Reflections on Christmas

Of all family celebrations and holidays, I think that Christmas is the one most interwoven with tradition.  There are the common ones such as singing carols, gift-giving and decorations. But there are also traditions unique to each family, the ones that evolve as your family does! For instance, this will be the 36th year that I have baked yummy Christmas Bread on Christmas Eve to have for breakfast on Christmas morning.  My mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother all did the same and my oldest daughter, Elisabeth has continued the tradition. We bake the same cookies every year even though we try new ones here and there. We always open our stockings first before the gifts, and open gifts youngest to oldest and around again! About 22 years ago we memorized the Christmas story from Luke 2 as a family. Every year since, we quote it as a family. We love to sing Christmas carols together in the evening.  When the older children were small. they put on a program for Christmas that we performed for grandparents and sometimes the local nursing home. We take lots of pictures to enjoy in years to come.  Because of all of the tradition, we mark the passing of time more poignantly from year to year. Change seems so obvious.

I usually get so caught up in all of the preparation, that I miss many of the small blessings of the moment.  This year, I plan to to slow down and savor the sweet moments with my family and all of my little grandchildren. The mess will wait and dishes will still be there when everyone is gone, but we will not have these special moments again.  Next year, they will be a year older and it will be different.

I also plan to take some quiet moments to reflect on the wonder of Emmanuel, God With Us. It is hard to conceive of,  isn't it?  Imagine the Creator of the Universe becoming a tiny, helpless baby to rescue the souls of men!!

Lord, draw our hearts to the stable to refresh our childlike wonder at our Messiah's birth.  Help us to live our lives today in anticipation of His return to rule the earth.

Joy to the World!!!

Diana

Delicious Homemade Yogurt

 This has absolutely nothing to do with the Christmas season, except for the fact that I have been so busy sewing etc., that I have not been cooking!  We have been eating lots of yogurt with homemade granola and fruit. A few months ago, I started making yogurt and have been so fabulously successful, that I thought that I would explain the process to you, so that you can try it yourself.  This is so much cheaper than buying it at the grocery and so handy.

After much experimentation with a heat source, I finally settled on a candle warmer as the perfect incubator for yogurt! One may easily be purchased for about four dollars at a craft store or candle department of Walmart. You will also need a carton of Dannon yogurt (I use vanilla) or any other that has active cultures. Now we are ready to go.

I have several quart sized jars that I use for the process.  You will fill your jar about 2/3 with milk and heat it in the microwave for  a minute or so, just until the chill is off but it is not hot. We like vanilla yogurt, not being purists, so I add 1/3 cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla to the milk .  Next you will stir in two tablespoons of yogurt into the mix and stir with a whisk until it is well mixed. Then I top off the jar with either half and half or more milk and put the lid on.

                                                                           

Now plug in the warmer and set your jar inside a bowl of warm water and there you go! About eight hours later you should have a jar of creamy yogurt. I check it to be sure with a little taste test, and if it tastes like yogurt, I wipe off the jar and set it inside the freezer for two hours and then into the frig for use. 

When I buy my carton of yogurt, I get the quart size and freeze portions in little muffin cups for future yogurt batches. I use silicone cups that I can then pop out and store in a ziplock bag in the freezer. I have been using the bit of yogurt left from a jar to make the next jar sometimes.  You can do this once or twice, but the culture begins to weaken. I probably make a quart a day because we all like it so much. Next time I will give you the granola recipe that I like!

Wishing you a happy day!

Diana

Light of the World

We have had a very dark December so far, cloudy days with lots of rain and about four inches of snow! Yesterday, however, the sun  came out!  What a difference the light made coming in the windows of my house.  For one thing, I could see the dust bunnies a bit better. I had more energy and enthusiasm for my house chores and studies. Everything is better in the light.  Isaiah the prophet spoke of this is the dark days that he lived, hundreds of years before the first Christmas:

"The people who walk in darkness will see a great light;

Those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them." Isaiah 9:2

The shepherds who received the announcement of the child's birth were surrounded by the light of the glory of God. The Light had come!

One of my favorite verses is II Corinthians 4:6: "For God, who said,"Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ."

We need not walk in darkness any longer.

This past Sunday we went to hear our son Isaiah sing at his church and heard a song we have never heard before. The words of the chorus were especially good:

Celebrate the Child who is the Light

Now the darkness is over.

No more wandering in the night,

Celebrate the Child who is the Light....Michael Card

This Christmas season, look into the face of Christ, and celebrate the Child who is the Light!!

Our family loves Christmas lights! I tried hanging lights on our house one time without much lasting success, so we have a lot of lights in our house instead! I love the warm glow they give. We also enjoy the lights that others light their houses with, so every evening car ride becomes an oohing and ahhing time for us. Over the years we have enjoyed drinking hot chocolate while we "enjoy" the tree.  I know that you can get many flavors and types in packages in the store, but there is nothing quite like homemade! Here is a recipe that I have been making since I was 12 years old. It is simple, but delicious. You can top it with marshmallows or whipped cream and of course a peppermint stick makes a great stirrer!!

• Hot Chocolate

In a saucepan mix:  2 T. cocoa

                              3 T. sugar

                              1/4 t. salt

Stir on 1/2 cup of hot water. Bring this mixture to a boil, stirring. Add 2 cups of milk and heat, but don't boil!

Now, make your family some hot chocolate and enjoy your tree together and celebrate. The Light of the world has come!

• Blessings!
• Diana

Away in a Manger

When we were small, we opened our gifts on Christmas Eve. I am told that it was a German tradition carried by my father's side of the family.  We loved it...nighttime is such a magical time.  My Dad would take us for a ride in the car to look at all of the beautiful lights in the neighborhood, and while we were away Santa would come. Every year it was the same until there was no longer any little children to take for the ride. We would open our gifts...always a new nightgown for me and a doll, a puzzle and a game, a book and of course socks and underwear!  But always one thing to delight each of us...how parents love to delight their children!! While we opened our gifts, we would snack on special appetizers and cookies.  This was the only time I remember that we could eat in the living room!!  One of our favorites was my Mom's Salmon Ball which she served with various little crackers.

Salmon Ball

• 1 can of pink salmon, skin and bones removed
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 1 T. lemon juice
• 2 t. grated onion
• 1 t. horseradish
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1/2 t. liquid smoke

Mix it all together and shape it into 2 balls on waxed paper. Roll the balls in 1/2 cup chopped pecans mixed with 1 T. minced parsley.  This spread is best made a couple of days in advance so that the flavors can blend. I wrap each ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate.

One year when our children were little, we played a little game during the Advent season to get ready for Baby Jesus to come. I made a little manger to put on a table where the children could reach it easily. Next to the manger was a basket of little pieces of straw. If the children did an unseen kindness for someone, they could place a piece of straw on the manger to make the Babe's bed ready for his arrival. I remember that being a very fun Advent time with much sneaking around! On Christmas morning, the tiny Baby Jesus was asleep on their bed of hay!

One of the first Christmas songs our little ones learned was, of course, the favorite of all little children:

Away in the Manger.  Stanzas one and two first appeared in the Little Children's Book published in 1885.  The third verse was written by a pastor in the early 1900's to be used  in a children's program.

Away in a manger, no crib for  a bed, the little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head; the stars in the sky looked down where He lay, the little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay.

The cattle are lowing; the Baby awakes, but little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes; I love Thee, Lord Jesus! look down from the sky, and stay by my cradle till morning is nigh.

Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay close by me forever, and love me, I pray; bless all the dear children in Thy tender care, and fit us for heaven to live with Thee there.

"And she gave birth to her firstborn son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn" Luke 2:7

"Let every heart a manger be."

Peace,

Diana.

A Season of Anticipation

It is hard to believe that it is already December 1! Christmas is near and soon after that,  2011 will be history, with a new year begun. This is my favorite time of year for many reasons.  I love the beginning of winter...that "cozying in" that we do when the weather gets cold. I love building fires in the fireplace and sitting down to knit or read with a cup of tea...better yet if there is snow to look at outside! Bread, cookies and soup all smell so good and taste so satisfying this time of year.

Growing up in a very traditional family, I love the 

Christmas season for its traditions.  Filling the house with Christmas music, decorations, lights and hidden surprises brings anticipation and delight to all. We bake our traditional cookies, bread and other treats to share with our neighbors, friends and family. Everyone looks forward to Christmas with anticipation that builds each day!  Our 36 years of family life have seen some traditions come and some go as life has changed. It is hard not to look back with a certain wistfulness at those early days. But, even though life has changed, it is still good and the new traditions are treasured with the old.

This month, I would like to share some family recipes and traditions along with some Christmas carols and Scripture. I am really doing this for me, to help me focus on the true meaning of Christmas.  It is so easy to settle for the impoverished version that the world offers and miss the wonder of that Baby in the manger!

One of my favorite Christmas Passages is found in The first chapter of John's Gospel:

"And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth."  There is a song sung by the group  "Glad" that says, "As His mother held Him closely it was hard to understand, that her baby not yet speaking, was the Word of God to man!" What a mystery - that the eternal God and Creator of all, was veiled in flesh and dwelt among us. 

Emmanuel..God With Us!

Diana