ADVENT CALENDAR-CHRISTMAS AT SCHOOL

Boy, do I remember Christmas at School!!!

The first Christmas Pageant I remember was when I was in early elementary school, maybe second grade. 

Several of us girls were to be angels, so our moms had to sew a costume for each of us.  The teacher sent home precise directions on how the angel costume was to be made. 

 It was SUPPOSED to be long...down to the floor...ankle-length...below the knee, and white.  Well, mom hated to sew - with a passion!  She also didn't want to spend good money on fabric that could be used for other things, say like food, clothing, utilities, car payments, etc., etc., etc.! 


DO YOU SEE ANY SHORT GARMENTS HERE?
source: Dover Publications

So, she took an old sheet, which wasn't white, like an angel's clothing should be.  She didn't buy white sheets...she liked yellows, pinks, greens, blues.  Thank God she didn't like florals or stripes!!! 

I think that she used an old, pale (washed out), yellow sheet for my beautiful angel costume.  And, of course, it had to be done her way, so I ended up with a short, knee-length angel dress.  You can imagine the embarrassment I felt, especially when the teacher made such a big deal out of it.  I hoped I would never have to be in another pageant as long as I lived.

Well, so much for that!  In sixth grade, our class put on a pageant about "Christmas Around the World." I was drafted won the role of a Czechoslovakian mother with two children. 

I only had a six word line, easy enough to remember.  That wasn't the problem, though I was terrified at the prospect.  The problem was...I had to have a special COSTUME!!!  "Oh, please God, not another costume for my mom to have to make for me!!!", I prayed.  

I took the instructions home, handed them to mom, and ran!  I could hear her from upstairs, "Why do they always have to have something special?  I HATE sewing, and now I have to make her a skirt and apron for this Christmas play?!"

Every stitch was a chore, for both mom and me!  It's not that mom didn't know how to sew, or wasn't any good at it.  I don't know why she hated it so much, and didn't mind letting me know it. Maybe because she had to do it all by hand...no sewing machine.  The skirt was a beautiful long (yes, I think she learned how embarrassing it was for me the last time), turquoise-y blue wonder.  And, all she did was take a length of fabric, gather it at the waist, add the waistband, and hem it.  But, to me, it was beautiful! 

She wouldn't make the apron, though.  She bought a gorgeous sheer, red Christmas apron, trimmed in white lace instead.  I just recently gave that apron to my sister to hand down to her girls.  I wore these two garments, along with a white blouse, and a huge headscarf tied around my shoulders for a shawl.

I was scared to death of being front of people, afraid I'd forget that one, simple little line.  I can still remember, acting like I was working in the kitchen at a table, hearing loud footsteps off stage.  "That must be the children now!", I manage to squeak out.  The kids came into view, and we sang a Christmas song, probably something like Silent Night or Hark, The Herald Angels Sing.

Eighth grade I was in Choir.  Of course, the music department put on a Christmas Concert each year - go figure!  I had to have a long, black skirt and white blouse for this one.  The blouse was not a problem.  Mom asked my grandma if she had anything I could borrow for the concert.

Mom, Dad, and Grandma

Grandma had her mother's skirt from back in the 19-teens.


Grandma Jennie, her two daughters, and grandbaby around 1917.
This could have been the skirt I borrowed.

She let me borrow it, with the admonition to not ruin it. (Love my family!)

The concert was a hit!  One of the songs we sang was "Little Drummer Boy" and it's been one of my favorites ever since. 

On arriving home after the concert, I was getting out of the car and caught my heel in the hem of that ancient skirt.  It ripped and I could feel my heart sink to my feet.  Surprisingly, Mom didn't say much.  She managed to do a great job of repairing that tear, and Grandma never said a word to me, that I remember.

In high school, I was in concert choir and we did lots of plays and concerts, including Christmas.  None of these were really memorable, as I could sew my own clothing by now. 

I still was terrified of being in front of people, but enjoyed singing!  I was glad, though, to be in the alto section, on the back row! LOL!

XoXoXo

ADVENT CALENDAR - CHRISTMAS COOKIES

Each year Mom would make her Christmas Cookies, happily slaving in the kitchen over each different batch.  Christmas music would be playing in the background, setting the mood, while she sang along.

Her favorites recipes were the "Original Toll House Cookies," also known as chocolate chip cookies, Snickerdoodles, peanut butter cookies (for my brother Kerry), and Mexican Wedding Cake cookies.

Mom had an old, spiral-bound recipe book with the "original Toll House Cookies" recipe in it.  I think she got the recipe book for a wedding present in 1952.  Either it was well used, or I'm mistaken about how old it was.  It could have been Grandma's!


Original NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Chocolate Chip Cookies


Photo:  Nestle website

 

Prep: 15 mins

Cooking:  9 mins

Cooling: 15 mins

Yields: 60

This famous classic American cookie is a treat no matter what the age or occasion. Enjoy it with a glass of cold milk.

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
• 1 cup chopped nuts

Directions

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.


COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.


BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.


PAN COOKIE VARIATION: Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan. Prepare dough as above. Spread into prepared pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack. Makes 4 dozen bars.


SLICE AND BAKE COOKIE VARIATION:
PREPARE dough as above. Divide in half; wrap in waxed paper. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm. Shape each half into 15-inch log; wrap in wax paper. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.* Preheat oven to 375° F. Cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices; place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.


* May be stored in refrigerator for up to 1 week or in freezer for up to 8 weeks.


FOR HIGH ALTITUDE BAKING (5,200 feet): Increase flour to 2 1/2 cups. Add 2 teaspoons water with flour and reduce both granulated sugar and brown sugar to 2/3 cup each. Bake drop cookies for 8 to 10 minutes and pan cookie for 17 to 19 minutes.

The Snickerdoodles were always good!  Mom would roll the balls of dough in cinnamon sugar, some in red sugar crystals, and some in green.  The aroma while these were baking was amazing!

 

Snickerdoodles

Photo: McCormick website

These classic cookies are crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside and full of cinnamon flavor.


Makes 5 dozen or 30 (2 cookie) servings.
Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 9 to 11 minutes per batch

Refrigerate Time: 1 hour

2 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons McCormick® Cream of Tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 3/4 cups sugar, divided
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
2 teaspoons McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract
1 tablespoon McCormick® Cinnamon, Ground

1. Mix flour, cream of tartar and baking soda in large bowl. Set aside. Beat 1 1/2 cups of the sugar, butter and shortening in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until well mixed. Refrigerate 1 hour.


2. Preheat oven to 400°F. Mix remaining 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in cinnamon sugar mixture to coat. Place 2 inches apart on baking sheets.


3. Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets 1 minute. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.

Raspberry Roads "Christmas Thyme"

I didn't care for the peanut butter cookies that much.  These and the chocolate chip cookies always seemed a little too crisp for me.  I prefer softer cookies.  But, remember, these were mainly for my brother.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Photo: Betty Crocker website

Packed with great peanut butter taste, these Betty's Best peanut butter cookies are sure to please.

Prep Time 25 Minutes

Total Time 2 Hrs 35 Mins

Makes 2 1/2 dozen cookies

1/2

cup granulated sugar

1/2

cup packed brown sugar

1/2

cup peanut butter (Mom always used Jif creamy style)

1/4

cup shortening

1/4

cup butter or margarine, softened

1

egg

1 1/4

cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour

3/4

teaspoon baking soda

1/2

teaspoon baking powder

1/4

teaspoon salt

Mix sugars, peanut butter, shortening, butter and egg in large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and refrigerate about 2 hours or until firm.

1. Heat oven to 375ºF.
2. Shape dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Place about 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten in crisscross pattern with fork dipped into sugar.
3. Bake 9 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 5 minutes; remove from cookie sheet. Cool on wire rack.

Makes 2 1/2 dozen cookies 

Raspberry Roads "Christmas Thyme"

When Mom started making the Mexican Wedding Cake cookies around 1970, those became my favorite!  The recipe isn't that difficult, and always seemed to melt in your mouth.

Mexican Wedding Cakes



photo: christmas-cookies.com

 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups all-pupose flour
1 cup finely chopped almonds or pecans (Mom used pecan meal)
1/4 teaspoon salt
powdered sugar

Pre-heat oven to 325 F. In a large bowl combine 1/2 cup powdered sugar, butter and vanilla. Blend well. Stir in flour, nuts and salt until dough holds together. Shape into 1-inch balls. Place inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 15-20 minutes until set but not brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheets. Cool slightly and roll in powdered sugar. Cool completely and reroll in powdered sugar.


Servings: 48
Country of Origin: Mexico 

Raspberry Roads "Christmas Thyme"

Once all the cookies were completely cooled, Mom would get a shirt box out (preferably with a pretty design on it), line the box with crisp, clean, colorful tissue paper, and add cupcake papers.  Each of the papers would be filled with beautifully tempting cookies to give to relatives as Christmas gifts.  Once we kids left home, we all got one of those boxes of cookies, too.

Raspberry Roads "Christmas Thyme"

This was Mom's way of showing us all her love for us at Christmas!

XoXoXo

ADVENT CALENDAR - Our Christmas Tree through the years

Memories of the Christmas Tree are many!  I've shown you what my Grandma's tree looked like in 1952 in the previous post, but here it is again. 

Grandma Good's at Christmas 1952

It was small and sat on a table (lovingly made by her dad) next to her "pie-annie." 

(Grandma Good with a young relative back in the early 1950s.)

The piano was a player piano, also, with lots and lots of perforated rolls of music waiting to be heard!  I loved to hear her play it and sing all the beautiful Christmas songs. 

Grandma sang in the Listie Brethern Church choir, so the piano bench was filled with hymnals for practice. 

 The only photo I could find online was of a Methodist Hymnal.

source for all music related photos in this post:  Photobucket.com

There was a lever, under the keyboard to the right if I remember correctly, that switched the piano from normal to player.  The three buttons below also had something to do with it in player mode, but...that was a long time ago!  <smile>

The treadles were retractable and hidden behind the sliding panel above the foot pedals.

The mechanism was hidden behind sliding panels above the keyboard.  Somehow, you loaded the music roll onto a spindle and threaded the paper onto an empty roll.   

  

Grandma kept these music rolls stored in the old Victrola upstairs in the master bedroom (out of reach of little, destructive hand!).

She was the kindest Grandma you'd ever want, but she wasn't stupid!  ;)

This old black and white photo is of my sister, Kathy, Christmas 1960.  It was taken at our other Grandma's home in Morgantown, Indiana.  Grandma Hilda had the silvery aluminum tree and color wheel as seen in the background.

Here's a picture of one of Mom's creations, also taken Christmas 1960.  She always took such pains to make the tree perfect.  Each icicle was laid on the pine needles (yes - real pine needles!) with great care, one by one!  It seemed to take hours and hours before we could turn out the living room lights and see her final masterpiece!  But, it was always worth the wait. 

My 1st grade artwork is displayed above the piano.  I remember making the lantern to the far right.  It was supposed to be like stained glass, with red cellophane in the panes of the lantern.  I think I still have that one and the church window, second from left.

Anyway, our Christmas trees went from natural pines, to a fake white snow-flocked tree with green ornaments and color wheel in the late 1960s.  The white tree was pretty, but never seemed the same as a real tree.  The smell of a real pine always takes me back to my earliest childhood memories of Christmas.

When I left home, my first tree was a 7 foot real pine tree.  It was purchased on Christmas Eve, and decorated with my homemade bead-studded ornaments, lots of lights, and covered in angel hair.  I, too, labored for hours, trying to perfect my first Christmas tree.  The angel hair diffused the glow of the lights, making everything look magical!  Not bad for my first attempt at decorating. 

The following year, and every year since, I've had an artificial Christmas tree.  Each year, however, the same effort to achieve perfection goes into the decorating. 

This photo was taken a few years ago.  A lot of the ornaments are handmade by me, some by my sister.  Some are traditional Christmas balls in all colors, some glass-blown from a really cool shop in Nashville, Indiana, some Hummels.  Others are handmade cookie cutter felt ornaments, hand painted wooden ornaments, ornaments given to us as gifts from friends.  The garlands are stranded red, gold, and silver beads and thread spools covered in homespun fabric separated by wooden beads strung on jute twine.  The lights are both large and mini, with one of the mini light strands programmable to set different moods.  Mesmerizing! 

I don't even try to put icicles on our trees for two reason:  1.  I could never have the patience to put each strand on, one by one, as Mom did, and 2.  we have cats! 


Missy



Boots, our gentle giant

Susie, Missy's sister



Our newest addition, Coy-Coy (originally McCoy)

Kirk (James T.)



and Bailey, our oldest (10 1/2 years old)

 The sparkle is too much of a temptation for them!  It's difficult enough to keep them away from the ornaments!  LOL!

XoXoXo