Festive Foods Friday Five

FESTIVE FOODS FRIDAY FIVE

From the RevGalBlogPals: Well friends, we've covered advent, music, and movies/TV--but we here at F5 HQ would be remiss if we did not acknowledge that quintessential holiday topic... fooooooooood.

1. Favorite cookie/candy/baked good without which, it's just not Christmas.

• Chocolate Sugar Bombs as named by my family for the way I make the traditional "Russian Tea Cakes" (with a Hershey's kiss in the middle)! (Recipe in next post!)
  
• BUCKEYES candies - homemade - yummy - chocolate and peanut butter. YUM!

2. Do you do a fancy dinner on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, both, or neither? (Optional: with whom will you gather around the table this year?) I will be curious to read the RGBP take on this one. WHO has time for a big dinner on Christmas Eve? Usually it's a fast meal, more of a "large snack" to tide us over until the after-service drop-in Christmas party at someone's home! Dinner is usually mid-day-ish on Christmas Day. Ham and other things which can bake on a timer in the oven, plus the afore-mentioned cookies! This year we dine with BBS's mom and our kids. Later in the week we will spend time with my family.

3. Evaluate one or more of the holiday beverage trifecta: hot chocolate, wassail, egg nog.

• Hot chocolate: What's not to like! YUM!
  
• Wassail: Not bad (if you've never had it, one could say it compares to the gluwein at the German Christkindlesmarkts during Advent, except gluwein is usually served hot.
• Egnogg: Yummy in coffee. I have been good and only bought the "low fat" this year (which is only 1,000 calories per sip instead of 5,000.) If brandy falls in your eggnog, so much the better!

4. Candy canes: do you like all the new-fangled flavors or are you a peppermint purist?
I am apparently living a sheltered life! Candy canes come in other flavors? EW.

5. Have you ever actually had figgy pudding? And is it really so good that people will refuse to leave until they are served it?
Yes I have and no it is not that good. I think they just needed another verse to drink more wassail.

Edited to add: Well, I am APPALLED with myself that I forgot to include a question about the crown prince of holiday foods--the fruitcake. Feel free to add your thoughts on this most polarizing holiday confection.

Ah, the fruitcake. I hear that people actually eat them from the box. My family's recipe is to open the tin, take out the fruitcake, wrap it in cheesecloth, pour a bottle of brandy over it (it absorbs it quickly), put back in the tin and stick it in the freezer until next year. Then it was sliced and passed around and generally ignored on the plate (except for surreptitious snorts of the brandy fumes...) We usually end up with Claxton Fruitcakes and they are folks who take their fruitcakes seriously... but NOT as seriously as the folks at "The Society for Protection and Preservation of Fruitcakes." (I mean, they must be either serious or seriously crazy! They bought their own domain name????)

God's peace and blessed Christmas to all of you -
From our cookie-saturated home to yours...

Deb

Elf Yourself!

Oh this was just too much fun!! I also made Harpy Girl and Reedy Girl into elves too... But theirs are not mine to share. At any rate, if you are in the mood, you can see me boogie down HERE!

Total silliness... yes, I know...

If your inner elf dances, let me know! :)

From our home to yours...
Deb

P.S. I have a photo editor and I know how to use it... hee hee...

P.P.S. As of January something, I must say PHOOEY! The "inner elf" site has gone away for the season. Ah well...

My Letter of the Alphabet - "M"

Cathy introduced me to this meme. The idea is to list ten things I love beginning with an assigned letter. Cathy has assigned me "M":

MOM: I have a great one! She's been a wonderful role model and support to me in this journey of life. Her encouragement in my seminary studies means the world to me.

MARRIAGE: I am blessed with a patient, occasionally long-suffering husband AKA "BBS" or "Beloved Bearded Spouse". He's an introvert; I'm... not. He leans toward the mystical; I... don't. He's philosophical; I'm... not. We balance each other, challenge each other, and celebrate each other. Twenty years next April - I love you!

MOTHERHOOD: Not the same as MOM, mind you. What a gift my daughters are to me. I have learned more about God and about His character and attributes through the "job" of motherhood.

MUSIC: The main way that my heart spills over to God.

MUSING: The second way my soul finds its voice - which is why this blog is so active lately. Guess I've had a lot on my mind!

MARSHES: Especially the ones near our family beach place in South Carolina... Peace. Beauty. Quiet. God's voice. Love it!

MEOWS! from the feline children of the house! (they just reminded me! "Time for GRrrrrrrrrrrEENIES!")

MASTERS: I've started on my second one. TLOK (The Lord Only Knows) if I will finish it! But I am really loving my studies. As a friend said to me this week, "you are just meant to do this!" Well hurray!!

MIDDLE NAME: Growing up I hated it. As a young adult I just ignored it. When I got married, I decided to keep it. It reflects a great gift in my life: "Grace".

MY FATHER'S WORLD: But in this case, the MOUNTAINS: If I can't get to the beach to hear God's voice, I know I will hear it in the mountains. Of late, we have enjoyed the wilds of Dolly Sods, WV. Hawks. Wind. Rocks. Trees.

This was fun! Do you want to play? Let me know in the comments and I'll give you a letter to re-post on your blog. (I promise - no X's, Z's or Q's -- unless you want them!)

From our home to yours...
Deb

Wait... where's my theological dictionary?

You scored as Chalcedon compliant. You are Chalcedon compliant. Congratulations, you're not a heretic. You believe that Jesus is truly God and truly man and like us in every respect, apart from sin. Officially approved in 451. Chalcedon compliant 100% Pelagianism 67% Nestorianism 33% Modalism 33% Monophysitism 33% Arianism 0% Apollanarian 0% Adoptionist 0% Docetism 0% Donatism 0% Albigensianism 0% Monarchianism 0% Gnosticism 0% Socinianism 0% Are you a heretic? created with QuizFarm.com

"You're not a heretic." (Well that's a relief!) Now I need to go and look up some of those "-isms" that I've never heard of...

from our theologically compliant home to yours...
Deb

Life sucks... and then eventually you get past it

I had a chat with a friend last week about depression and the holidays. We have mutual friends who are so down on life right now that they can not find anything to be grateful about. Nothing. Nada. Not even a parking space!

It's not that I don't understand where these folks are right now. I do identify with them. I have lived through some lousy holidays. The Christmas we ALL got the flu (serially - stretching out over 2 weeks. Nice!) or strep throat. The season that my father-in-law was terminally ill with lung cancer. The time when I was out of regular work and temping for various companies and money was beyond tight. The year that the guy I thought I was marrying broke our engagement. The months that followed after I resigned from a church ministry position and felt like an utter and total failure because I did not "fit the mold" that was wanted. Not to mention some really sucky moments in high school and college...

My friend asked me, "well what do you do or say when someone IS depressed and tells you all about it during the holidays? Do you just say - 'life sucks and sometimes you get past it?' "

Good question. I think it would be more honest to say, "Life sucks and EVENTUALLY you get past it." I worry less about the verbally expressive, and more about the one who looks like they are scraping along by the bottom of life. At least the person who tells me he or she is depressed can muster up enough energy to express anger. Or sadness. Or worry. Or discouragement. But the last thing I do is tell them to "CHEER UP!"

I try to remember what it felt like to be in "that place" and how hard it was to be aware of God's goodness when everything was so... sad.

What helped me? Genuine caring hugs. Doing something for someone else (the best way I found to struggle out of the funk of the broken engagement was helping each month at a soup kitchen.) Crying out to God and pouring out my heart in my music and my writing. Avoiding the things which gave me the most pain (for instance, one church I attended asked all of the "singles" to babysit during the "family" Christmas Eve service. I only did it once... and refused after serving one year. I saw all these couples come to pick up their kids... and they were younger than I was! That just truly hurt too much.)

I made it through some pretty difficult days. Sometimes I didn't have the energy to shop. Or to bake. Or to go to parties. Sometimes my heart was too sore for feeling joy. Or for feeling anything, for that matter. Sometimes I felt like the problems were all because of me. Mea culpa...

And then, sometimes, I realized that it was not me -- it was life. In all of its imperfections, inconsistencies, and sin. People with their own problems, challenges and downright meanness. Many times it had nothing to do with me, and everything to do with simple "bad timing." Eventually, and in my own time, I moved past the pain.

I saw beauty crop up in the raw places of my heart... in the hard places of my life... in fact, I found joy in the places that one does not expect to find it. I saw order in seeming crazy disorder. I found peace in total chaos and fruitfulness in complete barrenness. But none of this was my doing. It was all God's.

Out of more guilt than desire, I kept reading my Bible. One of those dark December days, the words from Deuteronomy took on new meaning...

Israel, the LORD discovered you in a barren desert
filled with howling winds.
God became your fortress, protecting you
as though you were His own eyes.
The LORD was like an eagle teaching its young to fly,
always ready to swoop down and catch them on its back.
Israel, the LORD led you, and without the aid
of a foreign god, He helped you capture the land.
Your fields were rich with grain.
Olive trees grew in your stony soil,
and honey was found among the rocks.
[Deut. 32:10-13]

Life in those rocky times - ones of "stony soil" and "honey from the rocks" - those difficult times in my life made it clearer than ever that God's love for me went past my pain, my failures or achievements, my relationships or lack of them... I was just - completely and totally - loved!

I've never forgotten it. Hard times come and go. People disappoint. Physical bodies do strange and painful things... God remains constant. And that's all that I can tell anyone who knows the truth of "life sucks... and then eventually you get past it."

Often I stand on the edge of the light, afraid to believe, afraid to act, afraid that this story is too good to be true. But then in my better moments, when I listen closely to the story, move closer to the light, my fears seem to evaporate like an early morning mist, and I can believe again. I can believe that God who made all that is became clothed in our human flesh so that we might become clothed in God. I can believe that God claims me as a beloved child. I can believe that my days are in God's strong and tender hands. I can believe that life is good, beautiful, and eternal. I can believe that not only my days but all days are in God's good and able hands. I can believe, rejoice, and wait trustingly and expectantly for the unfolding of God's promise given so many ways and most clearly in the Advent story. Thanks be to God!

[-- Reuben P. Job in A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God]

From our home to yours...
Deb

Advent: Names of God (week three)

Week Three of Advent - Closer to the celebration, and yet so far...

We started this week with worship in the morning, a concert and party in the evening, and Harpy Girl off with friends to the "sing-a-long" MESSIAH at the Kennedy Center. (Yes, there is some parental envy on that one!) We'll also be seeing the National Christmas Tree on the Mall, and spending time with friends later...

Here's this week's "Names of God" for your encouragement and heart's feeding...

From our home to yours...
Deb

========= =========== ===========

December 17
Name of God: "My Savior"
Scripture: Luke 1:47; 2:11; John 4:42

December 18
Name of God: "Alpha and Omega"
Scripture: Revelation 1:8; 21:6; 22:13

December 19
Name of God: "Light"
Scripture: John 8:12

December 20
Name of God: "A Mighty Fortress"
Scripture: Psalm 18:2

December 21
Name of God: "King"
Scripture: Psalm 145:1; Revelation 17:14; 19:16

December 22
Name of God: "My Comfort and Shelter"
Scripture: Psalm 61

December 23
Name of God: "All-Consuming Fire"
Scripture: Deuteronomy 4:23-24; Hebrews 12:28-29

December 24
Name of God: "Emmanuel"
Scripture: Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23

December 25
Name of God: "Messiah"
Scripture: John 1:41; 4:25

Harrumph

In emails with my family in Ohio, I found out that they have their last day of school TODAY (December 15th) with a nice long 2 week break. Of course, here in suburbia and in the land of the perpetual classroom, we only have a week... Which is OK, I guess, if one can believe that any "education" will occur next week. Harpy Girl does have a test and project due, but not at the end of the week, more towards the middle. Such is life - I try not to gripe too much. Teaching is an underpaid and unappreciated profession, and I try to support my kids' teachers as much as I can.

And then I get this email from Reedy Girl's middle school PTA:
Volunteers are needed for an "Educational Movie Day" on December 22. The entire school will watch Akeela and the Bee and parents are needed to assist with popcorn and water distribution. If you are available to help from 11-12:30 on Friday, December 22 please e-mail NAME DELETED at EMAIL DELETED.

Thank you!

The premise for this "educational movie day" is the fact that parents pull their kids out of school to (HORRORS!!!!) travel and see (GASP!!) family... Others take their kids away on a vacation, so that they can prepare for the next semester of powerhouse test prep. The kids have said for years that nothing happens the week before vacation. Few tests, little homework. Everyone is just marking time. Yet the days are on the calendar so that we fulfill the holy quotient of Ye State of Marylande.

Harrumph!!!!! (I think I'll just yell.)

For this we pay disgustingly high taxes...

Deb

Tacky Christmas lights

The Germans do it right. Whole towns, cities and villages are decorated for Christmas. Genteely. Softly. Beautifully. Electric "arches" in the windows cause a soft glow to fall on the snow and streets. The photo doesn't do it justice...

While the House of V is decorated (internally and externally) for Christmas, I would like to think we are remotely tasteful, if not boring. Yes, the 'net' lights I bought after Christmas are all white. And so are the ones in the garland around the door. They are still pretty. They don't blink. And they don't "race" or strobe, either. There's no blow-up figures or an electric Jesus on our lawn. (You can have one if you want, just don't make me. Please.)

After reading "Skipping Christmas" by John Grisham, we've been seeing the uber-decorated homes with new eyes. A yard with an electric snowman or Santa-stuck-in-a-globe causes someone in the car to yell "FREE FROSTY!" It seems to be easier than ever to be tacky. There are several overly decorated houses in our area. I saw one when I was out on errands last weekend. The house. The yard. The trees. Even a junker car was COVERED in lights!!! There were Blow-up figures. Icicle lights. Mini-lights. Big blinking lights. Unlike this house, no music was playing. But it had traffic backed up for a mile...

I'm not the only one seeing the tacky stuff everywhere. Just because I felt I bombed at the Friday Five this week, I offer instead the "Five Best Sites for Tacky Lights" for your surfing pleasure: (trust me, there are more...)

1. Anti Yawn's Guide on how to be truly tacky with holiday decorating (in case people need help? Yikes.)
   
2. Holly's Guide to Tacky Christmas Lights - a local wonderland outside Your Nation's Capitol! Complete with a map. I'm thinking this is not an honor...
   
3. This site proves that the USA doesn't hold the corner or tacky lights...
4. A great Tacky Light Tour! - and one of the first websites to catalogue the illuminated excesses...
   
5. Finally, in what is probably the greatest disservice to the Christ Child, is this display which features a prominent reminder of the supposed "Reason" why people do this in the first place... Lord Have Mercy...

OK, Martha Stewart doesn't live at my house, but I promise to never, ever try to get on one of these lists...

From our home to yours...
Deb

Friday Five: Yuletide Favorites

The RevGalBlogPals had a retro feel this week. I confess I am not a big Christmas movie fan. (Hope you still love me anyway...) Oh well - - here goes!

For this mid-December Friday Five, let's explore some Yuletide favorites.

1) It's a Wonderful Life--Is it? Do you remember seeing it for the first time?
Um... believe it or not, I've never sat through the whole thing without falling asleep.

2) Miracle on 34th Street--old version or new?
Well, I've read the book...

3) Do you have a favorite incarnation of Mr. Scrooge?
Mr. Spaceley from The Jetsons.

4) Why should it be a problem for an elf to be a dentist? I've been watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer for years now, and I still don't get it.
I suppose it's as certain a career as being a mortician... (everyone has teeth and everyone dies...) But if you think about it, being an elf is seasonal work and then you can take long vacations. What's not to like? (And let's be honest, who really likes going to the dentist???)

5) Who's the scariest character in Christmas specials/movies?
My nomination: Any of them that are blue and talk in squeaky voices... YICK and EEK!!!!

(I will spare you all of the Smurf jokes...)







I will redeem myself with my next post... I promise!

From our home to yours...
Deb

The Nativity Story That Got Away...

From the HoneyBeez mothering and breastfeeding list...

Went to Abigail's school Christmas concert (no "proper" Nativity this year). Each class did a little something followed by a song or 2. Anyway, Ab's class did a Nativity scene, with Ab as Mary. How proud was I?). A few mins into their bit Ab promptly lifted her dress & shoved baby Jesus up it. The script then wandered away from what they'd learnt & goes as follows....

Joseph: "What are you doing?"
Mary: "I'm feeding our baby"
Shepherd: "Have you got a bottle up there then?"
Mary: "Don't be silly he's having milk from my booby"
Joseph: "That's disgusting"
Mary: "No, that baby milk they have in Tescos is disgusting. My baby's having proper milk"
Shepherd: "What's a booby?"
Mary: "Those sticky out bits ladies have"
Shepherd: "They're not boobies, they're nipples"
Mary: "No they're not, they're boobies"
Joseph: "So why can't Jesus have milk from a bottle then?"
Mary: "Because I haven't got a breast pump with me - you forgot to put it on the donkey"
Shepherd: "Can't you ask the teacher for a bottle to feed Jesus with?"
Mary: "No because this is the best way to feed Jesus. Anyway bottles haven't been invented yet & even if they were I've just had a baby so if you think I'm faffing about round Tescos to buy baby milk when I make proper milk in my boobies you can think again"

I felt a teeny bit sorry for their class teacher - she did try her best to steer them back towards their proper lines but she was laughing so much she didn't really stand a chance. The line about Joseph forgetting the breast pump finished her off - she slid to the floor & couldn't get up for laughing....


==================

NOW THEN...

To reflect on this story a bit... Recent conversations on an attachment parenting list I'm on (Parenting as Ministry) have led me beyond my usual ruminations of the Incarnation. Though I don't particularly like "In the Bleak Midwinter" (dreary tune by Gustav Holst and biblical inaccuracies aside) I had to go back and re-read a couple of the verses as posted by one of the group members...

Enough for Him, Whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, Whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

I was pregnant twice during Christmas - both girls were summer babies, so I wasn't "great with child", more like "great with morningsickness". But I remember during those pregnancies being in awe of the Incarnation. How was it that it was true - Eternal in the womb of temporal, of the Divine heart beating under His mother's? Mary's pregnancy led me to deep joy and thanksgiving for the Gift of the Christ Child.

Somehow, I never connected the dots and thought much about Mary's experience as a "mother" of a newborn - swaddling, changing, nursing and kissing the face of her Son.

Pretty amazing... isn't it?

From our home to yours...

Deb

P.S. Hat tip to Tot Rocket for the graphic!