Last Christmas Eve we had our two children, their spouses and our two granddaughters over for a Christmas Eve celebration. RT’s mother was here, too. We exchanged gifts and had a wonderful time together. Since RT and I were heading to his mother’s house in Georgia soon after Christmas, our son and his wife gave us the gifts they had bought for our two nieces there.

“Will you take these gifts to London and Laney?” they asked.

“Sure,” we replied, “Well deliver the Christmas gifts. They’ll have them within a couple days.”

Undelivered Christmas Gifts

Approximately eleven months later, I just took those gifts off the shelf in the pantry where they’ve sat since we forgot them last Christmas, and put them on the sofa so that I will remember THIS TIME to take them with us on our trip to Georgia. Better late than never - right?

After writing the Advent devotion in the previous post, I saw a Christmas poem my mother had written, and I thought it made a MUCH better devotion. So I used it in the following devotion. However, I didn’t get my mother’s permission first. (Mother, is it okay???):

Advent Wreath

Scripture: For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Luke 12:34 (New Revised Standard)

One Christmas when my younger brother, David, was four years old, he asked my mother, “Are we going to sing ‘Happy Birthday, Dear Jesus’?”

Mother thought about David’s question and wrote this poem for Jesus’ birthday:

Happy Birthday, Dear Jesus

Happy Birthday, Dear Jesus
Today with festive fare
We celebrate Your birthday,
With music in the air!

Cakes are baked and waiting
Candles light the tree
Gifts are wrapped and ribboned
Is there no gift for Thee?

Jesus, on Thy birthday morning
I kneel before Thy creche and see
Love incarnate, God’s gift
And bring myself to Thee

~Ruth Baird Shaw~

Prayer: Our Heavenly Father, in the hustle and bustle of the holidays, help us focus on the real treasure in our lives - the gift of your Son. Help us to be quiet and to kneel and bring ourselves to you. Amen.

Advent starts next Sunday. Our church is putting together an Advent devotion book. Each church member will receive a copy, and we will put a copy in each of the soldier boxes we’ll pack next week. Each church member was asked to submit a devotion. It had to be brief and include a Bible verse, a devotion and a prayer.

Advent Wreath

I wrote two devotionals. First I wrote the one below. I read the scripture verse, and then I wrote what I thought of as I read it. Now that I’ve already submitted it to the person doing the devotion booklet, I’m second guessing myself - wondering whether I may have stretched my thinking a little too far. For what it’s worth, here is my devotion:

Scripture: When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” Luke 2:15 (New Revised Standard)

When I read this scripture, it makes me think of curiosity. The shepherds hurried away immediately so they could see the baby Jesus for themselves. Sure, the angels sent them to Bethlehem, but they weren’t just blindly following directions. They were curious, and they wanted to go.

Have you ever noticed how children are so openly curious? They ask the obvious questions that adults are often hesitant to ask. They thoroughly explore their world. No small detail escapes their notice. Sometimes they can overwhelm us with their questions. Curiosity is innate in us. It’s is a gift from God. However it is a gift that we too often overlook and even suppress as we get older. After all, it’s not considered “cool” or “mature” to be too curious.

Curiosity is a good thing to develop - especially at Christmas. We need to be curious about what we can do for the people and the world around us - about what God can say to us through the Scriptures - and about what the Christmas story means to us personally. Let’s commit ourselves to a curious Advent.

Prayer: Our Heavenly Father, help us to be curious - to read and study the Word that you have provided to guide us. Help us to be curious - to learn about the needs of others so that we can serve you through serving them. Help us to be curious - to open our hearts and minds to the gift of your Son. Amen.

We’re going to have RT’s office Christmas party at our house in three weeks. We had last year’s party here, as well. This year, though, we made a plan to have the house “decorated” for the party. Not decorated for the holidays necessarily - although we’ll do that, too - but decorated as in “looking like someone actually put a little thought into how things are arranged and planned.

We started over two months ago. We’ve got some new rugs throughout throughout the house. We are going to sell or give away the area rugs we’ve had for years - some for over 20 years! They’re good rugs, but the look is outdated. We have some new furniture, new wall art, new plants. Our final furniture delivery will be Monday morning - a sofa for the great room, and a chair and ottoman for the library. Also in that delivery will be shelves for the library - beautiful floor-almost-to-the-ceiling shelves with beaded glass doors that will cover most of one wall.

Sharon, our “stager/decorator” will come over one day before the party, and will spend the morning with her assistant (while RT and I are NOT there) and arrange everything. She will place the books and pictures and doodads on the shelves, make sure the furniture is placed just right, and that candles and art work look just right. I’ve seen her work, and I’m excited about seeing what she does with our stuff. I know it will look fantastic and that I’ll look at what she’s done and wonder why I never thought of doing whatever she did.

Here’s an example of why she is so good for me. One day a few weeks ago she had me stand in the hallway between the master bedroom and the master bath.

“Look into the bedroom. What colors do you see?”

“Dark red and khaki.”

“Now look into the bathroom. Do you see any of those colors in there?

I hadn’t even thought of it before. There was khaki in the bathroom but it didn’t stand out. I had matched the bathroom TILE when I bought towels and rugs for the bathroom. It never crossed my mind that I needed to bring the dark red from the bedroom into the bathroom. So now we have a picture over the jacuzzi that has a touch of red in it, and I’ve ordered some dark red towels to mix in with the khaki ones on the shelves, and the rug in front of the jacuzzi will be dark red. Not much - but enough to brighten the bathroom and to tie the two rooms together. It’s amazing what a difference that one suggestion made.

That’s just one example of what I’m learning. Sharon is totally against getting matching furniture or matching anything. She wants “complementary” furnishings - Complementary colors. The chair in the library will be a fabric print. The ottomon that goes with it will be brown leather. When we ordered the sofa, we didn’t get pillows made from the same fabric as the sofa. Instead we ordered pillows with a different pattern but with complementary colors.

I will take some photos to post when everything is completed.

Another poem by RT - about me. I think it’s pretty cool to be almost 60 years old and still having my man writing poems about me. There may be snow on the roof (figuratively speaking) but there’s still fire in the furnace.

Today You Appeared

Today I waited

Today I longed for you.

Built a fire

Thought of my desire.

Then you finally appeared,

My quest and heart at peace

With you by my side.

My wait now over

As you rounded the curve.

And walked with me back

Up the hill.

11/22/08, RTJ

Now for the background - which might take away a little of the poem’s romantic feel. I left the house earlier this morning to get a manicure and pedicure, then by RT’s office to pick up a print I had bought and left there for my daughter to look at. I took the print to Michael’s and picked out the matting and the frame and left it to be framed. Then I was off to Pier 1 to see if I saw anything that appealed to me for the house - I didn’t. I walked out empty-handed. Then I was off to Sam’s to get some paper towels, toilet paper, a few things for the next time our church packs boxes to send to soldiers, and a ham to cook for tomorrow’s church potluck dinner. Then I headed by Publix to pick up a few groceries. By the time I got home, it was approximately 5 hours after I had left.

In the meantime, RT had been at home all day. He had decided to burn a HUGE (no exaggeration) pile of brush that we’d been accumulating for a year and a half. When I say huge pile of brush - I mean a pile probably about the size of the barn. In addition to dead trees that we’d pushed together while building our house last year, our son’s landscaping company had been adding clippings and other brush to it for the past year, too.

Once RT started the fire, he couldn’t leave it unattended. So he was stuck at the bottom of the hill watching the fire all morning and into the afternoon. Lunchtime came and went. He was hungry. Now realistically, he could have walked up to the house and made a sandwich while watching the fire out the window. However, he preferred to wait for me.

Meanwhile, I was blissfully unaware of his “need.” I stopped mid-errands and got myself some lunch and enjoyed it at my leisure.

So RT was anxiously awaiting my car to round the curve in the driveway so I could come inside and fix him some lunch. I think having lunch prepared for him was the “desire” he referred to in the poem. Shortly after my arrival home he was happily munching on a grilled cheese sandwich and a bowl of chicken rice soup - and composing poetry.

The quickest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach - no truer words were ever spoken. RT graduated summa cum laude from college. However, he is a smart man in other, nonacademic way, too. For one, he is always appreciative and complimentary of whatever I make. He is quick to tell any-and-everyone he meets that he loves my cooking. And then he writes me love notes and poetry. As I said, he’s a very smart man. If I had someone willing to cook for me, I’d wait, too.

It’s that time again! It’s time for the 2008 Weblog Awards. Click the link below to see all the categories and to nominate your favorite blogs.

Happy Blogging!

This morning I mentioned to RT that he had some comments on the poems of his that I had published here a few days ago - here, here and here. After I read the comments to him, he said, “Random Cabin” might be calling soon.

“Random Cabin?” I asked - totally clueless about what he was referencing.

“Well, Random House might not be interested.”

It is obvious that I was meant to be with RT because I am still laughing. I so “get” his humor.

Today I went into the cafeteria at school to buy a couple of cartons of skim milk. As I passed a table of third graders, a woman reached out and stopped me.

“Are you Mrs. Johnston?” she asked. I stopped and saw that a student I know well, M, was sitting next to the woman. I knew it was M’s birthday, and obviously her mom had come to the school to celebrate by having lunch with her.

M is not in any of my reading groups and so I know her only because I have worked with her teacher the past couple months. It’s her teacher’s first year of teaching, and I go to the classroom twice a week to do reading workshop with her students. I’ve gotten to know all the kids in the class - and M has been particularly eager to participate in class discussions.

When I affirmed that I was indeed Mrs. Johnston, M’s mother went on to tell me about how M loves me so much and about how she had been wanting her mom to meet me for ages. She said that we had obviously been just barely missing each other. She’d come into her daughter’s classroom, and M would say, “Did you see her? She just left.” She would be sure that we had passed in the hallway.

Then M’s mother told me something that I will cherish my entire life. She said, “I never liked to read, and I’ve tried so hard not to pass that feeling along to M. She just loves having you come into her classroom and teach lessons. She’s excited about reading. One day I asked her why she loves you so much, and she told me, ‘Mrs. Johnston INSPIRES me.’”

I am writing this, not to brag because I’m sure that for every student I inspire, there are many more that I don’t inspire. However, someday when I’m too old and feeble to remember stories like this, I can look back and read this and know that my efforts as a teacher really did make a difference for some children. What more can a person ask for than to “inspire” children to read.

Here’s a great recipe for delicious meatloaf - and it’s enough to make three meals. One to enjoy now, and two to freeze for later.

Carol’s Meat Loaf

Carol’s Meatloaf
3 1/2 lbs lean ground beef (I use no more than 4% fat)
1 large onion, finely diced
1/2 cup finely diced peppers (any combination of red, yellow and green peppers)
3 tablespoons finely diced parsley
2 stalks celery, finely diced
4 eggs
1 12-ounce can evaporated milk
bread crumbs (approximately 3 cups - I save hamburger buns, rolls and the heels from loaves of bread in the freezer - and then take them out to use when I make meatloaf. If you use commercially prepared bread crumbs, use less since commercial crumbs are so fine. I prefer larger pieces of bread crumbs in my meatloaf.)

Place all ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

Diced vegetables ready to be mixed with the other ingredients

Mix well - using your hands. (I always put gloves on for this step).

Put those hands to work! Using a spoon just doesn’t work as well!

Form the mixture into three meatloaves. To bake, cook for each loaf for approximately 1 hour in a 350 degree oven.

This recipe makes three meatloaves. Each loaf will provide 4 generous servings.

If you’re freezing the loaves, wrap them in aluminum foil and mark with the date. I keep a Sharpie in a kitchen drawer for this purpose.

I always make a tomato sauce to go with my meatloaf. Here is the recipe that I use.

Tomato Sauce for Meatloaf

1 large can petite diced tomotoes
1 Tablespoon dried onion flakes
1 Tablespoon dried parsley flakes
salt/pepper to taste
1 small can tomato sauce

Mix all ingredients well. Bring to a boil in a small saucepans. Simmer for 15 minutes. Spoon over meatloaf before serving.

It cold and rainy here in middle Tennessee. I’m recovering from some type of respiratory ailment, and RT is only a couple weeks away from his battle with a more aggressive respiratory bug. Last weekend I made chili. This weekend is made for a big pot of chicken soup. Following my new resolution, I will photograph as I go. However, as I was chopping the onions, peppers and celery, I figured I might as well make meatloaf at the same time - since I’d bought several packages of lean ground beef yesterday for that specific purpose. Chopping the vegetables is the most labor-intensive part of cooking these dishes. By the time I’m finished, I’ll have at least five meals in the freezer for later on, in addition to tonight’s soup and tomorrow’s mealoaf. The recipe for the meatloaf will follow this post.

Homemade Chicken Soup

Carol’s Homemade Chicken Soup

1 pkg chicken breasts (boneless, skinless, approx. 1 lb.)
1 pkg. chicken thighs (boneless, skinless, approx. 1 lb.)
salt, pepper, poultlry seasoning - to taste
1 large onion, finely diced
1/2 cup finely diced bell peppers (any comibination of red, yellow, green)
2 stalks celery, finely diced
3 carrots, grated or diced
3 tablespoons diced parsley
3 tablespoons corn starch
a few drops of yellow food coloring

Put two quarts of water in a large stock pot and set on high heat. Add the diced onion, bell peppers, celery, carrots and parsley. Add salt, pepper and poultry seasoning, to taste (approx. 1 Tablespoon each).

Add the chicken. Bring to a boil and simmer until chicken is cooked through.

Add chicken to the pot of boiling veggies

Remove the chicken with tongs and place on a plate to cool. Once the chicken is cool, chop it finely and add it back into the pot.

In a small bowl mix the corn starch with 1/2 cup water. Stir until dissolved and add to the soup mixture. Add the yellow food coloring and stir well. Simmer for about 30 minutes.

Simmer for 30 minutes and ENJOY!

If the soup is too thick, you can add chicken stock. You can include other vegetables, as desired - corn, beans, peas, tomatoes. You can also add some noodles or rice.