Christmas Joy

EJ and I had a nice Christmas together. After years of struggling with Christmas, we have intentionally created a Christmas that we enjoy. He had four days off from work.

The weather has been warm with rain and fog instead of snow. I like all sorts of weather so I don’t get bothered if we don’t have a white Christmas. The only difficulty with lots of rain is that the chicken pen gets very mucky and the muck sucks at my boots as I walk through it. I sometimes imagine getting sucked down into the muck like quicksand and disappearing…

EJ originally had Christmas Eve off but he traded with a co-worker who would have otherwise lost a day of pay because of the way the scheduling works. While EJ was at work, I turned on Christmas music and reorganized the kitchen cupboards. I told EJ later that it was sort of like the story “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” in that cleaning one room resulted in also cleaning other drawers, closets, and rooms

EJ had several coupons so he planned to stop at the store on his way home from work on Christmas Eve. My Mom used to scoop a bowl of snow to cool the pan of candy in. I reminded him several times that since we had no snow, he needed to buy ice so we could rapidly cool the candy we were planning to make on Christmas Day. With all his coupons, he bought a bagful of groceries for only 49 cents, which is amazing!!!! I think he actually does better with couponing than I do. But he forgot the ice. With no snow and no ice to cool the candy, I thought we’d have to cancel the candy-making. However, we decided to try to make one batch of candy and set the pan in a few inches of cold water in the sink to see if that worked. It DID! So we continued with our candy making.

Over the years, EJ and I have developed a sort of tradition in that whichever one has the strongest vision or desire to do a job becomes the “Job Boss” and the other is the “Hero Support.” This applies to renovating a room, doing projects, gardening, cooking, etc. EJ really wanted to be the candy maker on Christmas Day so he could learn how to do it. As Hero Support, I kept the workspaces/tools cleaned and prepared between batches of candy and I took photographs; I am the family “historian.” I was also the “consultant” who reminded him of techniques from my childhood. We make candy the way my Mom did. Unlike most people, my Mom always used two drams of flavor oils instead of one so the flavor is wonderfully strong. I think that only one dram of flavor oil makes bland candy although I supposed others might find our candy too strong. My Mom also always cut the candy into square “pillows” rather than shatter the sheet of candy.

We had a wonderful time. I turned on Christmas music as we worked. We both agreed that making candy on Christmas Day with appropriate music was necessary for the candy to be correct. EJ had fun cooking the candy and mixing the colors for each batch. When he put in the flavor oils, a cloud of steam billowed up with such strong aroma that we coughed and gasped. The house filled with the aroma of vanilla butternut, cinnamon, cloves, and peppermint candy. “THIS is what Christmas smells like,” I said.

The day after Christmas, I made four homemade turkey potpies. I froze three and gave one to our neighbor as a thank you. For the last several years, he has plowed our driveway in the winter and graded it during the summer without accepting any payment. He stopped by and EJ helped him fix his tractor. Also, EJ’s friend visited. He lives a couple hours away so he spent the night and left the next day. He brought Hannah a bone to chew on, which he often does when he visits. He is her favorite “uncle” and she loves when he visits. Our son is working on his Great Lakes bulk carrier so he couldn’t stop by, but I saved a bag of candy for him and made and froze two small pies for him when he gets off the ship in January.

EJ made bread in his new bread machine on Christmas morning before we started making candy. I’ve made four batches of butter over the last few days. We also got several other small projects done. EJ returned to work this morning. In the mornings, I’ve been making a delicious peppermint coffee by dropping a peppermint candy into my coffee. Yum.

I hope that you all had a nice Christmas, although I know that the Christmas season is very difficult for some people–those who are alone, those who have lost loved ones, those who are victims of abuse. The number of suicides is highest at this time of year. A woman shared her childhood Christmas memories on a social media page I follow. Her Christmases were filled with rage and violence. It made me ponder that we tell the events of the Birth of Christ as if it were a beautiful story. It IS a beautiful story of a God who so loved the world that He sent His Son to redeem us. However, on that first Christmas, there were no decorations, holiday baking, awesome gifts, and loving family gatherings.

If you really look at the story, this is what happened: Mary probably would have been considered immoral and would not have been treated well by her community. How much rejection and insults did she suffer when it became known that she was “with child”? Those times were very stressful with corrupt tyrannical leaders in power. Everyone had to travel to the city of their ancestors to be counted for the census so there would have been a lot of traffic. Although our traditions show Mary riding on a donkey, the Bible says nothing about a donkey so it’s possible she walked while very pregnant. I’m not sure where they started from–if they traveled from Nazareth, it was a 70-mile journey. The distance was far enough that when they reached Bethlehem, they needed to find an inn. The inns were all full so the only place for them to stay was a stable. Not exactly comfy or sterile surroundings. Did Joseph have help when Mary went into labor or did he deliver the baby by himself? The Bible doesn’t say. As a first-time father, I’d have to think it was a stressful night either way.

Luke 4 says that as an adult, Jesus read from Isaiah in the synagogue: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captive and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

What I’m trying to say is that Jesus’ birth was not a Hallmark movie and He came for people who are hurting. I hope those who are hurting find comfort in that.