Real Live Conversations with Mom: New Jersey edition

The backstory:  It’s Christmas Eve and the town fire department sirens are growing closer.  My mom and I set out on the front porch to spy Santa as he comes by (this is a Jersey tradition).  While we are waiting, one of my neighbors pulls out of her driveway, and honks and waves as she drives by our house. My mom hears the honk, but doesn’t see the wave.

Mom:  What’s her problem?

Me:  She was honking and waving hello.  Damn, Mom, you’ve been in New Jersey too long.

I think that about sums it up, folks.

The Little Kitchen That Could

My kitchen is small — I joke that it’s a one-bootie kitchen — but that is largely true.  Two people at work at these counters have to coordinate carefully.  From the edge of one countertop to the other is only 6.5 x 8 feet.  Space is maximized as much as possible and from this small (and, I think, charming) kitchen comes a whole lot of delicious cooking.

At no time has this been as clear as it is this past week, with JT home and my parents in town.  I’m cooking family meals and prepping holiday treats on overload.  With T’s help, I’ve made sour dough bread; coffee cake; pulled pork with coleslaw; baked potato soup; cowboy chicken; homemade salad dressing, 4 pounds (!) of baked potatoes; caramel pie; chocolate kahlua cake; a host of dips and appetizers for Christmas Eve………and the party isn’t over yet because Christmas Day supper is on the horizon.  

The 20 plus years-old dishwasher is in overdrive, running loads three or four times a day.  I am grateful each time it gurgles to life.  And I am glad to have the blessing of family for whom I may stir, cook, and bake.  Here’s to a happy Christmas Eve, y’all!

The Case for Impeachment

Last week, the House Judiciary Committee advanced two articles of impeachment against President Trump.  In the hand-wringing and the hubbub that has accompanied the whole of the impeachment process, I wish that the talking heads could pause and give themselves - and us - the time to think.

Impeachment is a Constitutional obligation.  But when it happens, it is a political process.  Because of that, and because it has happened before, some of the elected figures in our government - both Republican and Democrat - will treat it as part of politics.  For them, it’s about power: who has it; who wants it; and what can be done with it.

There will be no escaping that view of impeachment, no matter how rock solid the charges against the president may be.  There were Democrats, Jerry Nadler, the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, among them, who called for impeachment of Trump almost from the start.  For them, that was at least as much about the fact that Trump lost the popular vote as anything else.  They felt the will of the people had been subverted in 2016.

Fair enough.  The will of the people had been subverted when Donald Trump secured the presidency.  The people had selected Hillary Clinton.  But the Electoral College, the Constitutional method by which we select the president, chose Donald Trump.  Therefore the presidency was his.  Galling and infuriating as it is, that was the Constitutional outcome in 2016.

But.

There’s always a but.

Winning power is not the same as securing power.  Donald Trump never seemed to understand that and the mistake has cost Donald Trump and the Republican party.  Worse than that, it has cost this nation.  We are three years into a presidency with a president who is wholly unqualified, a liar and cheater at every turn.  He’s a racist, misogynist, thoughtless, ignorant, and unpopular leader.  He has sought to use the presidency to further enrich and empower himself and his business interests.  He has openly asked for foreign interference in American elections.

None of us are under any obligation to ignore these facts. Elected members of Congress, people sworn to uphold the Constitution, must not ignore them and they must enforce the Constitution.  Presidents who violate the Constitution must be impeached.

That is the reality we face right now.  Things will get even uglier as this political process unfolds.  The Senate, controlled by Republicans, is unlikely to vote to remove the President from office. The party of Lincoln has abandoned principle in favor of politics.  But that doesn’t excuse the Democrats from seeking to fulfill their Constitutional obligation.  The process will be ugly and unpleasant; it very likely will further strain the bonds that hold the nation together.  So be it.  

Justice is rarely easy.  This case is no exception.

Pretty Packages: December 15

I wrapped some package this weekend.

I love craft paper and old-fashioned ribbon.

That’s happy!

The Napping House

I texted this picture to JT this morning, a reminder that his home - and rest - await him when final exams are finished.  The picture was made over Thanksgiving Break when he was home for a few days and glad to put his feet up.  Though he’s back in the thick of it now, with a week to go until exams have finished, it is this image that I hold in my mind as I wait for his return.  

Apparently, I’m not the only creature at Sassafras House that misses him.

Memory Tree

On Saturday evening, T and I got the year’s Christmas tree and set it in the  stand.  Yesterday, I got out the Christmas decorations and set to work with lights for the tree, stockings for the banister, and all the happy traditions that are the backdrop for our celebrations.

Over the years, I've come to regard the twinkly lights and festive decorations as one of the best parts of December, a welcome antidote to the fading daylight as the Winter solstice approaches.  The cheerful decoration and lights make our home welcoming and cozy.

Hanging ornaments on the tree is more than just a pleasing tradition, it’s a chance to think about some very happy memories.  When I hang one of my very first Christmas ornaments, one that hung on the trees I put up in my apartment in Nashville many years ago, I think about how much I loved living in that city.

There is a Santa ornament that reminds me of a boy who believed with all his heart, a joy and confidence that was magic to experience.

Each year, I give JT an ornament that he can one day take to his own home and tree.  This guitar was the ornament JT received the year he was three and was obsessed with a toy guitar.

For many years, JT received a moose for Christmas.  Over the years, there have been moose stuffed toys, books with a moose, a moose figurine in his stocking.  This moose Christmas ornament, part of JT’s collection, reminds me all those moose surprises over the years.

This tiny mercury glass bauble was a gift to myself many years ago, when I was first a Mama on my own.  Things were sometimes hard then and I worried that holidays would also be hard.  But that first Christmas on our own was joyful and lovely.  This ornament reminds me to believe in myself. 

I could go on; my mind swims with memories as I hang the ornaments on the tree.  It is in the stories  these ornaments tell that I find the magic of the season.  

That’s happy!

December front porch

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, my neighbors spent the sunny and breezy Saturday setting out their Christmas lights and outdoor decorations.  I saved the task for Sunday, the first day of December.

As decisions go, it was a chilly one.

A cold rain fell all day and when I got my things together in the afternoon it was cold and icy.  Happily, porch decoration is one of my favorite things to do each month and so I wasn’t deterred by the wintery conditions.  The flag welcomes the Winter weather.

The table is cheerful and I am pleased with the fairy Christmas tree, which lights up in the evening.

There is greenery everywhere.

The fresh pine wreath on the front door smells lovely when I come home each afternoon.

Christmas decorations, with greenery and light, always feels magical to me and I enjoy all the traditions of the month. Merry, merry!

A Seat of One’s Own

One of my favorite annual reads is a book by Alice Taylor, An Irish Country Christmas, a collection of stories about the author’s childhood holiday memories.  Set in rural Ireland in the late 1940s, the book is a treat that I enjoy every December.

In one of the stories, Taylor writes of cleaning the kitchen in preparation for the coming celebrations, including a washing down of the chairs at the kitchen table. The chairs are an assortment, some with woven rope seats, and she notes that each chair “receives one differently.”

That phrase always comes to mind when I find a seat in the chairs of our Middle School common space.  That utilitarian room, sunk halfway downstairs, serves as a general meeting place for our students.  There are chairs and bleachers: students sit in both places.  The chairs have blue plastic seats and they’ve been in the hall as long as I can remember.  I’ve been here since 2002, so that’s rather a long time for plastic chairs and they look it.

Some are wobbly; others are slightly lower thanks to years of being tipped on their back two metal legs.  Every once in a while a student (always a boy!) is sitting on one of the chairs when it finally gives up the struggle and cracks or slowly collapses.  We rescue the falling student, set aside the wonky chair, and find him a new seat.  I never look to sit in one that I don’t think of how each of them “receives one differently.”  And then I smile.  And choose wisely.

December Tradition

I like a generous-sized mug for my morning coffee and evening tea.  My kitchen cabinet is well-stocked with more mugs than I need.  Come December, I shift things around to place the Winter mugs up front.  I’ve a solid collection, especially when you consider that many of these mugs represent just one of a family of two.  

I find these sorts of small traditions to be a cozy treat during the cold months of Winter, especially during the month of December.  Each morning, there will be cheerful cloth by the coffee pot, with a Winter-themed mug at the ready for my first cup.

After a much-needed and happily relaxing Thanksgiving weekend, there are three cold and busy weeks between me and Winter Break.  These are school days that will start in the inky darkness before the sunrise and will most often end as twilight descends.  The days are growing markedly shorter now and in the cold darkness, a warm mug in my hands makes everything nicer.  Happily, I’m all set!

December 1: Fairy Garden

Earlier this morning, a sleety rain was falling when I walked out back to make a picture of the empty fairy garden patch.  In the hour since then, the sleet has turned to tiny flakes of snow. and ice  The damp cold will be with us for the next few days, along with a Winter storm that sent JT back up north back a day early so as to beat the snow that will also arrive in his corner of New England.

Winter is here.

The fairies packed up a month ago so they’ve no fear of the cold, resting on the warm shelves of the basement.  The days are growing rapidly shorter now and the tree branches in the backyard are bare for the coming season.

We’ll probably rake up a few more bags of leaves before Winter settles in for good.  We’ll fill the bird feeder in earnest now, aware that our fellow creatures are in need of nourishment.  The Winter season is that way for me, filled with days that call for an extra blanket and a warm mug of tea, a reminder to slow down and nourish my soul with good books, garden catalogs, twinkling lights in the fade of the day, and time for rest.