Christmas Memories: Christmas Eve

Tra-di-TION... Tra-DI-tion!!

(think "Fiddler on the Roof"...)

Yes, Christmas Eve has to be the most tradition-filled day of the year on my mom's side of the family. When we celebrated with them every other year we knew exactly what to expect from the moment we walked in the door after our 4:00 PM church service to the time we headed home around midnight - tired, but happy.

The schedule would invariably be:

-Eat supper

-Clean up and wait with much anticipation

-Musical/recitation program in the living room by grandchildren and great-grandchildren

-Move to basement (which feels refreshingly cool for a bit)

-Grandchildren (no matter your age) sing “Away in a Manger” during photo shoot

-Grandpa reads the Christmas story and prays

-All sing “Silent Night”

-Open gifts

-Clear center of room, set up card tables complete with Norwegian table cloth, eat Grandma’s dozens of Christmas cookies, and drink several kinds of pop

And the meal would surely consist of:

Spare Ribs

Lutefisk with Melted Butter

Riced Potatoes

Gravy

Lingenberries

Peas & Carrots

 Christmas Salad

Grandma’s White Buns

Lefse

Flatbread

Rosettes with Whipped Cream and Lingenberries or Strawberries

Christmas baking began many weeks early as Grandma's freezers were stocked with all of these delights.  In the later years she had help with the daunting lefse and flat-bread days.

Lefse team - making enough for at least 40 people on Thanksgiving and Christmas

So much of the tradition has centered around traditional foods that several years ago I picked up Mom's idea of collecting all the Christmas Eve recipes into one place and giving them to each family member. One November afternoon I sat down at the kitchen table with Grandpa while Grandma scurried around finding all the recipes I requested, producing more of her own, and even bringing out some samples from her early baking to go along with coffee.

                   

The most special part - besides just spending time with my last remaining grandparents - was hearing and jotting down the memories that came of Christmases past.

Spare Ribs

Brown on stove. Season with salt and pepper. Bake.

Spare ribs used to be more “spare” with less meat.  Grandpa and Grandma’s families each butchered a hog soon before Christmas, and they likely used all the ribs for Christmas. Grandma said since they were thinner, her mom didn’t brown them first but baked the ribs in an open pan to brown.

Besides the ribs, the winter hog produced hams, shoulders, and bacon to smoke. Grandma enjoyed staying home from school some days to help process all the meat. Her family buried the hams and bacon in oats to keep through the winter, but Grandpa’s hung them in the basement.

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Grandpa: “We had a custom in our family, where we would come over with a pint of cream for several families in [town] on Christmas Eve Day. Mrs. Larson would always send back a can of Italian Prune sauce. It was very good.”

Grandma’s family also brought gifts of cream into town.

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The most memorable gifts Grandpa received as a child were a firetruck and a locomotive. One dollar was also a very special gift viewed as a fortune!

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Changing Traditions

Just as Christmas celebrations have changed from when these memories were made back in the 1920's, so our celebrations must change as well.

First, families grew too large to all meet in Grandpa and Grandma's home. Then last year they had to move to a nursing home. And this year we said goodbye to Grandma. Also, half of my family can no longer eat the traditional baking.

There is sadness in losing many of the memory-laden traditions. There is loss in never again savoring the "flavors of Christmas." There is no place quite like gathering around the fireplace in that basement crowded with family. There is a hole in the family circle without Grandma with her spark and humor and servant's heart and love.

And yet... there is also some excitement in the newness. In finding new ways to celebrate with new people. 

And no matter where we are, what we eat, and who is with us, we are still celebrating the same, changeless Reason. Merry Christmas!

"“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”(which means “God with us”)." Matthew 1:23

Christmas Memories: Do Not Forget

"Therefore let us keep the feast" (I Corinthians 5:8)

"Christmas is at our door. Let us make it festive! We need this. We who are in the midst of the grimness and worry of everyday life need to feel a bit of the stillness and peace of this season.

"There is so much that occupies the thoughts and the mind. As the time flies, the restless thoughts increase in number...

"We need to prepare for a festive day. To have everything in readiness requires work. We experience that these days.

"Do not forget the most important - 

there is no real Christmas without Jesus. 

Lights, feasting, singing and gifts are not enough. 

Christmas does not come because of our giving, but because of 

what God gave us."

(from Quiet Moments on the Way Home by H.E. Wisloff - emphasis added)

Christmas Memories: Waiting

Do you remember waiting for Christmas as a child?  Waiting with all your being, energy, excitement, and imagination? The anticipation was half the fun of the season!

What were we waiting for?  Well, admit it... every child waits for opening their gifts. And do you remember the joy of watching others open their gift from you?

We waited for celebrations. Caroling around town. The annual Christmas program at church.

Getting together with dozens of relatives and playing with some of my 32 cousins...

We waited in suspense for each night's installment of the advent book.

We waited for special foods, chocolates reserved only for Christmas, and sleeping on the living room floor around the Christmas tree.

Some years we just waited for snow. How could we have Christmas without snow?! (Yes, I'm a northerner.)

But none of us have waited as intensely for Christmas as did Simeon for the very first Christmas.

Who is Simeon, you ask? His ten verses of fame are found in Luke 2:25-35.

Yes, Simeon is part of the Christmas story.  He shows up 40 days after Jesus' birth, but we don't think of him nearly as often as we mention the "wise men," who likely showed up a while later than even Simeon. 

A couple of friends have brought this man back to my attention this year. One emailed how she providentially heard a meaningful sermon based on his life about "waiting for God to fulfill His promise."  Another wrote an advent devotional about Simeon and "seeing."

But it was the waiting that really struck me this year. So I've read several times through Simeon's little meeting with Jesus, picking up a few observations and half-baked thoughts.

- Simeon was righteous.

- He had faith. ("The righteous will live by faith." Romans 1:17)

- He was devout.  (Does anyone else like synonyms? These may be helpful: dedicated, committed, loyal, faithful, staunch, genuine, firm, steadfast, unwavering, sincere, wholehearted, enthusiastic, passionate, ardent, fervent...)

- Simeon was waiting for the "consolation of Israel." He and his people needed comforting. They needed understanding and healing.  They were living under the heel of enemies.  When would it end?


- God had given him a special promise - that he would see "the Lord's Christ" before he died. This may have been many years of waiting, since he feels he is finally ready to die when the promise has been fulfilled.

- God's Holy Spirit was "upon" him in a special way prior to Pentacost (Acts 2). And he obeyed the Spirit's leading. If he hadn't, he would have missed out on all he had been waiting for.

- Simeon believed what God told him, even when he had to wait on and on to see.

- His hope and trust and faith were fulfilled!

- He praised God aloud.

What are you waiting for?

Are you waiting for comfort? For healing -- physical, emotional, relational?

Your waiting is much harder than a child waiting for Christmas day.  Then you could count down the days with an advent calendar.  Twenty-five days may have seemed like forever, but at least there was a concrete end in sight. 

But that didn't really take faith.

Now you may wonder whether you will have to wait yet another year, or even another decade. There is no end in sight. 

This waiting takes faith.

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."  (Heb. 11:1)

Like Simeon, right?!

My friend's summary of the sermon she heard was encouraging to me. I hope it can be for you too, as you wait...

"GOD did not bring you through this much, or this far, to abandon you now. HE has a plan for you, and wants you to wait - in true faith and trust - as HE prepares you for HIS blessing that is sure to come.  To live in doubt and fear only blocks and delays this blessing..."

What promises have we been given? Many of them come to us by special revelation in the Bible. Will we believe what God has told us... and wait with our trust in Him?

Christmas Memories: Lights

Christmas is full of light!

Beginning with a horse-drawn parade of lights the day after Thanksgiving, we enjoy lights of all kinds.

Stringing them on our Christmas tree

Lighting candles

And hanging stars that remind us of one special star over Bethlehem

God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 1 Jn. 1:5  And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. Gen. 1:3  He also made the stars. Gen. 1:16  …the morning stars sang together. Job 38:7  For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 2 Cor. 4:6  In Him [Jesus] was life, and that life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. Jn. 1:4-5 Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life. Phil. 2:14-16  But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Pet. 2:9  The [new Jerusalem] does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.  The nations will walk by its light. Rev. 21:23-24  

Christmas Memories: Grandma's Decorations

We are still remembering Grandma...

And now there are little reminders around the house as we set out some of her Christmas decorations to enjoy.

One of the wax carolers who always topped the big
(clunky - not large-screen) TV in G&G's basement

 Along with a reminder of my other grandma - her teapot

Then there is the homemade nativity that sat on the old phonograph/radio in the basement

The stable had fallen into disrepair and Mary and Joseph had lost most of their straw hair, but it is still full of sweet memories and meaning.  

Nothing that a tube and a half of super-glue and a dose of patience couldn't fix!

"'The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel'
(which means 'God with us')."

Matthew 1:23

Christmas Memories: Music

It struck me recently...

Christmas is the only season where I expect to have a soundtrack to life.

(Well, I guess my family would probably tell you I'm turning on CD's all throughout the year... as we wash dishes, eat together, clean, read, go to bed, do handwork, drive, rest, cut Dad's hair... anytime, really!)

But at Christmas, silence seems to me to be even more blank. A bit like a movie scene that should have had a hint of background music to help tell the story and engage the emotions. 

Christmas carols and songs certainly help to tell the great story of CHRISTmas. To unlock the memories. To rebuild the setting for senses and experiences that have lain dormant since last year. The setting that helps us celebrate Christmas. I think they do all this, and more, in the mysterious way that music works.

No wonder there are 24-hour Christmas music stations. No wonder nearly one third of our CD collection is for Christmas.  (Currently playing is one of our Canadian Brass albums.)

No wonder my piano students have always lit up when we pull out the Christmas books in November.  No wonder their favorite recitals were sharing Christmas music at nursing homes.

No wonder Christmas caroling is a favorite December activity with church family - no matter how cold the wind blows. No wonder doors would open and neighbors would shiver in the draft as they listened with joy or with tears. 

No wonder we take the trouble to dig out records and uncover the phonograph player each year when we set up the Christmas tree. Decorating would just not be the same without listening to Evie sing Come On, Ring Those Bells and Have You Any Room for Jesus?

And, oh! The fun of playing through our whole stack of Christmas records, including the occasional rush to fix a "stuck record."

Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy,
Do you hear what I hear?

Ringing through the sky, shepherd boy, 

Do you hear what I hear?

A song, a song, high above the trees

With a voice as big as the sea

With a voice as big as the sea

 Noël Regney

Seeing... From Your Chair

I recently described the excitement of seeing progress in being able to start driving again!  But even progress causes its setbacks and forces more hours of being still to recover.  Not even trying to knit or write.  Not reading or visiting.

Just sitting still.

Yes, it is always hard to go back to that limited place even when I have seen some beauties come from - or through - the stillness.

But as I silently chafed at weakness and pain once again I saw a couple of everyday wonders I would otherwise have missed this week.

First, I turned my chair toward the window and closed my eyes. (Sorry. No photo of the inside of my eyelids!) 

I felt it before I really took time to see it. Sunshine!  A rare treat this month in the frozen north. I knew this treat would be short-lived as heavy clouds crept up the western sky. But wasn't it a little blessing that I could only sit and enjoy a bit of sunshine on my face and hands? 

Meanwhile my eye was caught by wisps much closer to the treetops. You had to watch closely to see that they were hurrying west to join the gathering gloom. But "gloomy" - these cloudlets were not! As each filmy mist swept past the sun's disk, I saw a wonder. They waved at me with a gentle glow of colors - like a wide, faint echo of a rainbow! 

Again, there was no point in trying to get a photo of my elusive visitors. In fact, I didn't even think of it, but just sat and enjoyed the sight and soaked up a few more rays of sunshine before another cloudy week.

Now - if I could only remember that
when the sun is near
a cloud may just be
the foundation of
a rainbow...

 ... And

when the Son is near

weakness could turn into

a chance to see

beauty.

Seeing... Everyday Wonders

Have you seen anything lately?  

Really stopped, stared, and appreciated what is in front of you?

Some days it seems like there is nothing to see, doesn't it?  Nothing to enjoy anyway.  But lets challenge ourselves to look closer.

Yes, there are those sights that jump up and down and shout, "Look at me!" 

Like a bold flower, a prairie sunset...

   

             

 But what about the quiet, common wonders that we usually pass by? 

The lights, the shadows...

The prickly frost, brave tree-tops, fallen flowers, floating leaves...

The footprints of family...

The food we eat...

The fingerprints of our Creator-Father are everywhere. Let's keep our eyes open!

Christmas Memories: Piano Salon

Last night was a milestone in my healing process.  It was the first time in nearly two years that I have made a round trip drive of more than three miles, and it was in the dark.  (An extra neurological challenge.)  Praising God for slow but steady progress!

The point of that drive was another milestone - the first Piano Salon I have made it to in a full year. 

Piano Salon - December 2014

This cosy group of local pianists gets together every other month to play for each other.  The atmosphere is so relaxed and encouraging for all from adult beginners to professional performers.  We come away inspired and with an even greater love for music.  Plus, it keeps us at the disciplines of practicing and performing.

And, we can't forget the good visits over a meal following the music.

Piano Salon - December 2014

Last evening's conversation kept coming back to one special name.  Ruth (or "Ruthie") was missing this year.  Her last salon was December of 2014.  Though struggling with dementia to the point of sometimes being unable to recognize the pages of Chopin, Grieg, etc. that she used to play as easily as she breathed, our friend could never forget her amazing skill of improvising her favorite hymns.

Little did I know this would be the last time I would hear Ruth play (or see her great smile, enjoy her quirky humor, and hear her call everyone "Honey"), but I am so glad I got these few photos and video on my phone.  Ruth is one of the women I want to be like "when I grow up."

Enjoy a bit of Christmas with "Ruthie" - playing as we got ready for our Christmas potluck.  

"Music is God's best gift to man;

The only art of heaven given to earth,

The only art of earth we take to heaven."  

Walter Savage Lander 

Winter Reading

When sorting basement shelves, Mom recently found a couple boxes of books.  Fun books!  From the days of library book sales when my sisters and I decided to start collecting some of our favorites (and even some classics we had not yet read) to begin our own libraries.

Now seemed a good time to sort and split the books with Maren starting her own home.  So, here is my third of the stash!  And now I have more on my reading list as I've never read Black Beauty, Johnny Tremain, or The Tapestry.

How fun to begin my Laura Ingalls Wilder collection just as Elsa and I are listening through that series of audiobooks and thoroughly enjoying this lovely literature we had mostly forgotten from our childhood.

                 

The current audio book (performed masterfully by Cherry Jones - including singing along with "Pa's" fiddle) is The Long Winter. And I thought we had winters with a lot of blizzards and snow when I was young!

While the Ingalls family and the fledgling town of De Smet, South Dakota struggle through their unusually fierce winter - cut off from supplies of food and coal by a train that gave up trying to dig out and reach them between blizzards...

...we turn up the furnace in our insulated home, enjoy views of frost and snow through our triple-pane windows, cosy up on the couch with a blanket and mug of tea, and enjoy the distraction of stories that speed along our handwork and Christmas gift-making - like these pot-holders ready to send to a friend overseas.

Growing II

It was time to rescue another pale sprout from its box.  (See the first here)

That first evening it forlornly hung its head and despaired of ever growing to become a beauty like its cousin.  But through the night those regal blossoms must have whispered encouragement to the stunted sprout.  For in the morning its head was raised in mounting hope!

Seriously, though... isn't it amazing how God has programmed His creation? No one has to tell this bulb how to grow.  We just get to sit back and watch with wonder and delight!