Archive for the ‘Holidays’ Category

  • Traditions

    Date: 2010.07.09 | Category: Holidays, MFM, Twins, personal | Response: 0

    It’s Friday. It’s July. And I haven’t posted a Marriage & Family Monday post on a Monday in I don’t know when. In my Draft folder, I have 5 drafts. Five! I don’t know when I’m going to get around to completing them and posting. So I’m taking the rest of this post to talk about traditions.

    One of our family mantras is “have an adventure, make a memory.” Part of what makes life so memorable is visiting the same places over and over, doing the same things, eating the same foods, and creating happy times in that place.

    This past weekend was the Fourth of July weekend.  “My gentle readers,” please take a minute to comment on this post and share with all of us what traditions you have for the Fourth of July.  Do it for people who are looking to build a family legacy of happy memories.  My first post on the Fourth summarizes a conglomeration of traditions and experiences from the last 13 years of marriage.  Building your own traditions for your family when you and your spouse come from different areas of the country can take time.

    This year, we took a last minute trip to Memphis for the Fourth of July.  Hallelujah!  It was “the way it was supposed to be.”  Hot. Sweating in 95 degree sun at Mud Island. Frozen drinks that thaw in minutes (instead of hours). Weird running bugs and enormous swallowtail butterflies.  Grilling with a new Rub (The internal temp of the grill before it was turned on was 125+).  Corn. Running through the sprinkler and chasing each other with the hose.  Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream (better than ever).  Germantown Fireworks (Running commentary by Rachel).  101.3 degrees.  Crunchy Grass.  Sparklers. Now that’s a real Fourth.  No campfires. No blankets for warmth.

    When my girls look back on the Fourth of July, I want them to remember sparklers, home made ice cream, and fireworks with the family.  I want them to think about our nation’s history — why July 4 is different from June 4.  I want them to have traditions and rituals that can be expected during birthdays, Christmas, Easter, Fourth of July, and Back to School.   Building the same foods and activities into a special day makes a tradition, builds a memory, and creates exciting anticipation for next year.

  • HALLOWEEN

    Date: 2010.01.16 | Category: Holidays, MFM, personal | Response: 0

    My followers are asking me to write on this topic again.  I’ve put it off because I really don’t like to dwell on the subject of Halloween.  It’s uncomfortable.  I don’t know why Halloween vexes me so, but it does.   Perhaps, I am vexed because I know too much.  Truly, oblivion is bliss.   When you don’t know, you are still accountable, because “ignorance of the law is no excuse.” But when you don’t know, you don’t have the guilt or the struggle to do what is right. Halloween is dark. It’s a holiday that celebrates death.  I’ve come face to face with someone truly oppressed by darkness, and it is an overwhelming experience that I don’t want to repeat or relive or pass on to my children.

    So This Very Educated Mother Knows about Halloween. I know the history of the holiday.  I know the darkness that surrounds it. I know there are people who innocently play with things that seem innocent only to get sucked into an oppression they cannot climb out of alone.  I know there are real witches and followers of Wicca who do abominable things on this unholy day.  For them, it’s not a game.  It’s not pretend. It’s a real life demented sort of fun.

    So how did I solve the problem of Halloween?

    I’ll tell you what I did. I made a scarecrow with the family at the floral shop, and put him on the front porch (which scared the begeebers outta me every time I walked past it).  I planned an outing to the pumpkin farm – which got rained out.  I put out my fall leafy placemats and my plain pumpkin “treat dish.”  I updated my floral displays around the house and trimmed my mum. I didn’t buy candy, nor did I stock up on evangelistic pamphlets.  I had my kids close their eyes when we drove by some horrific neighborhood displays.  I taught my girls the truth about Halloween and answered their Why’s as best I could.  The town had advertised that Halloween activities were to take place between 3-8pm. I packed a picnic, took my kids, put them in the car at about 2:45 and exited my “festive” neighborhood.  In the weeks before, I had wrestled and prayed about what to do and I remembered that Chicago-land has a wonderful Christian attraction: The Billy Graham Museum.  I headed south to this haven.  I tried to linger there as long as physically possible for a four-year-old.  It was a wonderful experience.

    When we walked in, we were greeted with an array of Christian art depicting various scenes from the life of Jesus.  Then we went into the rotunda of witnesses.  I couldn’t remember the stories of all the martyrs and the girls weren’t tuned into a history lesson anyway.  But everything slowed down when we entered the room of the cross.  Reading every verse on salvation and walking through a cross-shaped portal into a dark Tomb-like passage makes the entrance into the Heaven room spectacular.  The “hallelujah” chorus played and the girls still talk about the Heaven room.

    The next day, the girls wanted to watch the Easter Video, which incidentally also plays the “hallelujah” chorus at the resurrection scene.

    So I didn’t defeat Halloween. I re-invented it.   Our trip to the Billy Graham Museum glorified God and brought some of His Light into our life on the darkest holiday of the year.  We celebrated eternal life on the holiday that celebrates death. Any why not?  After all, Jesus came into the world to turn it upside down.

  • Cake Pictures

    Date: 2009.12.14 | Category: Holidays, Recipe | Response: 0

    I wanted to create a separate post for pictures and explanation of my Jesus Birthday Cake.

    Here is the finished cake. This is really the first successful decorated cake I’ve ever made, and it still looks like a newbie did it. . .

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    Here are photos of my assembling the cooked layers of cake.

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    I made a simple devil’s food cake from scratch.  I put half the batter in one pan, and the other half of the batter I tinted red with food coloring, then put it in the other pan.  I made a recipe of  “Busy Day Cake” flavored with almond extract and colored with green food coloring for the top layer.  I probably could have added more green to get the layer a brighter green.  I made a buttercream frosting and crumb coated the cake yesterday.

    I made marshmallow fondant which was surprisingly easy.   I found the recipe and directions on this site.  I watch videos of others making it on youtube.   I let the fondant rest overnight in the fridge, then I rolled it out this morning.  DSCN6901

    Applying the 30″ long piece to the side of the cake was surprisingly simple.  I should have just rolled one large circle and draped it over the whole cake, but I was afraid of creating pleats in the sheet of frosting.  I also think I may have rolled my fondant too thin.  I have quite a bit left.   You’ll notice the stars at the upper edge of the cake — I’m hiding the seam.  Here’s some photos of applying the fondant.

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    Working with the fondant was easy.  It does stretch.  I love the smooth finish, and now will probably frost all my special event cakes with fondant. The girls enjoyed kneading it, eating it, making roses, and cutting out hearts.  Both Alexis and Rachel are naturals in the kitchen.

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  • Jesus’ Birthday Cake

    Date: 2009.12.12 | Category: Holidays, Preschool, Recipe, Twins | Response: 0

    Jesus’ Birthday Cake is a round three layer cake with frosting and decorations, each of which has special symbolic meaning. I received this recipe from “SF,” one of my mentors from PGCC.

    MEANINGS

    1. Shape: The shape is round to represent the World into which Jesus is born.
    2. Bottom layer: The bottom layer is black (chocolate) representing the fact that all men have sinned. This is why Jesus came to earth.
    3. Middle layer: Red. Add red food coloring to remaining chocolate batter, or use a strawberry or cherry flavored cake with red food coloring. This layer symbolizes Jesus’ blood that was shed for our sin.
    4. Top layer: Green (use food coloring). Symbolizes the new life that we have in Jesus Christ after our sins have been washed away.  (typically I will make a sponge cake recipe (single layer) for this layer.  If you use a cake mix, you could make cupcakes with the leftover batter. )
    5. Frosting: Pure White, symbolizing the righteousness and purity of Jesus Christ.
    6. Decorations: A border of hearts around the side of the cake reminds us of Brothers and sisters united in Christ, circling the earth as his witness. (use frosting hearts. or use heart shaped “redhots”. at valentine’s day, you can use candy hears, with messages put toward the frosting).
    7. On top of the cake is a Gold/Yellow star — like the start that shone heralding his Birth and lighting the way to the stable. (This should be the siz pointed star of David. Six is the number of man and shows that the grace of God includes us all — not only the Jewish people whose Messiah is our Saviour.)
    8. A single large Red candle in the center represents Jesus Christ who came into the dark world to bring it light and truth.

    Celebration: gather around the cake. Explain the significance/symbolism associated with each part of the cake/decor.

    If celebrating Christmas:

    • Read the Christmas story from Luke.
    • Light the Big Red Candle, sing Happy Birthday to Jesus.
    • Give each person a smaller green candle.
    • One by one, have everyone light their small green candle from the large red candle. then put their green candle around the edge of the top of the cake, to represent that we are to be the light of the world to others.
    • Sing Silent Night.
    • Pray and thank God for sending His son into the world to forgive our sins.
    • Blow out the candles and proceed with your family/group traditions for Christmas.

    If celbrating God’s love for us  (at Valentine’s Day):

    • Read 1 John 4
    • Light the Big Red Candle.
    • Give each person a smaller green candle.
    • One by one, have everyone light their small green candle from the large red candle. then put their green candle around the edge of the top of the cake, to represent that we are to be the light of the world to others.
    • Pray and thank God for loving us so much and sending His son into the world to forgive our sins.

    I’ll be trying this out for the first time this year.

  • 4th of July: a reflection

    Date: 2009.07.05 | Category: Gerneral, Holidays, House, personal | Response: 1

    We awoke to a “northern” Fourth.

    I grew up in Memphis, TN. There are 3.5 seasons in Memphis: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and “Winter”. Winter, without snow and without plummeting temperatures, is the half season. The extremities of summer make up for it. Summer begins in May and ends in October.

    I have lived “up North” since 1998. There are only 2 seasons up north: Winter, and road construction. In some northern areas, Spring doesn’t gloriously bloom its heart out, but merely lets you know things are changing because of the ubiquitous mess and mud. Summers are cool; ACs can be superfluous; temperatures “soar into the 80s.” Autumn, if the rain comes at the right time, explodes with its final burst of red and gold before the Great White Blanket settles over earth and sky for the next 6 months. Mandatory survival items are long underwear, heater, fireplace, kerosene lantern, a bucket of thawed water, beef jerky, and a full length down coat with flip-top mittens.

    While Winters up north can seem unsurvivable, Summers down south can feel oppressive, except for a few accoutrements which provide temporary release. I remember enjoying standing in front of Grandma’s window AC after playing outside. She’d offer a drink of cold “warter” which somehow tasted colder than it seemed possible. I’d enjoy long gulps of cold water, cooling me from the inside out. Then I’d dart out again, with admonitions not to slam the door, and play on the leaning tree.

    I also remember the ceremony of making homemade ice cream. The “freezer burn” headache that ensued was painful yet the fun family times of listening for the motor “to stop” is something that I just can’t explain. Waiting for the ice cream to cure seemed like an eternity.

    My first remembrance of a Northern Fourth still fills me with disequilibrium. We were camping, which brings me out of my comfort zone enough, and it was cold. We sat around a fire, drinking hot chocolate. We wrapped ourselves in Mexican blankets. We did not prepare home made ice cream, and we did not eat ice cold watermelon, and we did not yearn for an AC. I still get that discombobulated feeling when I recall that first Northern Fourth. To me, it was No Fourth At All. I felt like we should be decorating a Christmas tree.

    Our evening celebration of the Fourth this year included the usual “northern” attire, Jeans and a sweatshirt, and introduced a “new” tradition: S’mores. We walked down to the Gauthiers, whose backyard is situated so that we could watch the neighborhood’s fireworks. We could see the ones at both ends of the power lines, the ones behind their property and the ones across the street. We enjoyed a great campfire, and of course, lots of roasted marshmallows and s’mores.

    I still think that the Fourth should be celebrated in shorts and a tank top with the AC blasting and the ice cream maker grinding away. I miss fireworks over the river. One day, I hope that we return to the sultry South. I’m sure that I’ll then long for the ways of the North. Perhaps I’ll don my sweatshirt and stand in front of the blasting AC with a bowl of ice cream in one hand and a cup of hot cocoa in the other.