The Event ~ Christmas 2011

As much as we all love our busy lives in the city or wherever our daily life takes each of us, a family Christmas celebration together is a time needed together to remind us all of the timeless blessings of food, family and faith that light up our lives. 

Christmas 2011 will be added to my family history book as a memorable Christmas of late, along with the 2007 Christmas in Estes where 22 family gathered in a beautiful lodge for three days, the 2009 Christmas in Eagle where we all got snowed in and couldn’t leave the house for two days, the 2010 Christmas in Sonoma where Tim and I so very much enjoyed time with Alexis; in her beautiful home; and a few other memorable Christmases that I really don’t remember much about.

(Pause for a moment of nostaligic memories. . . )

OK, let’s see  what I do remember, in no particular order: 1) A Christmas in Kansas with Kathy and Paul, Christian and Bobby,  and Alexis and Cash with Grandma & Grandpa Stricker and Tom, but missing Janel and Tim. 2) A Christmas in Crete at Janel & Tim’s house in 1998 when Daniel (an exchange student from Germany) was with us. 3) A Christmas in Billings, MT in 1994, the last time the five of us traveled together as a family before Janel got married. 4) A Christmas celebrated in Nashville, Tennessee in 1981 on our way home from a pre-Christmas vacation to Disneyworld with Connie & Rich, Stephanie & Richie;  5) Many Christmases at Tim’s parent’s house in Bayard, following church and family gathering at Grandpa Stricker’s house across the street from the church. 6) Christmas 2005 in Estes with our family, but not Kathy & her family. 6) Christmas 1974 when we brought our baby Alexis home two days before Christmas and celebrated with both my parents and Tim’s parent’s present. 

OK, I’m sure all our Christmases were special, celebrated around family.   Now back to the present:  what a wonderful celebration we shared with Alexis home from California;

Cash and Annie celebrating their first Christmas as husband and wife with us;

Janel and Tim and our most precious seven grandchildren opening their hearts and sharing their Christmas blessings with four needy families in Scottsbluff;

my 81 year old  mother who flew from Billings to Denver to be with us (and she learned the hard way that the Denver airport at Christmas time is no place for an 81 yr old to venture through on her own!);

Tim’s parents and Tom who so easily can join us any time of the year because they live only a mile down the road;

Kathy & Paul, Bobby and Alexandra;  and finally Chris and Mia and two girls Lily and Anya, who were gracious enough to join us for two days even though they were preparing to leave for a year mission stint in  South Africa three days later.  It was a good family send off for them. 

 Yes, the timeless blessings of family were very much a part of our celebration

We enjoyed chicken noodle soup and butterballs Christmas Eve,

and prime rib and all the trimmings on Christmas Day,

along with the traditions of lefsa, black and white fudge, bottles of wine, and lots of other goodies.

Yes, the timeless blessings of food were very much a part of our celebration.

I finally gave in and let Janel in the kitchen to prepare egg dishes for Christmas morning.  She had earlier been banned from active cooking in my kitchen during the weekend.  But when she began to show eradic behavior syptoms due to cooking withdrawal, I had to let her have her quick fix and resume her normal cooking activities.  Thank you, Janel. 

We enjoyed many a different games around the tables, several movies on the tv. 

Including a little arm wrestling. . .  I'm not sure who won this challenge

We had time for naps. 

Our front yard is turned into a football field when this family gets together and whenever the weather allows, as the kids, young and old, get active in the sport. 

And this year, the weather was shirt sleeve weather on Christmas Day afternoon. 

The gifts of giving and receiving were enjoyed by all.  Gifts ranged from head gear and scarves

to aprons and dolls

to  ladles

and tools

 

and wallets

It was fun cayous. . .

We took lots of pictures,

enjoyed alot of one-on-one time,

and even got serious in a very intent study session. . .

As we enter a new year, we will continue to build and cherish memories which include the timeless blessings of faith, family and food that light up our lives, no matter how busy our daily lives impede.

I cannot forget that the reason for celebration of course was the birth of Christ our Savior.  We did not forget Him during this celebration as he was the focus of our gathering.  We did all attend church on Christmas Eve, but that gathering is another blog of it's own.  How can a Christmas Eve church service  spoil an otherwise wonderful celebration?  We found out it is possible. Perhaps the worship of Christ's birthday is sometimes best celebrated right in the home that Christ is very much a part of, surrounded by loved and cherished family.

The Event ~ Making Blackberry Dumplings

Blackberries are a treat here in western Nebraska.  I don't really know if they actually are available or grow anywhere else, unless someone elsewhere is given seed from a blackberry harvest.  They are not the dime-size bumpy blackberries you buy in the store.  These are round little pea-size fruits, and it takes a long time to pick them and a whole lot to make something. 

Now I have several bags of blackberries hoarded in my freezer from the last two summer crops.  I never seem to get around to using them.  I only use them for dumplings and for dinna kuchen.  In anticipation of all the kids being home for Christmas I spent an evening making blackberry dumplings, but freezing them before cooking them and having them ready to go for a Friday nite meal when they all get here.  So now all I have to do is cook them.  Tra-la-  dumplings on the table.  What a good mom!  But no one adult can pig out on them as I only made 33 of them for for the 15 of us who will be here to eat them.  Bad mom (should have made more!) 

THE RECIPE:

The dough:  Beat together, preferably with a dough hook, 2 eggs, 1/3 cup water, 2 cups flour, 1 tsp salt  until a nice soft dough is formed.  Roll out to about 1/8" thick.  Cut into 4" squares (more or less). 

The filling:  Coat about five cups more or less of partially frozen blackberries with about a cup of flour and 3/4 cup of sugar (each more or less). 

Using a large cookie scoop, put 1/2 cup (more or less)  on a square, pull up the corners and pinch together, making sure the seams do not separate.

Drop a few dumplings in pot of boiling water and cook for 2-4 minutes (more or less) and remove from water with a slotted spoon.  Put into large flat bowl (something with alot of bottom surface so the dumplings don't have to be piled on top of each other).  The dumplings will begin to be layered very carefully.  Pour warm cream over all and top with toasted bread cubes.

To make toasted bread cubes, I melt butter in the oven on a cookie sheet and spread cubed bread over the butter and mix and coat evenly and let toast to golden brown in the oven.  Watch carefully as they can burn quite fast.  I know, I usually burn them!

Sitting down to a meal of blackberry dumplings is a treat, a real eventful dining experience.

The Event ~ It's a Black and White Tradition!

Looking ahead to hosting Christmas this year, I know we MUST have the traditional black and white fudge.  This is a sweet treat I grew up with.  My mom made it every year for years that I can remember growing up.  I'm not sure where she got the original recipe, but it was one of those recipes that has to be passed down through the generations.   A Christmas tradition for sure.  I know she still makes a batch of it each year.

I remember for several years I couldn't get it quite right.  Then I discovered I was not beating it good after taking it off the heat and before putting it in the pan.  Sometimes the atmospheric pressure also plays a part in how certain foods turn out, including fudge and candies of any kind. 

This fudge is awesome, and so-o-o bad for you!  But so-o-o- good!  It's hard not to just keep eating piece after piece after piece!  So I've got a container of five dozen pieces in the freezer waiting to put out on Christmas Eve.  With 26 people around, that's like only two pieces each.  Maybe we can hide it from the little kids!!  My mouth is watering as I write this.  Do I need to make more???  This is worth coming home for, isn't it???

The Recipe:

Black Fudge:  Combine in 3 qt kettle:  3 cups sugar, 1 ½ Tble white syrup, 1 ½ cups cream,   4 Tble cocoa.  Cook to softball stage.   Remove from heat.  Add:  1 Tble butter, 1  Tble vanilla, ¾ cup nuts. Do NOT overcook beyond soft ball.   Beat with electric mixer until creamy,  1 1/2  -  2 1/2  minutes.  Pour into well-buttered 9 x 13 pan.

White Fudge: Repeat the same as Black Fudge, but omit the cocoa.  (I cook the white fudge a couple degrees longer than the black fudge because it tends to be softer without the cocoa).    Pour on top of black fudge. 

Without a candy thermometer you will know when soft ball stage is reached when a  drop of mixture dropped into a small bowl of cold water can be shaped into a ball with your fingers.

Keeping simple family traditions alive is an event worthy of keeping alive through generations.  Black and white fudge and lefsa are two traditions that I hope can be passed on for generations to come. 

The Event ~ The Cedar Chest Revisited

In looking ahead to hosting the Christmas celebration in my home for 26 people for two days, I had to figure out how to make space in my living room.  The solution:  move the cedar chest into the back bedroom and put the loveseat in that space, opening up the entire room.  I like it, it looks nice. I also had to move the decorative exercise bike out of the bedroom.  But that's not what this is about.

In order to move my cedar chest, which is filled with all sorts of memorbilia, I had to empty most of it, put a rug under it and drag it to the bedroom.  Then put everything back.  This was an opportunity to see just what I had stored away.  I don't save alot of stuff, but I do get nostalgic about little things from the past.

Some of the items still stored:  Cash's baptism outfit; a couple cute baby dresses that were Janel's & Alexis;  baby quilts I made for the kids, family history/geneology books,  Terry Tribune (my hometown) newspapers reporting the assasination of JFJK in 1963; Newsweek magazines and books reporting the 9/11 events;
stories and elementary art work done by the kids; nearly every card from our children for Mother's Day, Father's Day and birthdays, especially if they had nice sentimental words from their own heart written in them, which most of them did.  The kids have always been so good expressing their love and appreciation with written words.  My set of three confirmation books; a pair of beautiful crocheted something or other made by a special Grandma neighbor lady and given to me either on my confirmation or my high school graduation (always too pretty to use, so put away all these years!);  calendars ( why??); mementos that may have monetary value at an auction, like a few glass enclosed collector baseball cards, some Beatle cards found in bubble gum wrappers 40 years ago,  Farmall tractor cufflinks that belonged to my Dad, collector stamp blocks, autographed replica of Rockies opening day game ball and miniature collector tractor replicas,  a couple collector toys still in the box, laminated obituaries of loved ones.  Tim's satin snow suit he wore as a baby (we took a picture of one of the grandson's in it - so cute); and also a satin western black jacket with white fringe that Tim wore when he must have been 1-2 years old; baby books, high school and college diplomas, newspaper clippings, the kid's wedding invitations & programs; high school letter jacket insignias; a Woman's World magazine featuring an article about my Mom and her metal detecting; and a stack of old letters that Janel and Alexis wrote home when they were in college!  That was before email!  And they were good about writing.  I had to stop and read some of them. It was interesting to note that Janel always wrote on lined school paper, and Alexis always wrote on pretty colored stationary!   Included in the stack were even some letters I wrote home  when I was in college (on colored onion paper, which I thought was so cool!).  My mom must have given them to me when she was cleaning house.  There was even a letter I wrote home when I was a junior in high school and I flew to California for the National FHA convention.  I started that letter on the plane, and wrote about the fabulous three-course meal we were served on the plane.  Those days of meals served on a plane are long gone.  How funny.  I also found a letter my dad wrote to me when we were going through rough times back in the 80's.  I can't forget to mention three cassette tapes:  one when Janel was two and saying her bedtime prayers and reciting her alphabet & stuff; a similar one when Alexis was about that same age; and the infamous accidental tape recording of Janel, Alexis, & Cash in the kitchen in about 1983 which has provided hilarious laughter everytime we listen to it.  We just played it again a couple weeks ago when Cash and Annie were home.  I have a feeling Janel and Alexis would like me to destroy that tape!!  The above is all just a partial list.  .  .

This bottom picture is when it is all put back.  I actually discarded some stuff finally.    Kind of a nostaglic trip back in time ~ an eventful couple of hours.  I wonder why we keep some of the stuff we do.  I think it is so our kids have something to remember and then throw away when we relocate to our final home and can't take any of this clutter with us!   Look, I still have room to add more!! 



The Event ~ A Shared Birthday

A week ago today, November 10, was  Tim's birthday.  He is 63 years.   He doesn't look 63 and he says he feels like he is in the prime of his life!  We went to lunch together at Taco John's for super potatoe ole's, and then went to his mom's house for dinner.  Tim's mom is always so good about fixing birthday dinners for whoever happens to be around when it's their birthday.  That is usually just me and Tim and Tom as there is no one else around.

An event that has  been repeated year after year for about 40 years is getting together with our friends, Doug and Lorraine Kizzire from Bayard for a birthday dinner because Lorraine shares the same birthday as Tim.   We became neighbors east of Bayard shortly after we were married when Doug and Lorraine moved to farm across the county road from us.  They still live there today.  Even though we moved from the neighborhood twice since then, the first time to a farm on the west side of Bayard, and the second time to Scottsbluff, we have remained very close friends.  I would like to say we have never missed a year getting together for dinner in November, but in reality, I think we did miss one or two years in the last 40. 

This year Tim and I went to their house the following evening for a meal of blackberry dumplings. I shared the traditional German chocolate cake.  Most years we go out to a restaurant, but occasionally we have  enjoyed home cooked meals at home.  Lorraine tells me that last year we hosted the dinner and Tim cooked lamb on the Traeger grill.  I'll take her word for it. 

It's nice to share birthdays with dear friends, especially when it becomes a tradition that we don't want to miss.   Happy birthday to two special people in my life!  An event to celebrate for sure!

The Event ~ Making Lefsa

Lefsa is a treat from my Norwegian heritage on my dad's side.  I grew up with lefsa ~ always available at Grandma Corneliusen's house whenever we went to visit, which was often because they only lived 45 miles away ~ and always on every table at every family gathering.

I have learned to make lefsa through the years.  It requires the right tools, such as a lefsa rolling pin, a lefsa sock to put on the rolling pin, a lefsa griddle, a lefsa stick, and a heavy cloth to roll it out on.    A few days ago, while on a vacation day from work, I rolled  about 44 rounds of lefsa and put 38 in the freezer for our upcoming family Christmas gathering. 

The recipe:  Boil, drain and rinse red potatoes, but be very careful not to over cook them. That’s the key for perfect rolling.   Mash the warm potatoes though a ricer.  Mix together 4 cups riced potatoes, ½ cup cream, 1/3 cup soft butter, 1 Tble sugar, 1 tsp salt with electric mixer.  Refrigerate over nite, covered loosely with a paper towel to evaporate some of the moisture.   The next day, add 2 1/2 cups flour.   Knead to soft dough.

Roll dough into a  2" rope, long enough to slice about 14 slices.  Put the slices in  the fridge, taking them out two at a time to roll them out thin. Cold potatoes are easier to roll than room temp. Pat a slice on generous floured surface with fingers to about 4"  in diameter.   Then finish rolling out  to a  thin 10" circle, on well floured surface.  Using lefsa stick start on one side and work the stick under the circle all the way to other side of circle to make sure none is stuck to the cloth.  Pick up in center with the lefsa stick and transfer it to lefas griddle set at  400 degrees. (don’t grease the griddle!) Use the lefse stick to flip on the grill.  Grill the first side till bubbles appear.  Flip and grill the second side.  Both sides should have light brown spots.

7-8# of potatoes will make about 3 batches of 4 cups of riced potatoes.  Do not double the recipe.  Instead make two or three separate batches of 4 cups of mashed potatoes in each batch.

When removing lefsa from the grill, place them on a tea towel and cover them with a tea towel.   Enjoy warm with butter.  Once cooled, store in zip lock bag in the fridge, or freeze in freezer bags. Warm in the microwave, butter and enjoy!

Eating lefsa is a really wonderful event!  Dat is so-o-o-o goot!  Yah?

The Event ~ Veteran's Day

Today is a day that too many people take lightly, but many do take it seriously.  Veteran's Day.

Thank you to all the men and women who serve in the U S armed forces, fight in wars, lose their lives, are separated from their families for months or years, for me and the people of America, so that we can continue to enjoy the freedoms of this country.  Sadly, many of the freedoms on which this country was founded on are slowly being eradicated (to do away with as if being pulled up by the roots).

My father served in World War II in the Army.  Here is his picture. 

My oldest brother, Allen,  served in Viet Nam in the Army.  My youngest brother, Kelly,  served in the Navy.   Thank you to my family members for their service.  I love you all! 

The Event ~ Mystery Solved

July 2nd I wrote about participating in a mystery quilt project, where I was given an instruction clue once a week for seven weeks for the making of a quilt, but had no idea what the quilt would look like until completion.  It is now completed, and the mystery is solved. 

It's perfect for a twin size bed.  Have no idea what I am going to do with it, but alot of quilters have no idea what they are going to do with their stack of quilts.  Quilters quilt for the relaxation or therapy of the activity.

Currently I am in the process of binding several baby and/or crib or nap quilts for the Linus Project.  The Linus Project disperses quilts to children in hospitals.  The local Linus Project shares children's quilts with the valley and region hospitals, so our contributions pretty much stay  local in the valley.

I am sure it is a happy event for the child receiving a warm, cuddly quilt of their own when in the hospital.  For many children, this could be the only warm blanket they have.  I'm glad to share in this eventful project.