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Friday, December 27, 2013

Oh My Gravy!


         It’s two days after Christmas and now that I’ve had a little time to recover I can reflect on the event of the year for me.  I spent about three days cooking, and weeks baking cookies and planning in anticipation of the big day.
         Anna helped me prepare the food and we had lots of it.  Stuffed mushrooms, shrimp cocktail, garlic knots, dips, chips, cheese, sausage, and crackers graced the appetizer table for our Christmas Day Afternoon Buffet (as I named it). A savory ham with pineapple gravy was the centerpiece of the dinner, flanked by two different chicken dishes, pasta primavera, rice, and rolls.  We topped the feast with Christmas cookies and candy served with hot beverages.  All were well fed and content.
         In between eating there was much merriment as evidenced by the laughter ringing throughout the house.  A modest sized house lends itself to participation from the next room in word related activities, so I was able to fully enjoy the absurdities in the Mad Libs and the resulting conversations in the dining room.  So it happened that as I was clearing up between courses the disaster occurred.  For the second holiday in a row, despite my best efforts, there is no gravy left for reheating.  Last time it was because I failed to warn my sister in law that the pan’s handle was loose and the gravy ended up all over the stovetop and the front of the cabinet.   This time, I had the container almost on the shelf in the refrigerator when it slipped out of my hand. Four cups of silky golden brown deliciousness splattered the inside of my refrigerator, my pant legs, shoes, and the floor, running under the refrigerator as well!  My daughter came running, I called for a custodian (although none came since I was in my house and not at work), and there was much slipping, sliding, and laughter as we tried to clean up the mess.  None of us had the heart to tell my husband.  He waits all year for the ham with the gravy and leftovers; it’s one of his very favorite things.  So now, as I write this, I am trying to recreate some gravy with the leftover ham.  I will of course use the boiled ham bone to make broth for pea soup, and use some of the ham for ham salad sandwiches; perhaps I will even make a pot pie.
         We had a very merry Christmas here, even with the spilling and mess.  I hope you all had a merry Christmas with few spills.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Scraggly Tree


         Did you ever feel like that scraggly little Charlie Brown tree?   Like all around you there are beautiful, shiny, straight, tall, strong, spectacular trees, getting all the attention and making you look even more puny, plain, and scrawny?  I think we’ve all felt like that at one time or another.  When we compare ourselves to others around us we can feel like we are less than they are, focusing on our shortcomings as we see them, and concentrating on only the strengths that we perceive in those around us.  If we looked closer, we’d notice that there is maybe a light out here, a bend in the trunk there, and little patches where the needles are a bit sparse.  We might see that they are not really getting more attention than we are; they just happen to be what is needed at the moment.  If we are patient, someone will come along and see the value of us, and take us home.  Then someone else comes along and wraps that blue blanket around our trunk and suddenly we feel wanted and important.  Pretty soon there are beautiful decorations and lights making us feel special and, yes, even spectacular.  Friendship is the blue blanket, and kind words and deeds are the ornaments and love is the illumination.  It is then our time to shine.  So the next time you find yourself feeling like that Charlie Brown tree just wait, soon enough you’ll be feeling wonderful; and if by chance you recognize a fellow scrawny tree, be that blue blanket and watch the little tree shine.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Slow Down


               On the day after Thanksgiving I took my husband’s car to go to the supermarket for a few non-holiday items.  I found myself cruising down the two lane highway almost 20 miles per hour over the speed limit, and adjusted my speed accordingly.  It is so easy to go well over the speed limit without realizing it when I’m driving my husband’s car.  I have to be constantly aware of how fast I’m going when I take it, as I don’t wish to get a speeding ticket.  I feel like the holiday season is another area where I need to check my speed constantly.  Like driving that sleek black car, it’s easy to just speed along to Christmas week and the New Year without realizing it.  This year I’ll have to be extra vigilant because we have just a few scant weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas in which to enjoy all the holiday cheer and events that come along. I’m trying not to get so wrapped up in the things to do that I forget to actually experience life.  I’d like to be more in the moment when shopping, writing cards, baking, watching a Christmas special on TV, attending a party, or wrapping gifts instead of thinking of everything still to be done.  Do less, enjoy more will be my motto.  Slow down, the holidays should be traveled through at 25 miles per hour, not flown through at 70.  After all, life’s a journey not a race.

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Sue Verses November


Because I think that focusing for a month on things for which I am thankful helps me go into the frenzied Christmas season in a better frame of mind and keeps me grounded, I thought I would share all of my November Facebook statuses here.  I made them rhyme (although not always well!) because I can and it gave me a little mental challenge every day.  Thanks for visiting my thoughts. Enjoy!

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This year I'm doing 30 days of thankfulness so for November first I'm thankful I've been given a gift for writing verse.

On thankful day number two I am giving thanks for you, if you're reading this, you see, we are friends, you and me💕

On thankful day number three I give thanks for all I see from loved ones faces to cloudy skies I'm so thankful I have eyes.

On thankful day number four before I dash out the door I am thankful I have work and friends to toil with is a perk.

On thankful day number five I'm grateful I am still alive.

On this sixth day of November I am thankful I remember who I am and where I've been so I don't make some mistakes again.

On thankful day number seven I give thanks for those in Heaven who while on Earth were dearly loved and now reside with God above.

On this day, November eight, I'm thankful for food on my plate.

November ninth I give thanks for trees for all they do for us, they clean the air of pollutants from car and truck and bus, they house the birds and squirrels and bats, they beautify our habitat, and in the autumn proudly wear flaming red and orange hair.

On day ten of thankfulness, I'm grateful because I am blessed to have in life my brothers three who were there to grow up with me.

On the eleventh day of thanks I think of those who drove the tanks, or went on foot, boat, truck or plane to keep us free from terror's reign, our veterans today remember they are the heroes, our defenders.

It is day twelve of thankfulness and with wintry weather it's a test, but weather cannot get my goat, I'm thankful for my nice warm coat!

Thirteenth day for giving thanks dawned sunny and so cold that I am grateful on this day I've warm blankets to unfold.

On day fourteen of giving thanks I'm thankful for the tea I drank, it started my day off just right, I'll have another cup tonight.

This day I'm thankful for my girls, one who sits while the other twirls, they are different from each other, I am honored to be their mother, it's day fifteen, we're halfway done, soon November will be gone.

On thankfulness day sixteen I'm grateful for the man who very many years ago bravely took my hand, he's not let go through anything that has come our way, with a heart full of love I give thanks for him today.

I'm thankful today for leftovers, I use them in so many ways, today I made soup, so yummy to scoop, on this rainy November seventeen.

I'm thankful for my paring knife, I find it is a great device, it peels an apple, slices cheese, cuts mostly whatever I please, so that is it for day eighteen, I hope your day is peachy keen.

Today I have much gratitude for the freedom to choose my attitude, on this nineteenth day of November I'm thankful I don't often surrender to the negativity all around, with optimism I am usually found.

Day twenty I'm thankful for my couch since lounging on the floor makes me say ouch!

On this twenty-first day of giving thanks, I'm grateful for memories of harmless pranks we played on a teacher when we were in school, we had so much fun, we thought we were cool, the teacher in question didn't get mad so we weren't in trouble and boy were we glad!

On November twenty second I'm thankful for my dinner, 'cause Friday night mac'n'cheese couldn't get much better!

November twenty third is here and thanks I am giving for time to take a little nap and for this life I'm living.

I give thanks today for volunteers who give their time throughout the year, they sing in church, they man the shelters, bring peace and comfort to helter skelter, they put out fires and build houses, give of themselves in hero doses, on November twenty four I give thanks to those who give much more.

On this twenty-fifth day of thanks I am grateful for everyday moments, the small celebrations, laughter and tears that our little family collects through the years, they cannot be purchased nor taken away, and for that I am thankful on this November day.

On this day I give thanks for the girls who I see every day who make time at work seem a lot more like play, on November twenty six I give thanks to each one, for giving me laughs and making things fun.

On November 27 thanks give I for the ability to make pie, also cake and fresh whipped cream which will top the yummiest desserts I've ever seen!

I'm thankful for memories of Thanksgivings gone by, and for the white snow that today meets my eye, a peaceful morning to count the year's blessings, November twenty eight we think of those missing.
On November twenty nine I'm thankful that I have some time to rest, relax, read and play; the chores can wait just one more day.
The final day of a thankful month, I can't believe how fast it passed, I'm grateful now that I can choose to make my grateful attitude last, when thankfulness is how you live you'll find you have much more to give, and that's my little ditty for November thirty.

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Now, bring on December!

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Choosing

Today I have much gratitude for the freedom to choose my attitude, on this nineteenth day of November I'm thankful I don't often surrender to the negativity all around, with optimism I am usually found.

On Facebook I've been posting a rhyme each day since November first for which I am thankful; this was today's.  I have been asked periodically how I can be so upbeat and positive.  "How do you do it?" is the way it's usually phrased.  It always catches me by surprise somehow.  I'd say I don't know how I do it, but I do know.  I choose to be happy, content, hopeful.  There have been times when I was depressed, negative, and mostly angry.  It is exhausting!  I know people who always seem to be angry, looking for the worst to happen, and looking for a fight at every turn.  I don't know how THEY do it!  I tried for awhile to keep up the snarky attitude and found it wearisome.  I've said before that I think I just have a merry heart.  Truly, I don't remember sad times as well as I do happy times.  I love to laugh, I love to make others laugh, and so I choose most days to do as much laughing as I possibly can.  To have hope, to give others hope for a better outcome or circumstance is how I choose to live.  I'm not saying that I'm never negative or feel hopeless, but I try not to stay there for long.  And I have the freedom to choose to be that way.  So do you.

I leave you with this verse that I wrote when I was a child:

Happy faces smile no matter how long the mile,
Nor how high the hill or how nasty tasting the pill.