Month: December 2012

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Not Forgotten

ellenparkerwrites

The holiday rush goes on and on.

Thanksgiving feast. Shopping. Wrapping. Parties.

And don’t forget to go to work! Commerce continues, all the end of calendar year tasks descend on the workplace. Let’s hope the flu stays away.

Christmas brings a pause. But no rest for the hostess or chef. Visitors. Laughter.

We’ve a light work week — let’s stop in and see…. we’ve been invited out to dinner with…

Hurry, hurry — buy the bubbly and make your plans for the end of year gala.

What?  You say we forgot something?

Yes. You’re right. We’ve forgotten several.

Happy Birthday to all of those celebrating in this busy filled week.

How many times have I forgotten? Can I make it up?

Happy Birthday!   Happy Birthday!  Happy Birthday!  Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to my big brother and all the others that survive birthdays overpowered by other celebrations.

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Message Delivered

ellenparkerwrites

Messages arrive by many different methods.

Quick, run and tell your mother…..

Mail’s here!

Phone’s ringing. Can you get it?

And then the more public methods – newspaper, radio, television, live-stream internet video. I’m sure the technical people of our fast changing world can list more. Might even have a new one between the writing and posting of this blog. (Now that’s a message delivery system still considered new by the retirement generations.)

In this holiday season I ask you to consider and remember a message delivery system that goes back in time. They carried important news. High level of trust by their Creator. I always think they have a startle factor or scary look about them – so often their greeting begins with “FEAR NOT”.

Come and rejoice with the messenger.  They have brought Good News and a New Song.

Gloria!Come let us adore Him.
Gloria!
Come let us adore Him.
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No Peeking Allowed

ellenparkerwrites

Do you like the anticipation of a gift?   Or are you the sort to go beyond picking a package up for a quick weight and rattle test?

A few days ago I found a big package. Huge sheets of brown paper now conceal open construction space formerly within sight of pedestrians.

No bow. No festive touch at the door.

Will not be open for Christmas.   Will not be open New Year’s Day.

Please return when the 2013 diet resolutions have flitted away to the closet with those of previous years. Come and enjoy a new buffet restaurant when the wrapping paper comes off, the tables are set, and the food steaming hot.

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Age doesn’t matter

ellenparkerwrites

New, shiny Christmas decorations.     Christmas is for children.

Heirloom, traditional ornaments.       Children come in all ages.

Holidays are a time to blend the old with the new. Explain, show, sample family traditions in activities, decorations, and foods. The little ones will ask “Why?”. They might enjoy an answer that’s a story of how it started. How did you get the recipe from Aunt Gertie? Why do we bake our cookies the day after Thanksgiving?  Why do we read the same story every time?

In my living room, and sometimes on my tree, are decorations varied in material, memories and decades of time. I went looking for some of my oldest to pair with one of the newest. The new was easy to find – purchased on summer vacation this year. Old required a little more thought – I settled on a set of candles purchased by my mother – probably in Woolworth’s – when I was a child. The year she sent them, tucked among the presents, brought a touch of childhood home to a new place.

Old memories and new
Old memories and new

What mixture and time span is in your house?

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The Results are in…

ellenparkerwrites

It’s over. The results from November 2012 are tallied and distributed.

Election? No. Think closer to home. And Midwestern United States.

Deer season! More precisely the firearms portions of deer season.

This year Missouri’s governor participated. He ended up successful at re-election and deer hunting in the same month.

According to a report on the radio, Missouri hunters harvested 204,000 animals this season. That calculates out to one for every twenty-nine residents of the state. And while an average size deer could furnish a few meals for that number of people I suspect most of the meat will be eaten by smaller groups over a period of months.

How to enjoy? Sausage pops into my mind first. Spicy chili and simmered stew come next. But don’t forget the chops!

For the record: I’m not a hunter. But the rule in my household was: You kill it. You clean it. I’ll cook it. (Oh, and join in the eating too.)

Deer are plentiful at this time of year. But be careful. Not only is hunting season over — some are not edible.

Ornamentation only!Do not eat!
Ornamentation only!
Do not eat!

 

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Pacific Blitzkrieg

ellenparkerwrites

Malaya.

Hong Kong.

Guam.

Philippine Islands.

Wake Island.

Midway Island.

And the target Americans put first on this list — Pearl Harbor.

Within twenty-four hours each of these targets, some separated by thousands of miles of ocean, faced military attack by Japan.

Seventy-one years ago today we had hints, indications, and de-coded secret messages that warned us that Japan was intent on continuing their conquests begun several years before. An entire forest of trees has been used to hold the words since written about the events leading up to and including that December Sunday morning in Hawaii. Some of the words cast blame. Other pages record heroic actions by ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances. And buried within them, needed to be separated, are words of truth. And warning.

Be alert. Be prepared. Don’t huddle together in one large, ripe target.

 

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Jingle, Jingle, Sleigh

ellenparkerwrites

‘Tis the season to sing “Jingle Bells” and other Christmas and winter songs that include mention of various sizes, shapes and uses of bells.

Do you have jingle bells at your house? Did you attach them to a toddler’s shoelace to assist in locating the speeding little creatures? Do you have a few on your tree, perhaps with a bright red ribbon?

The jingle bells at my house run small. Through the years they have decorated packages, been part of door décor, and jingle jangled from the tree.

But one is special. It could be the granddaddy of jingle bells. (If bells were living families.)

Purchased at a farm auction decades ago — I associate this bell with my own father. I can picture it now. Suspended by a leather strap above the horse’s head. It sways with each step, announcing the sleigh is coming, transporting the owners to festive winter gatherings.

Jingle, Jingle, Sleigh
Jingle, Jingle, Sleigh