Our Christmas Trees - a family tradition

We have always had a Christmas tree during the 55 years of our marriage.

Our second Christmas we were living in Wurzburg, Germany and we bought a large fir tree. We had to cut off about 12" of the trunk to get it inside our living room. We still have the small part of the trunk we cut off and every Christmas I put a red candle in the center where Jim drilled a hole, and add greenery to make a small yule log. And of course we remember the snowy day that we dragged the tree through snow to get it up the hill to our house. It was frozen and we had to put it in the basement to thaw before we could bring it inside. We didn't have many ornaments for the tree and I don't remember if we had any lights on it. All I remember is how good it smelled.

We had many more trees during the following years, always fresh ones. In Texas the boys went to the woods and cut cedar trees. They were always too big when they brought them home and we had to trim them a lot. One year our youngest son Bill bought some wooden ornaments and painted them. I still put this one on our tree every year. After Bill and Ronnie left home, we helped James collect train ornaments and that's usually what we put on the tree every year. Tonight as we unwrapped the ornaments, he had fun talking about where they came from. The most expensive ornament is a white train with a gold nugget on top and ruby "hub caps" on the wheels which I bought for him at Pinehurst, NC. His favorite is a cable car from San Francisco. Last year he wanted a red, white and blue tree. It was different! Our trees do not have themes and they would never win a designer's award. But we love them anyway. About 10 years ago we bought a small "fake" tree because we didn't have much room at the farm for a big tree. This year we have a new, tall, skinny pre-lit balsam tree and it is beautiful - but you can't smell the balsam scent! 
Our 2008 tree is pictured above, and it is still in progress. Have to add shiny balls.

The ornament pictured on the right is New York City inside a clear ball, with a train running around and around, as long as the tree lights are on. Of course this came from NYC on one of our trips.


I love Christmas trees more than any other Christmas decorations. On the farm when I was growing up we usually had a pine or holly tree. During WWII it was hard to find decoations and we had to make most of ours. We didn't have very many lights on the tree. I remember that we covered sweet gum balls (with all those little stickers on them) with alum. foil we peeled off the back of cigarette cartons we found along the roadside and hung those on the tree. We colored strips of paper and glued chains to put on the tree. We loved our little trees and they were very special to us. I wonder if today's children ever get to decorate their trees. They are missing out on so many things that we enjoyed.

I spoke to my 89-year-old aunt in Brewton last week who still lives at home and she said she and her caretaker had been shopping for a new Christmas tree. Last year she gave her tree to her daughter because she wasn't going to use it anymore. This year she was feeling sad and said she just had to put up a tree or it wouldn't feel like Christmas. I'm planning a trip to Brewton before Christmas and will get to see Aunt Ida's tree and enjoy it with her. I know that some day when I am 89 I will still have a Christmas tree - wherever I am.

A Christmas Memory

A few years ago I watched a TV special "A Thanksgiving Memory" that was written by Truman Capote, one of my favorite writers. Since then I have read the story and watched the TV special a few more times, enjoying it more each time.


I identified with this story about the little boy and his aunt gathering things she needed to make a lot of fruit cakes for family and friends.


You see, we did the same thing when I was growing up in the country and we were living with my paternal grandparents, Mama and Papa Wilson in the Curtis Community. It seems that from early November up until Christmas Day the women were always preparing food for the holidays.

I suppose the fruit cakes required the most work. First they boiled grapefruit and orange peelings in sugar and water to make them crystalized. We didn't have dates so they used dried figs. We got really big Muscat raisins from the grocery store in Elba and we had to hand pick the big seeds so the raisins could be used in the cakes. The Muscat is a very special type of raisin. It is quite large, blackish in color, very sweet and quite sticky. How I would love to have some of those big raisins again. They were in bunches like grapes, and we were told they were dried grapes. 

I went online to see if I could find those delicious raisins and found this info: Muscat raisins are available year round from www.sunmaid.com. Go to Gift Shop link, then Bulk Fruits and find #62: Muscat Raisins, in a five pound box for about $22 US plus shipping. Or call Sunmaid at 800-786-6243.)


Muscat Raisins are large, oversized, dark, meaty, sweet raisins with a full fruity flavor.

We started cracking and picking out pecans early in November, to use for the cakes. Then the day came when they made fruitcakes. They steamed them in the huge pressure cooker they used for canning in the summer. Oh, and they put some of Papa Wilson's homemade fox grape wine in the cakes.

Once the fruitcakes were finished baking, they would be wrapped in a large white flower sacks, and the cloth was then soaked with wine. The cake was put in the "ice box" on the back porch to keep it moist and cool.


It was so much fun getting ready to make holiday cakes. Another cake they baked was called a Lane Cake. The icing was made with sugar, butter, and eggs. The nuts and raisins were ground in the food chopper and added to the icing. And this also had "spirits" in the icing. Today, this is my favorite cake at Christmas time.


Daddy would bring a couple of coconuts home from the store for mother to make his favorite coconut cake. My job was to crack the coconut, drain the juice, and peel the coconut after removing the hard shell. I did not like to grate the coconut as I always grated my knuckles in the process.


My favorite cake at the time was called a Lemon Cheese Cake. The cake was like a sponge cake, made with egg whites. The yolks were used to make the lemon curd used as icing. I was surprised when visiting my sister in London a few years ago that you could buy jars of lemon curd to eat with shortbread cookies. It tasted exactly like the lemon cheese my mother made. Maybe that's where the recipe came from, a long time ago.


My other grandmother, Mama Smith, always made chocolate cakes at Christmas time, with thin boiled chocolate icing that reminded me of fudge. And lots and lots of tea cake cookies.


Now at Christmas time, I have this feeling that I must get busy and start baking. I usually give my goodies away. Nobody likes fruit cake anymore. But Jim and I do. Our daughter-in-law in Texas always sends us one of those delicious Corsicana Fruit Cakes each year and we only eat a little at the time, making it last til spring! People who didn't grow up in Ala. have no idea what a Lane Cake is, and they think lemon cheese cakes are puddings - not cakes!


I'm so sorry my 5 granddaughters are missing out on this great experiece of "getting ready for Christmas" as we did long ago. What great memories I have of smelling the cakes baking, and the aroma of the wine as they opened the cloths to remove the cakes when it was time to eat them.


I guess their memories will be shopping at the mall, ordering things online, and ordering pizzas when getting home from shopping.


When they visit us during Thanksgiving or Christmas, they always want to see what's on the dessert table and they all find their favorites. I must get busy picking out pecans and start baking. Our youngest son and his 3 teen girls (one in college) will be coming from SC for Christmas this year. We can hardly wait.

Sweet Potato Weather

Sweet potatoes

This afternoon was sunny, but cold. Not a cloud in the sky. I came inside around 3 P.M. and had memories of childhood afternoons, coming home from school on the school bus, and running inside the house to get in front of the warm fire place. Then we went to the kitchen for a real treat. There were sweet potatoes baking in the big oven of the wood cook stove. Mother or grandmother Wilson placed them there after baking cornbread in the oven for lunch. They cooked slowly for about 2 hours and were just right. We peeled the dark crusty skin back, sliced the potato lengthwise and put a dollop of fresh churned butter on top of the potato. The potato was still warm and the butter would melt and run down our chins.

I cannot find potatoes in the stores or curb markets today that even resemble those delicious "roots". I think it's the process they went through they went thru after they were dug in the fall. We had to pick up the potatoes after they were turned up from the ground where the vines grew all summer. They were handled carefully and then spread out on boards to dry for a few days. Had to cover them if it rained before they were "cured". Next they were placed in hills or mounds with layers of pinestraw and dirt covering them. boards were placed over the mounds, standing up like an Indian teepee, with an opening in the top for any steam to escape.


I have made many trips to the "potato hill" to get sweet potatoes for meals. We washed them before putting them in the oven to bake. Sometimes we would boil them and then peel the skins off and mother would mash them and make a sweet potato pie, adding lots of spices, eggs, cream, sugar and baking the pie until it resembled a custard. Still one of my favorite pies.


My sister suggested that I bake a pan of sweet potatoes, all at one time and put them in the freezer, taking out one as I desired and heat it in the microwave. They're much sweeter than they are if you cook them in the microwave when they are raw.


I can only imagine our grandchildren coming home from school and being offered a hot baked sweet potato for a snack!


Tomorrow I am going to the store and get a dozen sweet potatoes, the long medium (not big round fat ones) potatoes and bake some for cold days for an afternoon snack. This will take me back about 68 years to those good ole' sweet potato days of my childhood.

More Unfortunate Events that occured during the holidays

We left for Florence, SC on Wednesday, Nov. 26 and found out that everybody in the Southeast seemed to be heading in the same direction! Traffic was bumper to bumper much of the 10 hour trip. We celebrated my birthday a day late with our son and family. Then we checked in at the motel where we were staying and guess what! I was sick all night long with the virus Jim had on Tuesday. He and James spent Thanksgiving with Bill and family and I spent the day in bed at the motel. Friday I was fine and got so spend some time with the 3 granddaughters at noon after they returned from their after Thanksgiving shopping trip.

Friday afternoon our son James started complaining about a stomach ache. After staying awake all night Friday night I took him to the hospital at 8 a.m. on Saturday. They admitted him and he was there 5 days. They did a lot of tests and never did find the cause of his stomach pain. One of us had to stay with him all the time since he has to have care.

We spent last night(Wed. Dec 3) with our son and 2 of his daughters (one had gone back to college) and I cooked dinner and afterwards went shopping with the youngest granddaughter. That was the only time I got to get out and do anything the entire trip.  We left to come home on Thursday, Dec. 4.

I guess I can sum up our Thanksgiving trip by stating that we are most thankful that James is ok now and did not have to have surgery. Pictured above on Dec. 3rd, the day he came from home the hospital.

The trip home was uneventful except for the rainy weather. But hey, it could have been ice and snow if it had been a little colder. It states in the Bible: Give thanks in all things. I am trying to do that!

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

Today was akin to Lemony Snicket's "A Series of Unfortunate Events". I never read the 13 Lemony Snicket novels but the titles alone peaked my interest. And I loved his quotes, i.e., "If you are interested in stories with happy endings you would be better off reading some other book." I wonder if granddaughter Katie Adelaide still has her collection. When she was little, I can remember how excited she was when she started reading "chapter" books. We always gave the granddaughters books for Christmas back when they were all growing up. Now it's high tech stuff. Or expensive clothes. Or makeup. Or cars.

Unfortunate event #1 - Jim got sick again this Thanksgiving; 2 years in a row, the day before we were to leave to go to SC and NC for the holidays. Last year he came down with a bad case of bronchitis. We talked about that over the weekend and how glad we were that nobody even had a cold this year.

We spent Monday afternoon packing our van so we could leave  early this morning. I baked for about a week and made 2 cakes (seven-layer chocolate and fresh coconut cakes). Made some Christmas baskets for my 3 sisters we would be visiting. We had everything in the car when we went to bed last night.

At 5:30 a.m. I heard Jim get up and go to the bathroom, where he spent most of the morning!!

Need I say more. He picked up a bad virus from someplace (not at home; we don't allow germs to enter our safe haven). James and I got dressed for our trip before we realized our driver would not be able to accompany us. Jim went back to bed where he stayed until 6 pm. James was very disappointed that we were not leaving and he told his dad he was disappointed in him for doing this to us! Throughout the day he kept peeking in the bedroom to see if his dad was "over" it yet.

Event #2 - About noon one of my sisters called and said they would not be able to meet us for lunch in Charlotte on Saturday; her husband has pneumonia.

Event #3 - Today is my 74th birthday (for my 75th I'm going to throw a big party and celebrate). My 3 granddaughters in SC have been planning a party for me and only found out at noon today  that I wouldn't be there to help celebrate. They ordered a cake, decorated the dining room, and had a special meal planned. I told them to go ahead and have the party and invite the friends that were coming and when they got ready to light the candles and cut the cake, to call me on the speaker phone and we'd all celebrate together..... and they did. What fun. They are saving the rest of the cake to have when we do make it there, along with the unopened presents.

Event #4 - For lunch, James and I ate the sandwiches I had made for our picnic lunch today on our way to SC. We had emptied the frig over the last few days and had a hard time finding food for dinner tonight. It ended up being a fish and chip dinner. When Jim finally got up and came to the kitchen, he ran back out when the smell of fish cooking greeted him. I quickly lit a candle and turned on the exhaust fan.

I guess that's about all the unfortunate events of the day. I did remember to call the hotel before 4 pm to cancel tonight's reservation. I told them to keep the other 5 nights for the time being. We'll have to see what tomorrow brings.

My Aunt Bob used to say, "When life gives you lemons, Make lemonade!" AND do I love fresh lemonade. I'm think that I might just go outside to the van and make up a tray of all the goodies stashed away for our trip. After all, this is the 1st day of our vacation, and it is my birthday, and besides, they won't miss a few. They don't know that I'm bringing chocolate chip cookies, wagon wheel cookies, brownies, 2 cakes, chocolate peanut clusters. sugared peanuts. peanut brittle, sand tarts, and I can't remember what else I have made. For breakfast tomorrow, I might cut off some links of those smoked baby links that we're taking our son.

Maybe Jim will feel better in the morning and we can still go on our trip. Or we might just leave Thanksgiving day when there's not much traffic, and arrive in time for Thanksgiving Dinner. Our son is a great cook.

Over the River and Thru the Woods, to Grandmother's House we Go

Over the River and thru the woods, To grandmother's house we go!!

Not anymore! Grandma and Grandpa have moved to town. We used to live in the woods and every Thanksgiving we always had a big group of relatives at our country place. We always had a great time and it was fun watching the kids grow up and get together there every year. After a big Thanksgiving feast, everybody helped clean up and then we went walking in the woods. On Thanksgiving night there was always a big bon fire and weiner roast.

After we moved to town, and the nephews and nieces grew up and got married and started their families, the Thanksgiving Get-Together started getting smaller and smaller. Then in 2004 we sold the farm and moved to town. Thanksgiving is just not the same anymore since Grandma moved to town.


Our last big Thanksgiving family gathering was in 2006 when we celebrated James' 50th birthday a few days early. Pictured here are the Thrasher family who all came from NC for James' party.


This year we are going "over the river an thru the woods" to get to South Carolina to spend Thanksgiving with our youngest son and his 3 teen agers. He has been a single parent for 12 years since Nov. 17, 1996 - the year his wife Barbara died. Either we go there for Thanksgiving or they come here.


A couple of weeks ago I asked Bill and the girls to send me their favorite cookie choices. For the past 2 days I have made chocolate chip cookies, peanut brittle, peanut chocolate clusters, wagon wheel choc. cookies, brownies, and a 7-layer choc. cake. I've had two requests to make a pumpkin pie from scratch (not a bought one). And stuffing (dressing) outside the turkey, like we always have in Alabama. And today I made a favorite - homemade Concord grape jelly with juice from our vines. We will arrive in SC late Tuesday and I will have Wed. to do last minute grocery shopping for the big meal on Thursday.


When I was young, Thanksgiving Day was just another day on the farm and I've written before about the things we used to do on Thanksgiving. We never had turkey. 


My birthday is usually around that time but it comes a little early this year on Nov. 25. My brother's is the day after. I have asked for a new queen size pillow top mattress set for my birthday this year so I can start sleeping on "Cloud 9". Actually I have no trouble sleeping or getting up. But I hope the new mattress will help my weary bones and I will wake up feeling energetic and not so many aches and pains. I'm sure all of this all comes from getting older. 

My Habitat for Humanity project

No, I'm not building a Habitat for Humanity home - but I am doing my part by using my master gardener skills to landscape the new home being built in Elba.

The Elba Rotary Club is sponsoring the latest habitat home and since Jim is a Rotarian, I offered my services for their project. At our last Master Gardening meeting, I volunteered to serve as the chairperson for this project and 4 others volunteered to assist.

We met last week to go over the blueprints for the home to get an idea of the space, checked out the sunny and shady places and each went home to draw a plan.  Today we got back together and compared our plans.

                                                    

I invited the mother of the single family family (2 teenagers, ages 14 aned 15), to come to our Master Gardening meeting today so everybody could meet her. She said she loves pretty flowers but has never worked in the yard. She was so pleased that we are offering to help her plan for her new surroundings.

I remember new homes we have built and the stress of trying to decide how to lay out the flower beds, what to plant, etc. I always wanted to plant things that were not native to the area and of course, they wouldn't live. Don't ever plant the beautiful sweet smelling lilacs from Minnesota in south Georgia, or plant tulips and expect them to come back every year.

My younger sister Carolyn helped me plan our landscape for our current home and the feature I enjoy most is the split rail cedar fence in the front yard. And the window boxes at the bedroom windows. When we were working on the plan for the habitat house, I suggested the same fence design for the habitat house. Others seemed to like the idea, except for one man who asked why I didn't just put the fence out by the street and not in the middle of the yard! It's fun discussing projects with a group of about 20 certified master gardeners. You get a lot of different ideas.

Here I have posted our own split rail fence in the spring of 2004 and another photo about a year later in 2005 and one in 2008.