DECEMBER 23RD

It all started nearly sixty years ago, when we lived in Ann Arbor and I listened to Bud Guest's radio program on WJR out of Detroit. Each year as Christmas approached, Bud told us about his family's tradition of trimming the Christmas tree on December 23rd. Theirs was a grand occasion, for family, friends, and neighbors. The magic and joy that came through his radio show found a way to my heart. And several years later, when our little family was settled into a big house--old and not at all grand, but definitely a family house--we established our own tradition of trimming the tree on December 23rd.

The reason for December 23rd? A couple of things. First, we avoided Christmas Eve, when many families had big dinners or went to church programs. Second, we waited till close to Christmas Day so that the live tree would be healthy throughout the twelve days of Christmas, from December 26th through January 6th (also known as Twelfth Night or Epiphany).

Our first time we had only two guests, but later, when we moved to the country and had a  rambling farmhouse--also an old house and still not grand--we introduced more friends to our tradition.

We began the evening with food, always a good start. The menu ran something like this:

--Beef Fondue--little chunks of tenderloin speared on the fondue forks and cooked in bubbling oil

--Cheese Fondue--chunks of French bread speared on the forks and dipped in a pot of piping hot cheese sauce (made with gruyere cheese and white wine)

--Green Salad--served with homemade oil and vinegar dressing

--Red and White Wine, sparkling grape juice

After dinner, we adjourned to the living room. The men went out to haul in the tree, usually a seven- or eight-footer (we had ten-foot ceilings in those days). And then the fun began!

No matter how carefully the decorations for the tree had been stored away the year before, there was always a string of something or other in a mess--often it was gilded walnut shell halves, glued back together over a long string holding twenty or more shells. Sometimes it was the lights that managed to get themselves tangled up. While guests worked out the details, I played carols on the upright piano so we could sing as we worked.

Eventually the tree was decorated! We celebrated that feat with a tray of baked goods one of the guests brought each year--Christmas cookies he baked himself, along with slices of his fruit cake that had been started around Thanksgiving and fed brandy off and on ever since. Some guests continued with wine. Others drank the coffee pot dry. 

Gifts were exchanged--everything from handmade needlework to the latest big book, or maybe a little excellent book. We were an eclectic group, but everyone was interested in reading and learning and talking about ideas.

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Like many traditions, the tree-trimming party changed as the years passed. Our children grew up, married, had their own children. The group dynamics changed rapidly. Eventually there wasn't room in my home for that many people, especially if we were going to bring in a big tree and decorate it. And then each of the children had a home and small children, and each young family wanted to establish its own traditions. 

I still honor December 23rd, and I still think of it as Tree-Trimming Day. For several years I've had an artificial tree because it was what I could handle on my own. As the years pass, my tree grows smaller, and this year my daughter and I will lightly decorate two tiny pencil trees, each about 30 inches tall. The magic is there, no matter the size of the tree(s).

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What is important about traditions? Lots of answers to that one. For me, a tradition links me to something in my earlier life that had deep meaning for me.

Decorating a tree or two brings back memories of tree-trimming dinners with friends whom I no longer see.

When I listen to Handel's Messiah from some choral group around the world, I recall singing with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Choir; we performed Messiah every other year.

If the weather cooperates this year, I'll go to church on Christmas Day and hear again the age-old stories, sing the familiar carols, and greet friends I've not seen much during our years of pandemic. And I'll feel again the joy of making music when I was church organist at three small congregations in my county.

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Do you have Christmas traditions? I hope you do. I hope you continue to enjoy them even though our global village is suffering through a number of problems. 

And I wish every one of you a Happy Christmas, and a healthy and happy new year.

Blessings,

Thursday's Child

OVERWHELM!

 Verb--second definition: SUBMERGE

Are we there yet? On a scale of 1 to 10, I'm about a 4, or maybe a 5. Some things going well, some rolling along on Fred Flintstone's square wheels. But going forward!

To help you in your own journey through a possible slough of Overwhelm, here's a gift. Easy to make, tasty, good enough to serve to guests. Reheats well in microwave. Even freezes well. What's not to like?

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SPINACH PIE - NO CRUST 

(Approximately 8 servings)

Ingredients

10-ounce pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

12-ounce container small curd cottage cheese

3/4 cup Parmesan cheese

2 cups shredded cheese (your fave)

2 eggs, slightly beaten (or 1/2 cup egg substitute)

1/2 cup chopped onion (optional)

1 1/2 Tbsp. flour

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 deg. Fahrenheit. Lightly grease glass baking dish, about 7x11 inches. (See below for other options.)

2. In large bowl, mix all ingredients. Spread in the greased baking dish (or other option).

3. Bake 30-40 minutes, until golden brown.

Alternate Baking Options

Bake in foil muffin liners, sprayed with oil. 18-22 minutes. Makes about 12.

OR, bake in mini muffin liners, also sprayed with oil, about 10 minutes. Makes 30-36.

This would be good for Christmas morning breakfast, if you make it ahead of time.

Spinach Pie is great served as a luncheon dish with fresh veggies and a bread or muffin.

IMPORTANT - be sure you squeeze all the moisture out of the spinach--use your hands and really work at it. Paper towels work also, but you'll have chopped spinach sticking to the towel, so be aware of that.

The 1 1/2 tablespoons of flour help soak up any moisture you couldn't remove; just don't rely on it to do all the work. You want your spinach pie to solidify.

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SPECIAL THANKS to my Arizona daughter for sharing this recipe with me several years ago. She got it from a work colleague, so the origin is unknown. Our family has eaten Spinach Pie together many times!

If you're trying to keep it simple, buy a muffin mix to bake up ahead of time also. Or those yummy cinnamon rolls in the freezer section of your store--the kind you tap (or whap) on the edge of the counter to open, then spread in a pan and bake.

And if you're gluten-free like some of us in my family, substitute GF flour in the pie and make your own muffins. Options are everywhere!

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See you next week . . .hope we all stay afloat!

Thursday's Child

INSPIRING THOUGHTS

Along about now, mid-December, I get a little off the path. Not in a good way--looking at new things, exploring different terrain--no, this is closer to losing my direction. Shouldn't happen, but it does.

First I notice my journal is going over and over the same territory--a little whine here, a criticism there, some self-pity around the edges--and I end my writing session wondering why I bother. 

Later I watch some tutorials online--painting, quilting, sewing--and that often gets me out of the doldrums. If it doesn't . . . then something drastic has to be done.

In my writing room I have a number of inspirational sayings on the walls and in frames sitting on the short filing cabinet. Here's one of my favorites:

     There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle,

      or the mirror that reflects it.

                            Edith Wharton (American author 1862-1937)

Edith Wharton was the first woman to receive the Pulitzer prize in 1921 for her novel Age of Innocence.

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Today I want to share inspirational thoughts from a variety of folks. If you need a lift, take one of these.

Ben Okri, born 1959, is a Nigerian poet and novelist.

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Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996) was dubbed the "First Lady of Song." Known as a singer of American jazz.

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Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) was a Scottish novelist. Many know him as the author of Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

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Morgan Freeman (1937--); American actor, director, and narrator.

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Don't know about you, but I feel better just writing about these folks.

Have a good week!

Blessings,

Thursday's Child

ARE YOU UP FOR A GAME?

As you've no doubt gathered, I'm a word person--I like words. I collect words. I use them when I speak and write and think. Of all the possibles, words are very likely the basis of my existence.

Other people are number people. They think them, they live them--words are much lower on the scale of existence for number people.

I understand about numbers--about, I said, not, I understand numbers. My understanding is quite basic, learned by fifth grade: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division (long and short). I also know about decimals and fractions. As I say, by fifth grade I knew all that. (Yes, I took math in high school and college, but not much of that stayed with me. It went off and hooked up with a numbers person for its happiness.)

So! Back to words.

We're starting a new month, and already today we're on Day 2. (See? Can't get away from numbers.)

I propose a game--activity--to accompany us through this last, and nearly blackout-dark month of the year, until we can start writing 2022 on our checks. Are you up for it?

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I like simplicity. So this is a very simple game. Only a couple of rules:

1--choose a new word each day--long, short, whatever part of speech--but just one word. FYI: a hyphenated word is considered one word. 

2--think or write about or just meditate on your chosen word for that day. See how many times it comes up for you--words have a habit of doing that; once they're in your head, they're like those ear-worm songs that won't go away.

That's it! No need to keep a record. No need to tell anyone what you're doing. (Unless you want to share the game with someone else; but remember, it's a one-person game. No competition.) No prizes or awards, except whatever fun you get out of doing the game.

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Some examples:

If you like nouns, you have a whole world of choices: dog, cat, candy, pizza, tree, presents, ribbons, money, truck, happiness, anticipation . . . you name it. 

The nouns may spawn a few more: mess, expense, greed, disappointment, joy, excitement . . . .

Your choices will come from your life and your imagination. Have a go! Might lighten your day.

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Now, for you numbers folks:

--there are 31 days in this last month of the year. How about working with each day's number?

--does the number 2 ring a bell for you? Or 7? Or 19? Think about each day and its number, what it means, if anything; or if it means nothing, make up a meaning for it.

--do you prefer even or odd numbers? Do you have favorite numbers? Or lucky numbers?

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For all of you--word or number people--by the time you get to the 21st day of the month, you'll be past the shortest daylight day of the year, and it's all up from there.

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Q&A:

What if I miss a day? You missed an opportunity to play. Start again the next day.

What if I don't want to play? Go do something else--wash the dog, shop in a busy store at rush hour, eat something really bad for you.

Why are there no prizes? Because they're not good for you. If you only play to win a prize, what have you learned? Probably only how to play to win that prize.

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Start when you're ready . . . the fun is about to begin.

Winter Solstice

GIVING . . .

Today in the U.S. we celebrate Thanksgiving Day--a time of offering our thanks for the many blessings we've received.

There's another way to look at Thanks-giving--emphasis on giving. Here's a poem by Alberto Rios, poet laureate of Arizona, that addresses that topic. I hope you like it.

When Giving Is All We Have

Alberto Ríos

                                              One river gives
                                              Its journey to the next.

We give because someone gave to us.
We give because nobody gave to us.

We give because giving has changed us.
We give because giving could have changed us.

We have been better for it,
We have been wounded by it—

Giving has many faces: It is loud and quiet,
Big, though small, diamond in wood-nails.

Its story is old, the plot worn and the pages too,
But we read this book, anyway, over and again:

Giving is, first and every time, hand to hand,
Mine to yours, yours to mine.

You gave me blue and I gave you yellow.
Together we are simple green. You gave me

What you did not have, and I gave you
What I had to give—together, we made

Something greater from the difference.
 

[Copyright © 2014 by Alberto Ríos. Used with permission of the author.]

Born in 1952, Alberto Ríos is the inaugural state poet laureate of Arizona and the author of many poetry collections, including A Small Story about the Sky (Copper Canyon Press, 2015). In 1981, he received the Walt Whitman Award for his collection Whispering to Fool the Wind (Sheep Meadow Press, 1982). He served as a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets from 2014 to 2020.

 

ARE WE
THANKFUL?

Next week we'll celebrate Thanksgiving in the U.S. For the first time since COVID took over our lives in March 2020, we may be able to celebrate one holiday in the "old style" that was what we expected to happen. November is a good time to start.

In case your situation is different--family all live too far away to get back for the holiday, people with jobs that require them to work in spite of it being a holiday, no one for you to join for a big noisy meal--whatever!--if your situation is different, you can still celebrate.

Facebook has a history of "30 Days of Gratitude"--you get on your page and list what you're grateful for that day. Pretty soon, Day 3 becomes Day 12 and then Day 26. How did that happen? Well, my thought is: once you start listing gratitudes, they keep multiplying.

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A few years ago I posted a week of gratitudes here on Thursday's Child--something for each day of the week, seven in all. Another time I listed 20 (!) reasons I'm grateful. (Surprised myself on that one.)

If you can't quite get your head around being grateful (some people don't even like the word, I'm told), then maybe if you call them blessings you'll feel more comfortable. A blessing is a gift--something you didn't ask/beg/plead for--it just came your way. And you accepted it. Or, you didn't.

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I'll start the ball rolling . . . and you must remember I'm not a "people person" in the accepted sense of the phrase, so keep that in mind as you read.

So, here goes. I'm grateful:

1. for family members who keep in touch--emails, texts, voice mails, in-person visits, letters and cards sent via USPS, Facebook postings, photos sent however. 

2. for friends who keep in touch--lots of Facebook postings, emails, letters and cards, texts, phone calls, in-person visits.

3. for kind neighbors--next-door, across the street, across town; people who give of their time to help my daughter and me with leaf removal, gutter cleaning, snow removal, outdoor painting--whatever jobs are too difficult or too time-consuming and a little help will be appreciated. People who share their baked goods from time to time. (We get a loaf of bread from next-door every Thanksgiving.)

4. for healthcare personnel whose lives are dedicated to keeping patients healthy, or if that isn't possible, for making patients comfortable.

5. for people who love their work: lawn service folks, carpenters and other contractors, letter carriers, cheerful checkouts at the grocery and discount stores, receptionists at professional offices who treat the folks who walk through the door as if they were the best thing that's happened all day. To name a few--there are tons more.

6. for people who are good at their creative tasks and want to share them. These include folks I know in person (painters, musicians, quilters, knitters) as well as online folks who share their expertise on YouTube and invite feedback from people they'll probably never meet.

7. for all the folks who figured out how we can have Sunday worship in our own homes; meetings via Internet; entertainment on TV and via the Internet that doesn't require us to be in crowds.

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Not bad for a non-people person, wouldn't you say? 

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On Thanksgiving Day my daughter and I will welcome her sister from Ohio for dinner at our house. We'll have roast chicken (none of us is crazy about turkey), roasted root vegetables, cranberry sauce or relish (to be decided), some kind of bread-y thing (gluten free, of course), and--TA-DA!--pumpkin pie made from Ohio pumpkins. Don't feel sorry for us if we don't have mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole with marshmallows, green bean casserole, or five kinds of pie. We'll fix and serve and eat what we like best and enjoy it in companionable company.

Wishing you the same!

In the meantime, don't forget those Gratitudes (or Blessings)--if you write down one a day, you'll have 13 by the end of November!

 THANK YOU, VETERANS!

Today we honor all who have served in the Armed Forces of the United States of America.

In my family, those are a grandson who served in the Army; my son-in-law who served in the Navy; and a stepgrandson, who also served in the Navy.

Thank you, Derek, Marv, and Adam! God bless you!