The Stockings Were Hung . . .

When you live far from family and you don't have kids, you have the opportunity to decorate your home for Christmas, just the way you like. 

I gave up on Christmas Trees a long time ago, even before I acquired animals.  Between the busyness of teaching Sunday School and before that Skiing - and bad memories from childhood (from putting up the tree not the stupendous selection of gifts stashed beneath it), trimming a tree seemed senseless.  It takes 20 minutes to deck the halls.

Isabelle and Ebenezer Have Their Own Stockings
(from Pottery Barn)

You're A Good Man Charlie Brown

(And I Need to Dust my Tall Bookshelves)

Nativity Banner

(I got tired of finding the Baby Jesus figure in the Cats' Water Dish)

Issie Naps on the Mantel

(She's Small, Not Much Bigger Than the China Cats)

Waiting for Santa

(At 14 Pounds, the Last Thing He Needs is More Treats)

Quilted

For some time - decades actually - I have stashed baby quilts in my hall closet and shared them with people I encounter who are expecting.  At times, I know one or both of the parents' quite well.  I don't always know the prospective parents' well at all.  Once, I shared a quilt with a young woman with whom I shared a bus bench Monday through Friday.  She was single and worked at Whole Foods.  I didn't know her name, but was impressed that she was making the best of a challenging situation.

Recently, I realized that I was fresh-out of baby blankets and wouldn't be able to go up to Boulder to visit the Sewing Circle ladies and stock-up.  Lacy, a co-worker, mentioned that she and her sister had made some quilts, took them to a craft fair, and sold only a few.  I encouraged her to bring them in so we could admire her handiwork.

Turns out, my co-workers so liked Lacy's blankets that there weren't many left when I got in.  These are the four I purchased.  I like the pink and green one and the orange and blue ones best.  The orange and blue quilt is made of flannel and has little front end loaders on it, with the words 'Under Construction.'  Flannel is cozy and bright colors don't look as dirty as quickly as the pastel blankets do.

Girly

Under Construction

Bright

Christmassy

Boxing Day

In days gone by, wealthy Canadians celebrated Boxing Day, December 26, by giving the people who worked for them a Christmas Box.  For me, a middle-aged, middle class American, Boxing Day is the Saturday I pack shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child, an outreach of the Christian relief ministry, Samaritan's Purse.  Each year, Samaritan's Purse distributes millions of lovingly packed shoe boxes, that also contain the Christmas Story, to children in developing countries.

This year, I packed six boxes for girls age 5-9.  I collect school supplies, hygiene items, shirts, socks and toys year round, storing them in my maternal grandmother's Hope Chest.  It's so much fun.  Ordinarily, my cats join in on the fun.  Today, they slept through the frivolity.

1. 
   

Leafy

Sorry, no Aspen leaves, 

but I live in Southwest Jefferson County 

and I work in 

Highlands Ranch.

Open Wide

Ripe

My first tomato finally is ripe and ready for picking.  Here are some pictures from my first attempt to grow tomatoes in containers on my patio.  It was so much fun and I'll probably be harvesting another dozen or so tomatoes before the season ends.  I did not purchase my plants until the first week of July so I am pretty pleased with the results.

I bought fancy wire supports for my tomato plants, but my tomatoes had already grown too big for me to stick the supports in the soil, so I cut the elastic cuff off of a discarded sock and used it to tie my tomatoes to a yardstick. As they say, 'necessity is the mother of invention.'

Has Isabelle Found Her Calling?

If Isabelle ever gets tired of keeping Ebenezer in-check, 

she could get a job at Fed Ex Kinko's.  She is as obsessed with printers as Ebenezer is with the ice maker.

Would You Like Some Groceries With Your Flowers?

I bought my tomato and bell pepper plants at one of the King Soopers' near my house.  They also have some amazing annuals and perennials available for purchase.  I did not take pictures of the more pedestrian geraniums, petunias, or vegetables.

You Say Tomato

Is the tomato a fruit?  Is it a vegetable?  I'm not sure and I don’t really care.  I know I like to eat tomatoes and I also like to grow them.  Most of my relatives on my dad’s side grew (and continue to grow) vegetables in their spacious suburban back yards.  It helps that Illinois, Indiana and Michigan have the dark loamy soil and the hot humid nights essential for optimal vegetable production.  My maternal grandmother did not grow vegetables, but she had several sour cherry trees – good for making pies – and beautiful rose bushes.

Growing up, my dad was responsible for vegetables and trees and my mom grew flowers.  My mom started most of her annuals from seeds – placing seeds in peat pots in long metal trays that my dad made for her.  We purchased most of our vegetable plants – including 36 tomato plants for our family of three – at a local garden center.  

I had my own patch in the back yard – four foot square and bordered by red bricks.  Most years, I grew marigolds – they keep the bug population at bay – and several kinds of lettuce, green beans and cherry tomatoes.  Obsessed as I was with Charlie Brown and Snoopy, I made multiple unsuccessful attempts at growing a Great Pumpkin.

Much like skiing and snowboarding, I believe gardening is a great family activity.  Furthermore, children can learn math, science, money management, nutrition and more in the context of the family garden.  What child doesn’t enjoy playing with dirt and looking for bugs?  

If a child grows his/her salad, he/she will most likely eat it – and encourage everyone else to do so as well.  Tomatoes now come in purple, yellow and red and green stripes in addition to the more mundane red ones.  So much fun!  For Christians, gardening also provides an excellent entrée into Bible stories like Creation (Genesis 1), the Parable of the Sower (Mark 4) and the story of the vine and the branches (John 15).

To celebrate being hired by Xerox, I purchased two patio tomato plants and a red bell pepper plant at King Soopers.  They did not have any basil plants left.  You can buy one basil plant for about the same price as two packages of fresh basil from the produce department.  

On Fourth of July, I went to O’Tooles Garden Center and purchased three big containers and some wire supports for the tomatoes and peppers.  At some point, I will go back and get tomato food, a watering can (because I don't want to contaminate my Nalgene water bottle with fertilizer) and some wheels so I can scoot my plants around.  If my tomato experiment bears fruit – pun fully intended – I plan to purchase self watering vegetable planters that are waist-high and have built in wheels for next year.

Remember When

King Soopers had Firecracker Popsicles on sale for a dollar per box this past week.  I loved these when I was little. I have to admit that they still taste pretty darn good when the thermometer hits 90 degrees, though I'm sure that the blue sugar water is bad for me.  I had forgotten they engrave riddles on the sticks.

My mom generally stocked up on Firecracker Popsicles  and other ice cream novelties at the store when they were on sale.  I lived in neighborhoods with a lot of children so the ice cream trucks did a brisk business in the  summer.  Because I spent time with both sets of grandparents, I also kept track of the schedules for the ice cream trucks in their neighborhoods – before I could tell time

The Good Humor Man came less often than any of the other ice cream vendors, but I liked their selection the best.  My favorite Good Humor treat was the Strawberry Shortcake Bar.  The innermost layer of the Strawberry Shortcake Bar contained strawberry sherbet.  The sherbet was encased in a thick layer of vanilla ice cream.  The outermost layer of the bar contained crunchy red and white shortcake crumbles.  So, so good.

What Makes You Happy?

Several months ago, I found this rubber stamp on the Impress Cards and Stamps website.  Impress also operates several brick and mortar stores that teach card making and sell rubber stamping supplies in the Seattle area.  The words on this stamp, Do More of What Makes You Happy, reminded me of something valuable I learned in my Brief Counseling class at Denver Seminary. 

Because my goal was to become a Hospital Chaplain (for which I also needed to be an ordained minister), I took far more Bible classes than I did counseling classes.  Anyhow, I thought I would share this nugget with you.  It comes from a counseling approach, Strategic Solution-Focused Therapy, we learned in Brief Counseling.  I still have many of my textbooks – so the information is accurate.  I added the words in parentheses.

When you encounter challenges – consider the following:

1. What’s the trouble?  If it’s (something's) not broke, don’t fix it.
2. If it (something) works, do more of it.
3. If it (something) doesn’t work, stop doing it, and do something different.

So, Do More of What Makes You Happy.  Within reason of course . . .

I Made Cherry Limeade

Shortly before my birthday, Karlene, my roommate at the time, took me to Sonic, the closest place where you can get a half-way authentic Chicago Hot Dog.  At Sonic, I had a wonderful drink called Cherry Limeade.  Since then, I have been trying to replicate it. 

I found this recipe on the internet.  The frozen limeade you get from the grocery store has lots of corn syrup in it, and tastes pretty pathetic.  I started making Perfect Lemonade a couple years ago.  It’s still my favorite.  Limes are smaller than lemons and also cost a little bit more than their yellow cousins.  You might want to make Cherry Limeade when limes are on sale.

I juice lemons and limes by hand using a hand juicer that I bought on-line.  The easiest way to juice citrus is to cut the fruit in half at the widest point.  Now, imagine that the cut fruit is the face of a a clock.  Make small cuts with with a sharp knife at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock.  This makes the fruit easier to squeeze and you will get more juice.

CHERRY LIMEADE

º       1 ½ cups granulated sugar

º       1 ½ cups water

º       Small pinch of salt

º       1 ½ cups fresh squeezed lime juice

º       1/3 cup maraschino cherries, not the juice

º       2 T grenadine

º       3 to 5 cups cold water (Depending on how strong you like your limeade)

º       Maraschino cherries & lime slices for garnish

In a sauce pan bring sugar, 1 ½ cups of water, and a pinch of salt to a boil. Boil until the sugar is melted and the liquid is clear; about 3 to 5 minutes. Set aside and cool slightly.

Place all the ingredients together in a half gallon pitcher and stir to combine. Chill and serve with garnishes.

Perfect Lemonade

º        1 cup sugar (can reduce to 3/4 cup)

º        1 cup water (for the simple syrup)

º        1 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice

º        3 to 4 cups cold water (to dilute the lemonade)

Make simple syrup by heating the sugar and one cup of water in a small saucepan until the sugar is dissolved completely.

While the sugar is dissolving, use a juicer to extract the juice from 4 to 6 lemons, enough for one cup of juice.

Add the juice and the sugar water to a pitcher. Add 3 to 4 cups of cold water, more or less to the desired strength. Refrigerate 30 to 40 minutes. If the lemonade is a little sweet for your taste, add a little more lemon juice to it.

Shady

Like most people in the South Metro area, I have coyotes and foxes in my neighborhood.  As such, this is the closest that Isabelle is likely to get to the Great Outdoors.  Issie, who weighs a mere six pounds and has great balance, likes to sneak behind the Roman shade in my bedroom and stand on the window sill.

Hop to It

I 'm fully aware that rabbits are little more than rodents with floppy ears, but they sure are cute.  I found this baby bunny adjacent to my patio.  When I changed positions to get a better picture, the rascally rabbit hopped away.

Here I Raise My Ebenezer

Not long ago, my sweet cat, Ebenezer, celebrated his third birthday.  I inherited him from a Denver Seminary classmate who got him from a homeless gentleman standing in front of a Starbuck's.  I promptly nestled E in a black Vera Bradley tote and took him to Deer Creek Animal Hospital for shots. Back then, he weighed a mere 3.7 pounds.  Today, he tips the scales at a hefty 15 pounds.

Some people think I named E for Charles' Dickens' Ebenezer Scrooge character from A Christmas Carol.  Not quite.  E gets his name from the second verse of the classic hymn, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing which was written by a 22 year-old pastor named Robert Robinson.  In Hebrew, the Ebenezer also means 'stone of help.' 

That Was Then

This Is Now

April Showers Bring May . . .

It snowed this past weekend.  I thought I'd share some pictures of the view from my front door.  Winter - as many of you know - is my favorite time of year.  My mom - with whom I have little else in common - missed the snow so much that she sold her place in Florida and returned to Aspen.  At 73, she skied 50 days this past season.  My dad now lives full-time in Evergreen.  My paternal grandparents often spent Christmases in Door County, WI when I wasn't around.

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday