Christmas Traditions

There are traditions and there are traditions. There's Johnny Mathis singing a beautiful version of O Holy Night

Or the newer tradition of Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band singing Santa Claus is Comin' To Town.

If you've ever seen Bruce Springsteen in concert during the winter months, you've probably danced along with this one. I saw his winter show in Atlanta many years ago.  One of the best concerts ever!  

When they started singing Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town, all the lights in the house were turned on.  Everybody was dancing. And I recall doing a few turns with an Atlanta police officer. It was a night to remember.

I'm one of those people who loves Christmas.  I am a complete sucker for tradition, and love that the holiday season is filled with beautiful, meaningful traditions. 

And, of course, there are those wonderful, fun, meaningful and oh, so silly family traditions that you alone own, and some other folks just will not understand - like our purply-pink Christmas tree I put up in addition to our more old tradition green tree.

Another includes Mother and Donald and I donning goofy headgear sometime during the holiday while we play a wicked hand or two of Canasta

Harley doesn't care much about playing Canasta, but we don't want him to feel left out

Actually, you may have noticed, some of us enjoy this tradition more than others.  

This is not one of Harley's favorites.

Whatever we believe, however we celebrate, we all have ways of honoring our traditions.  They, in turn, serve us well.  They help us share a feeling of bonding with our own history and roots, and a sense of belonging.  Cultures are kept alive by tradition.

There's one pretty big Christmas tradition that has changed at our house. While we do still celebrate and exchange gifts with our family, Donald and I no longer exchange Christmas gifts.  We started a new family tradition a few years ago when we agreed to do what we could for a family in need.  It's become a tradition of importance to us. 

Truth be told, we could be that family some day.

A tradition that is, however, still alive and well at our house is the decorating.  For me, one of the best things about the holidays is having the house decorated.  Oh, how I love to decorate. 

 Admittedly, that too is less than it once was.  Packing it all up to put away reminds me I'm not as young as I once was.  And since I hate being reminded of that little fact in such a rude way, I get around it by not putting out as much.  

Every year I go through this - I start pulling old and much loved Christmas ornaments out of the storage boxes and I'm flooded with memories of where each piece came from. Many have been given to us by friends and family. Many we've bought while traveling. And each has a memory.

And, of course, there's the cooking and the baking.  While not much a cook, truth be told, I do love cooking during the holidays. 

 But I love to bake, and I love to make candy.

Another tradition I love is one of sending Christmas cards (although I haven't quite gotten around to doing that yet this year).   So. I'm taking today as an opportunity to send each of you a big ol' virtual Christmas card to let you know how much you mean to me.

  And to thank you for continuing to drop by Meanderings and Muses after all this time. 

Visiting with me as I share my words, my images, my opinions and my feelings.

Here's your Christmas card filled with images from our house to yours -  

Merry Christmas and much love to you & yours!

This little angel tree topper has graced every tree we've had since 1985, which was the first Christmas Donald and I were together.

Wishing you all the magic of Christmas!

Popping in to say

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Thank You

 

Usually, around this time of the year, I have already sent out invitations to folks inviting them to be a guest blogger in the upcoming year.  I had a note from someone yesterday wondering if they had missed their invite.  It never dawned on me to send a note to everyone explaining we weren't going to be doing a calendar for guest blogs next year - I apologize!!!

 

It's been a delightfully long run of pretty awesome guests, but has run its course, I think.

 

The first Meanderings and Muses post was July 25, 2008.

The first Meanderings and Muses guest blog was January 11, 2009.

And thus began the tradition of guests.  A guest list which has been an impressive line up, if I do say so myself - including:

Avery Aames

Megan Abbott

Patti Abbott

Victoria Abbott

Suzanne Adair

Ellery Adams

Riley Adams

Michael Alatorre

Tasha Alexander

Lou Allin

Beth Anderson

Patty Anderson

Susan Anderson

Donna Andrews

Maggie Barbieri

Donald Barley

Wendy Bartlett

Cara Black

Rachel Brady

Peg Brantley

Duffy Brown

Pat Browning

Brenda Buchanan

Julia Buckley

Robin Burcell

Lucy Burdette

Alafair Burke

Tony Burton

Sarah Byrne

Bill Cameron

Dana Cameron

Chester Campbell

Lillian Stewart Carl

Cathy Lee Carper

Toni McGee Causey

Diane Chamberlain

Joelle Charbonneau

Laura Childs

Jane Cleland

Stacey Cochran

Mark Coggins

Jeff Cohen

P.J. Coldren

Meredith Cole

Reed Farrel Coleman

Alan Cook

Thomas H. Cook

E.J. Copperman

Gary Corby

Shelley Costa

Cleo Coyle

Elizabeth Spann Craig

Bill Crider

Deborah Crombie

Lonnie Cruse

Evelyn David

Hilary Davidson

Krista Davis

Mark De Castrique

Vicki Delany

Deni Dietz

Nan Dillingham

Julie Dolcemaschio

Alice Duncan

Carola Dunn

J.T. Ellison

Hallie Ephron

Linda Fairstein

Nancy Peterson Farina

Robert Fate

Gerrie Ferris Finger

Barbara Fister

Jen Forbus

Barbara Fradkin

Shelly Fredman

Leighton Gage

Kate Gallison

Kaye George

Shane Gericke

Gina Gilmore

Debra Ginsberg

Chris Grabenstein

Andrews Grant

Judith Greber

Beth Groundwater

Carolyn Haines

Tim Hallinan

Denise Hamilton

R.J. Harlick

Rosemary Harris

Libby Fischer Hellman

Sara J. Henry

Sasscer Hill

Beth Hoffman

Judy Hogan

Lesa Holstine

Julie Hyzy

Coco Ihle

Roberta Isleib

Dean James

Nancy Lynn Jarvis

Craig Johnson

Larry Karp

Toni L.P. Kelner

Dana King

Vicki Lane

Bob Levinson

Ken Lewis

N. J. Lindquist

Mary Jane Maffini

Victoria Maffini

Morgan Mandel

Margaret Maron

Nancy Martin

Ashley McConnell

Jenn McKinlay

Marilyn Meredith

Jenny Milchman

Celia Miles

Robin Minnick

Donna Moore

Bobbi Munn

Tim Myers

Patricia Neeley-Dorsey

Radine Trees Nehring

Kris Neri

Scott Nicholson

Doris Ann Norris

Karen Olson

Mike Orenduff

Alan Orloff

Ann Parker

Bronson L. “Bo” Parker

Brad Parks

Sandra Parshall

Louise Penny

Twist Phelan

Dee Phelps

Neil Plakcy

Jonathan Quist

Cornelia Read

Mary Reed

Gillian Roberts

L.J. Roberts

Chris Roerden

Carolyn Rose

S.J. Rozan

Janet Rudolph

Sandra Ruttan

Hank Phillippi Ryan

Karen Schinder

Brandon Seidl

L.J. Sellers

Sarah Shaber

Deborah Sharp

Zoe Sharp

Andi Shechter

Clea Simon

Joanne Campbell Slan

Ben Small

April Smith

Sylvia Dickey Smith

Alexandra Sokoloff

Robin Spano

Earl Staggs

Kelli Stanley

Patricia Stoltey

Niki Strandskov

Pari Noskin Taichert

Marcia Talley

Kathleen Taylor

Pattie Tierny

Elaine Viets

Miranda Phillips Walker

Robert Walker

Kathryn Wall

Mary Welk

Melinda Wells

Jeri Westerson

Molly Weston

Shirley Wetzel

Leslie Wheeler

Sharon Wildwind

Michael Wiley

Simon Wood

Nancy Means Wright

Elizabeth Zelvin

Oh, Lordy - if I have missed anyone or spelled someone's name wrong, blame it on holiday stress (or whatever).  Just let me know, please, so I can fix it!

Not only has Meanderings and Muses had a great list of guest bloggers, I've had some fun and insightful commenters.  Oddly enough, more of the comments have been sent to me directly rather than in the posts, which means I've gotten to know some of you quite well over the years.  You all enrich my life and I thank you.

It was fitting, I think, for Lesa to have been the final guest blogger, as she's one of those who's been here from the beginning.  When I start looking at the names and see how many have come back every year, I'm quite gratified.

When I took a wild chance and sent out that first email inviting guests to come to Meanderings and Muses, I had no idea what I was doing.  

Minutes after hitting "send" I started fretting.  

I mean fretting like you would not believe.

I had gone so far out on a limb inviting some of the people I invited, I have no idea where the nerve came from for me to do that.

How embarrassing it would be for all those people to receive this audacious note and me not receive a single acceptance. 

Instead, within those few minutes, the responses came pouring in.  And next thing I knew I had a year's worth of guests scheduled.

As things go, I ended up going from one guest a month, to a guest a week.  Then it was two guests a week, often with a third squeezed in.

We visited authors' spaces. 

We met authors' pets.

We had conversations with 2 or 3 folks at a time.

We had people open their hearts to share good news, and some bad.

We've cried tears of joy and tears of pain.

And we've slowed down considerable on the guest posts while I've been writing.

But - Meanderings and Muses is still here.  Different, but still here.

You've "listened" while I've ranted, and didn't leave me alone while I cried.  And you've laughed with me. 

You've read what I've written, and allowed me to share my opinions about books, politics, mean people and everything else under the sun.

You've allowed me to share my photography attempts, and stories about my family, my husband and my dog.

You've supported me through publishing two pieces in regional anthologies, a novel and helping Harley write his book.

Hopefully, there will be more of all that in our future.

The guest posts, sadly, are ending with Lesa's.

No more sending out that calendar at the end of the year asking what date(s) guests would like.

It's was a lovely and fun thing, but time to move on, I think.

 

Some of the guests have mentioned seeing a spike in sale while and immediately following their visits. 

 

Many are still getting hits for posts they did several years ago.

 

While most posts have gotten an average of 350 - 400 hits, some have been much, much higher.  The "winner" in the category of highest number of hits is Toni McGee Causey for a piece she did in 2010 - "Positive and Negative Spaces."  It still being discovered and read today and has received close to 4,000 hits.

A lot of you know I have fought with exactly what Meanderings and Muses should be since Day One.  Silly me.  Meanderings and Muses is, always has been, and always will be whatever the day might bring.  It is what it is.  That's what it will continue to be. 

But from now on we'll have no calendar to help us get through the year.  We'll continue taking pictures, reading and talking about books, politics, food, music, the news, and whatever pops into my mind.

It's worked for almost seven years, we'll be here till I run out of things to talk about.

And, truth be told, I think you'll still see a guest here from time to time.

Someone, after all, might have a new book coming out they'll want to tell you about.  We'll see.

In the meantime, I hope you'll continue to drop by.  Some days, I'll be here, some days I won't.  But I'll always be lurking just around the corner, soon to appear once again.

And again,

and again.

Kaye's in the Kitchen Whipping Up an Apple Pound Cake

This is one of my favorite "go to" recipes, one I've been baking for years.  It's from one of my favorite cook-books - an oldie but goodie.  

I took this, along with my Country Pâté, to our neighborhood Christmas party - more about that fun little event later.

The cookbook SOMETHIN'S COOKIN' IN THE MOUNTAINS, A Cookbook Guidebook to Northeast Georgia is a delight.

It's one Donald and I picked up on one of our trips to the North Georgia mountains while we were still living in Atlanta, and loved taking weekend get-away trips to the North Georgia mountains.

The executive editors were Cathy and Jay Bucek who owned a wonderful little spot called "Mark of the Potter."  It's a delightful cookbook, and so much more.  It's a terrific guidebook to the N. Georgia mountains and contains several hand drawn maps along with drawings of landmarks and places of interest, like this one of the upside-down bridge. The Mark of the Potter is still there and still lovely, but sadly, Jay is no longer with us.  

The recipes were submitted by local restaurants, businesses and local folk.  Every one I've tried has been a winner.

Here's the Apple Pound Cake recipe from Bruce Mitchell of Nacoochee Mound, a large Indian mound in White County.  Although I no longer follow this recipe as written, I'm including it beneath my photos as Bruce wrote it with notations relating to my changes.  You, of course, should either follow it to the letter, or not.

Apple Pound Cake

Ingredients:

2 cups of sugar

1 1/2 cups of cooking oil

3 eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

3/4 cup coconut (I do not use the coconut)

3 cups tart apples, peeled, cored, and diced (I do not peel the apples)

1 cup pecans, chopped (I usually do not use the pecans)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine the sugar and oil.  Beat with an electric mixer until well blended.  Add the eggs one at a time and beat until fluffy.  Combine the flour, baking soda and salt.  Add to the sugar mixture and blend well.  Beat in the vanilla and coconut.  Fold in the apples and nuts.  Pour into a greased 9-inch tube pan (I usually use a Bundt pan).  Bake for 80 minutes, or until the cake tests done (may not take 80 minutes).  Turn onto a wire rack to cool.  (this recipe does not call for leaving the cake in the pan to cool before turning it out, but I do that.  For about 15 minutes.)

And - - 

ta da!

Here's a picture of the finished product.