Another Christmas Memory

The particular winter I am thinking about was approximately twelve years ago. It had been a windy autumn, more wind than usual. One neighbor had begun to decorate for Christmas. In their tradition, the Jesus baby was not put out until Christmas Day. 

As we drove down the street, our oldest Grandgirl, then about five years old, noticed the figures. She said a classic line!

“I see Mary, and I see Joseph. I guess Jesus blowed away!”

We have mentioned her comment every year since. Such innocence and astute observation! If you can’t find Him, perhaps you can explain His absence?

May you know an increased awareness of Christ this season and throughout the coming year! Blessings to you.

“I see Mary, and I see Joseph. I guess Jesus blowed away!”

Advent Calendar

Someone mentioned on the radio that their Mom used to take an advent calendar and put a slip of paper in each day saying “I love it when you …” or “I love that you are …” It became a treasured memory of waiting for the birth of Jesus. Over our 48 years of marriage we have gathered many favorite decorations and memories. I thought this year it would be great to make something similar to this advent calendar for Bob.

To make it look rustic I took a piece of burlap. Then made little pockets to hold the papers. Placed them on the burlap in the shape of a tree. Sewed them in place and numbered them. Printed the I love you slips, cut them up and presented it to Bob on the first day of December. Gee! it sounds easier than it was when I was making it!

I almost gave up twice. The pockets were not very straight. The puff paint was a mess. I told Bob to think of it as American folk art, similar to Grandma Moses, not a precise creation. Often OCD must die when I do crafts.

Today is December 11 and he is enjoying the calendar. He says he will fill it next year for me.

Wise Men

One of my favorite sayings has been made in decorations of several sorts. One year for Christmas my daughter, Emily, gave us a star which hangs in our kitchen now.wise 1

Matthew 2:1-10 (HCSB) After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived unexpectedly in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”

“When King Herod heard this, he was deeply disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. So he assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people and asked them where the Messiah would be born. “In Bethlehem of Judea,” they told him, “because this is what was written by the prophet: And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the leaders of Judah: because out of you will come a leader who will shepherd My people Israel.”

“Then Herod secretly summoned the wise men and asked them the exact time the star appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. When you find Him, report back to me so that I too can go and worship Him.” After hearing the king, they went on their way.

“And there it was—the star they had seen in the east! It led them until it came and stopped above the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed beyond measure.”

Now we know little about these wise men.  We do know that stars are most easily seen in a clear night sky. There is a man made star that we can see at this time annually when the people who own a house on the hill light it up. We see it from a four lane highway at 55 MPH.

The other day after church Bob decided he wanted to find where that house was, where that star was. We started off up the hill on a sunny Sunday afternoon circling into various subdivisions. Our hunt was for naught. Too many houses with private drives up there! We will just have to admire it from afar and be reminded as we pass that wise men were led to the Savior by a star.

I was giggling inside as we made our way home. What does it say about us that we were searching for a star on a sunny afternoon? Maybe not too wise? Except really good at wise cracks!

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We do still seek the Savior to come and fill us at a greater depth during this season of Advent and all the year long.

Holy Water

There is a lovely Catholic place that I occasionally go to for retreat or special speakers. I was walking through the cafeteria one day and spotted something that has made me giggle repeatedly. Have you ever had a large jug of grape juice in your refrigerator? This was a repurposed jug sitting on a shelf.

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On closer examination I saw what it was used for.

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Of course, silly me. There had to be some way to get the water into the sanctuary. It just made me giggle! Lord, have mercy upon me.

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New Product Old Saying

My mother had an old saying that had to do with a product called boot black. It was similar to shoe polish.

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When my mother thought someone was ignorant or had no common sense, she would say, “He doesn’t know shxx from Shinola.”

Now there is a new product with that name. Makes me wonder if they are aware of the old saying! Hand assembled bicycles and new stylish watches.

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The Shinola company!

 

Halloween

Now I know, some of you are opposed to any Halloween celebration of any kind. But let me just tell you about my Halloween trick or treating growing up! We never had any evil attached to October 31. It was just a day to collect free candy. Our focus was upon Hershey’s and Mars and any other sugary item available to us.

I have a fond memory of my Dad buying me this product

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for you see, Halloween is the day BEFORE MY BIRTHDAY!! So one year this was my treat to share with the class. Had to be elementary school because he died before I went to middle school.

It wasn’t until I grew older that I realized I could tell the people who were passing out the candy “Tomorrow is my birthday!” And

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They would usually give me extra candy. What is not to like about that? And the best part is it was a true statement 🙂

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Of course, we did not have plastic pumpkins in the 1960s. Just grabbed one of mom’s pillowcases ( with permission) and hit as many doors as possible.

Be sure to brush your teeth after you sort the kids’ candy and choose your favorites! Just sayin’!!

Love, The Birthday Girl

 

 

Not Quite Plain Sight

… unless you travel out a ways by boat.

We went out on the Sanctuary Cruise in Moss Beach, California to whale watch.

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The white plume to the right is a whale exhaling. The naturalist on board taught us to look for bird activity, with seals and stirred up water. Shortly the whales would appear. They stirred up food from the bottom and that attracted the birds and seals. These were humpbacked whales and not seal eaters.

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This one shows the seals and other activity. Sadly the man taking photos next to me is blurring the left side. I am not accomplished enough to remove him from the photo and keep the left whale.

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And the fun continued! The mist from the plume drifted our way. The captain asked how we liked liked whale breath! It was fishy and fun in a whale sighting kind of way!! My favorite is the one minute video I took, but I have to pay lots more for the blog if I post videos. The video went to my facebook account.

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Our trip was worth every penny. We had such fun. I marveled the God did not HAVE to allow us to see theses fantastic creatures. And yet, He did! So with the flip of the tail I say good day!

 

 

 

Dojo’s Kisses

Our hallway is adorned with family photos showing four generations. Both sets of our parents, Bob and I, our children with their children and our son-in-law. One afternoon in 2014 when the light was just right I noticed the glass over the photo of my daughter’s family was smudged. On closer inspection I found kiss marks over each face.

I remembered on a recent visit our youngest Grandgirl had been going into the bathroom often to apply her new lip balm that had slight color in it. I am certain she adorned the photo of her family! I did not “clean” the glass. It’s a blessed testament of love.

When we recently updated the family photos I asked my husband to be certain NOT to wash the glass. He did better than that! He bought a new frame for the new photo and let me keep old photo with kisses. I love that man!

Ellie kisses special

Vine Fantasy Weird Brain #3

I planted three varieties of sweet potato vine in the back garden this year.

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One was rather puny and the bright green one outshone the other two and began to take over the garden wall. One day I noticed the puny vine had begun to climb the hill into the woods.

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Have you seen areas where English ivy has grown unabated?
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I have this fantasy that the sweet potato vine up in the woods is going to be gargantuan and take over the back hill. Of course, it will be too mannerly to interfere with our hundreds of daffodil bulbs. Other than the daffodils, look out!

Why The Recipe Says To Pierce

I have been cooking for at least 50 years. Every recipe I ever read says when you are going to bake a potato, pierce it first with a fork.

I have been recovering from a bug, but felt well enough to scrubs potatoes and put them in the oven this morning. Imagine my surprise when the timer rang and I pulled this out of the oven!

250D95AB-8705-4E63-8D69-AD9CAF0CE43CYep! That potato exploded! I forgot to pierce them. I laughed out loud!

 

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When they cooled I made twice baked potatoes. I was actually able to eat mine with no ill effects. Baked all 5 pounds and shared them with both adult children’s families.