Traditions

We all have them. Traditions ranging from chili on Halloween, to particularly lethal jokes on April Fool's Day. My cousin used to tape the sprayer handle on the kitchen sink so that his wife would get sprayed first thing in the morning. This happened every year, and still she would get soaked. Our traditions are not unusual, but I have discovered they have become quite important to the kids. Just when you think they aren't paying attention, you try NOT to do something during the season and you have mass mutiny on your hands!

Our traditions are probably much like anyone else's: Elf on the Shelf, Advent calendars, baking cookies and handing out treats to our neighbors (although we haven't yet done this - loser me). On Christmas eve we go to the family vigil mass and then have our "dress up" dinner right after wards at my parents' house, complete with china and crystal and a particularly nice cut of beef. When we get home (after driving through all the neighborhoods to look at the lights), the kids put out their stockings - not til Christmas eve! - do the cookie thing for Santa and go to bed. Christmas day is done in phases, we have our morning with cinnamon monkey bread, then my parents and brother + family come over where we do the "football game" and lunch.

Opening presents has always been done like a football game for us, complete with halftime (bathroom break), time outs (coffee refills), special teams (when the little kids need help opening), penalties (when the order gets messed up), the references go on and on and they afford us never ending laughs. Christmas day, with all the kids, is absolutely crazy. The cats LOVE all the wrapping and the energy in the house is borderline exhausting. Why in the world would I cook?

A tradition that we started a few years ago was in direct correlation to baby number five. Lizzie had just been born 5 weeks before Christmas and I did not want a big meal production to clean up in addition to all the present clean up. I decided then that we would order sandwiches from our favorite grocery store, pick them up on the 24th and then everything would be in the fridge when we were hungry. This proved to be such a hit and so easy that it has become our tradition. Everyone brings drinks, chips and stuff and we have a cold, un-cooked meal on throwaway plates. I spoke about changing this for this year and was met with cries of "but why?", "it's our tradition!", "mom!?". I quickly retreated and re-established the original plan.

Christmas night has always been the hardest part however. Last year we tried to go to a restaurant (in an effort to have a good meal that we didn't have to cook or clean up) and it was a complete disaster. 2 hour wait, lost orders, screaming children, imagine the scene... This year I wanted to avoid the post-Christmas inertia and let down by having a ready-to-eat dinner prepared. I am spending today making lasagna and putting in the fridge for an instant homemade dinner. I am even making it in a throw-away pan and we are eating on paper plates so that all I need is a trash bag. Not very green, I understand, but I spend lots of time being green the rest of the year. (We have even used up, yes, used up, our supply of grocery bags!)

All of this planning and thought is for one goal: an easy and happy Christmas. I don't always achieve it, but at least I've tried and amazingly, formed traditions for the kids at the same time! - K


This must be done the day before:
Cinnamon Monkey Bread
1 package of frozen dough for Parker House rolls (I like that brand Bridgford - sp?)
1 stick of butter, melted
1/2 cup of packed brown sugar
cinnamon (as much as you like)
pinch of salt (balances the flavor)

Mix the butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt together in a bowl. Toss the frozen pieces of dough in the mixture and stack them in a greased tube pan. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and let rise in the refrigerator AT LEAST OVERNIGHT.

The next morning (Christmas morning) preheat the oven to 375 and bake the monkey bread for approximately 20-25 minutes or until baked through. Turn out on a plate with a "lip" (to catch all the gooey sauce - which is VERY HOT) and go to it!

Beef Tenderloin
(this is my Aunt Christa's recipe)

7-9 lb. beef tenderloin, trimmed
honey
1/4- 1/3 cup good olive oil
mustard
minced fresh garlic
crushed dried herbs (parsley, marjoram, thyme)
salt and pepper

Salt and pepper the meat. Coat the meat with honey. Mix the rest of the ingredients together and spread on the meat. Preheat your oven to 500 and roast the tenderloin until the internal temperature is at least 120 (this is for rare). Before carving, let the meat rest for 10 minutes covered (the temperature will rise a little more) to re-distribute the juices.

Christmas is Coming!

Only 4 days. It is the last Sunday of Advent. Now that all (most) of the presents have been bought, I am reflecting on how to best approach our 2 weeks off from school. We have a trip to Winston Salem to look forward to; we will be spending time with Candice, Tommy and the kids. Before that though, we have our traditional Christmas Eve dinner with family. This year, we are going traditional with beef tenderloin, baked potatoes and roasted green beans. How lucky are we that we have such bounty? My brother always says we eat like KINGS! He's right, how blessed we are. I am reading a book (finally!) that Candice gave me over a year ago - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. This novel tells the story of the time just after World War II in London through a procession of letters back and forth between the main character, a writer, and those she has befriended while researching her new novel. What has struck me in between the clever commentary and witty responses is how much these people actually suffered.

Slow to the Bandwagon

So I was driving my daughter to the pulmonologist check up the other day and she was watching Akeelah and the Bee, a movie that came out in 2006. I was just listening to it as I was driving, but I heard the Lawrence Fishburne character recite a quote that really struck me as amazing and liberating and profound. After doing a little research as to who said it and what the entire quote is, I found it on IMDB.com and then again on Wikipedia.com. This quote is from a woman named Marianne Williamson, a minister, author and lecturer from California.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

This quote is simply amazing and says it all to me. I am just now jumping on this bandwagon because, after reading everything about this woman on Wikipedia and the various websites, apparently she has been around a while and I am not the first person to be struck by this quote.
As I read her profound words, I identify with the idea of being afraid of the person God created me to be. Expectations are so high when one fulfills one's destiny. What if I fail? What if I screw up my life, my children's lives, my family? I think the real question however is, how will I ever know if I don't try?

To be the person God created me to be, I must embrace all that He has provided. The good and the bad; the dark and the light. The choices that I make in this life show the kind of person I am. I was watching a newer BBC production of one of my favorite books, Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. Marianne, the younger sister, after a period of high drama in her life (as expected from a tumultuous teenager) has an epiphany. I am paraphrasing, so forgive me if I don't get it exactly right. "It is not what we say or feel that makes us who we are. It is what we do; or fail to do." Now why can't I think of things like this? Honestly though, I feel like I am constantly being prodded into accepting my role in this world; however much I choose to pretend I'm not good enough or I don't have the right skills, I am a wife, a mother, a friend and I must choose to DO what is right. Not just talk about it.