Peaceful as a Winter's Day

This time of year is hectic and it seems like everyone is running around like chickens with their heads cut off. I would like to share a few pictures I recently took in Elk City, Idaho as reminders to enjoy the little things in life.

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by every moment that takes your breath away.” - Unknown

The Reason for the Season

It is the first week of Advent and the Christmas season is officially underway. While the pile of dusty boxes in the living room intimidates me a little, I have started decorating the apartment in fits and starts. True to my roots, some of the first decorations I have set out are the nativities. Reminding myself that Christmas is about much more the good baking smells and twinkling lights is essential and although it is cute, the chocolate Advent calendar my parents still get me every year does not fit the bill as well as a young mother tending her child in a manger (even if they are window clings). The candles for the Advent wreath I made six years ago did not benefit from their summer in a hot storage closet, but they too remind me of the reason for the season.

I have set up the Christmas village I bought for a song at the local Goodwill. The poor villagers are stuck between the couch and the front door, but the only other open space in the living room will soon be dominated by a Christmas tree that is really too large. My favorite part of the village is the little country church at the top of the hill (end table). It reminds me of Holy Cross Church in Keuterville, Idaho where my parents were married. We used to attend Christmas Eve Mass there when I was young and it will always have a place in my heart.

By and large, I can not wait to get the rest of the decorations up. The only part I am not looking forward to is the previously mentioned tree. It is artificial because a real one just is not logical in our apartment, but it take forever to set up. My grandma gave me the tree a few years ago because it was too big for her living room and that is an issue for me as well. Perhaps if I concentrate on the reason for the season as I stick the branches in, I will get a lot of praying done and kill two birds with one stone. It is worth a try.

On the other hand, this has very little to do with the Birth of Christ, but it is fun (too bad I have no rhythm and poor camera skills).

Life and Soul (along with dinner, devourer, and musical entertainment) of the Party

Don’t count your chickens until they hatch . . . or possibly ever because they might get eaten, or blown up. The Muppets are some of my favorite entertainers and even in this age of digital animation, the furry creatures maintain their multi-generational appeal. They use, abuse, distort, and create clichés with great results and in honor of a recent video shown to me by a fellow Muppet fan, I present to you a collection of items on those off-the-wall, wonderful, whatevers.



A split-my-sides laughing article about the Muppets in the digital age. I can totally see this driving school administration nuts. Meep. Meep. Meep.

Watch out, this next song gets stuck in your head.



The video quality on the next clip is not superb, but it is one of my all-time favorite Muppet songs so I will share it as the finishing touch, because, 'tis the season.

Long Time, No See

Thanksgiving weekend is a time when many people around the country sit down to digest food and watch sports and today, I was no different. While my roommate and her fiancé often watch sports, I usually do not join them for long periods sports viewing (although in the past three years that I have known them I have easily watched more sports than in the previous twenty-one years combined). This is partially due to the fact that they are big basketball and football fans while my allegiance lies with our national pastime, baseball. Listening to sports is more up my alley because I grew up without television and the radio was how my family got its sports fix. Furthermore, listening allows me to multi-task in a way that watching does not and while I like sports, devoting my full attention for hours on end does not work well.

It has been a long time, no see situation for extended sports viewing, but the real reason I spent the day watching sports was because it had been even longer since I has seen an old friend from college. It was great to see him and along with several televised basketball and football games, we watched a few Wii NBA basketball games (actually he played and I watched), and an 8th grade girls basketball game. All that sports watching made me realize how rampant clichés are in sports.

Courtesy of Wikipedia, here are some great sports clichés:

"They're a team player."
"They dropped the ball."
"It's gut-check time."
"They don't pull any punches."
"They always step up to the plate."
"They talk a good game."
"They're in a league of their own."
"They want to play hardball."
"The ball's in your court."
"They answered the bell."
"We knocked it out of the park."
"That was a hole in one."
"It was a slam dunk."
"Monday-Morning Quarterback"
"They have to get on the same page."
"D-Line or O-Line."
"A lot of open looks at the basket."
"It doesn't get any better than this."
"He's a warrior."
"Defense wins championships."
"The best defense is a good offense."
"Charity Stripe"

I am reasonably sure the only one on this list I did not hear today was the baseball referencing “knock it out of the park.” All in all, the day was one for the books in many ways.

Stuffed to the Gills

Stuffed to the gills and tight as a tick are phrases that often come to mind after Thanksgiving dinner. With thirty-six people, eighteen pies, seven cans of olives, two types of stuffing, and one huge bird, Thanksgiving with my family certainly fit the bill.

In addition to being appreciative of wonderful food, I am grateful for many things in my life and the following list, in no particular order, does not even scratch the surface of the things in life I am thankful for.

· God
· My parents
· My brothers
· My pesky uncles and cousins who like to poke me in the ribs
· All the wonderful relatives who do not like to make me jump
· Meagan and Timmy
· Seeing old friends
· The McGrees
· Riley Rabbit
· Tres (the dog)
· Black Betty (my brother’s cat)
· My pickup
· Christmas music
· Pine trees
· Stars
· The color blue
· Blue jeans
· The internet (at least right now because it is working)
· Electricity
· Elk City
· Books, lots and lots of books
· House plants
· Snow
· Carroll College
· Dr. Swartout
· Mrs. Abbott
· Kate L. Turabian
· The Constitution
· The Northern Lights
· A certain white suburban
· Growing up in the country
· Montana

Half-baked Idea

My mom and one of her friends from college used to make Christmas chocolates every December when I was young. It was a fun tradition and last year I decided to try it myself. Rolling and dipping chocolates by yourself without every having actually participated in the event is not what it is cracked up to be. It was not a particularly successful venture and calling home every ten minutes with a question made me feel like a fish out of water. I added too much flavoring to one type of candy and not enough to another. The peppermint patties were a recognizable shape, but only if you were blind as a bat. Powdered sugar was all over my apartment kitchen and the dipping process left me a little down in the mouth with chocolate dripped on everything. It was truly a half-baked idea to try making chocolates all by myself.

Dipping chocolates went much better this year because I decided to save myself the headache and mess. I used my mom as a cat’s paw to help me with the dirty work and in two evenings we had every thing done. (My brother, Eric, in the picture helped by eating.) Last year I used a little hand-mixer and it was like sending a boy to do a man’s job because this year my mom’s stand-mixer made whipping up the filling a breeze. Peanut butter balls are my family’s favorite type so I made two batches. I also made rum, mint, cherry-almond, and peppermint flavored candies. It was fun to spend time with my mom (and much easier than calling every time something went wrong) and I am sure the people I am sending the chocolates as gifts will not have to take any bitter with their sweet.

These are mint balls.

Rum cubes. I try to make different flavors different shapes so it is easier to tell what is what when they are covered in chocolate.

Dipping cherry-almond logs. I only burned my hand a few times on the hot chocolate.

Recipes

Peanut butter balls
1 Package of graham crackers (1 ¾ cup) crushed
3 ½ cup powdered sugar
1 cup butter melted
1 cup peanut butter

Mix all ingredients well and form into balls. Freeze. Dip into chocolate and refreeze. Once the chocolate is set the candy does not have to stay frozen, but it tastes better if it is.

Generic candy centers
2 pounds powdered sugar (plus extra for rolling)
1 cup butter (softened but not melted)
1 can sweeten condensed milk
1 teaspoon salt
2 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients and add extra powdered sugar as necessary until dough is not sticky to touch. Add candy flavoring of your choice to taste (most flavors get stronger with age). Roll into balls and freeze. Dip into chocolate and refreeze. Once the chocolate is set the candy does not have to stay frozen, but it tastes better if it is.

Peppermint Patties
2/3 cup sweeten condensed milk
1 ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
4-4 ½ cups powdered sugar

Mix ingredients by hand and form into patties. The thinner the patties are, the harder they are to dip. Freeze patties. Dip into chocolate and refreeze. Once the chocolate is set the candy does not have to stay frozen, but it tastes better if it is.

Music to My Ears

I fell in love with musicals when I was a junior in high school. That year, a few friends talked me into working on the school play and while it took a few arguments to get me involved in the first place, I was pleased as punch once I was involved. We produced Oklahoma! and many people told us that it was far better than the average high school show. I had many favorite songs from the show and the phrase “heart of gold” will always remind me of the character Jud because of the song “Pore Jud is Daid.” “Kansas City” and “I Can’t Say No” are two more amazing songs from the production.

My favorite “musical” (especially this time of year) is probably the original cartoon version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I can repeat the whole thing word for word and it was the first soundtrack I listened to on my drive home for Thanksgiving.
I love how the cliché “wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole” is extended to "thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole" in the song “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.”


The reason musicals are on my mind is because last weekend I was able to watch the Best of Broadway production of The Lion King in Spokane. I had seen the play in New York a few years ago, but it was still really fun to see the play again. The hyenas Ed, Shenzi, and Banzai complaining about Scar and Mufasa getting the lion’s share of everything was funnier than ever. Meanwhile Pumbaa and Timon were still the happy go lucky pair I remembered from the movie. The dancing, singing, and stilt giraffes were amazing as well. “Hakuna Matata” has developed into a cliché itself and the “no worries” phrase will forever be a pick-me-up for me.

Regardless of if one is watching a movie, a high school play, or a professional production, musicals are the cat’s meow.