Hi, all! Carole here. I have no projects to post. Well I have projects to post, I just have not taken pictures of them, and considering how behind I am on my Christmas preparations, I am probably NOT going to get to it any time soon. Look for one of my New Year's Resolutions to be "Do Not Neglect My Personal Blog".
Even though I am behind on my Christmas to do list, I had to take the time to share a "Things that make you go hmmmmmm" with you all. A few weeks ago my dear husband decided to put up the Christmas tree. Thank goodness or we probably would not have a tree up yet. He also decorated it with ornaments he found in the Christmas box. Now, we have enough ornaments to decorate at least 3 trees, but given how bad I am about having time to decorate at all, we usually only decorate one tree. But I digress.
While examining his fine work I could not help but notice that somehow he managed to find the ugliest, least sentimental of all our ornaments and decorate the tree with them. In other words, he used the "reject" box. Well, I couldn't tell him that after the effort he put into it, but tonight I will be adding all the sentimental ornaments. The ones picked out by the kids, given to us in ornament exchanges or from co-workers and friends I've long lost touch with, and of course the handmade ornaments made by our children while in school.
His choosing the rejected box of ornaments reminded me of how he would do something similar long ago. When left to take care of our daughter, in the days before she could dress herself, he somehow always managed to find the stained shirt and the one size too small pants/shorts/skirt to dress her in. Of course, they didn't match either. I would come home and wonder how the heck he even found the outfit, knowing it was in the back of the drawer, under tons of newer, nicer clothes. He had to WORK hard to find those crappy clothes! Anyway, something that annoyed me terribly back then has turned into a story that I hold dear to my heart. Because really, he had no clue the outfit was hideous. He thought she looked beautiful in it.
Share a story.....and I'll give you a sampler of twine. I only have 4 so if more than 4 people post, I'll pick names randomly. I guess I'll give you all some time. How about until Wednesday, December 28th? Around 8:00 pm That's when I'll choose. Oh, and leave a way for me to get a hold of you, please!
Merry Christmas!
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My dad has done that, used the "reject box" but neither my mama or me had the heart to tell him that so we just added the others to the tree when he wasn't home.
ReplyDeletenow for my story its my favorite christmas memory, it was from a few years ago when my brother and I were out shopping on christmas eve (which was the norm for he and I we finish our shopping just hours before dinner and opening presents) and my phone went off with text messages from a couple solider friends of mine who were at a base about 2 hours from my house and they were going to be spending the holidays alone on the base. so I looked at my brother and told him and he called our mama and said to set 2 extra places and we would be a little later getting back to the house then planned. so we drove down picked them up and when we got home they were both excited over a home cooked meal with people who barely knew them but cared about them, and when we opened gifts there were even gifts for them (mama who makes blankets had a couple extras in the closet for just in case gifts.) and they each even got a stocking filled with candy just like everyone else. It really seemed like it wasn't a last minute change. It was a really special Christmas for all of us.
Thanks for the chance at some twine (I love twine)
Beth
baby.cowgirl88 at yahoo dot com
Oh I like this! An interactive blog! :-)
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in middle school, my mom started making Krustchiki at Christmas and it became one of those traditions that you look forward to, rekindles warm memories and just the thought of Krustchiki gets you taste buds salivating.
Krustchiki are cookies made with a fine dough, rolled so thin you can see the counter through it. They are cut into rectangles and knotted, then fried and finally dusted with powdered sugar. For our non-Polish friends, we call them Angel Wings because of their shape and the powder sugar.
When mom made Krustchiki, my sister and I fought over the honor to hold the sifter and dust the cookies. We never got to mix, or roll out the dough or fry. I think it is because my mom taught herself how to make them, using a Polish cookbook. My mom grew up in Detroit, in a large Polish family. Her aunts made the cookies for special holidays, like Christmas and Easter. As a child, she never learned to make them...but back them, all the kids wanted to do was eat them! As an adult she moved to California away from the Polish enclave and the tradition laid dormant for decades. I think when mom started making them, she relived her childhood memories and clung to them tightly.
I grew up, got married and moved away and packed the tradition of Krustchiki away. When my mom died, I inherited her cherished Polish cookbook, but it wasn't until many years later when we moved to Florida, near my mother's sister and her family that I decided to try to make Krustchiki. I decided to make it for the Christmas family gathering and was delighted with wonderful results that tasted just like mom's (maybe because I used the same recipe?!). The highest compliment was paid to me by my aunt. She said they reminded her of her childhood. Apparently the Krustchiki making died with her aunts.
Two years ago, I decided to entrust more than sugar dusting to my daughter. She mixed the batter, we shared the arduous tasking of rolling the dough, and she fried a few cookies. The result was delicious!
Last year I invited my cousin's 11 year old daughter to join in the Krustchiki making. She had a wonderful time, mixing, rolling, frying and dusting and was delighted when her grannie (my aunt) paid her the same compliment.
This year my cousin's 16 year old son and my 15 year old son will be joining us in the kitchen to make Krustchiki. This will be fun as both young men love to cook.
Krustchiki has become a new "old" tradition. It warms my heart as it brings back memories of my mother and my family Christmases, and fills me with joy to see the next generation so interested in carrying it on. My Christmas wish is that they continue to make Krustchiki and don't let it lay dormant, as my mother and I did. In the meantime, I will spend the holiday wearing a shirt that is perpetually dusted with powder sugar, from sneaking Angel Wings.
Wishing you and your family a holiday season filled with Peace, Hope and Joy! Wesołych Świąt!!
I love the stories! Keep them coming!
ReplyDeleteWhen my oldest daughter was a toddler some mornings her dad would be the one to get her ready and take her to daycare. He tried to fix her hair, but to no avail. The daycare ladies were so nice, because when I came to pick her up, her hair would be nicely braided!
ReplyDeleteCreative Katie, we also make a similiar cookie, but it has been generations of a Norwegian family, so the cookie is called fattigmand! I think the Swiss and Danes have a similiar cookie, but they take credit for it! :D
ReplyDeleteI have a dear hair customer who moved to the midwest from NY area Her husband had been a long time buyer for the Shiny Bright glass tree oranment company.
ReplyDeleteThis summer while at a thrift store I found a pristene box of the fancy glass ornaments, decided to buy them for her for a memory..........Well, something made me put them back, guess I was watching my pennies. At any rate, I made the HUGE mistake of telling her about them!! She still mentions it and wishes I would have gotten them for her.
My husband and I haven't put a real tree up for probably 10 and this year I just had my heart set on getting a real tree. I was at the store Tues taking some of my seniors shopping when I noticed the store manager out going over the real trees, said he was taking inventory, I thought, Hmm, inventory, maybe he would mark one down, so I said, Hey are you going to make them any lower? Possibly he replied, I said well if you do, let me know. I got back to work and shortly there after received notice he had called, and had indeed marked the remaining ones way down. I stopped and picked one up and was so tickled to have a "bargain" real tree to take home to decorate.
I arrived home tonight as hubby and I were going to have a decorating party with all the ornaments and other holiday treasures we had packed away. I opened a bigger box with numerous boxes of glass ornaments all neatly packed within, As I took them out there in the group was a pristeen box of non other but Shiny Bright glass ornaments, It brought tears to my eyes, because now when I go to work tomorrow I can present this wonderful lady with the box of ornaments from a bygone time that hold so many precious memories for her.
Okay this is my second attempt at typing out this story...The first one got eaten by my iPad!! LOL!
ReplyDeleteMy story also has to do with decorating the Christmas tree and some lessons learned this year. Decorating the tree at my house is a family affair, including grandkids. We decorated really late this year due to my being out of town the first week of December due to a death on my side of the family. So we decorated this past week. I learned three major lessons through all of this. First, we usually decorate with all the grandkids. Due to the lateness and just lack of being able to get it all together the older two grandchildren were not there. Well since they do not really seem to be into it usually anyhow I didn't think that really mattered much until this past weekend when the oldest (almost 15) said "where is my ornament?" and that made me think that no matter how old or how uninvolved they may seem a tradition is still important.
Second, as we were decorating the tree I pulled out what I thought was an old and "lost its usefulness" ornament. I stated I don't think I am going to put this one on the tree...my 29 y/o daughter looked at me and replied "well I made that and I think it needs to go on the tree" so second lesson learned no matter how old the child is or how much I think an ornament has lost its luster it is still important.
The final lesson I learned this Christmas season I learned while sitting at the bedside of my dying aunt. I am a huge procrastinator and the reason we did not decorate the tree is cause I kept putting it off. Well being with family the week of my aunt's final days and then her viewing and funeral made me realize that it is really important to make time to do things with family. So no more procrastinating about doing things. That tree was up the weekend after Thanksgiving and I had the whole week off school but needed time to recoup so did not want to bother doing all that. Well, God did not promise us tomorrow so I plan on doing things with my children and grandchildren while I can and not putting things off anymore.
Sorry for rambling on...but those are the three main lessons I learned this Christmas season...so far anyway.
Well, I totally can relate to the story you told, Carole! And I just love that you recognize that he just thought she looked beautiful in it. That is awesome! I have often said if I am ever hit by a bus, Piper is doomed to have weird hair until she grows old enough to do her own because my husband could never pull off hairdressing!
ReplyDeleteWell, ok, here's a short story, but not for twine as I am drunk with twine now...and it is a type of confession too (how exciting-- well not really once you hear it).
I believed in Santa until 5th grade... I used to tell the kids at school (because all of them were clued into the obvious) that my mom could not possibly "be Santa" because she doesn't have that kind of cash. You see, for most of my youth, my mom was a single parent. She was a super hard-worker and had a well-paying union job, but she was HORRIBLE with money...soooo she was always broke. I really believed that there was no earthly way she could have afforded all that stuff. Apparently, as much as I believed in Santa, I did not have much knowledge in the realm of lending institutions.
Just yesterday, she sort of made fun of the fact that I believed until I was 12, blaming herself for "spilling the beans". I don't remember her spilling anything... the obvious just became obvious I guess.
My mom, the most gererous person I know, still has gifts for me "from Santa". I credit my brother's birth (he was born when I was 16) with keeping the Santa gifts coming! It's kind of like Mom doesn't know how to stop being Santa.
And a bit more... ok, this isn't so short afterall... I was one of those kids who get super-excited for Christmas morning... like unable to sleep past 3am. My mom's rule was that I had to wait until 5am to get up the house... really! My aunt always spent the night at our house Christmas Eve and she always left a giant filled stocking for my mom. When Aunt Betty got married and stopped spending the night, I took over... kind of on my own. Every year on Christmas Eve, I sneek a stocking in her house and call her Christmas morning to tell her where it is. I just always want her to have Santa too I guess.
OK, Carole, Merry Christmas! Thank you for your story and for asking for ours. They were fun to read.
Nadia
I love the stories, ladies! I'm so glad you have all indulged me by participating in this. Every story has been truly wonderful.
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ReplyDeleteMy favorite Christmas story is about my middle son. When he was in fifth grade his social studies teacher asked the kids, when they returned back to school after Christmas break, to write about their family holiday traditions. Food seems to be important to my son Jon because from early on whenever he had to write about his family it mentioned food. One of our traditions is on Christmas day I make crepes for breakfast. Jon didn't know how to spell crepes but he gave it his best shot. His teacher called him up to her desk to ask him what he was trying to say as his essay read...."My mom makes crap for Christmas breakfast. She makes the best craps in the world, beside my presents her crap is my favorite part of Christmas day". I have the essay and it is framed!...
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Christmas story was when my youngest of two children was 9 years old and questioning whether or not Santa really exists. I have always told my kids that "You must believe to receive". Well, one day when Mom isn't around, my 9 year old son asks his Dad, "is Santa real?" My husband responds, "no". He doesn't bother to play along or anything, plain and simple, "no". As soon as I get home my son bursts out, "you have been lying to me, Santa is not real, and you even lied about the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny, you're a liar!" I was totally heart broken, my poor baby. That was about four years ago, I still tell my kids, "you have to believe to receive!" Happy holidays and thanks for the fun giveaway!
ReplyDeletescrappindhilly at gmail dot com
www.scrappindhilly.blogspot.com
Year after year, I would always tell my children that they needed to write a list of what they wanted for Christmas from Santa. Then on Christmas morning they would awake and come into our living room all excited to see all their toys already set up and just waiting to be played with. One year, after having a busy morning with all their toys, my second to the oldest son comes up to me and says, "Mom, I don't think there really is a Santa". Well, my little girl was about 4 years old and listening in on the whole conversation, so I said, "Well, if there isn't, someone isn't going to get any toys." He caught on real quick and never said another word! I liked it that way, too.
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