Because Christmas Is...

I was recently looking through some old list mail and came across a wonderful group of thoughts on Christmas from several list friends. For a topic, a simple question was asked... that they fill in their answer for "Because Christmas Is... " The list is a long one, but I think I'll share a few a week with all of you. Maybe you'll fill in some answers of your own :)

BECAUSE CHRISTMAS IS...

... The celebration of the birth of Jesus.
... Family and friends gathering.
... Reading the Christmas story in Luke.
... "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens.
... The Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center in New York City.

Christmas at Plum Island, 1843

I found this story and poem a few years ago when I was doing some research on lighthouses along the northeast coast, and thought I'd share it here. I love the ocean in winter ~ in fact, it's my favorite time at the beach ~ and I find this poem has a hauntingly beautiful quality, even though I'm sure many would find it sad. For me, I can picture the sound of the ocean, the millions of stars overhead in the night sky, the scent and feel of the brisk, salt air, and the peacefulness of being alone with God and the angels on such a wonderful, special night.

* * * * *

"The following is a poem written by Sarah D. Bowditch at Plum Island in 1843. We do not yet know whether Sarah lived in the lighthouse, or on one of the farms on the island, but her words give us an insight into the type of the lonely life at a secluded light station."

Christmas --1843

Amid the world's gay throngs to-night,
There's mirth and festive glee;
But none amid those hearts so light
Will cast one glimpse on me.

No ray from Hope's bright star is cast
To this lone isle of the sea;
And lonely and sad the Christmas has passed,
And left no mirth for me.

There's many a friend that once caressed,
As merry as merry can be;
But, ah! the one that I love best
Will forget to think of me.

Then turn my soul away from earth;
Look upward still, and see
The stars that shine on the halls of mirth
As brightly beam on thee.

Then let me not murmur at my fate,
Though lonely and sad I may be,
For the angels whose birth we celebrate,
Brought "tidings of joy" to me.

~ Sarah D. Bowditch

(Image: All-Posters.com)

Praline Thumbprint Cookies

My first experience with these cookies was when I was teaching at our homeschool co-op, and one of my students gave me a tin of these as a Christmas gift. They're really delicious, and I hope you all love them as much as I do!!

PRALINE THUMBPRINT COOKIES

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup finely chopped pecans
1 Tablespoon vanilla

~ Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
~ Cream butter, gradually adding powdered sugar. Add flour, mixing well. Stir in pecans and vanilla.
~ Shape into one-inch balls and place on cookie sheet. Press thumb in center and bake for 15 to 17 minutes. Do not brown.
~ While cookies are baking, prepare the topping.

TOPPING

1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
Dash salt
1/2 cup evaporated milk
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

~ Melt butter in medium saucepan. Stir in brown sugar and salt. Bring to a boil and boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

~ Remove from heat and stir in milk. Bring to a boil, and boil 2 minutes again, stirring constantly. Cool to lukewarm. Stir in sugar and vanilla.

~ Spoon topping onto cookies and enjoy!

A House Filled With Christmas

"By the middle of the month, the house is filled with Christmas. And everything about Christmas is exciting to me. I love the smells ~ the pine branches we bring in from the woods, snowy and cold, give forth the most heavenly fragrance, and there is the smell of freshly baked Christmas cookies and fruitcake, and a whiff of spring from the apple logs in the fire.

The sounds are fine sounds too. Tissue paper is mysterious when it crisps under the blue and scarlet ribbons; the cracking of nuts has a good sound; even the tinkle of a blue Christmas ball on the floor is a holiday note...

The color of Christmas is lovely. The deep shining green, and the scarlet and blue, the flame color of the candles in the windows, the rosy glow of the baked ham ~ there are many enchanting colors. The color of Christmas is dramatic, triumphant.

But the best thing of all is that it is a time of friends remembering one another, families gathering together, a time when people open their hearts. It is a time when one can be sentimental and not hide it."

~ Gladys Taber, from "Stillmeadow Seasons"

Meltaway Chocolate Cookies

Anyone close to me knows that these are my favorite homemade cookies. They're more of an adult flavor, since they're not very sweet... just buttery, chocolatey, and they do melt in your mouth :) I always make these in double batches since the recipe doesn't make a lot of cookies and they go very quickly!!

MELTAWAY CHOCOLATE COOKIES
(Yield: 4 dozen)

Sift together and set aside:
1 cup sifted cake flour
1/3 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
2 Tablespoons cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream until softened:
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

~ Beating until smooth after each addition, add dry ingredients to the butter mixture in halves.
~ Form dough into small balls and place about 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Flatten each cookie to about 1/8-inch thickness with tines of fork dipped frequently in water. Form a crisscross pattern.
~ Bake at 300 degrees about 12-15 minutes.
~ Sift confectioners' sugar over the warm cookies and enjoy!!

The Christmas Tree

This morning I decided to do a little Christmas shopping since the weather was chilly for a change. I spent some time wandering around Hobby Lobby, picking out gifts for others, and naturally a few things for me, too :) I enjoyed looking at their display of Christmas trees in the outside lobby, and it really put me in a holiday mood. Later this afternoon as I was looking over an old notebook, the following passage "jumped out" at me, and I thought it perfect to share.

"Deep in the winter night, the family will come one by one,
carrying great and small boxes, brilliant in all colors,
ribboned in red and green, silver and gold, bright blue,
placing them under me with the hands of their hearts,
until all around me they are piled high, climbing up into my branches...
the children in their pajamas and woolen slippers
rub their sleeping eyes and stare at me in amazement.
The mother with her hair hanging down her back
smiles and glances here and there,
and the father looks up and down at me, quiet and pleased...
for I am the Christmas tree."

~ Fritz Peters

Candle, Candle, Burning Bright

"Candle, candle, burning bright
On our window sill tonight,
Like the shining Christmas star
Guiding shepherd from a far,
Lead some weary traveler here,
That he may share our Christmas cheer."

~ Isabel Shaw

A Christmas Journal

Here are some more questions for your journal on Childhood Memories ~

* What were your favorite Christmas movies or television specials as a child? Do you still watch them today with your own family?

* What was your favorite Christmas book or story as a child? Do you still have a copy of the book? Do you read it today as an adult?

* Did your parents send out Christmas cards? Did they include pictures or newsletters? Do you have any of those cards from your childhood?

* How did your parents display the Christmas cards they received?

A Christmas Candle Gift

For a simple Christmas gift, choose a favorite candle. Wrap it in pretty cellophane or tissue paper and tie with a ribbon. Add this saying to a handmade tag:

"A Christmas candle is a lovely thing;
It makes no noise at all,
But softly gives itself away;
While quite unselfish, it grows small."

~ Eva K. Logue

A Little Extra

"Christmas is doing a little extra for someone."

~ Charles Schulz

God Bless Us, Every One!

"Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the whole city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed; and that was quite enough for him... and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!"

~ Charles Dickens, "A Christmas Carol"

Gingersnaps

This is one of my husband's favorite cookies, so I always include them in my Christmas baking. They're also great if you want to send them through the mail ~ they hold up well.

GINGERSNAPS
(Yield: 5 dozen)

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon cloves
3/4 cup shortening (I always use butter)
1 cup sugar
1 egg, well beaten
1/4 cup molasses
Sugar for decorating

~ Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and lightly grease cookie sheets.

~ Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Set aside.

~ Cream shortening until softened. Add sugar gradually, creaming until fluffy after each addition. Add the egg and beat thoroughly. Blend in the molasses.

~ Add dry ingredients in halves to creamed mixture, mixing until well blended after each addition.

~ Form dough into 1-inch balls and roll in sugar. Place about 3 inches apart on cookie sheets, and bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes.

A Shiver of Hope

"What is Christmas
But a shiver of hope ~
That little leap of faith
Your heart takes
When you look into
The face of a child.
Let the day shine with Joy,
With Love, and the dream of Peace."

~ Lord & Taylor

On Santa Claus

"Not believe in Santa Claus!
You might as well not believe in fairies...
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.
He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist."

~ Francis P. Church
"Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus"

Country Decorating ~ A Few Ideas

Our living room has a country feel to it, and I'm hoping to incorporate some country style decorating for Christmas this year. Here are some ideas:

~ Drape quilts or afghans over sofas or chairs to add a cozy look.
~ Hang cross stitched or embroidered samplers on the walls.
~ Use old-fashioned tins for potpourri, candles, cookies or candy.
~ Hang homemade Christmas stockings.
~ Use old tin kitchen graters to place over votive candles for unique lighting.
~ Use old "rusted" muffin tins to hold votive candles.
~ Find an old torn quilt or chenille spread at a yard sale or thrift store. Use it to make some homemade ornaments, stockings, pillows or wreaths.
~ Use tin cookie cutters for ornaments. Simply tie a ribbon in the top to use for hanging. If you want to add a little more decoration, use a hot glue gun and add some holly and berry decorations.

A Christmas Journal

On Childhood Memories...

~ What were your favorite Christmas stories as a child?
~ Describe the holiday decortions in your childhood home.
~ Did you participate in Christmas pageants or plays?
~ Did you attend a special church service on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?
~ What was your favorite Christmas song?

(Graphics: http://www.heartwarmingholidays.com)

Peace on Earth

"As fits the holy Christmas birth,
Be this, good friends, our carol still ~
Be peace on earth, be peace on earth,
To men of gentle will."

~ William Makepeace Thackery

Christmas in the Mansion

"It is Christmas in the mansion
Yule-log fires and silken frocks;
It is Christmas in the cottage,
Mother's filling little socks.

It is Christmas on the highway,
In the thronging, busy mart;
But the dearest, truest Christmas
Is the Christmas in the heart."

~ Unknown

Coffee Butter Cookies

I've decided to make some of these cookies this afternoon. They'll be just the right thing to snack on as I work on some Christmas lists and go through holiday magazines.

COFFEE BUTTER COOKIES
(Yield: 2-1/2 dozen)

~ Sift together and set aside:

1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 Tablespoon instant powdered coffee (General Foods International Flavor coffees are perfect!)
1/8 teaspoon salt

~ Cream until softened:

1 cup butter
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

~ Mixing until well blended after each addition, add dry ingredients in fourths to creamed mixture.
~ Chill in refrigerator about 1 hour.
~ Shape dough into balls about 1 inch in diameter. Place about 1-1/2 inches apart on cookie sheets. With lightly floured fork, slightly flatten cookies, forming a crisscross pattern.
~ Bake at 300 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

The Story Begins...

"The story begins one cold, bleak, biting Christmas Eve, when the fog is so thick and the dampness so complete that wheezing is the only way to breathe, when the clock in the frozen tower strikes the hours as if its teeth are chattering when the afternoon is as dark as the evening, and the evening so dark that even familiar courtyards require groping to find one's way."

~ Patricia Barrett Perkins, Baltimore, Maryland, 1987, as an introduction to "A Christmas Carol"

Let Us Keep Christmas

"Whatever else be lost among the years
Let us keep Christmas still a shining thing;
Whatever doubts assail us, or what fears,
Let us hold close one day, remembering
Its poignant meaning for the hearts of men;
Let us get back our childlike faith again."

~ Grace Noll Crowell