Day 19. Party Review

After the party, because why would we think to take a picture BEFORE the party?

It seems odd to post the party review as the blog entry for the 19^th day when the party was on the 20^th  but you need to over look that if I am going to get caught up in a timely manner.  How was the party?  Amazing stupendous fantastic seems like an apt description.

So many people showed up!  We didn’t have a guest book this year but our best count is about 82 people.  We ran out of plates and Tony Lawrence-Harjo had to run to get some, and Ashley Glover had to bring more with her when she came.  I am in their debt! 

Best thing that someone brought to eat?  Right now I think it was the gingerbread cookie bars that Summer Witt brought. ALL THE WAY FROM COLORADO!  She drove up for the party and surprised Kat and I both.  We miss our Colorado peoples and this was a nice treat.  Other out of state guests were Elizabeth & Doug Worley who drove up from Abilene Texas, and Kortney & Andrew McQuade who actually just moved back to Oklahoma this week just in time for the party.

Korney, don't tell Najah!

I did forget to take pictures of the table scape and decorations this year.  I regret that because I really likes the gingerbread house theme. The best party decoration though was the photo booth back drop.  Matthew suggested it (thanks pinterest). I wasn't sure when we were setting it up, but when I see the pictures people took I am really pleased.  

If you missed the party I am sorry that you did, because I missed seeing you there and hope to see you at some other occasion soon. Any rumors that I may have started about people who didn't show up... well lets just agree your lives are more interesting the way I tell them.

Is it too soon to start planning for next year?

Day 18. Best Party Ever

Yes I am now 5 days behind.   And yes, I am running out days even if I double up. I'll figure it out.  In the mean time here is Jodi's second post this year.  I have mixed feelings about this post because as it turns out Jodi & Tom were not able to make it after all.  Jodi was not very specific in her reasons for the last minute cancellation, but given her glowing review of the party I can only assume her cancellation was for the greater good.  Negotiating peace in the Middle East or perhaps William and Kate needed some discrete marital counseling?  Who can say?  Well Jodi could elaborate, but then she would probably have to kill me.  Not that she would actually kill anyone. She has people for that. Allegedly.

Best Party Ever 2014

You may have heard a rumour that this will be the best KinKade Christmas party since 1992.

It’s true. (Snopes hasn’t picked it up yet, but it’s only a matter of time.)

You see, 1992 was the last time I was able to attend a KinKade Christmas party.

We were all still newlyweds that year. (By “we” I mean the “They’ll Never Make It” Club – Judson & Kathleen, Eric & Stacey and Tom & Jodi. Try to keep up.) We thought we were adults, but we were really still on the cusp. Yes, we were paying bills (most of the time) and drinking wine (a lot of the time), but we also had a certain amount of freedom that resulted in things like the KinKade Christmas Party. It was a given that we would drive from Texas to Oklahoma for the fete and assumed we would make it a yearly trek.

What a difference a year makes! Christmas 1993 and we were at home with a very new baby. There was no way we were going to expose a two-week old to the germ stew of a party. (I’m sure you all practice very good hygiene, no offense intended.) No biggie, we’ll be back next year.

We went up in 1994, but a rapid succession of family tragedies kept us from, well, everything. (Three deaths in two weeks has a way of taking the party right out of people.)  I don’t even remember 1995. Seriously, like I don’t remember anything about that year. By 1996, I was expecting our second child at any time and absolutely was not going to risk having her in Oklahoma. (I did go to DisneyWorld that month. Having my baby in an “It’s a Small World” boat seemed much less repulsive than having her in Oklahoma.) Another couple of years of just “stuff happens” and suddenly we are locked in to spending all of December involved in The Nutcracker. For eternity.

Every year the invitation would arrive and I would open the calendar, full of hope that this would be the year. Every year it took about 10 seconds to realize that unless cloning and /or teleportation were involved we’d never make it.

Each year became a little harder to bear.                                                       

It’s not like I didn’t see my friends. It’s not like we didn’t attend any Christmas parties at all. But no other parties could match the magic of a KinKade party. It wasn’t because they are excellent party planners (they are), but because their party is a product of the heart. There is a not insubstantial amount of time and money involved, but that is brushed aside because the KinKades want to bring a little joy to their friends. That’s the difference between A party and THE party.

Twenty-two years after our last appearance and we are finally making it back. You know to what I am most looking forward? The feeling that they kept the party going all these years just so it would be there when I came back.

Because that is how the KinKades throw a party.

Day 14. Holiday Memory Bank

Today we have another Guest Blogger, the clever Dr. Leslie Kennedy Hollis.  Leslie is another of my OBU classmates.  I have two favorite memories of Leslie.  Freshman year someone told Leslie that God had told him they were going to be married.  Leslie wasn’t even dating the boy, so she said that as soon as God let her know she would give him, (the boy) a call.  Such Sass!  The other memory was about a year after we graduated and Leslie and Jodi were in town to see Becky and I met up with them at Becky’s tiny apartment.  Kat was on a trip with Stephanie and I explained that Kat had left me that weekend.  Leslie got very concerned and asked if I was OK.  I hadn’t been clear and she took it that Kathleen had LEFT me.  Why would that even be an option?

Now that she is a grownup she is a Doctor and living in Texas. Yes, THAT, Texas with the cowboy boots and the football and “Bless your heart”.  In spite of that she is still really smart and she volunteered to share her version of Christmas traditions.

When I think of the Christmas holiday my memory bank is filled to the brim from my childhood. My mom LOVES Christmas. She is all about the lights, performances, multiple trees in the house and especially picking and wrapping the perfect presents. Yes, my mom was Martha Stewart, before Martha.

Of course, I love all those things too. I always imagined creating for my child a Christmas as magical as the one I grew up with.

But God has a sense of humor. I am blessed with a child who loves his parents, but struggles with gatherings of greater than about 4 people. That means that the big family Christmas present opening is OUT! The Christmas celebration with my mom’s side of the family, 50 + people is OUT! No Christmas Eve service because crowds, fire and autism DO NOT go together.  No Christmas parade. No Nutcracker!(If TBT could had a sensory friendly performance like Pittsburg I would be there in a heartbeat!)

What I am learning is that the spirit of Christmas is not about what makes me happy. It’s what makes my little buddy happy. He loves the tree (and carries some of the ornaments around). The Veggie Tales nativity has a prominent place in our living room. Curious George Christmas Monkey plays all the time and flameless candles are autism friendly.

So, it’s not the Christmas of my childhood. But it is the Christmas of my son’s childhood. And that’s what it’s really all about.

Day 13. Festive Attire Expected

What is your Holiday go to outfit?  What makes you feel festive and look good?  Is it a Christmas sweater (ugly, ironic, or otherwise?), a special Christmas tie? A little black (or green) dress with a festive scarf? A pair of shiny vinyl pants?  What is your signature holiday look?

Can't find a pic of the green pants, but this is festive as #&$@!

For many years, maybe too many, Kat had a pair of green stretch velvet pants.  We purchased them in 1993 at the Avenue or someplace like that in the Shawnee mall.  They were hanging on the clearance rack and I think we paid $5 for them. Best $5 purchase EVER.  They were versatile, Kat wore them with a sweaters and boots, tunic tops and flats, tank tops and sheer shirts and heels.  A variety of really great looks for $5.

Some years the pants fit more like leggings, and other years more like harem pants.  The thing about was not only did they look good on Kat, they made her feel good about how she looked.  She wore them to our Christmas party, to work parties, to church, to her bingo group, and even to work.  It was a sad sad day when she had to formally retire those pants, but they literally fell apart in the wash.  Not much you can do with that.

So, what is your go to piece?  What makes you feel and look good and holiday ready?  If you live in the OKC area I hope you are planning on wearing It when you come to the party next weekend!  

Day 12. St. Lucy's Day

Today’s guest blogger is Rebecca Mize Harrell.  When we were at OBU together she was Becky Mize, Jodi’s longsuffering roommate, “the nice one”.  After OBU she worked for the Shawnee News Star.  Then when my Paul was 18 months old or so Becky married Kendall.  From all accounts he has done a great job of keeping her happy and entertained. You think boring Nina Garcia is bad? Boring Becky Mize Harrell was the fastest way to get kicked off the island back in the day.  Becky and her family live in Japan. Yes THAT Japan with the earthquakes and nuclear plant disasters.  Last year we tried to persuade her to get Kendall to borrow an aircraft carrier to fly the family back this way for the Christmas party.  Apparently the military frowns on that?  

She looks EXACTLY the same as in college. How is that even possible?!?!? 

In any case this is Becky’s entry about St Lucy’s day… It has nothing to do with the Peanut’s gang as it turns out. 

Happy St. Lucy’s Day! It’s time to light candles and eat braided sweet bread as we mark the feast day of a saint whose name means light. Recipe included for anyone who would like to join in this tradition.

With our first child growing into more of a person each day and limited memories of my own childhood, I felt that our family needed some traditions planted in our minds, and I set about finding us some.

I think these little repetitions help keep us on solid ground. Sometimes life feels a bit shaky, but our traditions give us a pattern to follow when everything around us seems so changeable. In particular, I wanted Christmas to be more memorable and less focused on what’s under the tree. What we have ended up with probably looks like no other Christmas ever, but it reflects our family and I like that.

For the holiday meal, I kept some childhood foods that were always a family must. Homemade noodles made extra yellow with food coloring, now dubbed the neon noodles by a brother-in-law, and a salad of apples, cheese, raisins and mayonnaise. I used to think this salad came from German forebears, but now, I think its origin is the 1950s love of mayonnaise.

We added in some Christian bits early on that were unfamiliar to us at the time, but sounded fun and meaningful. Advent wreath, a chance to enjoy candlelight (play with fire) and talk about peace, hope and love – yes, we’ll take that tradition. Ditto, for St. Lucy’s Day on December 13^th – more candles – and themes of light and hope. This observance comes via Sweden, a country we have no connection to, but we enjoy making and eating a bread crown, although we do forego the part of the tradition that involves someone wearing lighted candles on her head.

On December 6^th, we mark St. Nicholas’ day with a small gift and thoughts and plans about giving to get ourselves into the spirit of the season. There’s also a bread moment with this one, too, but sadly, no fire.

After this, our Christmas started to move in new directions as we embraced things based on where the military had us living at the time and with the addition of a child by adoption.

In Corpus Christi, tamales are a part of Christmas, but I’m too lazy to make them, so we left that one behind. In London, we added Christmas crackers, roasted chestnuts, no open fire, unfortunately, and Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. My attempts to incorporate traditional English Christmas cake (think fruitcake) into the scene were not well received, so I moved on.

I was also met with resistance to making The Nutcracker an annual event since my people were always ready to leave by halftime.

After London, we landed in Illinois. It took me some moments to figure out why on earth the neighborhood next to us really decorated for Halloween, and then, dead silence for Christmas.

Satanists? A not helpful voice from my Southern Baptist past suggested. No. (shut-up, voice) Jewish. In what is probably the height of our holiday syncretism, we’ve been using Hanukkah candles on the St. Lucy’s day crown for a number of years now to remind us of those days. Hanukkah candles have only one prohibition: they must be used for pleasure, and not for work, so I think we’re OK.

Next, our youngest came to us by way of China. Homemade Chinese dumplings entered our lives, too, and we attached those to the December festivities as well. Now, nothing says Christmas like cookie sheets full of dumplings ready to be dropped into a simmering pot of water.

Then, we were off to Japan. Here, Christmas Eve is a big date night, and the Japanese associate the holiday with fried chicken because of a successful 1970s KFC advertising campaign. KFC in Japan takes reservations at Christmas, and it’s usual for there to be a line to enjoy their fried chicken goodness. Don’t laugh. So sometime during the Christmas season, I fry a chicken. And I might giggle a little.

We have also always enjoyed holiday light displays, and happily, Japan really gets into this with many beautiful holiday illuminations. http://www.mustlovejapan.com/subject/tokyo_german_village_illumination/

However, in a country with earthquakes, the candles of Advent and St. Lucy’s Day have become something requiring more caution. You just never know when the earth might start shaking. But that’s OK. We continue to enjoy these traditions even if the ground is a little unstable around us because the traditions help make us stable.

Here’s hoping that you, too, have tradition. Tradition! To help make memories and to give a solid foundation when the world starts shifting around you.

Recipe

St. Lucy’s Crown

This recipe is adapted from A Continual Feast by Evelyn Birge Vitz

1 cup lukewarm milk

2 packages dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cardamom

1/3 cup butter

1 egg, lightly beaten

4 cups flour

Grated rind of 1 lemon

4-5 tablespoons almonds, finely chopped

Confectioners’ Sugar Glaze (see below)

Thin Candles

In a small saucepan warm the milk. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water. Stir in 1 tablespoon of the sugar. Set the mixture aside for 5 to 10 minutes, or until frothy.

Stir the rest of the sugar into the milk and add the salt, butter, and cardamom. Stir until the butter is melted. 

Let cool to lukewarm. Stir into the yeast mixture. Add the lightly beaten egg. Stir in the flour gradually, mixing well. Add the lemon rind and almonds.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for about 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. While you are kneading, add more flour if the dough is sticky.

Place the dough in a greased bowl, turning to grease the top. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 to 1 ½ hours.

Punch the dough down. Cut off one-third to make the top braid; set aside. Divide the remaining dough into three parts. Roll each part into a rope about 25 inches long. Place the three ropes close together on a buttered baking sheet and braid them together. (try starting from the middle to make this easier) Form the braid into a circle, pinching the ends to seal.

Divide the reserved dough into three parts. Roll each part into a rope about 24 inches long. Proceed as above; place the three ropes close together on a buttered baking sheet and braid them. Form the braid into a circle, pinching the ends.

Cover both braids lightly and let the bread rise for 30 to 45 minutes, or until almost doubled in bulk.

Bake at 375 degrees. The smaller braid for 15-20 minutes and the larger for 25-30 minutes. If they start to get too brown, cover with foil.

After baking, place the smaller braid on top of the larger. Drizzle it with Confectioners’ Sugar Glaze. Place candles into the crown and light them.

Confectioners’ Sugar Glaze

2-3 teaspoons lemon juice or milk or water

½ to 1 cup confectioners’ sugar

Stir the lemon juice into the sugar; mix well. Add more sugar or lemon juice as needed to produce a proper consistency for drizzling.