My "I Love Lucy" Moment~New Years Eve 1983

I have many fond New Year's Eve party memories, but I am choosing to write about one funny one, my Lucy Ricardo moment. The date was January 31, 1983, the place was the Franklin House in New Village, New Jersey.

My sister Ruth Ann was tending bar that night, and I was attending the party. I can't remember what I wore as a dress that night, but we always got all decked out in our finest on New Years Eve. The icing on the cake, my haute couture fashion statement was my late Great Aunt Rees full length Fitch fur coat. It was so luxurious, however it was not kept in proper storage for over thirty years so the pelts were pealing off.

Uncle Bill gave it to me as I was the best fit for the coat, being of a similar body type as Great Aunt Ree. He and my brother Buddy took the coat to Flemington Furs to be repaired. The expert furrier there had said that it would be much to costly to repair it. He also said that if it had been kept in proper storage, it would have been worth over ten thousand dollars.

In my eye it was much too gorgeous to go to waste, so I thought that if I glued all of the curled up pelts down, it would be fine for at least one night. So I set out to do just that. I painstakingly glued each pelt down, and it looked wonderful.

I made my grand entrance into the Franklin House that evening feeling like a queen or at least a glamorous movie star. I spent the next few hours dancing, eating great food, and making merry with all my friends and relatives.

Thank goodness that I had to wait for Ruth Ann to get off of work, after all the patrons had left, because I went to put the coat on and all of the pelts had curled back up, and were popping out all over the place.

We all laughed, and it was most definitely my "I Love Lucy" moment!

Happy New Year and may all your dreams come true in 2010!

I See My Savior Face To Face

My book, My Ominous Adventures At True Blue Farm, The Secret Behind The Mirror is centered around two very important people who greatly influenced my life, my godparents. Irene Marie Eck Lattig was my Godmother.

The following is an excerpt from the book: As I close my eyes and picture my wonderful Aunt Ree I see a heavyset woman with soft rounded features. Her hair was gray and parted on the side, a bobbed cut with finger waves on her forehead. She always used Palmolive soap and Jergens Lotion and her skin was soft, with slightly rosy cheeks and never a wrinkle. Her eyes were of a transparent blue and she had a cleft type scar on her bottom lip that gave her lips a certain attractiveness like a mole on the cheek does for some women. As a young lady she resembled the Hollywood actress Jean Harlow who was known as the original blond bombshell.

When I was little she had the perfect grandmother look. When we would go outside in the summer she wore a big straw hat and a tea length cotton flowered dress covered with a pinafore apron, which also was of a flowery pattern. Although she never bore children of her own, she sure knew how to make kids happy and holy.

During each visit to her house you heard a sermon daily. You were taught scripture from the Bible and you always said your prayers. On one occasion I can remember her telling us a story about how she had been shopping at a grocery store when a boy was caught shoplifting. She pulled the store manager aside and paid for the item the boy stole and she then proceeded to preach the wages of sin, and the gospel of Jesus Christ and forgiveness to the boy. I’d like to think that she led that boy straight down the path of salvation that day.

She was not only our Great Aunt but she was also the God Mother of each of my mother’s children. She took her responsibility seriously as her faith in God and her Pennsylvania Dutch Lutheran roots influenced her devotion to spreading the gospel to all she met.

Yes, there is no doubt that she had a profound influence on my life, and so did her sudden passing.

On Christmas Eve 1978, she had baked her famous Busy Day Cake, and was reaching into the cellar way for a can of condensed milk on a shelf.* She lost her footing and fell down the cellar steps. She was 77 years old at the time of her fall. She managed to make it back up the steps and into bed.

Christmas morning her leg was terribly swollen and bruised. My brother Buddy went up to see her, and called the squad. She was take to Warren Hospital. I went to visit her that Christmas day and brought her a small gift, a porcelain child on a sled. I did not know that it would be the last time would see her alive.

On December 30th while I was working as a barber at the Palmer Park Barber Shop, I received a phone call from my sister Ruth Ann telling me that Aunt Ree, our God Mother had passed away. Apparently, she had a pulmonary embolism.

While helping Uncle Bill prepare for an auction sale I found a daily devotional book in her desk, and on the thirtieth of December there was a poem, that ended with these words; "A few more rolling suns, at most, will land me on fair Canaan's coast, then I shall sing the song of grace, and see my Savior face to face." Prepare to meet thy God. Amos 4: 12

*At her wake Uncle Bill served the mourners the cake Aunt Ree had baked on Christmas Eve. She wanted the condensed milk to make an icing. My sister-in-law Joan made an icing for the cake. I tried a piece and I couldn't swallow it, knowing that it was the reason for her falling. It just stuck like a lump in my throat. I have posted the recipe here on blogspot, on August 1, 2009.

Making Memories

I have adequately recovered from all of the preparation and merriment of our traditional Christmas celebration, and look to this last week of the year 2009 with a thankful heart. On Thursday, I plan to re-cap my "Year Of Miracles".

Today I am going to feature a short slide show that I had created a few years ago. This slide is a compilation of some of the little simple things that help me cope with day to day stress, and to enjoy the beauty of God's creation. I hope you enjoy it!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

May you all have a most blessed Christmas, filled with people you love, delicious food, the laughter of children, and those who still have childhood in their hearts, remembering that HE came to give us the most precious gift of all, Everlasting Life in HIS name.

Christmas is forever, not for just one day,
for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away
like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf.
The good you do for others is good you do yourself...
~Norman Wesley Brooks, "Let Every Day Be Christmas," 1976

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Walps Wednesday~The Final Installment

Wiener Schnitzel

Yield 4-6 servings

2 lbs Veal Steak

2 Eggs, beaten

1/2 C. milk

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp ground black pepper

1 C. Dry Bread Crumbs

1/2 C. Frying Shortening

1/2 lemon

2 tsps. chopped parsley

Cut the veak into serving size pieces.

Mix the beaten egg with the milk, salt, and black pepper. Dip the veal into the milk mixture, and then into the bread crumbs. Heat shortening, place the veal in t pan, brown quickly, turn down the heat, and simmer, covered. After about 5 minutes, uncover, turn the veil and cover. Repeat this process until veal is cooked and tender. Sprinkle with lemon juice and parsley and serve.

SAUERBRATEN

German Sauerbraten 2 c. cider vinegar 4 bay leaves 4 whole cloves 12 peppercorns 1 tbsp. sugar 1 1/2 tsp. salt 2 c. water 4 lb. beef roast, heel of round 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper 12 crushed ginger snaps (3/4 cup) Heat vinegar, water, spices, sugar and salt to boiling. Use large enough bowl, so liquid almost covers the meat. Pour over sliced onions and allow to stand until cool. Stir in oil. Pour marinade over roast. Allow to stand in refrigerator 5 days, turning meat once a day so it will marinade evenly (use wooden spoons preferably). Save marinade to use for gravy. Remove meat from marinade and pat dry. Dredge with half the flour. Brown on all sides in hot shortening in a Dutch oven. Place rack under meat and add all of marinade. Cover meat tightly and simmer or bake in oven 350 degrees for 3 to 4 hours or until meat is fork tender. Remove to hot platter. Add all of the remaining marinade to the Dutch oven, bring to boil, and stir in the crushed ginger snaps, thickening to delicious sauerbraten gravy.

The Soul Felt It's Worth

O Holy Night

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining,

It is the night of the dear Savior's birth;

Long lay the world in sin and error pining,

Till He appeared and the soul felt it's worth.

A thrill of hope the weary soul rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn;

Fall on your knees, Oh hear the angel voices!

O night divine, O night when Christ was born!

O night divine, O holy night, O night divine.

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming

With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand

So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming

Here come the wise men from Orient land

The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger

In all our trials born to be our friend.

Fall on your knees, Oh hear the angel voices!

O night divine, O night when Christ was born!

O night divine, O holy night, O night divine.

written by Adolphe Adam in 1847

Christmas Reading

Christmas Reading; This can be read in one hour, and is best read as a family.

The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans.


If you do not like to read it is also out in VHS and DVD as a movie, and the movie is excellent, and did not stray from the book. It stars Richard Thomas who formerly played John Boy Walton on The Waltons television show, and Maureen O'Hara






A Visit from Saint Nicholas

by Clement Clarke Moore

’Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that Saint Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ’kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter’s nap;

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be Saint Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:
“Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of toys, and Saint Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney Saint Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes — how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself.
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!”

Luke2: 1-14

2:1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.

2:2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

2:3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

2:4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

2:5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

2:6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

2:7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

2:8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

2:9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

2:10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

2:12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

2:13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Rod McKuen has many lovely Christmas Poems: Click Here