I grew up on the farm. To me that was home. I loved the farm, every acre of it. I ran the fields, and woods, played in the streams, climbed the trees, and enjoyed myself. To some, the farm may have appeared old-fashioned, but I loved that house dearly. Just an old farm house built in 1865 by AJ Jenkins when he returned home from the civil war, but to me it was HOME.
Every Christmas, I would hang my stocking on the mantle of the living room fireplace. Daddy and I would decorate the tree with all of the ornaments, tinsel and garlands and lights. Old pine cone shaped decorations, bells, colored bulbs, the old bubbling mercury lights just to name a few. We would put the Star on top of the tree. I would always hang candy canes on the tree too.
Daddy loved to decorate for Christmas, and Mom, finally let him take over the decorating, and concentrated on baking all the Christmas goodies. Dad would put garland and tinsel across the ceiling and hang bells, and other decorations there. Wreaths went on the doors, except for the one, which got the crossed candy cane decoration. Smaller wreaths were hung in the windows, and electric candles placed on the window sills.
Daddy would decorate the front porch with colored lights and other decorations. He always made sure we had mistletoe too. Meanwhile, Mom would have gotten out her holiday doilies and scarves, and candles, and Christmas knickknacks to place around the house. She would find her holiday tablecloth and other linens and get them ready for the holiday meal.
Any visitors would be treated to some of Mom's cookies and candies. At least 2 types of fudge, potato candy, some hard tack, peanut brittle, peanut butter balls, and a variety of cookies, including the ones with the marshmallow and cherry on top. Mom would bake at the very least, 12 different types of cookies. She would send some to all of the family, and to Brooke and Mayselle, and Dick and Mamie our neighbors. Mamie would always send nut rolls and cookies to Mom. On top of all this, Mom would also make homemade bread and rolls, and cinnamon rolls.
I would always leave Santa out cookies, and milk, a letter, (Which he would leave a little message in return), and some sugar and salt for the reindeer. In my stocking Santa would leave an orange, an apple, a big peppermint stick, and various and assorted candies, and stocking stuffers.
Oh how I miss those days, and the farm.
Friday, December 18, 2015
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Holiday Memories
I have so many memories of this time of year. Mom would start baking cookies and making candies to share with the family. Mamie Eisenhower fudge, peanut butter fudge, potato candy, chocolate chip cookies, butterscotch cookies, orange cookies just to name a few. I of course got to help and to taste test.
When very young, I would go with Ruby and her husband Blaine, to see Blaine's family. Pappy Harold was Blaine's father, and Uncle Laurence and Uncle Clarence were Blaine's brothers, and Aunt Norma was Blaine's sister. Now, I am going to tell you the reason I drink milk in my tea, it's Uncle Laurence's fault. He would always make me a cup of tea and put lots of sugar and milk in it. Aunt Norma, and Uncle Clarence and Uncle Laurence would make me kid play dough, and give me cookie cutters to make homemade Christmas tree ornaments for the tree, and Aunt Norma would bake them in the oven, take them out when done, spray with hair spray and put a string through them and hang them on the tree.
One year, I was going on 5, the dough was made, and Uncle Laurence made me a cup of tea, and Uncle Clarence and Uncle Laurence and I, had a pretend tea party with the ornaments. They helped me cut them out, then we pretended to eat them. We had the ornaments made, quite a few trays of them, I might add, when they started to take them to bake. Now, being the inquisitive child I was, I decided when no one was looking, to actually try the "cookies", bad idea. Oh sure, they looked pretty, but they did not taste good at all. I promptly got sick at my tummy. Lesson learned.
Now here is the recipe for that dough.
4 cups of flour 1 cup of salt 1 TLB of alum 1 1/2 cup of water.
Mix well. Divide into bowls and use food coloring if you want to tint different colors. Or leave white, and after cutting out paint with water colors.
Roll dough out, cut with cookie cutters, poke hole at top for string which you will put in after baked and cool, place on wax paper on cookie sheet and bake in preheated 300 degree oven until hard, about 7-10 mins. When done, allow to cool, and spray with hair spray. Allow to dry, put string in hole and hang on tree.
Another thing I got to do with Aunt Norma, and Uncle Clarence and Uncle Laurence, was string popcorn. Now that was fun too, pop the corn, get a big needle and thread a big long string in it, about 8 feet or so of string. Plain old sewing needle and thread. Thread the popcorn onto the needle and thread. When done, wrap it around the tree. Make more as needed. Just save some of the popcorn for stringing, and don't eat it all!!
Uncle Clarence and Uncle Laurence are no longer with us. But I sure have the memories of the fun that we had decorating the tree.
Happy Holidays and Blessed Be
When very young, I would go with Ruby and her husband Blaine, to see Blaine's family. Pappy Harold was Blaine's father, and Uncle Laurence and Uncle Clarence were Blaine's brothers, and Aunt Norma was Blaine's sister. Now, I am going to tell you the reason I drink milk in my tea, it's Uncle Laurence's fault. He would always make me a cup of tea and put lots of sugar and milk in it. Aunt Norma, and Uncle Clarence and Uncle Laurence would make me kid play dough, and give me cookie cutters to make homemade Christmas tree ornaments for the tree, and Aunt Norma would bake them in the oven, take them out when done, spray with hair spray and put a string through them and hang them on the tree.
One year, I was going on 5, the dough was made, and Uncle Laurence made me a cup of tea, and Uncle Clarence and Uncle Laurence and I, had a pretend tea party with the ornaments. They helped me cut them out, then we pretended to eat them. We had the ornaments made, quite a few trays of them, I might add, when they started to take them to bake. Now, being the inquisitive child I was, I decided when no one was looking, to actually try the "cookies", bad idea. Oh sure, they looked pretty, but they did not taste good at all. I promptly got sick at my tummy. Lesson learned.
Now here is the recipe for that dough.
4 cups of flour 1 cup of salt 1 TLB of alum 1 1/2 cup of water.
Mix well. Divide into bowls and use food coloring if you want to tint different colors. Or leave white, and after cutting out paint with water colors.
Roll dough out, cut with cookie cutters, poke hole at top for string which you will put in after baked and cool, place on wax paper on cookie sheet and bake in preheated 300 degree oven until hard, about 7-10 mins. When done, allow to cool, and spray with hair spray. Allow to dry, put string in hole and hang on tree.
Another thing I got to do with Aunt Norma, and Uncle Clarence and Uncle Laurence, was string popcorn. Now that was fun too, pop the corn, get a big needle and thread a big long string in it, about 8 feet or so of string. Plain old sewing needle and thread. Thread the popcorn onto the needle and thread. When done, wrap it around the tree. Make more as needed. Just save some of the popcorn for stringing, and don't eat it all!!
Uncle Clarence and Uncle Laurence are no longer with us. But I sure have the memories of the fun that we had decorating the tree.
Happy Holidays and Blessed Be
Friday, October 2, 2015
Family Traditions.
I think every family has certain ways that they do things, or ways that they celebrate the holidays.
I was thinking of our family traditions. Some you don't even realize that they are, while of course others you do.
I am in the store, and I need rice, I start looking for the River brand of rice. I stopped and thought about it. Why do I use River brand? The answer is of course because my Mom did. Now as far as I know, there is no difference between one brand of plain old rice over another. I realized it was a tradition in essence. Same thing with Robin Hood brand flour, my Mom always used it, so when I had my own household, I just followed what I saw Mom buy. There were quite a few things, I realized that I bought, brand wise, because that is what my Mom did.
I found it rather interesting, so I tried to figure out how my Dad had influenced me on brands. Sure enough, once I thought about it, I realized I used Quaker State Oil and WD-40 because that is what my Dad always bought.
Of course there are holiday traditions that were passed on also. Turkey for Thanksgiving, along with pie, and stuffing. Now, I am kinda strange, I use to not like stuffing for some odd reason, and then my Mom started buying Stove Top brand stuffing mix, instead of making it from scratch. I liked it, and that is what I use when I make stuffing. Plain old Stove Top, none of that raisin, or apple or anything else for me thank you. I had a friend, who is no longer with us, but when he was alive I would always save him some Stove Top, he had that same quirk as me, he only liked Stove Top, and each holiday his wife would outdo herself to make something new and different. His wife thought both of us were rather strange that we would rather have a stuffing mix than something homemade, but there you are.
My Mom would always bake pies, cakes and candies for the holidays. Yummy fudge, so rich that you could only eat 1 piece at a time, or peanut butter fudge. I have the recipe for the Mamie Eisenhower fudge, and I love it! Potato peanut butter candy, peanut butter balls, nut rolls, orange cookies with icing, and the list goes on.
We would put our tree up the week before Christmas, Dad and I would decorate it, and Mom would critique our handiwork. New Years Day we would take it down. I do the same thing. Presents were put under the tree on Christmas Eve, and I still do that.
When my Mom made dill pickles she always put a grape leaf and a dill top with seeds in the jar along with her other ingredients. She said that is how her Mom made them, and that is how her Grandmother made them. Family tradition.
Now I somehow, managed to pick up something that my Grandmother Cassie did, that my Mom never did. When I cleaning or picking up around the house, if I find a safety pin, I will hook it to the bottom of my shirt, and if I find more, I will just hook it on to the one already there. When I go to my bathroom, I have a small container I keep the pin's in, and I will unhook them and drop them in. One day Mom realized what I was doing, and she said to me, that my Grandmother Cassie did the same thing. I thought that was kind of nifty.
So what are your family traditions?
Blessed Be.
I was thinking of our family traditions. Some you don't even realize that they are, while of course others you do.
I am in the store, and I need rice, I start looking for the River brand of rice. I stopped and thought about it. Why do I use River brand? The answer is of course because my Mom did. Now as far as I know, there is no difference between one brand of plain old rice over another. I realized it was a tradition in essence. Same thing with Robin Hood brand flour, my Mom always used it, so when I had my own household, I just followed what I saw Mom buy. There were quite a few things, I realized that I bought, brand wise, because that is what my Mom did.
I found it rather interesting, so I tried to figure out how my Dad had influenced me on brands. Sure enough, once I thought about it, I realized I used Quaker State Oil and WD-40 because that is what my Dad always bought.
Of course there are holiday traditions that were passed on also. Turkey for Thanksgiving, along with pie, and stuffing. Now, I am kinda strange, I use to not like stuffing for some odd reason, and then my Mom started buying Stove Top brand stuffing mix, instead of making it from scratch. I liked it, and that is what I use when I make stuffing. Plain old Stove Top, none of that raisin, or apple or anything else for me thank you. I had a friend, who is no longer with us, but when he was alive I would always save him some Stove Top, he had that same quirk as me, he only liked Stove Top, and each holiday his wife would outdo herself to make something new and different. His wife thought both of us were rather strange that we would rather have a stuffing mix than something homemade, but there you are.
My Mom would always bake pies, cakes and candies for the holidays. Yummy fudge, so rich that you could only eat 1 piece at a time, or peanut butter fudge. I have the recipe for the Mamie Eisenhower fudge, and I love it! Potato peanut butter candy, peanut butter balls, nut rolls, orange cookies with icing, and the list goes on.
We would put our tree up the week before Christmas, Dad and I would decorate it, and Mom would critique our handiwork. New Years Day we would take it down. I do the same thing. Presents were put under the tree on Christmas Eve, and I still do that.
When my Mom made dill pickles she always put a grape leaf and a dill top with seeds in the jar along with her other ingredients. She said that is how her Mom made them, and that is how her Grandmother made them. Family tradition.
Now I somehow, managed to pick up something that my Grandmother Cassie did, that my Mom never did. When I cleaning or picking up around the house, if I find a safety pin, I will hook it to the bottom of my shirt, and if I find more, I will just hook it on to the one already there. When I go to my bathroom, I have a small container I keep the pin's in, and I will unhook them and drop them in. One day Mom realized what I was doing, and she said to me, that my Grandmother Cassie did the same thing. I thought that was kind of nifty.
So what are your family traditions?
Blessed Be.
Thursday, July 9, 2015
Birthdays...or chocolate is good for you!
Every birthday I wanted a chocolate cake, with chocolate icing. As you can probably guess, I love chocolate! My mom would make me a cake, and we would have ice cream, generally, chocolate!
My mom would tell me all the time that eating that much chocolate is not good for you. Well Mom, now days researchers disagree with you!
Much research has been done on chocolate, and it all seems to agree that dark chocolate is good for you. Some of the various research has shown that chocolate is good for you in these ways.
1- lowers cholesterol levels
2- helps preserve memory from decline
3- lowers your risk of heart disease
4- eating chocolate lowers your risk of having a stroke 22%, and if you have one and eat chocolate, you are 46 % less likely to die from the stroke.
5-lowers your blood pressure
6-helps cut your risk of insulin resistance
7-Helps lower your reactions to stress
8 Increases blood flow to the brain,
9-Helps protect your skin from sun damage.
So go ahead and eat chocolate, remember, the darker chocolates are very beneficial!!
My mom would tell me all the time that eating that much chocolate is not good for you. Well Mom, now days researchers disagree with you!
Much research has been done on chocolate, and it all seems to agree that dark chocolate is good for you. Some of the various research has shown that chocolate is good for you in these ways.
1- lowers cholesterol levels
2- helps preserve memory from decline
3- lowers your risk of heart disease
4- eating chocolate lowers your risk of having a stroke 22%, and if you have one and eat chocolate, you are 46 % less likely to die from the stroke.
5-lowers your blood pressure
6-helps cut your risk of insulin resistance
7-Helps lower your reactions to stress
8 Increases blood flow to the brain,
9-Helps protect your skin from sun damage.
So go ahead and eat chocolate, remember, the darker chocolates are very beneficial!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)