I received a spontaneous phone call from my daughter wondering if it would be acceptable to me to plan a chili, grilled cheese sandwich and apple dumpling family party at my home on Sunday. This is a carryover of the celebrations of my husband’s birthday and mine a couple of weeks later. I glanced around my living room noticing an accumulation of junk mail, (where does it all come from) newspapers, things I should discard, but just haven’t acclimated my inner peace feelings to make me really throw them out. My oldest sister always criticized me for my mental calculation of how long it would take me to do something that already should have been accomplished.
Since I had several days to work with, I gave me daughter an affirmative answer since I had a weak social schedule for the week and could whip the place into company shape. The biggest handicap was that I forgot that the years are piling up and it takes me twice as long to do half as much and requires several appointments with my recliner! I was making great progress and fairly proud of the results when another daughter called and wondered if it would help me if we moved the party to her home where they have a back yard very adaptable to an outside campfire where they would cook the chili and cheese sandwiches over an open fire. They also added a skillet of baked apples smothered in syrup and raisins. So here I was left with a cleaner house than usual and no one came to see it, but I can spoil that in about 2 days.
It was a special day with my grandson home on leave from the military, all but two sons were able to attend, with the only drawback being the wind that we did not need which chilled us to the bone in spite of sweatshirts and parka hoods. But it takes more than that to spoil the magic of a special family day.
The day before was my paternal family reunion at my nephew’s home. There was a small attendance. As I was trying to rationalize the fact that all of the attendants were my Dad’s descendants, (he was one of six siblings) I realized that there are only 10 of thirty two cousins left and we are all getting to be very senior citizens. Distance and poor health affects some. So we operate on the premise that we just have a good time with the ones that can attend and do not spoil the day because everyone couldn’t make it.
The highlight of the occasion was a pair of beautiful horses, and their owners, were our guests and they provided rides to anyone who wanted to go in a white buggy owned by my nephew. My sister and I who are on the high half of the eighties (I am ready to fall out) were sitting there when she said, “Max, let’s go for a ride!” She is 95% confined to a wheel chair and I am not as nimble as I used to be, but I answered “it’s O.K. with me!” I don’t know who was the most surprised, us or our kids and nephews. The rest of the story was they assisted her into the buggy, with me following and we had a fantastic ride down the road and then back through the fields of the farm where we lived for years of our childhood. Then there was the problem of our dismounting. It was very easily solved by my nephew from Ft. Wayne who said, “Aunt Max, just put your arms around my neck and I will lift you out.” What a simple solution. Since he managed me successfully, my sister who weighs a lot less was a simple procedure. It was a great day to file into my memory book of magic moments and days. Isn’t family one of God’s greatest blessings?
My family rates food pretty highly and both days we had plenty of it. So I had better come up with some recipes. I just opened another church cookbook and found two simple ones on the same page. Would it surprise you that both of them are dessert? I think I needed two sugar pills when I came home today. Nothing but carrots and celery for tomorrow. The first one has my sister’s name on it. It is an old book but I do not remember her making it. Maybe she does.
DATE ROLL
1 cup white sugar
1 stick butter
1 egg
½ half cup chopped nuts
30 dates
2 cups Rice Krispies
Powdered sugar
Mix sugar, butter, egg, nuts and dates together and cook for ten minutes. Cool and add Rice Krispies. Shape into a roll and coat with Powdered sugar. Slice into serving pieces. Rolls should be about 1 inch in diameter.
EASY DESSERT
1 carton (12 oz.) whipped topping
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup chopped pecans
1 can mandarin oranges, drained
1 can strawberry pie filling
1 large can pineapple tidbits, drained
Mix all ingredients together and chill before serving.
May each of you find magic in each day when you aren’t even looking for it!
No comments:
Post a Comment