December’s Children

December 21, 2012 ~ Denise ~ 1 Comment

Last week on the radio they were talking to callers about how they celebrated family members with December birthdays. One caller went into great detail about how they waited to “celebrate” their daughter’s birthday until January when the Holidays were over, and how even one year they waited until after tax time and gave her extra money.

Seriously?

She really thought this was a good thing.

It made me sad for her daughter.

I wanted to remind this Mama (I am in the South), your daughter was born exactly when she was supposed to be, and for a particular reason! Help your daughter appreciate this. She doesn’t have to wait to celebrate that, in fact, it can be a special time of year for her.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well…All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:13,14,16

What a beautiful time of the year to be born and to celebrate one’s birthday!

We all came into this world as a helpless baby, dependent on someone. What a special time of year to learn about who we can really be dependent on!

Don’t put off celebrating your December birthday to a less “hectic” month. God choose the day you were born for a reason.

Celebrate the fact you can connect even closer to the one who came to deliver.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16,17

To those that share December birthdays…..I’ll say it again….

What a beautiful time of year to be born, and to celebrate!

Snapshot Saturday

November 24, 2012January 20, 2013 ~ Denise ~ 4 Comments

In the back of my mind has been this task of finishing my picture organizing. I started a lonnnng time ago when scrap booking first gained popularity with creating pages, and putting my photos in some semblance of order.

Then I stopped.

I didn’t take as many pictures.

I got a digital camera.

The project really took a nosedive. With all my new photos stored electronically, and none being added to “the pile”, I didn’t really do anything with what I had.

So, while looking for a photo of my first Thanksgiving meal, and not finding it, I thought “Snapshot Saturday” would be a good way to start going through my ~~small stacks~~ large plastic containers of photos. I could organize them, and perhaps share some here. That is, unless they are truly awful. That might be the case.

Because it is the holidays, and I’m in a seasonal mood, I’d thought I’d share one of us from years ago at a Christmas Party. This is when I worked at an engineering consulting firm which had various employee functions. This shot is from one of the annual Christmas Dinners, I’m guessing around 1984 or 1985. The color isn’t the greatest. Like I said, there could be some awful pictures, quality included.

The company would have a Christmas Dinner and a Christmas Party. They were different. The parties were a little livelier. Somewhere I have pictures from a Christmas Party, I believe of a conga line. 🙂

Norman Rockwell Dinner

November 22, 2012January 20, 2013 ~ Denise ~ 1 Comment

I remember the first time I cooked what I’d like to refer to as my Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving Dinner. Remember, being raised as JW, we didn’t celebrate Holidays, so it wasn’t until I left home that I began to enjoy these celebrations. Now, I had been at other homes for Thanksgiving, but this was the first time I had prepared ‘The Spread’.

Looking back I now am realizing Mom made up her own version of celebrations so she could continue to celebrate the Holidays. Case in point, when she made a turkey feast, she made stuffing, a green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, and a spinach casserole. (Sounds like a Thanksgiving meal to me).

The first time I made her spinach casserole was on that day. (The fact that both Craig and Chris grew fond of this is a special connection to my Mom for me.) It was also the first time I had made a turkey (yikes!) I remember getting out the linen tablecloth, crystal glasses, silver, decorations, and even had parsley decorating the turkey on the plate ready for Craig to carve. If I’m remembering right Craig’s Mom brought her potato filling, and we had a stuffed sideboard and table full of food. There were at least 7 of us. I thought I had a picture somewhere from that day of the table and the turkey, but a quick search couldn’t find it. (Note to self: you really need to get back on that picture organizing project!)

I also think it was the first big meal I made for Craig’s family. Good thing it worked out. 🙂 I’ve made many Thanksgiving meals since then, and had a lot of good meals at friends and family homes too; but everyonce in a while I think about that first one for me.

May today bring fond memories and blessings.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!