For every Easter of my life, I’ve decorated eggs….except one. Last year when we away from home on a trip to Northern California. Yep. Even one April, when we were in Hawaii I colored eggs –the condo had a big kitchen, and we took the finished product along on picnics at the beach. Something I can’t resist about those little glass cups brimming bright with color. My favorite part is pouring the colors down the drain when I’m done. My own particular rainbow. To this day, the scent of vinegar always evokes this much loved pastime.

But the little PAAS kits got me thinking. How did kids on the prairie dye their Easter pretties in days gone by? I thought I’d do some digging. 

First off, the child might draw a design on a clean egg with candle wax. Then comes the fun. 

Mother Nature has a beautiful pallet and plenty of “natural” ways to get the job done. These old-style tricks certainly work today. Onion skins seeped in hot water were and are a popular method of adding various shades of yellow, brown and even red. The skins can simply be added to water for soaking or boiling, or the skins wrapped around the egg with cloth.

 

The juice from cooked beets can make tints of pink and red. A green leaf wrapped around an egg “leaves” behind a beautiful imprint. 

To create a marbled design, a child –and Mama; it seems to have been a project requiring more than two hands–would wrap dill or parsley around an onion-skin covered egg, tying it on with string, before boiling, afterward polishing the finished product with oil. 

Turmeric and white vinegar is said to produce a lovely yellow, and paprika with vinegar, a delicious orange. Walnut husks leave behind a rich dark brown color, and elderberry juice a lovely deep purple. Strong coffee with a couple spoonfuls of white vinegar also produces beige, tan, and brown hues.

 I learned of an old-fashioned mother re-straining the commercial “blueing” in her laundry rinse water to produce a blue tint. Blueberries and red cabbage will produce purple, my favorite Easter color of all.

 

For green eggs (to go with that Easter ham LOL) soak eggs in water along with four cups of fresh spinach. (One household hint said to use baking soda for this one rather than vinegar.) 

These methods all call for a ratio of one quart to two tablespoons white vinegar, and a good overnight soak before boiling. The longer the egg remains in the water, the more intense the color. Boil the eggs for ten minutes in the juices they soaked in. 

Anybody eager to give these old-time methods a try this Eastertime? 

Thanks to eHow.com, Holidays Central, and The District Domestic for these down-home hints and helps!) 

(P.s. The third Hearts Crossing Ranch novella, Sanctuary,  will be out soon. Here’s my hero: WDYT?

 

 

Haystack Drop Candies
By Winnie Griggs

 

This is a holiday favorite at my house.  It’s super easy and, as you can see from the notes on ingrediants that can be swapped out or added in, it is very versatile. 

 

INGREDIANTS

• 1 cup caramel chips (can substitute butterscotch chips)
• 2 cups shoestring potatoes (can substitute chow mein noodles)
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup salted peanuts (optional)

 

DIRECTIONS

• Melt chips and peanut butter in microwave or double boiler.  Stir until well blended
• Gently stir in shoestring potatoes and nuts
• Drop by spoonfuls unto waxed paper 
• Cool until set

 

Other add-ins you can try

• Rice Krispie cereal
• Miniature marshmallows
• M&Ms
• Coconut

 

Andes Mint Cookies
By Cheryl Pierson

 

INGREDIANTS

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 3/4 cup butter or margarine
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tbs water
• 3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 6 oz. Andes mints
• Pecan halves

 
DIRECTIONS

• In a large bowl, cream sugars and butter or margarine.
• Add eggs and water. Beat well.
• Mix flour, soda and salt well.
• Add gradually to egg mixture. Chill dough overnight (it is important that the dough be well chilled). 
• Wrap each mint completely in cookie dough.
• Place 2″ apart on lightly greased cookie sheets and put a nut half on top of each cookie.
• Bake 7-9 minutes until golden brown in a 375 degree oven.

 

 

OLD FASHIONED RICE PUDDING

By Cheryl St. John

 

1/2 cup rice

1 quart milk

4 eggs, separated

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons margarine

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 tablespoons sugar

Combine rice, milk and salt. Cook in a double-boiler until rice is tender.

Beat egg yolks until light and lemon colored. Add these, 1/2 c sugar, margarine and vanilla to the rice. Stir vigorously as you add the egg mixture. Cook slowly until pudding becomes the consistency of custard.

Pour into casserole and top with meringue made of the 4 egg whites beaten stiffly and 3 tablespoons of sugar.

Brown in oven 10 to 12 minutes.

 

 

 ORGANIC RAW CHOCOLATE CREAM COOKIES SUPREME

 By Karen Kay

 

 1)  Fill a quart jar with almonds half full.  Fill another quart jar with pecans half full.   Fill jar with water and salt and let soak overnight.  (The purpose of this is to deactivate the anti-nutrients — phytates — in the nuts.  Phytates impair digestion and prevent the body from assimilating important nutrients like calcium, magnesium, etc.)

2)  Pour off water and salt and dehydrate the nuts in the lowest setting on your oven — or dehydrate them in a dehydrator if you have one.

Recipe:

 5 tblsp. soaked and dried raw organic almonds

5 tblsp. soaked and dried raw organic pecans

2 tblsp. raw organic cacao

2 tblsp. raw organic coconut flour

4 tblsp. raw organic butter or if raw butter not available, regular butter

1/4 teasp. pure organic stevia

1-2 tblsp. vegetable glycerin — or substitute 1-2 tblsp. maple syrup

1 cup raw organic cream or if raw cream not available, one can substitute regular cream — hopefully non-homogenized

1 teasp. vanilla

Put almonds and pecans in a food processor and grind until nuts are the consistency of a coarse flour.  Add raw cacao, coconut flour, butter, stevia and vegetable glycerin (or maple syrup) and blend until a dough forms.

Drop by spoonfuls onto the dehydrator or cookie sheet and press to form a flat cookies.  Dehydrate for 3-4 hours or put in oven at lowest possible heat and heat for 2-3 hours.  Whip raw cream with a couple of pinches of stevia and organic vanilla.

Place a spoonful of cream onto the cookie and place another cookie on top — making a cookie sandwich.  Makes about 16 cookies.

GRANNIE’S TEXAS GERMAN

CHOCOLATE CAKE

By Phyliss Miranda

Grannie was a cake baker for one of the first cafeterias in downtown Amarillo, Texas, during the 50’s and this is her original recipe she made every Thursday for the lunch crowd.

Recipe

2 c.      Sugar

1 c.      Shortening

4          Eggs, separated

2 ½ c.  Flour

½ tsp. Salt

1 tsp.   Soda

1 c.      Buttermilk

4 squares Semi-Sweet Chocolate

Dissolve chocolate in ½ cup hot water. Set aside. Cream sugar and 4 egg yokes (beaten).  Add 2 ½ cups flour and ½ t salt, alternating with buttermilk in which soda has been dissolved.  Add melted chocolate. Beat 4 egg whites till stiff, but not dry, and fold mixture into egg whites.

Bake 350 degrees for approximately ½ hour.  Makes 3 round pans.

German Chocolate Cake Icing

1 c.      Sugar

1 c.      Canned milk

½ c.     Chopped pecans

1 c.      Coconut

½ stick Butter

3          Egg yolks

Pinch of salt

Vanilla to taste

Combine ingredients.  Cook over very low heat until mixture spreads smoothly.  Ice cake.

Wrangler Wreath Cookies

Mary Connealy

1/3 C. butter

 10 ounces marshmallows

Microwave 1 ½ minutes. Stir. Microwave again 1 ½ minutes. Continue until smooth. Add:

1 t. green food coloring

Add:

6 C. cornflakes (crushed)

Wet hands work as well as buttered hands to prevent sticking. Roll into balls. Poke thumb through center and flatten to form a wreath. Decorate with red hots.

 Gumdrop Cake

Donna Alward

1/2 cup Margarine

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

2 cups flour

1 cup milk

1 cup gum drops (no black) chopped, or baking gums

Cream margarine and sugar, beat in eggs 1 at a time. Add vanilla. Mix together flour, salt, and baking powder. Add to the mixture, alternating with the milk until smooth.

Dust gumdrops with flour (to keep them from sticking together). Add to batter. Grease and flour a funnel or bundt pan. Bake at 350 until toothpick comes out clean. Wrap in foil and let ripen for 1 week (if you can stand to wait that long!).

JEFFREY KOTERBA’S ARTWORK USED WITH PERMISSION

 VISIT HIS WEBSITE: http://www.jeffreykoterba.com

 

‘Twas the night before Christmas in this Junction of ours;  

The sky over the prairie was ablaze with bright stars;

   

Our boots were lined up by the fire with care,

In hopes that Old Santa Claus soon would be there;

   

Felicia’s ornery mule napped snug there in the barn,

Whilst our visiting guest was spinning a yarn;

 

O’course Winnie in her wool socks and Tanya in her cap,

Had just settled down for a long winter’s nap,

 

When out in the corral there arose such a ruckus,

I sprang from bed to see what the heck was…

 

…outside the window, there on the barn roof,

Victoria banged open the shutters and near busted a tooth!

 

The moon was so bright it near blinded my eye

And the snow landed like whippin’ cream coverin’ a pie,

 

When, what to my hornswaggled eyes should appear,

But a covered wagon and eight dusty reindeer!

 

With a little old driver wearing boots and a hat,

I knew for durned sure he was related to Pat.

 

He was cheery and bright, a right jolly cowpoke,

Elizabeth laughed when I saw him; he was my kind of  folk.

 

Those reindeers, they ain’t docile. What a hissy they threw!

Nearly toppled the wagon, and Old Santa Claus too.

 

Quicker’n a youngin’ off to play hookie,

That old geezer came in and asked Linda for a cookie;

 

Tracy found one and he ate it, so Stacey got milk

Then Karen, she presented him with a scarf made of silk.

 

But Mary, she hung back, I think she was a’feared

‘Cause all night she trembled and her eyes how they teared

 

No worry, Margaret told her, the fat guy’s a friend.

To us in the Junction and those ’round the bend,

 

Sure ’nuff Santa left a package in each Fillies’ boot,

Didn’t matter none to him, they was dusted with soot.

 

Then somethin’ happened, caught us all by surprise,

Donna and Cheryl S showed up with an armload of pies.

 

We sat down to eat ‘em, and they tasted fine,

Though they couldn’t have baked ‘em; They hadn’t had time;

   

Old Santa asked for seconds; Bet that’s why he’s merry.

 He tried pumpkin and apple, even pe-can and cherry.

 

Phyliss heaped on whipped cream, and still he ate more.

His belly how it swelled! Would he fit out the door?

   

“It’s my big night,” he declared.  “Only comes once a year.”

  Good thing for that, too, or he’d burst I do fear.

   

He stifled a burp, and a pipe out it came;

“Smoking’s not good for you,” Cheryl P did loudly exclaim.

 

“All that sugar and now this, think of your health.

“Think of all the children that count of your jolly old self!”

 

He listened real close and even nodded his head,

Took right to his heart everything we had said.

   

He tossed that old pipe in the fire with a pop,

“The Missus, she’s been tryin’ to get me to stop,”

   

With a hearty laugh and a promise to come back.

The Fillies watched that old fella leap up the smokestack.

  

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a yee-haw,

And away they all flew, like twister-flung straw.

 

And we heard him exclaim as that team took flight,

“Merry Christmas, you bloggers, and to all a good-night.” 

It’s dark. It’s cold. It’s snowy. You’re driving through downtown Lexington when suddenly you see eight giant trees ablaze with lights. “O Holy Night” is on the radio, and the moment is just about perfect.  That happened to me last Friday.  I was stuck in traffic–a mix of rush hour and mall mayhem--when I took a detour and saw the trees. The moment was so glorious that it made up for the lines at Walmart and the icy roads.

I love Christmas lights. So does my husband. One year he put 1,400 lights (the little ones) on a seven-foot douglas fir. It was spectacular. This year we went to an artificial tree, but it’s still loaded with lights including some of our oldies.  We have bubble lights, light-up figures and ice globes in addition to 600 small white lights.   

Christmas tree lights (electric ones) go back to 1882 and the New York home of Edward Johnson, an associate of Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb. Johnson lived in one of the first neighborhoods to have electricity, and he used it to light up the Christmas tree in his parlor.  The tree was the talk of the town.

Here’s how it was reported by The Detroit Post and Tribune:

“Last evening I walked over beyond Fifth Avenue and called at the residence of Edward H. Johnson, vice-president of Edison’s electric company. There, at the rear of the beautiful parlors, was a large Christmas tree presenting a most picturesque and uncanny aspect. It was brilliantly lighted with many colored globes about as large as an English walnut and was turning some six times a minute on a little pine box. There were eighty lights in all encased in these dainty glass eggs, and about equally divided between white, red and blue. As the tree turned, the colors alternated, all the lamps going out and being relit at every revolution. The result was a continuous twinkling of dancing colors, red, white, blue, white, red, blue—all evening.”

It took time for the use of electricity to become widespread, so electric lights didn’t become popular until the early 20th century.  The first lighted trees where generally town affairs and were quite expensive, in part because the lights had to be hand wired.  It wasn’t until 1903 that GE began selling pre-assembled light kits.  They cost was approximately $8 for an eight-light strand, roughly the equivalent of a week’s salary.

Christmas tree lights took off in the 1920s and 1930s, and the industry has been evolving ever since. Lighted figures were popular in the 1950s. The ones that are still around are preserved by collectors who use dimmers to keep them from burning out. (We’ve got a dimmer on our tree to for that purpose.)  Ice globes were popular in the 1960′s. We’ve got a few of those and they’re lovely.

Christmas tree lights are ever-changing. The new LCD ones are energy efficient and extremely vivid.  I like them a lot.  Maybe next year we’ll add a little tree with just LCDs.  Then there are the fiber-optic trees that change colors. I have mixed feelings about them, but I can watch them change colors for hours, especially if there’s Christmas music in the background.

Merry Christmas, everyone!  If you have a tree up, what kind of lights do you use?

 

  

   

Margaret Brownley

 

I love when readers write to tell me what they like about my books. It’s not always what I expect.  For example, in book one of my Rocky Creek series Timber Joe was what I call a throw-away character.  I had no intention of giving him a role to play in future books.  Imagine my surprise when readers wrote asking for more of him. As a result, Timber Joe got a reprieve from my editing pen—and will even have a happy ending in book three. 

  

However, the biggest surprise by far is the number of letters I received on a none-existing person.  In A SUITOR FOR JENNY the heroine refers to an etiquette book entitled The Compleat and Authoritative Manual for Attracting and Procuring a Husband “authored” by Miss Abigail Jenkins. I laugh each time someone writes to inquire about the author or ask where the book can be found.

  

No such book exists, of course, I made it up.  But since Miss Jenkins gets more fan mail than I do, I thought it would be fun to see what advice, if any, she would have for the holidays—if she really did exist.   

 

Holiday Etiquette

By

Miss Abigail Jenkins 1875

  

• Criticizing a suitor’s gift will gain you no favor.  A man who thinks it’s the thought that counts must simply be taught to think bigger. 

 

• When caught beneath the mistletoe respond with lady-like restraint. Avoid swooning or appearing overly-eager. A delicate blush will suffice.

 

• Resist the temptation to write long, tiresome letters listing your past year’s accomplishments.  Such crass endeavors will make recipients feel inferior, and mark you as a braggart.

 

• Avoid giving frivolous or ostentatious gifts.  Ladies on your list will appreciate an ostrich plume, a gift both practical and beautiful. A tasteful snuff box will suit most gentleman’s needs.  For the mountain man or miner on your list, a pair of woolen socks would make a practical gift.

 

• Anyone who overindulges in alcohol should leave weapons at the door. This applies to both men and women.

 

• If, as a guest, you are forced to share a bed with another, stay on your own side and do not hog the blankets.

 

• Never overstay your welcome.  Fish and visitors tend to lose their appeal after only three days.

 

• When holiday shopping at your local general store or mercantile, never make disparaging remarks about the price or quality of goods.  Anyone exhibiting such rude behavior deserves to pay double.

 

• Never discuss politics or religion in polite company; it will only cause ill-will and indigestion.  Should an unpleasant discourse threaten the peace, smile serenely and quickly change the subject.

 

• When walking on ice or snow, take small dainty steps.  Never raise the hem of your skirt above the top of your boot.  If you should slip, fall, or otherwise meet with misfortune, grace, modesty and a pleasant disposition must prevail at all times.  

  

A Note (plea) from Margaret

  

I don’t know what Miss Jenkins would say about shamelessly promoting oneself–or one’s friends–but I will sacrifice good manners and lady-like reputation to ask you to vote for the Best Western Romance of 2010.  Several of us fillies are nominated and we need your support!  It’s easy.  You don’t have to join anything, and you might even win a prize.  Even Miss Jenkins would have no objections to that.  Here’s the link:

http://www.lovewesternromances.com

 

 

When looking for a husband it’s best to go where the odds are in your favor.

A Suitor for Jenny (A Rocky Creek Romance) 

 

 

Merry Chocolate Everyone!

www.margaretbrownley.com

Welcome to the Honky Tonk today! We’re havin’ a Christmas party because the construction at the Tonk is finished. Sharlene has put all Christmas songs on the juke box for the day and there’s mistletoe hanging from a red satin ribbon right in the middle of the floor … exactly in the same place that Travis laid that passionate kiss on Cathy in Hell, Yeah!

There’s pecan divinity, fudge, egg nog, chips and picante and so many other finger foods on the bar that if you go home hungry, it’s your fault. If you don’t like egg nog, I’m sure you can rustle up a bottle of beer from behind the bar.

Chigger plugged money into the juke box and let me choose my top three favorite songs by Toby Keith since she played a part in getting Daisy and Jarod together in I Love This Bar. Oh, my! Decisions! Decisions! Okay, number one … “Christmas Rock.” I just love the way Toby sings that song and doesn’t every woman dream of opening up a little black or red velvet box and finding a nice big rock inside?

That brought out some two steppin’ folks. I see Billy Bob, Jim Bob and Joe Bob, the red haired triplets out there with their new wives. Those boys haven’t lost a bit of their charm and they still do a fine job on the dance floor. B-32 gets me “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” by Toby and Chigger is starting a line dance. And my last choice is Toby’s “Please Come Home For Christmas.” Awww, ain’t that cute! There’s Sharlene and Holt dancing a nice sweet slow dance.

Travis and Cathy are coming across the floor and putting their money in the juke box. They’ve played another of my favorites: a duet by two of my very favorite singers, Elvis Presley and Gretchen Wilson singing “Merry Christmas Baby.” I wasn’t even aware they’d blended their voices until Sharlene put it on the juke box but they sound wonderful together. The past and the present all combined into one beautiful song. Much like Travis and Cathy in Hell, Yeah! Cathy had to overcome past mistakes before she could move on with her life and truly have many merry holidays with her sweetheart. Don’t they look cute out there dancing together?

Larissa and Hank just came in the door and put more songs on the juke box. There’s Jo Dee Messina singing “What Child is This?” Larissa just handed off her new baby daughter to Chigger and she’s looking up in Hank’s eyes as they dance together. It’s hard to think that a year ago Larissa was playing “My Give A Damn’s Busted” by Jo Dee to him and telling him not to set foot in the Tonk ever again. Sharlene just told me that Joe Dee is singing “Silver Bells” next. I think I’ll grab a cup of Jezzy’s egg nog and sit over in the corner while that one plays. It’s my very favorite Christmas song.

Sharlene and Holt said that it’s their turn to choose the music and their first choice is “If We Make It Through December.” Alan Jackson is singing but I remember when Merle sang that one years and years ago. They’re dancing slowly to the song and Sharlene whispered to me that she’s also played two others by Alan Jackson: “There’s A New Kid in Town” and “Honky Tonk Christmas.”

What a wonderful day! Everyone is here and all my favorite country music Christmas songs have been played. I’ve visited with all the previous bar owners and the characters that made all four books possible. Now it’s my turn to play a few tunes. I think I’ll choose “O Holy Night” by John Berry; “Christmas in Dixie” by Alabama and “Two Step ‘Round the Christmas Tree,” by Suzy Bogguss.

When they finish it’ll be time to turn out the lights and go home. The party will be over but the Honky Tonk will be open again as soon as the holiday is over. Go ahead and kiss that sexy cowboy under the mistletoe. What goes on in the Honky Tonk, stays in the Honky Tonk!

What’s your favorite Christmas song? What kind of memory does it bring back to you?

THE HONKY TONK SERIES BY CAROLYN BROWN

My Give a Damn’s Busted (Book 3)—In Stores Now!

He’s just doing his job…

If Hank Wells thinks he can dig up dirt on the new owner of the Honky Tonk beer joint for his employer, he’s got no idea what kind of trouble he’s courting…

She’s not going down without a fight…

If any dime store cowboy think’s he’s going to get the best of Larissa Morley—or her Honky Tonk—then he’s got another think coming…

As secrets emerge, and passion vies with ulterior motives, it’s winner takes all at the Honky Tonk…

 

Honky Tonk Christmas (Book 4)—In Stores Now!

She Means business…

Sharlene Waverly is determined to have the “new and improved” Honky Tonk up and running before the holiday. For that, she’ll need Holt Jackson, the best darn carpenter in the state. But his warm, whisky-colored eyes make her insides melt, and before she knows it, she’s sharing her darkest secrets and talking about the nightmares…

He’s determined to keep things professional…

Holt Jackson needs the job at the Honky Tonk, but is completely unprepared to handle the beautiful new bar owner he’s working for.

Sharlene and Holt try like crazy to deny the sparks flying between them, but their love may just be the best Christmas present either one of them ever got.

About the Author

Carolyn Brown is an award-winning author who has published 36 historical and western romance novels for the library market, many of them bestsellers in that market. Born in Texas and raised in southern Oklahoma, Carolyn and her husband now make their home in the town of Davis, Oklahoma. For more information please visit http://www.carolynlbrown.com/

Two lucky winners will receive a four-book set of The Honky Series (I Love This Bar, Hell Yeah, My Give a Dam’s Busted, and Honky Tonk Christmas).   Good luck to you all!

Have you ever made candy cane reindeer?  The first time I ever got to do this fun project was when my daughter, Jessica, was young.

Having her Girl Scout troop dumped in my lap the night before our first meeting was an experience in itself.  I’d volunteered to be a co-leader.  The lady who was the leader suddenly decided she couldn’t commit, so it fell to me.  I knew nothing about Girl Scouts.  Thankfully, another very “Girl Scout savvy” mom stepped into help.

Scrambling for Christmas projects for the girls, this was one of the first ones we came up with.  Back “in the day,” we had to purchase all the needed items separately.  Now, they come in a kit—candy canes, red “Rudolph” puff-ball noses, google eyes, and green pipe cleaners.

Although this is a simple project, it is tons of fun, and the finished reindeer can be hung over the tree branches for decoration, given as party favors, or distributed as “tray favors” at local nursing homes.

Many years have passed since I put together my first candy cane reindeer.  Many changes have taken place in my life over the last fifteen years.

Last December, I found myself once again scrambling for an idea—this time for low-budget presents for my sister’s aides and nurses at the nursing home where she had been since October.  Annette is my “way older” sister—twelve years older than I.  She suffered a major stroke—her third—in January 2009 while she was in New York visiting her younger daughter for Christmas.  The very next month, in February, her older daughter died of breast cancer at age 39.  Annette was not able to see her or say good-bye as she would have liked to, since the stroke drastically affected her speech.

Those first months after her stroke were a series of ups and downs, the worst thing being that she was in New York with no way to get back to Oklahoma.  Flying was impossible with her medical conditions, so we raised money to bring her home via non-emergency medical transport.  Now with Christmas coming, we needed gifts—cheap gifts!

Oddly enough, those candy cane reindeer flew into my brain and wouldn’t leave me alone.  Annette only has the use of one hand, but she remains fiercely independent, as much as possible.  I remembered those Girl Scout days, and how the younger siblings of some of the girls wanted to “help” make the reindeer; the patience of the older girls as they guided little hands in gluing on the eyes and noses, twisting the pipe cleaner around the curved part of the candy cane to form the antlers. 

But that was truly no “gift”—better than nothing, but not quite the ticket.  Still, I bought one of the kits, and some “curly ribbon” and tiny ornaments to tie under the reindeers’ neck to embellish them a bit.  Then, I saw the answer to my dilemma in the Bath and Body Works ad!  Small, purse-size hand sanitizers in the most wonderful scents imaginable for $1 each!  I ordered 20 of them in a variety of scents.  Taping the candy cane reindeer to the small bottle of hand sanitizer would allow the reindeer to “stand.”  The tape could be easily removed, and the reindeer could serve as a tree ornament once it got to its new  “gift home.”

Annette was thrilled!  We spent two hours one Sunday making the reindeer together.  Once again, I found myself dabbing on the glue, holding the reindeer for other hands to put on the nose.  Then she held it while I put on the eyes, as they were hard for her to manage.  I tied the ornament and bow under the “neck” and twisted the pipe cleaner antlers on top.  We bent the antlers into all kinds of crazy shapes and laughed like we were kids.  Then I taped on the “legs”—the hand sanitizer—and the reindeer went to their “stall” to await being given away.

I couldn’t help but remember when I was little, how Annette was the one who had helped me do those kinds of crafts.  Now, everything is turned around, and I can enjoy this time together in a way that is far different than when I was a child.  I find myself in service to her, in a kind of odd role reversal. 

You wouldn’t think that candy cane reindeer could look much different from one another, but somehow, they do.  When I looked at them all lined up in their cardboard box stable, I thought of the fun we had making them, and the laughter we shared over simple things—a nose that wouldn’t stay on, crooked eyes, bent antlers.  I knew she had enjoyed it as much or more than I had by the look on her face, the way she kept straightening them up, re-bending the antlers on this one or that.  I watched her for a few seconds, and she turned to me with a smile—one of true happiness.  I hadn’t seen that for a long time. 

“I love you.”  She took my hand and held it for a moment.  “I love you,” she repeated; which means what she is saying, but was also her way of saying “thank you.” 

“I love you, too.”  Silently, I thanked her in my heart for still fighting, for still trying. For being my hero.

During this holiday time, I would love to hear about everyday heroes in your lives—people who wouldn’t think of themselves as anything special.  Maybe there’s someone you know who has given you a very precious gift that they don’t even realize or think of? Tell us about it! Everyday heroes are the very best!

For a sleighride, don’t you think?

I haven’t been on a sleigh ride in years, but I have fond memories, especially of when I was a kid growing up in a small farming community.  I belonged to groups like 4-H and we often had outings that included skating parties, hot cocoa, caroling, and yes, sleigh rides.

Of course you would hope for snow so you could actually go on a sleigh ride and not a wagon ride. There is something magical about the white snow and moonlight and the squeak of the runners against the snow. The sound of the horses’s hooves and the plume of the frosty air out their noses and of course the sound of bells!  But if there was no snow, we made do with wagons and bales of hay just the same. After all, you don’t need snow to sing carols. Or drink hot chocolate. Or eat Maudie Griffith’s fudge.

I got thinking about different books and movies that I love that have sleighrides in them.  How about the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, and burrowing under buffalo robes to keep warm?  Or one of my favourites – YEARS by LaVyrle Spencer. Teddy and Linnea were lovely characters and the day he picked her up from the train after Christmas break and they stopped and saw the wild horses…. happy sigh….

Movies, too. Like The Santa Clause 2 when he uses some magic to create a snowfall around the sleigh as they make their way to the Christmas party. Or at the end of White Christmas when it begins snowing and they roll back the barn doors and a horse and sleigh go jogging past!

Alas there are no sleigh rides in my immediate future, maybe you can recommend some other holiday books and movies I may have missed?

And as this is my last post of 2010 – MERRY CHRISTMAS and a big thank you to the other fillies for welcoming me to the family this year.