FootnoteMaven's Tradition of Blog Caroling: Heaven and Earth

Many thanks to Footnote Maven for hosting Blog Caroling!

Heaven and Earth (Nebo i Zemlya)

Heaven and earth, heaven and earth
Now welcome their Redeemer.
Angels and people, angels and people
Join in celebration.

Salvation is begun, born is the Virgin’s Son;
Angel’s voices ringing, Wise Men gifts are bringing;
Shepherds tell the story; star proclaims the glory;
Christ is born in Bethlehem.

In Bethlehem, in Bethlehem
God’s Word is given birth.
Born of a virgin, born of a virgin,
Master of heav’n and earth.

Salvation is begun, born is the Virgin’s Son;
Angel’s voices ringing, Wise Men gifts are bringing;
Shepherds tell the story; star proclaims the glory;
Christ is born in Bethlehem.

Nebo i zemlya, nebo i zemlya
Nyni torzhestvuyut.
Anhely i lyude, anhely i lyude
Veselo sprazdnujut.

Christos rodilsya, Boh voplotilsya,
Anhely spivayut, Tsariye vitayut.
Poklon otdayut, pastyriye hrajut,
Chudo, chudo povidayut.

Vo Vifleyemi, vo Vifleyemi
Vesela novina.
Chistaya D’iva, Chistaya D’iva
Porodila Syna.


Christos rodilsya, Boh voplotilsya,
Anhely spivayut, Tsariye vitayut.
Poklon otdayut, pastyriye hrajut,
Chudo, chudo povidayut.

Below the carol is sung by the St. Nicholas Church Choir of St. Nicholas Byzantine Catholic Church in Barberton, Ohio.

Advent Calendar Day 21: Christmas Music

(Originally published in 2009; some material added in 2010.)

Music plays a big part in my family’s celebration of Christmas. When I was growing up, this was not so much the case. We heard Christmas music on the radio, on television, and I remember singing Christmas carols in school, but I don’t think we had any records of Christmas music. The one exception I can think of was that I asked for a full recording of The Nutcracker for my birthday when I was around 14. That set of records just about got played to death.

Now we have an entire section of our music library devoted to Christmas music. A lot of people get tired of Christmas music after too much exposure, but we try to avoid overload by bringing as much variety as possible to the selections we listen to. Television and radio programs tend to replay a limited set of carols over and over, though some stations are a little more adventurous (reason #48 on the list of reasons for saving our classical music radio stations).




Some of our favorite Christmas music consists of Eastern European hymns and carols. Here are a couple of my favorite collections, Russian Christmas by the Theodorovskaya Mother of God Icon Church Choir and Christmas Hymns by the Seminary Choir of Blessed Theodore Romzha Academy of Uzhgorod.


This year my husband discovered the group you see below, the Sirin Chorus from Russia. I have been listening to their videos on YouTube, and you can also find their music on iTunes.




We also attend the local Christmas Revels in Washington most years. We love all the shows, but our favorites have tended toward the more ethnically-oriented themes: the Northern-themed To Drive the Dark Away (Karelian (Finnish, Lapp, and Russian), Norse, and Swedish), Roads of the Roma, and last year’s French Canadian Revels.




In addition to the Eastern Christmas liturgies we have on tape and CD there have been many classical Christmas works for both liturgical and concert settings that have made their way into our collection. The following is a fast-paced Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah:




Our favorite way to enjoy the popular “White Christmas” is to watch the movie Holiday Inn. Another family tradition at Christmas is to watch the video “A Tuna Christmas.” You’ll never think of “Jingle Bells” the same way again after you have watched Didi Snavely sing this carol while smoking a cigarette: “Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle (puff) the way.”


Other favorites are carols played on the hammered dulcimer. "The Zither Carol," as played by Joemy Wilson on the dulcimer on Gifts – Traditional Christmas Music, Vol II, has been known to set me atwirlin’ around the room (when no one is watching, of course). And there are many, many more odds and ends of Christmas music we love: music box carols, shapenote carols, Cajun and Zydeco Christmas songs, you name it.


So in this post, "avoiding overload" does not mean reducing the amount of Christmas music, but rather increasing the variety. Because anything worth doing is worth doing to excess. In fact, writing about all of this and looking up Christmas music on Youtube has put me in the mood for … more Christmas music. Wonder what I can find on iTunes?

Memory Monday and Advent Calendar Day 20: Christmas Services

My family did not attend Christmas services when I was a child. That left a big, empty hole in my experience of Christmas, but I did not know it at the time.

At my Ruthenian parish, Christmas liturgy begins at 11:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve.  It is preceded by the singing of Christmas carols starting at around 10:30.  But even earlier, people start to trickle in.  The church is dimly lit and the quiet and solemnity are reminiscent of Lenten services and the prelude to the Good Friday service.  The celebration of holy days in the Eastern churches usually bears elements of both remembrance and anticipation.  The celebration of a sorrowful holy day will look forward to joyous events and a joyous celebration will anticipate sorrowful events.  Even Christmas carries the muted awareness of the road that leads to crucifixion.

People whisper greetings, then take their seats and join in the stillness of a moment outside of time.  Children’s heads nod in the aftermath of overexcitement, as do their mothers’ heads from the exhaustion of overseeing Christmas preparations.  Some look at the empty spot in the manger.

Remembrance and looking back over the past year is associated with the approaching end of the year; for me it starts at this quiet moment.  I see the joy and the sorrow of the year’s events.  Much of the sorrow came around this time last year:  a good friend died right before Christmas and my Uncle Bill – the last one of my parents’ siblings – died soon after the New Year.  FootnoteMaven wrote with heartbreaking eloquence about “Another Tradition – ‘Not All Merry and Bright’” – and that is what this moment is for.

I will remember many people who are no longer with us; the memory of the loss of some of them will come sneaking over my shoulder in that moment and will bring tears and regrets. Many losses have been suffered over the course of this year by family, friends, and those who are reading this, and in that moment I will say a prayer for those who have lost someone and for those who were lost.

But thinking of these lost ones inevitably leads me to awareness and appreciation of those who are still with us, and this brings a joy that almost burns with its intensity.  I realize how lucky I am, and how stupid and petty my complaints, my grudges, my hurt feelings are.  I am not a very forgiving person and this is the only moment in the entire year that I can muster the generosity to truly forgive all those who in my uncharitable mind have offended me.

The carols begin – some quiet and gentle Eastern European ones first, almost like lullabies. We sing them in Rusyn/Ukrainian/Slavonic and in English. Then come carols in English, such as “Silent Night” – still rather hushed and solemn - and we sing it again in Ukrainian.  And finally we stand and sing “Oh Come, All Ye Faithful” – “Adeste Fideles” – Priidite, priidite” – in full voice. The lights go on and we all blink and look around in wonder.  The priests, deacons, and servers arrive in a procession, accompanied by children or other member of the parish bearing the Wise Men to take their place in front of the manger.

“Blessed is the kingdom….”  The liturgy begins.  And near the end of the liturgy, at midnight, our pastor will place the baby Jesus in the manger.

It is time for Christmas to begin.

Christos rozhdayetsya! - Slavite jeho!

Christ is born! - Glorify him!

Advent Calendar Day 18: Christmas Stockings

(Originally posted December 2009.)

I had Christmas stockings as a child and I have them as an adult (though not the same ones, unfortunately). My teenage daughters still have Christmas stockings and are angling to continue to have them for as long as possible.

When I was a child, the Christmas stocking was for fruit (mostly oranges, sometimes apples), nuts, candy canes, and possibly a little bit of change.

My husband and I bought a pair of stockings from Afghanistan during our graduate school days in the late 1970s and still have them. For some reason, our cats have always loved them. It may be the lanolin in the wool; whatever it is, the effect is almost as strong as catnip. Below is a picture of Fred, from our first quartet of cats, rubbing on one of the stockings. The current cat crew do the same thing.

Fred and the Afghan stocking

We try not to go overboard with gift-giving in general, but to make things fun, there is some focus on stocking gifts. Our daughters’ stockings are usually chock-full of smaller presents. When they were younger, many of the items were small and usually inexpensive toys, supplemented by things like Christmas candy, socks, and hair bows. Now they still receive socks and Christmas candy, but the other items might be make-up, lotion, inexpensive earrings, and sometimes Mombux (3x5 cards with stickers and a promise of a purchase or mini-shopping-spree with Mom: “A pair of shoes,” “$15 at the thrift store,” “$20 at the bookstore,” etc.). And there is always a shiny new penny in the bottom of the stockings for good luck. Mom and Dad each get candy and a penny in their stockings.

Stocking loot

(Yes, there was still a Halloween pumpkin decoration on the wall.)


In addition to getting to rub on the Afghan stockings on Christmas morning, each of our cats has a stocking with his or her name on it. Their stockings usually contain catnip and cat toys (mostly furry mice with things inside that make a rattling noise so that they “skitter” really well and get the cats all excited).

Rocky rests under the Christmas tree after a heavy session with the Afghan sock followed by the catnip bag

Advent Calendar Day 15: December Birthdays

(Originally posted December 2009.)

This is a topic with which I am somewhat familiar, since yesterday was the “big day” for me.

If my birthday falling before Christmas wasn’t enough, my parents’ anniversary was three days after Christmas, on December 28. It seemed that they were constantly going to parties from Christmas to New Year’s. And I have a daughter with an early January birthday that coincides with Orthodox Christmas. We never take our Christmas tree down until after her birthday.

So what is it like to have a December birthday? It would be interesting to ask this question of some of my ancestors who were born in December. A search of the relatives that have so far been entered in my Reunion genealogy program revealed quite a few December birthdays. There are two first cousins and two first cousins once removed. And there were a couple of direct ancestors: my great-great grandfather Hiram Carroll Brinlee Sr. (25 December 1808) and my great grandfather Harlston Perrin Moore (4 December 1845). Finding H. P. Moore’s date of birth on his death certificate was especially delightful; he was my first “discovery” so he is kind of a favorite.

What did Hiram and Harlston do to celebrate their birthdays? I do not know, but I imagine that it was not very elaborate; they were farmers and not especially rich ones. And if I am ever tempted to feel sorry for myself for having a December birthday, I should certainly keep my ancestors in mind.

The thing is, for me, the December birthday has almost never felt like much of a burden or loss. For my parents, however – that was probably another matter. This did not occur to me when I was younger. The first time I heard the sentence, “This present has to be both for your birthday and for Christmas,” I felt a little bit of disappointment, as though I was being cheated out of something. Maybe the second time, too. But it started to dawn on me that were my birthday and Christmas not so close together, perhaps I would not be receiving these presents at all. As I grew older, the sigh and the eye-roll when mention was made of December birthdays were pretty much an automatic response rather than a deeply felt indignation.

And you know what? In college, early December through early January was pretty much one long party. My birthday would be celebrated right before everyone went home for Christmas vacation, then at home with my mother, then with my Texas friends, and finally back at college with the friends who missed the first party. There was never any real holiday letdown.

I hope Hiram and Harlston had at least a few “very merry birthdays.”




A picture made following my one and only childhood birthday party: there probably would have been no Tiny Tears for me without the December birthday

Advent Calendar Day 14: Fruitcake

(Originally posted in December 2009.)

Is there no one who loves fruitcake?

I do. Kind of. If it’s moist (= has lots of booze). The fruit must not be old and the nuts should also be in top condition; pecans are the best.

All right, so I’m a self-proclaimed fruitcake expert.

Because I started making fruitcakes when I was 12 years old.

That was the year my mother broke her wrist when we all went ice skating.

You need a really strong wrist to make a good fruitcake.

The men in our family (my father and brother) were almost totally helpless in the kitchen.

So it was up to me to keep the tradition going.

Fruitcake baking in our house was done on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Step one: Put the butter and brown sugar together in bowl; stir until thoroughly combined into a mixture of smooth consistency. This was where the elbow grease came in. (A mixer would have been a wimp-out and also posed the danger of a mixture that was too lumpy or too liquid to support the fruit.)

Ladies and Gentlemen, there is no need to worry about flabby upper arms if you make enough fruitcakes. I stirred and stirred and stirred. I used my left hand to support my right arm. I changed to stirring with my left hand. Then back to the right hand. After what seemed like hours, that “smooth consistency” was finally achieved.

The rest was pretty easy. The only tricky part was to bake it for exactly the right amount of time; too much would ruin the taste and too little would leave it with no structural integrity.

And structural integrity is important. Because for the next month – and this is why fruitcakes are baked on the Friday after Thanksgiving – the liquor of choice would be added in generous doses every other day. And if the fruitcake is underbaked, that equals a runny mess.

My family showered praise on me that Christmas for producing an outstanding first fruitcake. My Smugness Coefficient skyrocketed and my nose didn’t come out of the air for a full week.

My mother and I must have made a few fruitcakes during my high school years; these were probably cooperative efforts.

I don’t make fruitcakes any more. I have one labor-intensive dessert to make for Christmas – kolaches – and that is enough. Plus my mother-in-law makes a killer fruitcake (sooo moist … mmmmm).

Advent Calendar Day 12 – Volunteering: Teaching Old Church Slavonic to Third Graders

For a number of years at our previous parish, my husband and I were involved in helping with the Saint Nicholas Day celebration put on by the parish’s School of Religion.

The parish is part of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Passaic, and many of the members have Rusyn, Slovak, Ukrainian, and other Eastern European ancestry. During the early years of the church’s history in the United States, the liturgy was in Slavonic only, but the first English translation was done in the 1960s and since that time more and more services have been done in English. Here and there you can find a complete service in Slavonic, but for the most part Slavonic is only occasionally done for certain parts of the liturgy, such as the Our Father, or Otche Nash.

Each School of Religion class had a different performance to put on for Saint Nicholas Day. My husband taught the seventh graders and they, together with the eighth graders and high school students, put on the old skit of the Jašličkari – the Bethlehem carolers – from the Slovak and Carpatho-Rusyn part of Eastern Europe.

My job was to teach the third graders how to say the Our Father in Old Church Slavonic.

All I had to do was to teach eleven lines of a prayer in a dead language with some wicked consonant clusters to eight-year-olds who were just mastering the fundamentals of reading in English.

Only three things stood in my way: the children, their parents, and every person in the parish who grew up speaking “kitchen Slovak/Ukrainian/Rusyn“ or was a self-anointed expert in Slavonic.

The children, as you might have guessed, were the easiest part. The class size from year to year was usually around 8 to 10. This meant that all I needed to do was to find about three kids with loud voices, clear enunciation, and an ear for foreign languages. They could carry those who lacked these qualities. We practiced and practiced: all together, girls versus boys, and two kids at a time (I never asked any of the students to recite it alone). I used a few things as teaching moments: how the word for "kingdom" – tsarstvo – comes from the word tsar, which comes from an older word which evolved into kaiser and ceasar. Or, how in Slavonic, the line goes "Deliver us from the Sly One" instead of "Deliver us from evil" to show that it is not just generic "evil" from which we ask to be delivered, but a specific being.

The parents, as many of you might know from experience as volunteer teachers of Sunday School classes, were one of the biggest hurdles. They had one job: to get their children to their School of Religion classes each Sunday and to the final rehearsal on the Saturday before the Saint Nicholas program. Performance was pretty spotty on this account, and that always made the final performance a real nail-biter: How would the kids do when reciting all together, when perhaps half of the kids had only attended about half of the classes and practice sessions?

The third category, as you might have expected, was surprisingly large, vocal, and insistent on their expertise in the matter of spelling, pronunciation, and transliteration of Old Church Slavonic. (I did not mention to them that I studied Old Church Slavonic in graduate school under the man who wrote the standard handbook on it; how could he know anything about it if he didn’t grow up in a Slavonic-speaking church?) Among those who grew up hearing Slavonic in church, there was no consensus on how it should be done, but there was a consistency in their objections:

If you grew up in a Ukrainian family, you did not want to sound like a Russian.

If you grew up in a Rusyn family, you did not want to sound like a Ukrainian.

And if you grew up in a Slovak family, you did not want to sound like a Rusyn.

So, obviously, there was no pleasing all of the heritage speakers. Nor could I please the "scholars"; I still have copies of voluminous e-mails I exchanged with members of this group: why I used a system of transcription that could be comprehended by third-graders rather than one of the scholarly systems, why I let the children recite a simplified form of a consonant cluster with four consonants, why there was an extra syllable in pree-EE-det ("Listen to Father’s tape"), why I wrote "OH-cheh" instead of "OT-cheh," and on and on – no point was too minor to argue over.

But, you know, we never totally crashed and burned on Saint Nicholas Day. Some years we even sounded awesome.


Here is my (much disputed) transcription of Otche Nash; unfortunately I cannot reproduce the signs for long and short vowels that I used. Capitalized syllables are stressed.

OH-cheh nash

EE-zheh YEH-see nah neh-BES-eekh,

Dah svya-TEET-syah EEM-yah tvoy-YEH.

Dah pree-EE-det TSARST-vee-yeh tvoy-YEH

Dah BOO-det VOL-yah tvoy-YAH,

YAH-ko na neh-BES-ee, ee nah ZEM-lee.

Khleeb nash nah-SOOSHT-nee dazhd nam dnes.

Ee o-STAH-vee nam DOL-hi NAH-shah,

YAH-ko zheh ee mi oh-stav-LYAH-yem DOLZH-ni-kom NAH-shim.

Ee neh veh-DEE nas vo ees-koo-SHEN-ee-yeh,

No eez-BAH-vee nas ot loo-KAH-vah-ho.

Advent Calendar Day 10: Gifts

All of my favorite gifts are my favorites due to a combination of practical and sentimental reasons.

My daughters have made me a number of beautiful presents over the years, but it’s difficult to choose my favorites among them, so I won’t list them here.

Nor have I included the gifts I received as a child.

Instead, I can think of four very special gifts I have received, from my college days up until the recent past, that stand out in my memory – for longevity, meaningfulness, and practicality. Two were given to me by my mother, and the other two were given to me by my husband.


The coffee cup featured in My Dear Daughters: When I Am Dead and Gone, Please Keep These Things.



This winter scarf, designed to cover head and neck. It’s a bit ratty from use by now, but I still use this scarf on the bitterest of cold winter days. This was another present given to me by my mother for Christmas during my college days. Nothing beats it for keeping my head and neck warm and the rust color is a good one for me. Mom had a “gift” for getting just the right thing.



Next among my most treasured gifts is this Byzantine three-bar cross. My husband bought this for me at our church for the Christmas right before the Feast of the Epiphany on which our family was baptized into the Byzantine Catholic Church. In addition to its other religious significance, it symbolizes the journey into faith that my husband and I took together.

Lest all these choices seem to fall more on the sentimental side than the practical, here is the fourth gift: my KitchenAid. Yes, a kitchen appliance. It has been used to bake so many Christmas, birthday, and other desserts; it is one of those household appliances that has earned a place of honor for its years of faithful service filling an important role in our family life: the means for concocting delicious culinary creations. Some women want furs or jewelry; I wanted a KitchenAid.

This is a repost of an article for last year's Advent Calendar. Those who read it last year may remember that I was waiting for my KitchenAid to be repaired and that meanwhile I was using a hand mixer. That is still the situation. We actually gave up on getting it repaired; the repairman could never get the part and apparently we will have to travel a good distance to the only known repairman in this area who might be able to do the necessary repairs. Perhaps we will get out to see the repairman, or perhaps a new KitchenAid will go on next year's Christmas list (along with a Flip-Pal mobile scanner).

Advent Calendar Day 9: Why We Will Never Have a Conventional Crèche

Or: “Other Decorations”

“Other decorations”: not tree decorations or outside decorations, but simply other decorations we put up in our house, such as the manger scene.

The theme for today is “Grab Bag” – as in “anything you want” – but grab bag made me think of hodge podge. And a hodge podge is definitely what many of our indoor decorations are, including our crèche scene.

This began in my childhood. I remember mostly the figurines for the manger scene. For one thing, they were of different sizes: for some reason, the Three Wise Men were much larger than the Holy Family and the shepherds; obviously, there were originally at least two totally different sets. And the angels must have simply been collected and added individually, as they were ceramic figures of various styles, whereas the other figurines appeared to have been made of wood with a waxy paint covering.

And there were elephants in the manger. The two pretty gray ceramic elephants that had been a present for my fifth birthday. (I’m not sure why someone would give ceramic figures to a five-year-old – I remember them coming from an older couple who were friends of my parents – but I thought they were awesome.) Since we didn’t have any camels, I figured the Wise Men must have ridden them to Bethlehem and then parked them in the manger. Of course, two of the Wise Men would have to have ridden on one elephant, or maybe one walked.

Now my family has a set of figurines, but no manger or any setting in which to put them. The smart thing would be to buy a completely new set, but that’s not our way. They belonged to my husband’s parents, so we have made sporadic efforts to find the other pieces. Nothing matches. We’ll have to make our own.

I’m thinking Lincoln Logs. Or perhaps even Legos, because we have a lot of those. It will be sort of a mixed media kind of thing.

Since my childhood crèche set, along with almost everything else we owned, did not survive our numerous moves, I cannot include a picture of it here. And my in-laws’ figurines are up in the attic.

So I’m including pictures of other items that have evolved into Christmas scene decorations. The first pictures shows Russian/Eastern Europen tree decorations and similar carved wooden figures we have collected over the years, and the second picture shows a set of Russian dolls, most of which were Christmas presents. They actually stay out all the time. Nothing like having a little touch of Christmas all year round.

Advent Calendar Day 8: Christmas Cookies

Did cookies play a role in our holiday foods?

This is a real mystery to me – both the answer to the question and the fact that I really cannot remember whether we had special cookies (or any cookies at all) for Christmas.

Because food is one of those vital subjects – you know, like grudges and embarrassing things your kids did – that I never forget. Of course I don’t remember day-to-day menus, but a good dessert tends to “etch itself in my memory.”

Perhaps we never did have cookies at Christmastime. Or perhaps they were overshadowed by their flashier cousins, cakes and pies. I suppose the moist sinfulness of Tunnel of Fudge cake or the hours of wrist-breaking labor involved producing fruitcake could cause me to forget a modest batch of sugar or oatmeal cookies.

Possible, but not likely.

However, my family and I do make cookies for Christmas these days. They are also a “consolation dessert” for my husband, who does not get to share in eating any of the fudge-and-oatmeal snack bars I make (the recipe is in the GeneaBloggers’ Cookbook) because he is allergic to nuts (I make a separate batch of the cookies below without pecans for my husband.)

So, here is one of my recipes for the humble cousin in the Christmas dessert group, the Christmas cookie:

Super Good Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar, firmly packed
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
1 c. all-purpose flour
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1 c. quick-cooking rolled oats
1 package (6 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 c. chopped pecans
Approximately 1 T. sugar (for flattening cookies)

Start heating oven to 375 degrees. Put butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, egg and vanilla in large mixing bowl. Beat with electric mixer until mixture is creamy and well blended. Add flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt to butter mixture. Beat until well blended. Add oats, chocolate and pecans; mix just to distribute throughout batter. Roll 1/4 c. dough into ball. Place ball on ungreased baking sheet. Put one T. sugar in small bowl. Dip bottom of glass into sugar, then press dough ball with sugar-coated bottom of glass, into flat circle approx. 1/2” thick. Repeat, placing dough circles at 2” apart, about six circles to a sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes. Cool cookies on wire rack.

(You may want to double this recipe.)

A Little Birdie Told Me

... that you can get one of these cute little guys (aka "USB Hubman") FREE with any gift card from Best Buy (I am not associated with BB; that's just what the little bird said). I don't know if this is true at all stores, but it seems to be so here (Northern Virginia area).

He'll be the cutest thing in your stocking. Except maybe for Mr. Bill in Mom's stocking.

Advent Calendar Day 6: I KNEW It! I KNEW Santa Was Real!

Did you believe in Santa?

Boy, howdy, did I ever. I was a faithful – and I do mean faithful – follower of Santa. He did not always bring me everything on my list (above you see me reciting my list, and from the intense look of concentration, it was probably a long one), but he would always deliver on one or two items that absolutely delighted me.

It was so exciting to see Santa in the stores when I went shopping with my mother. At some point, I realized that there was more than one Santa around town, but I had also come to have an inkling that there were thousands, maybe even millions of kids around the world, so it stood to reason that Santa must need helpers – not just for making toys back at the North Pole (that was what elves were for), but also here in the regular world. I figured these guys must be specially initiated helpers who helped to make sure that Santa had lists and input from every single child in the world. My logic was impeccable.

Then second grade and Scott happened. Scott was a snotty, superior, Scut Farkas-like brat who just had to announce to everyone that Santa was a fiction created and maintained by our parents and only babies still believed in him. Well, that didn’t hold water with me. Because I had additional information: I was convinced that Scott was stupid and that was why he would say such a stupid thing. Every time Scott would repeat this heresy I would stomp away in indignation. One of my worst faults is that I hold a grudge. Over the years I have tried to learn to let these grudges go and forgive people but, I am sorry to say, Scott is still on my list and is most likely going to be the very last one I let go.

But as second grade wore on and then third grade came, especially Christmastime, the doubts began to creep in. By this time, many of my classmates did not believe in Santa. But to me, to abandon my faith in Santa seemed to be equivalent to killing Santa. I just could not do it. By fourth grade, however, the cause was lost. I began to notice the winks and nods adults would give one another when Santa’s name was mentioned. I began to think about the improbability of eight reindeer flying around the world with a large man and enough presents for every child in the world. Hmmmm…. I even pretended to still believe in Santa that Christmas, even though I saw my parents sneaking presents under the Christmas tree on Christmas eve.

The loss of faith stung for a while, but by fifth grade I was reconciled to the fact that I was no longer a True Believer. I would smile benevolently as I saw Santas in the shopping malls, listening to the wishes and dreams of little children.

Then I had children. I looked forward to promoting the “myth of Santa” with my own children. We decided to take our then-11-month old daughter, our first child, with us to pick out some Christmas tree ornaments at the local garden center. When someone mentioned that there was a “wonderful Santa” with his own shop right on the grounds of the garden center, my husband and I decided, “Why not? We can at least get her picture taken with Santa, and it will be so cute.” So we headed on over to one of the outbuildings. It just looked like a little wooden outbuilding on the outside. But on the inside …. ohhhh …..

It was a little bit dark inside; most of the light was provided by Christmas lights. But it was beautiful. There were lights and painted figures everywhere. I do not remember the theme that year – it may have been a Dr. Seuss Christmas or it may have been Dickens’ A Christmas Carol; we learned the next year that the theme changed from year to year. There was a train set with a winter/Christmas theme – the main part was in a window display set-up, but there was also a train that traveled around on a track overhead. There was a big box for children to bring used toys in good shape to help Santa and the elves bring a little bit of extra joy to children whose parents could not afford to give them much for Christmas. There was a little area with pencils and pads so that children who had not yet made up their list for Santa could do so at the last minute. And there was a special display, prominently located, of Santa kneeling before the bed of hay in which Jesus lay.

There was an entire wall containing letters from children to whom Santa had given much joy over the years – and from what people wrote, it was obvious this had been going on for quite a few years. Many people who wrote to thank Santa were parents who had themselves seen Santa when they were little. The stories were amazing, and I began to see the outlines take shape for the logic behind Santa and all the magic he needs to use. It all made sense now. Suddenly, we heard bells jingling.

And then Santa arrived. These four words do not give justice to what actually happened. It was earth-shaking. It was triumphant. The children cheered. The parents cheered. Some of us even jumped up and down.

Santa took his place in a beautiful sleigh set up a room separated from the larger room by glass. I got a good look at him. I was hit by a thunderbolt. My arms went rigid by my sides, my hands clenched into fists. In a whisper that was so piercing that those around me turned to look, I hissed: “I knew it! I knew Santa was real!” The parents smiled and looked at me knowingly; some nodded. (If this quote rings a bell and you have ever seen Galaxy Quest, you have some idea of the intensity of my reaction. And this was before that movie was made.)

You may not know it, but the real Santa is a bit more slender than the image we have. Oh, there is plenty of adipose packed in there, but behind that beautiful white beard, the face is rather slender, and his long, eloquent hands are also thin. (Just an FYI on the beard: Santa loves milkshakes when he visits our houses, but he prefers vanilla ones because they don’t stain his beard as much as chocolate ones do. It’s true. He says so, himself.) Some people have described him as looking more like a lacquer-box Santa. Perhaps.

Before talking to the children individually, Santa went up to a lectern set up on the second level, above our heads. His voice was gentle, but he could be heard by everyone. The roar of noise had quieted to a rustle. He didn’t go on for a long time, but he did explain a few things: how the elves were organized to do what they did (they were divided up by the types of toys they made, with each different type having a different color or pattern of elf hat), how reindeer fly (magic dust, DUH), how they were able to fly around the world (there is some serious messin’ with the time zones going on), what it’s like at the North Pole, and most importantly, why Santa and the elves need some extra help in providing toys for children whose parents can’t do as much. Santa also laid out the rules for what is expected of everyone’s behavior leading up to Christmas. He included the parents in his instructions: we may get tired and impatient, but we must always remember how precious the ones are for whom we do so much. We all then sang some Christmas carols, followed by the snow dance: “Snow! Snow! Snow! Ho! Ho! Ho!” accompanied by a lot of hopping and jumping around. (If you ever visit Santa, be careful with this song. It works a little too well.)

Then it was time to begin. The children and parents were led into the little room with the sleigh. Some sat on a bench, some on the floor. Santa took each family into the sleigh one by one to sit with him, with time allowed at the end to take pictures. He was absolutely patient, listening to everything the children had to say, discussing certain things with them and their parents. It turns out there are certain procedures that have to be followed. First of all, it’s a good thing to leave some munchies out for the reindeer so that they can keep going. What do they like? Mostly greens, but a few nuts and M&Ms mixed in doesn’t hurt. Special Santa presents will need to be marked, so he may give the kids a long piece of plastic tape to put on the tree, which will then be incorporated into the wrapping of the present. Mom may be asked to leave her shoes out, and a special present for her will show up inside one of the shoes.

All this attention to each child and family means that the lines can get a little long sometimes. But then there are so many things in Santa’s house to entertain us.

And this is where it gets truly spooky (but in a good way). Santa really does know whether you have been naughty or nice. And he knows a lot of other stuff besides. He knew that I needed to straighten up my bedroom. He knew that a family friend who came along with us was an artist – “a truly gifted artist” (even at the age of 7, she was) – and he said there would be some art supplies for her. And one year, when my four-year-old younger daughter earnestly asked Santa to help her find her missing beanie babies, Eiger (aka Chops) and Rudolph, he replied: “I’m not sure I can, but I’ll try my best.” No need to have worried. Rudolph and Eiger, who had been missing almost four weeks (and we had been tearing our hair out trying and turning our house upside down to find them), were found about an hour and a half after we got home that day. One of the girls was playing near our breakfast table, which in a previous life was a billiard table, and noticed something in one of the tubes for the balls: there were Eiger and Rudolph. True story.

And what does Santa do when he is not making and delivering presents? The rumor is that, like many older people who like to escape the long stretches of cold winter weather, he comes down South – to Virginia, to be specific – and spends a good deal of time here. That he is incognito for most of this time, ditches the beard and perhaps a bit of the weight, and pretends to be just an ordinary garden center employee (maybe even a retired one at this point) named Dr. John. That would be to avoid causing unnecessary excitement and commotion at the proximity of such a celebrity in our midst.

According to this same grapevine, the “back story” behind this fictional alter ego is that he was raised in an orphanage and at the age of 14 decided that the yearly Christmas present given to each child in the orphanage – the exact same present for each one – was not enough. And so at that young age, for the first time, he donned a Santa suit and found a way to give a little something extra to children in unfortunate circumstances. Further, he has been doing this every year since then. Throughout the years he has headed up numerous charitable endeavors and even has a couple of programs, one on gardening and one on living our Christian faith, on the local TV channel.

And on Christmas eve, he assembles the best of the presents donated by the many families who come to visit him, takes them into the very poorest parts of the city, and delivers them to families with children.

At least those are the rumors.

For my money, he is the real Santa, the true embodiment of the spirit of St. Nicholas of Myra. His generosity is very real, as is the aura of magic that surrounds him. And, as the living icon of that generous Saint, he would probably want me to forgive Scott. I’m trying, Santa.

We no longer make the annual pilgrimage with our daughters to see Santa in person, but my husband and I bring him toys every year. We don’t want to let Santa down.

I lost you once, Santa, but I will never lose you again.

[Originally posted in December 2009.]

Advent Calendar Day 4: Christmas Cards

Above is the Christmas card my family and I sent out in 2009. 

My mother did send out Christmas cards, and we displayed the ones we received. The location might vary; one of the Christmas tree pictures for Advent Calendar Day 1 shows Christmas cards on our TV-radio-record player console. (The console was made of blond wood. Oops, whole 'nother subject...) Other years, Mom wanted to be more inventive and taped the cards around a doorway, but that did not work very well. The heavy cards did not stay up, no matter what kind of tape she used. I don’t believe I have any old Christmas cards; it seems that Mom threw them all out. I, on the other hand, hold on to almost all of them like a packrat. The ones from insurance agents might get tossed.

Most of the cards we received when I was a child just had signatures or a brief note, though a few had letters enclosed. These letters were not “Christmas letters,” just regular personal letters written specifically to the addressees and enclosed with the card. We considered it a big bonus when we got a letter along with the card, so that’s probably why I started writing longer and longer notes inside the Christmas cards I sent out.

Finally, it became so much of a chore to write all the different personalized notes that I started sending out “the Christmas letter.” I felt so guilty for sending the same letter out to everyone that I started adding personalized notes to the bottom. That was self-defeating.

Another thing that inspired me to write and send Christmas letters was the fact that we had received some very good ones from friends and relatives. Some of the writers of these letters are very witty and produce funny and newsy letters, so I took them as my model. In an earnest effort to provide some fun for our Christmas card recipients, I would try to write a funny letter that avoided sounding pompous or cloying. That is not as easy as it sounds. If I wrote about a child’s accomplishment, I tried to balance it with a report of the latest natural disaster or major household system failure we had endured during the year. As I read over past letters, I am amazed at how many times our basement has flooded. Well, maybe not. Our house is situated on top of marine clay, after all.

This year I guess the big event to report was the blizzard back in February, which did some damage to one of our holly trees and our big boxwood, but not much else.  This has actually been a year when some of the biggest news was genealogy-related - well, at least I think it is the biggest news.

[Originally posted in 2009.]

Advent Calendar Day 3: Christmas Tree Ornaments

[Reposted from 2009 with an update.]




There have been several Advent Calendar posts by GeneaBloggers in which they describe their obsession with/passion for Christmas tree ornaments. I’m another one of those ornament fanatics.

As you can tell from the Christmas Tree post below, when I was a child, there was more tinsel than there were ornaments on our tree; the few ornaments appear to be mostly Christmas balls.

In college I was given some ornaments made by a friend’s mother, and that ignited my passion for all different kinds of ornaments, including handcrafted ones. Many ornaments have been added since then; no effort was made to have ornaments that "match" or "go together." They come in all different colors, have many different themes, and are made of many different materials. No attempts have ever been made to be tasteful. Just bright, shiny, and colorful.

Some of my favorite ornaments were a few I bought when I was a graduate student in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They were part of a set made of cookie dough on the “12 Days of Christmas” theme. These were very well executed and were painted in vivid colors, which made them quite striking on the tree. I bought about three or four, and now only two remain: the partridge in a pear tree and a lord a-leaping, who resembles a Cossack. Unfortunately he is short part of a leg, because one year someone, not me, did not pack up the ornaments very well. I have always regretted not buying the entire set, but then I was a poor college student. If anyone is familiar with this set of ornaments and knows where I can get the molds and instructions for it, I’d be eternally grateful.

At the top is one of my all-time favorite ornaments. Our beloved Donna bought this painted sand-dollar ornament for us the year she started babysitting my older daughter. She saw it at a craft show or store somewhere and thought it resembled our daughter so much that she just had to get it. I cannot remember whether she painted the inscription on it herself or had the artist paint it.

Below is one of the ornaments painted by my friend’s mother that started this whole obsession. I think it is supposed to be a downy woodpecker. As time permits I may feature other favorite ornaments – for you other ornament fanatics out there, of course.




2010 Update:

My original intention was to change the ornaments featured in this post from year to year. However, I think I'll just add ornaments until the post becomes "The Monster Christmas Tree Ornament Post."


There are certain themes that appear often among my ornaments. The ornament above illustrates one of those themes: Russian and Eastern European ornaments. We have three different ethnic costumed ornaments of the type that you see here.



This is the only remaining intact ornament from the set of cookie dough ornaments I described above. It is supposed to be a partridge in a pear tree.



Because I already have more ornaments than I can fit on a tree, I have not bought any new ornaments for about five years. Yesterday I started my Christmas shopping and was looking for stocking stuffers at World Market when these caught my eye. I couldn't resist them - because they were ... sparkly.

Advent Calendar Day 24: Christmas Eve - Holy Supper

When the first star is spotted in the sky on the eve of Christmas, it is time to go in to have the last meal before the end of the pre-Nativity fast, also called St. Philip’s fast, or the Filippovka. This meal is called the Holy Supper. At the end of this article there are some pictures of common dishes eaten for Holy Supper.

Spotting that star used to be the job of our youngest daughter, but as she reached her teen years, we realized that she was not quite the reliable lookout that she had been, so these days we all try to be the first to spot the star, since we’re all pretty hungry.

The following is a description of the Holy Supper taken from a booklet given out to parishioners at our church; it is simply called The Holy Supper and does not contain any information on the author.

“The Holy Supper [Svyatyj Vecher’] on Christmas Eve occurs among the people of Central Europe as the immediate preparation to welcome the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. While it varies in details from one group to another and, in fact, within groups and nations from one town and village to the next, there are certain common features.

“The origins of the Holy Supper predate the arrival of Christianity in Central Europe. Like many Christmas customs, it began as a pagan rite, in this case, called Korochun – the greeting of the Sun – as the days grow longer after the Winter Solstice. Certain elements, like the twelve courses to be served, reflect the twelve months of the year and, expressing hope for a bountiful harvest of food for the whole year, hearken to its origins as an agricultural ritual feast for blessings in the year to come. When Christianized, the twelve courses were seen to represent the Twelve Apostles. Likewise, the Paska-like bread in the center of the table called the Korochun, comes to be understood as the sign of Christ, the Bread of Life.

“…[I]t is suggested that we observe abstinence on Christmas Eve, that is, no meat products, but not restricting the use of dairy products. The meatless meal should be one of great abundance: meatless, to symbolize the humility and poverty in which Christ was born; the variety and abundance of food to remind us of God’s blessings and grace.

“The house is cleaned for the coming of the Messiah, and the dining room is specially prepared. The husband is to feed all the animals, whether the household pets or, if ones lives on a farm, the farm animals, with great abundance. Likewise, after the wife sprinkles the family with holy water during the Holy Supper to purify their minds that they may be open to accept the mystery of the divine birth, the husband is to bless the animals with the holy water. All this is done as a sign that the animals of the stable were the witnesses of the mystery of the birth of God in the flesh.

“A candle is placed in the window, a sign of welcome for the holy family and, indeed, for family, friends, and the poor or strangers who have nowhere to spend the night like the Holy Family had no place to stay at the inn at Bethelehem.

“The dining room table is set with a white table cloth, a symbol of purity of the Virgin birth and the white swaddling cloths. The husband will scatter straw over or under the table cloth, to symbolize the manger, and place hay under the table, to transform the dining room into the stable. The Nativity Bread, a round bread like the Paska, representing Christ, with a candle in the middle representing both the star and Christ who is the Light of the World, is placed in the center of the table. An extra full place setting, to remind one of the faithful departed of the family, and, at the same time, to serve as a prepared place for any who come in search of a meal, is set.

Wine glasses for the toast are set, and two small bowls of honey, one for the anointing and one for dipping the garlic, are set. The holy water the family had reserved from the previous Theophany – January 6 – is placed on the table."

I do not anoint my family with honey, because that is too sticky, but we do sprinkle holy water on all family members, human and furry. In our house we do not have all 12 dishes, but usually have something along the lines of the following:

Setting the table for Holy Supper





Mushroom-Sauerkraut-Barley Soup

Christmas Eve Bread




Brown Rice



Green Beans

Sauerkraut

Salmon with Hollandaise Sauce



Pierogi with Sour Cream




Cider or Wine

Kolaches

Table All Set



Freshly baked Christmas Eve Bread, though simple, is especially delicious. Here is the recipe we use:

Bread for Christmas Eve

1 package dry yeast
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups water, warm
6 cups flour
4 tablespoons salad oil
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 tablespoon sugar
4 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Dissolve yeast in warm water with 1/8 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon sugar. Set in warm place to rise. Sift 6 cups flour in deep bowl, add 2 cups warm water, 4 tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 4 tablespoons salad oil. Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture.

Knead well and set aside to rise. When double in bulk, punch down. Divide dough in two. Shape one part into round bread, cover and let stand 20 minutes. Punch down and reshape. Place in greased pan. Allow to rise until double in bulk. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

[Recipe from Epiphany's Seasons: Twenty-five Years of Parish Recipes, compiled by the Epiphany Ladies Guild.]

After Holy Supper, we rest for a while, then it's off to church, where we attend services and then share Christmas dishes with fellow parishioners. This lasts until about 1:30 or 2:00 in the morning.

Advent Calendar Day 21: Christmas Music – Avoiding Overload

Music plays a big part in my family’s celebration of Christmas. When I was growing up, this was not so much the case. We heard Christmas music on the radio, on television, and I remember singing Christmas carols in school, but I don’t think we had any records of Christmas music. The one exception I can think of was that I asked for a full recording of The Nutcracker for my birthday when I was around 14. That set of records just about got played to death.

Now we have an entire section of our music library devoted to Christmas music. A lot of people get tired of Christmas music after too much exposure, but we try to avoid this by bringing as much variety as possible to the selections we listen to. Television and radio programs tend to replay a limited set of carols over and over, though some stations are a little more adventurous (reason #48 on the list of reasons for saving our classical music radio stations).



Some of our favorite Christmas music consists of Eastern European hymns and carols. Here are a couple of my favorite collections, Russian Christmas by the Theodorovskaya Mother of God Icon Church Choir and Christmas Hymns by the Seminary Choir of Blessed Theodore Romzha Academy of Uzhgorod.

We also attend the local Christmas Revels in Washington most years. We love all the shows, but our favorites have tended toward the more ethnically-oriented themes: the Northern-themed To Drive the Dark Away (Karelian (Finnish, Lapp, and Russian), Norse, and Swedish), Roads of the Roma, and last year’s French Canadian Revels.




In addition to the Eastern Christmas liturgies we have on tape and CD there have been many classical Christmas works for both liturgical and concert settings that have made their way into our collection. The following is a fast-paced Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah:



Our favorite way to enjoy the popular “White Christmas” is to watch the movie Holiday Inn. Another family tradition at Christmas is to watch the video “A Tuna Christmas.” You’ll never think of “Jingle Bells” the same way again after you have watched Didi Snavely sing this carol while smoking a cigarette: “Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle (puff) the way.”

Other favorites are carols played on the hammered dulcimer. "The Zither Carol," as played by Joemy Wilson on the dulcimer on Gifts – Traditional Christmas Music, Vol II, has been known to set me atwirlin’ around the room (when no one is watching, of course). And there are many, many more odds and ends of Christmas music we love: music box carols, shapenote carols, Cajun and Zydeco Christmas songs, you name it.

So in this post, "avoiding overload" does not mean reducing the amount of Christmas music, but rather increasing the variety. Because anything worth doing is worth doing to excess. In fact, writing about all of this and looking up Christmas music on Youtube has put me in the mood for … more Christmas music. Wonder what I can find on iTunes?

Advent Calendar Day 18: Christmas Stockings

I had Christmas stockings as a child and I have them as an adult (though not the same ones, unfortunately). My teenage daughters still have Christmas stockings and are angling to continue to have them for as long as possible.

When I was a child, the Christmas stocking was for fruit (mostly oranges, sometimes apples), nuts, candy canes, and possibly a little bit of change.

My husband and I bought a pair of stockings from Afghanistan during our graduate school days in the late 1970s and still have them. For some reason, our cats have always loved them. It may be the lanolin in the wool; whatever it is, the effect is almost as strong as catnip. Below is a picture of Fred, from our first quartet of cats, rubbing on one of the stockings. The current cat crew do the same thing.

Fred and the Afghan stocking

We try not to go overboard with gift-giving in general, but to make things fun, there is some focus on stocking gifts. Our daughters’ stockings are usually chock-full of smaller presents. When they were younger, many of the items were small and usually inexpensive toys, supplemented by things like Christmas candy, socks, and hair bows. Now they still receive socks and Christmas candy, but the other items might be make-up, lotion, inexpensive earrings, and sometimes Mombux (3x5 cards with stickers and a promise of a purchase or mini-shopping-spree with Mom: “A pair of shoes,” “$15 at the thrift store,” “$20 at the bookstore,” etc.). And there is always a shiny new penny in the bottom of the stockings for good luck. Mom and Dad each get candy and a penny in their stockings.



Stocking loot

(Yes, there was still a Halloween pumpkin decoration on the wall.)

In addition to getting to rub on the Afghan stockings on Christmas morning, each of our cats has a stocking with his or her name on it. Their stockings usually contain catnip and cat toys (mostly furry mice with things inside that make a rattling noise so that they “skitter” really well and get the cats all excited).


Rocky rests under the Christmas tree after a heavy session with the Afghan sock followed by the catnip bag

Blog Caroling: Heaven and Earth

Many thanks to footnoteMaven for hosting Blog Caroling!

Heaven and Earth (Nebo i Zemlya)

Heaven and earth, heaven and earth
Now welcome their Redeemer.
Angels and people, angels and people
Join in celebration.

Salvation is begun, born is the Virgin’s Son;
Angel’s voices ringing, Wise Men gifts are bringing;
Shepherds tell the story; star proclaims the glory;
Christ is born in Bethlehem.

In Bethlehem, in Bethlehem
God’s Word is given birth.
Born of a virgin, born of a virgin,
Master of heav’n and earth.

Salvation is begun, born is the Virgin’s Son;
Angel’s voices ringing, Wise Men gifts are bringing;
Shepherds tell the story; star proclaims the glory;
Christ is born in Bethlehem.

Nebo i zemlya, nebo i zemlya
Nyni torzhestvuyut.
Anhely i lyude, anhely i lyude
Veselo sprazdnujut.

Christos rodilsya, Boh voplotilsya,
Anhely spivayut, Tsariye vitayut.
Poklon otdayut, pastyriye hrajut,
Chudo, chudo povidayut.

Vo Vifleyemi, vo Vifleyemi
Vesela novina.
Chistaya D’iva, Chistaya D’iva
Porodila Syna.


Christos rodilsya, Boh voplotilsya,
Anhely spivayut, Tsariye vitayut.
Poklon otdayut, pastyriye hrajut,
Chudo, chudo povidayut.

If you would like a tune to go with the words, below are a Russian version and a Ruthenian version of the carol. There is also a Ukrainian version, which is just a bit different from the Russian version. The transcribed verses are from the Ruthenian version.

Memory Monday: Birthdays

There is both an Advent Calendar theme (for 15 December) and a Carnival of Genealogy topic on December birthdays and events. This is a topic with which I am somewhat familiar, since today is the “big day” for me.

If my birthday falling before Christmas wasn’t enough, my parents’ anniversary was three days after Christmas, on December 28. It seemed that they were constantly going to parties from Christmas to New Year’s. And I have a daughter with an early January birthday that coincides with Orthodox Christmas. We never take our Christmas tree down until after her birthday.

So what is it like to have a December birthday? It would be interesting to ask this question of some of my ancestors who were born in December. A search of the relatives that have so far been entered in my Reunion genealogy program revealed quite a few December birthdays. There are two first cousins and two first cousins once removed. And there were a couple of direct ancestors: my great-great grandfather Hiram Carroll Brinlee Sr. (25 December 1808) and my great grandfather Harlston Perrin Moore (4 December 1845). Finding H. P. Moore’s date of birth on his death certificate was especially delightful; he was my first “discovery” so he is kind of a favorite.

What did Hiram and Harlston do to celebrate their birthdays? I do not know, but I imagine that it was not very elaborate; they were farmers and not especially rich ones. And if I am ever tempted to feel sorry for myself for having a December birthday, I should certainly keep my ancestors in mind.

The thing is, for me, the December birthday has almost never felt like much of a burden or loss. For my parents, however – that was probably another matter. This did not occur to me when I was younger. The first time I heard the sentence, “This present has to be both for your birthday and for Christmas,” I felt a little bit of disappointment, as though I was being cheated out of something. Maybe the second time, too. But it started to dawn on me that were my birthday and Christmas not so close together, perhaps I would not be receiving these presents at all. As I grew older, the sigh and the eye-roll when mention was made of December birthdays were pretty much an automatic response rather than a deeply felt indignation.

And you know what? In college, early December through early January was pretty much one long party. My birthday would be celebrated right before everyone went home for Christmas vacation, then at home with my mother, then with my Texas friends, and finally back at college with the friends who missed the first party. There was never any real holiday letdown.

I hope Hiram and Harlston had at least a few “very merry birthdays.”




A picture made following my one and only childhood birthday party: there probably would have been no Tiny Tears for me without the December birthday

Advent Calendar Day 14: Fruitcake (Memory Monday 2)

Is there no one who loves fruitcake?

I do. Kind of. If it’s moist (= has lots of booze). The fruit must not be old and the nuts should also be in top condition; pecans are the best.

All right, so I’m a self-proclaimed fruitcake expert.

Because I started making fruitcakes when I was 12 years old.

That was the year my mother broke her wrist when we all went ice skating.

You need a really strong wrist to make a good fruitcake.

The men in our family (my father and brother) were almost totally helpless in the kitchen.

So it was up to me to keep the tradition going.

Fruitcake baking in our house was done on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Step one: Put the butter and brown sugar together in bowl; stir until thoroughly combined into a mixture of smooth consistency. This was where the elbow grease came in. (A mixer would have been a wimp-out and also posed the danger of a mixture that was too lumpy or too liquid to support the fruit.)

Ladies and Gentlemen, there is no need to worry about flabby upper arms if you make enough fruitcakes. I stirred and stirred and stirred. I used my left hand to support my right arm. I changed to stirring with my left hand. Then back to the right hand. After what seemed like hours, that “smooth consistency” was finally achieved.

The rest was pretty easy. The only tricky part was to bake it for exactly the right amount of time; too much would ruin the taste and too little would leave it with no structural integrity.

And structural integrity is important. Because for the next month – and this is why fruitcakes are baked on the Friday after Thanksgiving – the liquor of choice would be added in generous doses every other day. And if the fruitcake is underbaked, that equals a runny mess.

My family showered praise on me that Christmas for producing an outstanding first fruitcake. My Smugness Coefficient skyrocketed and my nose didn’t come out of the air for a full week.

My mother and I must have made a few fruitcakes during my high school years; these were probably cooperative efforts.

I don’t make fruitcakes any more. I have one labor-intensive dessert to make for Christmas – kolaches – and that is enough. Plus my mother-in-law makes a killer fruitcake (sooo moist … mmmmm).





(Whew! At least there are a few people out there who like a good fruitcake: Miriam Midkiff of Ancestories, Alex of Winging It, and Karen Packard Rhodes of Karen About Genealogy.)