HAPPY NEW YEAR!

What does one write on their blog on the eve of  New Year?  A year ago this day, I was reflecting on the year almost past, and wishing for even a better year to come, and that certainly is the case today.

But the year we are leaving wasn't quite what I had expected.  Yes, there were some wonderful times, happy times, healthy times, but there were also more than our share of sad times, frustrated times, and even a few times when we questioned if we would see the end of the year.

We lost very Dear ones in our family this year.  My Dad in January, my Aunt Margaret in October.  There was sickness - our little Thomas continues to battle leukemia; my brother Wayne, now also battles leukemia.  I had several health scares myself this summer.

There was a wedding in our family, a new beginning for a nephew and his bride, and so also for another brother's family.

There were disappointments for all of us - a new year doesn't guarantee there won't be.  In fact in the world we live in today, perhaps there should be a New Year's warning... more disappointments are on their way!

We all have disappointments in our lives - in ourselves, in our friends, in our families, in our communities - the list goes on and on.  Most of us vent our disappointment and move forward, while still others allow their disappointment to boil and fester into anger and even into hate. 

I saw this several times this past year in my own family, but then, I have seen it there in other years as well.

It makes me wonder about human nature. -  why some people forgive, and some just can't. 

Still in all, this is about starting a New Year.  I guess my point is that none of us know what this New Year will bring.  We hope and wish and long for only good things, but we may have to accept the not so good things as well. 

My wish for everyone I love is only the good things - good health, happiness, love.  Enough money to pay the bills, good food to eat.  Sun, when we need it, rain when we need it.  Birdsong in the mornings and marvelous sunsets in the evenings, and a rocking chair on a porch or by the window to enjoy it all.

I also wish for healing for those who need it - both body and mind, and certainly soul.  Forgiveness for your fellow man, including those whose home you shared as a child.

I wish for a cure for Cancer, and a healthier world.

But mostly, I wish for Peace.  Peace inside our hearts, and everywhere in the world that is ours to share. 

It's a tall order and I know we can't get it all - but wishes are free and so is a heart full of love.

Happy New Year Everyone!  May all our wishes for the New Year come true!

IT REALLY WAS CHRISTMAS!

I must admit, I was kind of dreading this Christmas.  It was the first Christmas without two people I loved with all my heart, my Dad, and my Aunt Margaret.  Thoughts of both of them filled my mind the days before Christmas - memories, good times, happy times, and the only thing that made those memories even brighter, was knowing that this Christmas they would both be together with their loved ones in heaven - in a much better place than here on earth.

Also on my mind were two family members who are battling cancer this Christmas, and one very dear friend who continues to fight cancer with all her might.

And then my own family were ever present on my mind, in particular my relationships with my siblings.  Profound sadness hits me like a wall when I think of Christmas past with my siblings, and Christmas present with them.  There is no Christmas present with two of them, and it is something that I just can't seem to get past.  It's not what I want, but I alone cannot fix it, so I have to accept it for what it is.

Yes, I was certainly dreading Christmas!

But then things began to change for me.  Off we went to attend our little church's Christmas eve service in the morning.  Gary preached, and I played the last of my Christmas services.  My eyes watered, and my lips quivered while I played and tried to sing the first verse of Silent Night, but then something happened.  I felt myself calm down, my eyes dried, and I began to enjoy the words of the song - and all of a sudden I felt happy!

Later that afternoon, Gary was on Face book, and announced that the Church we attended in Winnipeg when we lived there, was on a live feed with their Family Christmas eve service, so we sat and watched people we knew, in a place we knew and loved, and it was wonderful.

And then it was 10:30, we tuned in again  - this time for the late service.  The camera was right in the choir loft - I felt like I was sitting in my old spot.  There was Annie, Gail, Maggie, Gerry, Anne, Malcolm, Shirley, Richard, Al, Don, Ted... all my old choir family - singing so beautifully like they always did - I felt so close, like I could poke them and they would jump!

We watched to the end... a beautiful Christmas Eve service, I heard the words, I heard the voices I knew so well, I heard the Cassavant...

I went to bed feeling so happy!

Christmas morning was pretty minimal.  We had breakfast, I dusted - yes I did, and then I headed into the bathroom to take a bath.

While I was in there the phone rang - it was Jon - and he had something he wanted to tell us!

Well you know what it's like in a perfect family - timing is often, not so perfect.  With the aid of speaker phone, and while still in the bathtub, I learned that our son Jon, and his girlfriend, Sasha had just gotten engaged!

It was the best Christmas gift ever!  Christmas had arrived - a new beginning for our family, a chance to welcome another family into our lives, into our hearts.

 It made me think of the Christmas story - the "Real Christmas Story", and the new beginning that happened on that Christmas day so long ago.

In the end, it was a great Christmas Day, I suddenly felt ashamed that I had been dreading it before it came.

I am so looking forward to the new beginnings started Christmas 2017.  God willing, they will follow us for many many years to come.

MAYBE IT'S CHRISTMAS!

Three days until Christmas!  There was a time in my life when I would have been stressing just reading those four words.  Stressing that I had gifts for everyone, a big dinner planned, decorating done, cards written, house cleaned...

Thankfully that's no longer the case.  Sooner or later one grows up and realizes that Christmas doesn't have to be stressful.  It should be special and beautiful, but it doesn't have to be stressful.

For a lot of people, Christmas is a lonely time, a sad time.   Maybe they have lost their loved ones, or maybe they haven't lost them, but still won't be able to be with them for Christmas.

Maybe it's their first Christmas in a nursing home. -  maybe it's their second or third!

Maybe it's a young student's first Christmas away from home and family, because they can barely afford tuition, and for sure can't afford a flight home.

Maybe someone is in poor health, and just can't be far from their caregivers.  

Maybe someone just found out they have cancer, and they are so afraid of the future they can't even really begin to wrap their head around the fact that it is Christmas.

Maybe they are a single Mom on welfare, barely making the rent, with no way to give her family a nice meal or a iphone, that the television tells every kid that Santa can bring!

Maybe that thought that rattles around in our heads - the one that we wish times could be simpler around Christmas isn't all that foreign after all.  Maybe we aren't the only ones who think it -even if we think we are!

Maybe we all need a "Walton's Christmas".  Maybe we all need a "Homecoming" - even if we can never go home again.

Maybe we need a Christmas Tale, to remind us of why there is a Christmas in the first place.

I just happen to have one, that I wrote 6 years ago, on a winter day a few days before Christmas - much like this one.


My wish is that everyone finds what they "need" this Christmas. 

To all who read my posts every time I post them, Thank You for your support.  I wish you all a Very Blessed Christmas!




THE CHRISTMAS TALE


Forgotten is the little babe,
Born so long ago;
And the story that surrounds his birth,
Is one some folks don’t know.

The story says some angels came,
To tell about the child;
I guess to our rich cyber world,
This tale appears quite wild.

Three wise men came, or were they kings?
And did they travel far?
How come they walked alone at night,
And followed some bright star?

About that star that shone so bright;
How did it know just where,
The tiny newborn kid would lay;
And who’d it think would care?

Upon a pile of hay it’s told,
The baby’s crib was made.
With animals there, enclosed within,
A barn is where they stayed.

A virgin Mom, a dirt-poor Dad,
And yet they had a King.
They say he came to earth for me;
Whoever heard of such a thing?

I wasn’t even here as yet,
Nor was my family tree.
How’d he know we’d come in time,
How’d he know about me?

They tell me that he loved me then,
And that he loves me still;
Baby Jesus came to fill my heart,
I pray he always will.

However you believe this story goes,
Its one tale always told;
By those with truth and faith and love,
In wondrous pageant bold.

Repeated new each year that comes,
Great story; same great end.
The greatest story ever told,
The greatest story penned.


Dale Graumann
2011

IT WAS A FESTIVAL!

This past Sunday was a very special day for me.  For the first time ever, I played a Festival of Nine Lesson's and Carols service on an organ.

I know, you are thinking - but Gary is the organist!  You would be right - he is!  I am not an organist, even though I have owned several organs, and even though we still have a beautiful organ sitting in  our basement.  It is well known, that It ( the organ) is Gary's instrument and the old upright piano sitting in the living room is my instrument!

I have been involved with the Festival of Nine lessons and Carols for over 23 years.  First as a choir mom of a boy chorister in a Men and Boy's choir for many years.  Then as a Contralto in a adult mixed choir for several years - but this is the very first time, I have ever chosen all the music and played the whole service on an organ.

The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols was first performed on Christmas Eve, 1878 in the Truro Cathedral in Cornwall England.

Apparently that year, the residents of Truro were thought to be enjoying too much of the wrong kind of festive spirit in the local pubs, and in an attempt to bring his flock back to the church where he believed they should be, Edward White Benson, the first Bishop of Truro devised a new service of nine lessons ( nine biblical passages from the old and new testaments) depicting the stories leading up to the Christmas Story.  He interspersed the readings with carols, hymns and three anthems from  Handel's Messiah.

The service was an immediate success, and has continued to be a tradition in the Anglican church, ever since.

The service has a structure - traditionally the first lesson is read by a child, maybe a young chorister, each subsequent reader is a progression through the church or cathedral hierarchy up to the Bishop.

Once in Royal David's City is always the opening hymn, the first verse being sung by a solo treble or soprano voice.  The choir leads the service from beginning to end, and aside from the readings this service is all about music.

I had quite a few dilemmas putting my Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols together.  The first being that my little church has no choir, followed by the fact that we really don't have any children either.  How to proceed?

I decided in the absence of a choir, I would do organ meditations where a choir anthem might usually be sung.  Problem solved.  I also decided that Gary would sing the first solo verse of Once in Royal David City, in his semi-tenor voice... Problem solved?

He sang beautifully - just like I knew he would, and we were on our way.  In the end I played Three "Anthem" Meditations,  Ten carols/hymns, and a Prelude and a Postlude - and it was wonderful!

My small congregation sang, there were smiles on lots of faces, and wonderful words of praise and appreciation for my work, after the service.

I'm already thinking about next year's service, and a week ago, all I desired was to get through Sunday's!

Well there you go - a challenge can be a good thing after all.  It was a ton of work, but in the end, my hard work put smiles on people's faces, it lit up their eyes, watered a few, and gave them voices to sing out loud.

But I really need to say one thing more.  Thank You Stewart, and Thank You Blair - I have renewed appreciation for all the hard work you did (Stewart), and for all the hard work you do (Blair).

And Thank You Edward White Benson, for caring enough for your flock, to give us this wonderful Festival to enjoy every year.

DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE?

Do You See What I See... In a One Horse Open Sleigh?

I believe that might be two Christmas songs.

But there is one more...

Goodwill to Men/Man....

This picture and all it says is why I love the town we live in.

I see a horse - we see lots of horses on our streets here, winter spring, summer fall.

I see a sleigh - Those are abundant too - some with runners like this one, some with wheels, some with both.

I see a dog - Yeah, don't know what's with that, but most of the horse folk working their horses here, either have a dog riding with them, or running along beside them.

I see a man with reins - gotta have him, or her.  This fella is younger than a few of the other local operators, but he's doing it right.

I see a passenger - there is always passengers.  Couples, Old Men, Old Ladies, children, babies, teenagers.

I see a wheelchair -  thump thump goes my heart, and my eyes tear up.

I see Henry - he's the fellow in the wheelchair getting a sleigh ride through town, on a mild winter day.  He's a fellow resident of our town, always the first one to holler hello when he sees you.  He loves to visit, he calls the bingo at the nursing home every week, he makes bird houses shaped like cowboy Hats... That's our Henry, beloved by all.  It's the first time I have seen him on a sleigh, but I'll bet it's not his first ride by any means...

These are the people in my town... I wouldn't trade them for anything or anyone!

I was feeling kind of sorry for myself just moments before this sleigh whizzed past my living room window.  I was blue because our son can't come out for Christmas.  I was blue thinking about the loss of loved ones who had passed this year, and the loss of loved ones who still live, but no longer care.

But then I saw the horse, and the dog, and the man and the wheelchair, and Henry...

And I smiled and smiled and smiled...

OH HOW SWEET!

Tradition has made Christmas time sweeter than almost any other time of the year.  I speak of the edible variety of sweet... cookies, squares, candy, chocolate.  Perhaps the new generations are breaking away from this tradition somewhat, but my generation still remembers watching our Mother's baking for weeks in preparation for Christmas entertaining.

Baked goods were given as gifts to elderly or shut-ins who could not bake for themselves, they were given to friends and families at Christmas get-togethers, and they were snacked upon wee into the hours of the morning by teen and grown children when they returned home to visit for Christmas.

I have not done any "traditional" Christmas baking this year, but I did do some baking for our Christmas Open House at the shop, earlier this month.   I decided to try some new recipes this year so I made some gingerbread cookies - which were horrible - some eggnog cookies which I absolutely did not like, and some Candy Cane Crispers - which I loved!  I guess that's what you get for straying from your own personal Christmas baking favourites.  I don't think I will repeat that practice anytime soon!

Even though I didn't want a bunch of baking sitting in the freezer tempting me, I did want a bit to offer to our guests - so it looks like I will be doing a bit more baking before Christmas - this time from my tried and true, favourite Christmas baking list.

I thought I would share the one new cookie that I did like - Christmas Candy Cane Crispers with you.  They are a lovely crunchy cookie.

CHRISTMAS CANDY CANE CRISPERS

1 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups confectioner's sugar, plus additional for coating
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cups flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup coarsely crushed candy canes

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Grease and lightly flour a baking sheet.

In a large bowl beat together butter, confectioner's sugar and vanilla.  In another bowl stir together flour, rolled oats and salt.  Blend with creamed mixture.

Roll dough into 3/4 inch balls, roll in confectioners sugar to coat.  Place about 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet.  Flatten cookies with a fork, making a crisscross pattern.  Sprinkle each with about 1/2 teaspoon crushed candy canes.  Bake 18-20 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.  Cool on baking sheets for about 2-3 minutes.  Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.  Makes about 4 doz

I thought there was a major mistake in the baking time - but alas - it is quite correct.  The oven temp is much lower than for normal cookie baking, and I think that is so not to burn the candy on the top of the cookies.

They came out just perfect as you can see:

So make yourself some of these festive cookies - I guarantee you will love them.

HELLO AGAIN!

Well Hello again!  I know, I have been tardy - very very tardy - but only here, I can assure you!

The last several weeks have been anything but quiet and lazy - it seems that for someone who is supposed to be retired and taking it easy -well - I haven't been!

I am sure I did not plan November and December very well.  I think I could have given myself a little more time in between projects and commitments - but really, I don't usually do things that way, so why start now!

What have I been up to?

Well first was the craft sale in November - remember the one that bombed?  Well there was tons of work to get ready for that event - even if it bombed in the end.

Then Louise and I decided we would pool our resources and have a joint open house.  Her Antiques and my Uniques... all done in her shop "Uniques and Antiques."  We scheduled the event for four days December 6th through the 9th.  But first we completely changed the shop around, gave it a new face, and spruced it up for Christmas.  The open house came and went - we had sales, we ate a lot of cookies, drank a lot of coffee, and got to visit with a lot of really nice people - including each other!

Fast on the heels of that event was a deadline for a Christmas Swap exchange in one of my doll groups.  True to form - I decided to make everything myself - so I was knitting my fingers off, every spare moment I had ( and there weren't too many).  But happy to say, I made the mailing deadline ( by a few hours) and my swap gift is on it's way to Alaska.

This week has all been about music.  On Tuesday I played for the Spiritual Care group at the nursing home...  I played and the residents sang Christmas Carols to their hearts desire!  They had so much fun, and so did I.

The rest of the week has been devoted to polishing and fine-tuning my music for this Sunday's Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols.  This is a music-led service - usually by a choir, but since I have no choir, this service will be all me.  I have prepared 15 pieces of music for the service, and I think one more practice on the organ tomorrow, and I will be ready - I hope.

You'd think that next week could be some down time - but not quite yet, it seems.  Meetings, doctor visits, haircut... well the week will fly by as well.

I still have some Christmas gifts to finish, a little baking to do, but since we plan on a quiet Christmas this year, I am sure I will get everything done on time.

In the meantime, my mind is busy designing some new things, and I can't wait for a little free time to try some of my ideas out.

Wish me luck with my big service this weekend... hope it all turns out okay!

Till next week!

WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?

How is it possible that it is December already?  The weather feels like spring, but all around me things are beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I am still working to fill orders for customers - once again this year Mug Rugs are the most popular item I make.  I have pretty much sold every one I had made for my sale in November, and now I am slowly working through the next batch.

But something is really bothering me.  Something I heard a few times as people passed my table at the sale, and I've heard it in general conversation a few times since.

It's about the word/s "Craft/ Crafts/ Crafter" and how it is used, and maybe more than that, it's about people who craft, and how they are looked upon by others.

If a person with talent paints a nostalgic picture of a vintage camper sitting under tree, they are considered an artist.  I agree - they certainly are.

If a person with talent creates that same picture using fabric as their medium, layering various colours and prints, tiny pieces of fabric, until they have a vintage camper sitting under a tree -  then they are a crafter.

Why is that?  They might have taken the same amount of time to achieve the same results - and realistically the fabric camper most likely took longer.  They both used a medium to achieve their results, they both used their talents to achieve their results - so why is only one an artist?

Taking it a bit further - if you asked the painter to create the fabric version, and the sewer to create the painted version - how do you think that would turn out?

Have you seen a Baltimore quilt?  Craft or art?

Have you watched someone make a picture appear on the back of a sweater they were knitting - craft, or art?

If you ask the talented people performing their crafts (whatever the medium) I know they will all consider themselves to be artists.

So what's the difference?

 Craft - is a skill, especially of the hand ( Winston Dictionary)

Art - a skill acquired by study or practice: natural aptitude: knack: as the art of sewing (Winston Dictionary)

Artist - a person who practises an art, such as painting, sculpture, music, literature, or the like.  In any field, a person who shows creative power in his work: as, your cook is an artist. (Winston Dictionary)

And according to the Winston Dictionary - if you are "Crafty" you are deceitful and wily.

I know what I have always believed about talented people who create with their hands in any medium,  I am so glad that the Winston Dictionary agrees with me.