day celebrating with. Instead of the traditional turkey dinner, I fix something special such as rib eye steaks, or cornish hens, a special dinner for two.

Traditions change as families merge. When my children married, their spouses had family traditions as well. Each family had to merge the family traditions they were raised with and form their own traditions carrying forward some traditions from each.

Regardless if you have passed down through generations traditions or create new ways of celebrating the holidays together, it is important to celebrate with those you love and create memories. Make each day you have be special.

amtolle

Gifts at Christmas

This year my budget is small for Christmas gifts. I would love to be able to buy gifts for each and every grandchild. Having fifteen grandchildren, gifts for each is quite expensive. Instead I purchase a gift for the family. Christmas should not be about gifts only, but memories as well.

There is the phone calls to talk to each grandchild on or before Christmas Eve. Christmas day is so busy for the families, it is best to talk before the family Christmas festivities start. Connecting and letting each one know we are thinking of them while miles apart.

The gifts I have sent this year are to the whole family, games. Yes, my children and grandchildren love to play board games. The challenge is finding a game they do not already own. I find games that fit the age and number of children in the family. Playing games together helps to build memories and family bonds as well as teach children to win or lose graciously. Some games are memory games others strategy or role playing games.

In today’s technology era where digital games are common. It is still nice to sit around a table, no television or phones, and play a board or card game with family.

My children grew up without television. We had a VHS and some VHS movies and cartoons. I think my children learned the scripts to all of them. We played a lot of board games. First our Christmas board games started with Candy Land and Sorry. As the children grew up, our favorite was Monopoly. Monopoly is a very competitive game, taking us a week to complete one game since I would have to take breaks for cooking and cleaning, plus sleep. Then there was Risk, turnly a cutthoat time war game especially if alliances were formed. But not all games were as competitive.

We also put together jigsaw puzzles. A new puzzle each Christmas. First the puzzles were easier, few pieces. Until the finally years the puzzle was 1000 pieces with intricate pictures to form. These puzzle would be placed on a table out of the way of traffic and worked on as each of us wanted. Before the children would have to return to school, the puzzle would be finished.

Card games were popular such as Uno or Skipbo. We went through several decks during the years. Each Christmas I would get a new game of either Uno or Skipbo depending on which game cards were most worn.

Today, the families still enjoy Uno and Skipbo, but also Phase 10. The grand children are also learning to play poker. I am not good at poker as I am not good with having a poker face.

The important part of Christmas is spending time with family. Talking, sharing and having fun in creating memories.

Make memories this Christmas.

amtolle

Cinnamon Rolls

A Christmas tradition is homemade Cinnamon Rolls loaded with raisins and nuts, covered with a sweet frosting. Tradition is to bake the cinnamon rolls on Christmas Eve. We open gifts on Christmas Day. When everyone woke up on Christmas morning, each would get a cinnamon roll, then sit down as gifts were handed out and opened. Cinnamon rolls were pre-breakfast snack. Once all the gifts were opened, the living room picked up, I would start cooking breakfast, and then Christmas dinner.

My recipe for the sweet dough comes straight out of Betty Crocker Cookbook. The recipe gives the options of shortening, margarine or butter – I always use butter. I make the rest of the recipe as written.

After the dough has doubled and is ready to become cinnamon rolls, this is where I get creative. I will roll the dough into a rectangle, sprinkle with cinnamon almost covering the dough entirely. Then I sprinkle on 1/3 cup of brown sugar, add raisins and pecans to my desired amount. Now for a secret ingredient I learned from an aunt, pour some corn syrup over the mix, not a lot of corn syrup, about 1/2 to 3/4 cup, to help the brown sugar melt and soak into the dough during baking.

Next roll up the dough, gently squeezing together as you roll. Once rolled, pinch the edges together. Then I cut 1 inch slices and place in a greased cast iron skillet. Do not place too tight together, as the dough has to rise again. After about 1 1/2 hours, they are ready to bake in the oven at 375 degrees fahrenheit for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown.

Once the are baked, I use a brush to cover them with butter. A person can eat them at this point, frosty is not necessary. But if you want frosting, now is the time to frost as the warmth helps the frosty to cover and soak in.

Frosting is simple, a teaspoon of butter, 1 – 2 Cups powdered sugar, a teaspoon of vanilla, and 2 – 3 Tablespoons of cold water or milk. Mix, if frosting needs to be stiffer mix more powdered sugar.

A delicious dessert or early breakfast. A treat my family enjoys.

amtolle

Cards and Letters

Remember getting glitter decorated Christmas cards in the mail? Or perhaps you are one of those “old fashion” type person who still enjoys sending a Merry Christmas message to family and friends. For over a century people have sent the once a year letter and Christmas message to friends and family, especially if they lived beyond visiting distance.

The first Christmas card was created by Henry Cole and J.C. Horsley in 1943 according to the Smithsonian Magazine. I first learned of the first Christmas card while watching a show, “Victorian England” on Netflix. One episode went into the history of the Christmas card, or what we would term a postcard. The first Christmas card was created to ease the work of writing a letter in response to letters written to Henry Cole. It was considered very rude of a person to not respond to a letter they had received. Henry Cole being very busy, yet not wanting to be rude was struggling with writing letters. Henry Cole developed an idea of a picture on stiff cardboard to send in place of a handwritten letters. J.C. Horsley created the picture, they had it printed and the first Christmas card was invented.

I was raised with the tradition of sending a card before Christmas to every family member and friend wishing them Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I have kept this tradition and my children have followed with keeping the tradition as well.

Today, we could just send an email for a newsletter, or a text message saying Merry Christmas. But there is something special when a person receives a card, with a handwritten message inside. The card shows time and thought was taken to send a simple gift of a card. Receiving the card makes the person feel special and not alone. We can read a message in a text. We can read, touch and smell the message in a card.

Each year, I send Christmas cards with a letter telling of the year’s events to family and friends. I used to write a short summary of the year in each card. About ten years ago I stopped writing the summary inside the card as I was getting writer’s cramp. I opted for a computer generated, decorative letter to place inside each card I send. I still hand sign all the cards. Thirty years ago I would send out fifty to sixty cards a year ( now you can understand the writer’s cramp), taking me a week to complete the task. Today, I finished addressing, signing and getting ready to mail thirty cards. Years have taken names and address out of the Christmas card list.

This year I had big ambitions of creating Victorian style Christmas cards to send instead of purchasing cards. I was able to create ten cards for family and friends. I punched holes in lines to form an outline of the object being created. During Victorian times, this was an inexpensive method used by the lower classes to send Christmas cards.

The instrument I used to punch the many holes per card is a tool used in quilling paper. One end is needle like, allowing me to punch holes through the paper. The other end is used to make shapes using stripes of paper called quilling. It is a long process of punching holes to create a card.

With time running short, I did purchase some Christmas cards to send to family and friends. I wanted them to receive a card, even if it was not handmade. Next year I will get the handmade cards done, hopefully to be mailed.

amtolle

Christmas Beauty

I enjoy plants and Christmas is heralded with the arrival of Poinsettias. The United States celebrate Poinsettia Day on December 12. A very popular Christmas plant with approximately 70 million plants sold in the United States each year. The poinsettia is native to Mexico and Central American growing wild and reaching heights of ten feet according to Britannica.

I used to buy a poinsettia each year. My favorite poinsettia variety is the original, crimson variety. Enjoy the beauty of their crimson bracts or “leaves” and yellow blooms. Each year shortly after Christmas, the plant would die. I tried for several years to keep the plant alive with hopes of the plant blooming once more showing its beauty at Christmas. I read books and talked with workers in green houses. I just could not keep a poinsettia alive long enough to bloom once more. I finally gave up, my “green thumb” would not work with poinsettias.

Last year at a dinner I had for family and friends to celebrate Christmas and the beginning of a new year, a friend gave me a beautiful poinsettia. I enjoyed the crimson color for a month, then the plant shed the colorful leaves. Why or how the plant survived, I am not certain. Each time I watered or would look at the plant I would think of my friend and our friendship.

Then before Thanksgiving, crimson leaves began to appear. The poinsettia given last year is blooming. While I have decided to keep my Christmas decorating to a minimum I will have the beauty of a blooming poinsettia in my home.

After the poinsettia has finished blooming, I will repot. The plant is still in last year’s pot. I amy prune a few branches back, keep it in the shady shelter place it has lived all year and continue to water as I have done this past year. Perhaps my “green thumb” has learned how to keep a poinsettia alive.

The appearance of poinsettias mark the beginning of the Christmas season regardless of where you live.

amtolle

Gradually Getting There

Christmas celebration, my favorite time of year and I think the perfect holiday to end a year, celebrating the birth of Christ. I deck my house with Christmas decorations mostly old, with a touch of new each year. Ceiling to floor, and each room has a touch of Christmas decoration to focus on the reason for the celebration. Holiday cookies, breads, and desserts are made from old recipes used each year that have been passed down. The baking gives the home a sweet, pleasant smell that makes taste buds tingle with anticipation of a treat. I truly enjoy the decorating, cooking and baking. Although the weight scale is hidden during this month, and number 1 New Year’s Resolution is to lose weight…lol.

Due to changes in my life, I have been busy looking for employment. I have spent a lot of hours on the computer filling in applications and uploading resumes. A challenge to gaining employment is I have been self-employed for almost eight years. Raising sheep and developing a solid flock of registered Dorper sheep has been my focus and employment. This weekend, I decided I needed a break from looking for work. I changed approached in looking for work to a full-time job, instead of a consuming obsession. Any full-time job gives the employee a day or two off. This weekend I took off from looking for employment to refocus on my home and Christmas celebration.

I had been focused so much on gaining employment to have a source of income other than the sheep, that my home and the celebration of Christmas was almost lost.

Fourteen days to Christmas, and I have not taken down the Thanksgiving decorations. There are no Christmas cookies or candies made, and recipes shared. Other years the home would be filled with the scents and pleasures of my Christmas cooking. Christmas cards and end of the year letters are not ready to be mailed. Usually this task is completed before the first Sunday in December. I have gifts completed and mailed to my sons and daughter before December 10, allowing time for the gifts to arrive well before Christmas. This year, gifts might be late in arriving.

Fourteen days to Christmas, I still have time to do the important things. First, I relaxed and stopped stressing about the employment situation. I have done some shopping, everyone seems stressed and in a hurry, not really enjoying the moment of looking for the right gift. It is hurry go here or there, put this in the cart, and rush to the next aisle for another gift to purchase. There are no smiles or happy faces, only line weary stressed expressions without joy or hope.

I was letting the lack of employment in our household take the focus away from the celebration, the joy and hope this celebration represents. One night looking at my un-Christmas home, I realized I was missing out on the most exciting part of the year for me. I was letting Christmas slip away.

It is amazing that we have the ability to stop, change gears and refocus our attention. I have fourteen days to celebrate Christmas with decorating, cooking, gifts and all the rest. I am not going to stress about getting everything done as they were done in years past. This is Christmas 2022, the only Christmas 2022, and it is only fitting that this year’s celebration should be unique.

amtolle

December and Christmas

Today is December 2, 2022, twenty-three days until Christmas. This Christmas is different for us. My husband was dismissed from work the middle of November and been looking for work. He has had one job interview and another one scheduled for next week. The jobs he is applying and getting responses for are not in our immediate area of Texas. Meaning if he is offered the job, he will accept and we will have to move.

Moving for us in no easy feat. We have farm equipment, 40 head of sheep some with lambs, a few horses and dogs, along with a winter’s supply of hay. Then there is the house.

When we purchased our home fourteen years ago, I started updating the rooms, one at a time. I am halfway done with the last room, the master bedroom and bathroom. I will need to complete this room before we can sell. But first, I have to clear all the tools and stored items out of the master bathroom. I have kept my tools and building materials in the master bathroom while doing the other bedrooms and bathrooms. Now is time to work on the last part of the home.

Since September, we have been going through our processions and getting rid of those items we no longer want or use. Preparing for an eventual move closer to my daughter, her husband, her daughter and the triplets. We have been organizing to make it easier to find things we need to use. All this takes time.

Now I have a deadline to get the work done, although I do not know the exact date. My husband and I have enjoyed cleaning out tool boxes and sheds, clearing paths and getting rid of the old. We do work very good together.

It is December, the time of my favorite holiday – Christmas. I decorate the home for floor to ceiling in every room for Christmas. We enjoy the Christmas atmosphere with the many reminders of Christmas past and the future of more Christmases together. This year will be different. We are preparing to move. Clearing out unnecessary items and packing things we want to keep in preparation of moving.

This Christmas will be a simple Christmas – a tree, our stockings and a couple of wreaths. It will still be Christmas, the Christmas of 2022.

amtolle

“I’ll Be Home for Christmas”

Growing up and the majority of my lifetime I lived where having a white Christmas was part of the Christmas decorations created by mother nature. Around Halloween the first snow would arrive, large feathery snowflakes whirling slowly downward in the still and quiet night arousing the Christmas spirit for the year. My favorite time of the year.

By Christmas, there would be several snowmen taking up residence in the yard. Birds and mule deer would wonder in curious about our new temporary residents and to check out the food stored in the barn for the horses and chickens.

Since moving to Texas, I have very rarely seen snow. The opportunity to make a snowman has occurred only once, and not around Christmas. I work at creating my own Christmas wonderland. Instead of mule deer wandering into the yard, I have lighted metal framed deer to remind me of years past. There are plenty of birds who visit, and cardinals. Growing up the area I lived in had very few if any cardinals. I decorate with artificial trees in the yard creating a forest where my artificial deer hide. The lights are hung on the house eaves and the trees lighting up the area I have decorated with a manger and various other seasonal decorations.

Yet, I miss the guardians of Christmas past, the snowmen. Each year I purchase one new Christmas decoration for my collection. This year I was planning on the purchase of a snowman and snowwoman. But money has become tight, so there will be no snow people in my Christmas yard.

Each year when I am writing Christmas cards with letters for each person on my list, I think of Christmas at “home”. Like the song, “White Christmas”, I will be home for Christmas if only in my mind. And perhaps just a Christmas wish for a white Christmas this year in Texas.

amtolle

Preparing for Thanksgiving

This year we are having my husband’s daughter and her family down for Thanksgiving. Along with her and her family of four children, she is bringing down a boyfriend to meet her father.

They have been seeing each other for a least two years. Their relationship is getting serious. Her children like him, and his children like her, and the children like each other. A big positive for a relationship of blended families to work. Thanksgiving we are meeting the boyfriend.

A week ago, I was calling to confirm the dates they would be here to visit, and getting a commitment on staying at our house. My husband’s daughter, Ms. T, jokes just like her dad. I made some reply and heard him in the background with a reply and I said something back. Soon he was on speaker phone, and then he and I talked for two hours. He was mostly asking questions and learning about me and the farm.

It is common being nervous meeting the parents and vice versa, meeting in the boyfriend. At the beginning of the conversation with Ms. T, she was sharing about flying in an airplane to meet his family. She relayed we could fly to Colorado and visit them this summer. We were joking back and forth on why I do not fly anymore. I mentioned the reason being no place to escape during an anxiety attack when you are thousands of feet in the air, from the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He heard I had PTSD. He also has PTSD.

We had common ground. He began talking. He asked for me to share the event, I do not share the event. Then we discussed my triggers and his triggers, both of us wanting to avoid exposing the other to triggers during their visit. Then the conversation moved to horses, as he wants to learn how to be around and eventually get on a horse. From the horses the conversation evolved to nationalities, spiritualism and cooking. After two to three hours of conversation, he was excited to come for a visit. He was no longer nervous and wanting to be option of staying in a hotel. His last words of the conversation, “Yes, we will be staying at your house”.

I never thought a condition I suffer with daily, would be used to open the door for a relationship. This man is important to Ms. T and I am glad that with our conversation, he is more comfortable about coming down and meeting the father.

Now I am busy preparing the house for six people. Getting beds ready that have sit vacant for four months, dusting and clearing cobwebs out of the spare bedrooms, moving the extra boxes I have stored in one room to the storage building. Determining the menu and making sure there will be enough food and drinks for their visit.

I am even thinking of putting up the Christmas decorations early. As we will not have family here for Christmas, and Christmas is my favorite holiday. I am thinking of combining the Thanksgiving and Christmas in one celebration this year.

amtolle

Halloween Ideas

Halloween will arrive in the twitch of a cat’s tail. I do not have any kids at home to do the dress up and trick-o-treat. That does not mean Halloween has to be boring, depressing or sad.

I do decorate my house. Each year I spend $10 to $20 dollars on a new item to add to my decorations. I did not decorate for Halloween until seven years ago. My kids did dress up and go trick-o-treating until they became teenagers. But I did not decorate the house. A fun way

One way to decorate is to carve pumpkins. I would carve one side to show for Halloween, then turn the carving portion to the wall or fence, and use for Fall and Thanksgiving decoration. Last year we decorated pumpkins using sharpie markers, some glitter glue, eyes and imagination. It turned out nicely and the pumpkins lasted a long time. My daughter finally disposed of the cute creations this last April, upon my insisting they were rotten. This year, I am decorating Halloween pumpkins, but they are artificial pumpkins. I purchased two pumpkins to use sharpie or some paint to form some decoration. I will be able to reuse these pumpkins each year.

I decorate with flowers and maple leaves as well. The past years I have purchased artificial flowers to put in vases and to make wreaths. The table is so much brighter with a vase of color. The fall colors of yellows and oranges add a cheery atmosphere to the home.

With fall comes cooler temperature. I am one of those people who wait as long as I can tolerate the cool temperatures before turning on the heater. I can heat my home with baking. I love to bake and try new recipes. Fall is when I start baking the cinnamon rolls and sourdough bread. The baking takes the chill of the early morning out of the house, and fills it with delightful aromas.

As the cool temperatures arrive I enjoy a firepit in the evenings. Sitting by the firepit with some hot tea, hot cider or hot chocolate and enjoying the evening stars, watching the moon come up. Or if I have a craving for something sweet, roasting marshmallows and making s’mores.

When we moved to Texas and a larger town than what we have lived in prior, we were introduced to trunk-o-treat. People decorating the trunk or back of a pickup with a Halloween theme and handing out candy in a parking lot. There are competitions for the decorating. I like to visit the Trunk-o-Treat event to see how creative people are as well as to see the costumes. People show up hours in advance to decorate their vehicles for these events, as you can not drive the vehicle with the elaborate and creative decorations assembled.

Haunted houses are a major topic this time of year. I am not one who searches out haunted houses to visit, although I have known some people who do. The little town where we live, a group of people decorate a home into a haunted house. Three years ago they used a home destroyed by fire, and the proceeds of the event went to the family. This year I have not been able to find the haunted house. I know the street, just have not found the house. The outside decorations are always good.

Like Christmas, I seeing the homes decorated for Halloween. This is the first year our small town is having a Halloween decorating competition for home and businesses. There is one home that has skeletons rising from the ground in a graveyard. If I was a kid, I would not visit that house as it looks real. There is one resident offering their decorated yard for people to take family photos using their decorations as the backdrops.

There is one fall event I really miss that I did back home. The Aspen trees in Colorado are bright yellow, against the pines in the fall. I would load the kids up to see the colors change in the mountains. It was a short drive, 5 minutes and we were in the mountains. We would do it on a weekend, drive up, have a picnic lunch, smell the fall air, and return home in time to do chores.

Perhaps this is the year to have a few friends over for some finger foods, warm apple cider and games. Or maybe to cozy up with a scary book or movie and eat popcorn. Join with another family to hand out candy at a trunk-o-treat.

There are options for each person to celebrate Halloween if they choose. I made a choice a few years back to celebrate the season and holidays regardless who is with me.

amtolle