Christmas Saga Part Second

I am sorry - I know I promised this yesterday, but I got caught up in the cleaning and show prep and didn't finish it all, so here it is...


In the morning when Dad went to put the dog out, we found that someone had left us four big bags of gifts - one for each of the children. Whoever it was had spelled the kids’ names correctly, and, as we found later, each of the girls received their favorite toys. Dad and I brought them in and added them to the stack in front of the tree, and the kids went wild for a little while.
Traditionally, we had stockings and breakfast together. Dad and Phil got monster sized stockings from Santa, because the little ones that had been hung out were too small. We took Phil’s to him in the hospital when we went to see him later. The girls got excited again after breakfast and we started on opening gifts. Highlights... Glady got her e-z bake oven, Juliet got a spiderman build-a-bear, Pippa got lots of art stuff. Johann got a Tonka truck from his Papa that is bigger than he is. As soon as he got the paper off of it he climbed in and started to rock his body back and forth and make motor noises. So far as I know, he’s never seen anything like it before - how do they know?
Grampa gave them the biggest gift of the morning - a computer! He picked up and original iMac for twenty dollars, but they love it for what it is - not what it cost. Phil was on the speakerphone through the gift opening and he promised the girls that he would get it up and running as soon as he got home.
The Secret Santa bags turned out to have new coats for each of them, clothes, and a couple of toys for each. The living room was full of flying paper for a while, and when it cleared, the sectional couch was full from one end to another with stuff. I have a feeling this will be the wildest Christmas they will ever see... as they got older and the toys get more sophisticated there will be fewer of them, and calmer children, too. Glady already was pretty good about waiting her turn, unlike Pippa who got very excited about the whole thing. Juliet was very cute - al she wanted to do was help her brother out.
Once they were done opening presents I let them each take a toy and go into their room. Grampa and I sat in the living room and took a deep breath for a few minutes, then opened our gifts. Nana and BoPop had sent down their gifts to us, so we had a few. Dad got me a little vacuum sealer, and I had framed a photo of his tent I had taken in the woods this fall. Nana gave me a set of Sundae glasses that came out of a Midwestern pharmacy - a hundred years old, and heavy enough to endure. Dad got a cast iron teapot that must weigh twenty pounds.
After clean-up I made the rolls I had promised Nana and got ready to go up there. We left the house a little later than planned and went to the hospital to visit Phil, taking along his stocking and a couple of gifts. We weren’t able to stay long, but that is just as well, with the kids so excited about Christmas. From the hospital we went to Nana’s for more gifts and dinner.
It was a very nice day, all in all. I regretted Phil missing all of it. But we did get to see him.

On Tuesday after Phil saw the doctor he was told that it would be Friday before they let him out. Then that afternoon he was given an ultrasound from tummy to toes, which ruled out a deep vein thrombosis - very good news. Tuesday the girls and spent in cleaning and organizing their room, and Tuesday night I went up the Steele Hill to substitute for Phil at his regular gig there. So now it is Wednesday morning. I have much to do, but mostly I think I’ll play with the two little girls and Johann until Glady gets back from Toad Hall.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Saga Part First

Merry Christmas to all!

It has been an eventful one here in Sanbornton (and Franklin, and New Hampton). It all started last Tuesday. Phil got sick. The flu, we thought, and Juliet came down with it a day later. Not a big deal - they ran high fevers and I nursed them thru it until Friday, when Phil was feeling much better - but he thought he’d sprained his ankle and pulled a muscle in his thigh getting up at some point that week. Juliet was feeling much better Saturday morning, and Grampa offered to take me out shopping, since I hadn’t left the house since Phil got sick and I needed groceries and last-minute Christmas stuff. So off we went in the van, leaving Phil home alone with his feet up.

Saturday afternoon, home in time for lunch, after the kid hurricane had settled and kissed Papa and retired to its room, Phil announced that he didn’t feel well and maybe I should talk to Jean (our doctor). So I call, and am told that he should go to the ER, as they don’t like to prescribe antibiotics over the phone. OK, fine, I’m happier having him seen anyway, as I had been trying to convince him to go see Jean all week. So off he and Dad go to the Franklin Hospital - around 4:00 pm. About 6:00 pm I get a call from Dad to tell me they think it is an infection, but they are busy and have not yet drawn blood to be sure. Around nine he calls again to tell me that it is an infection, they have put an IV in, and they’ll be keeping him at least overnight. He heads for home shortly after that.

Sunday morning I talk to Phil and he tells me that the doctor is going to keep him in ht hospital until Wednesday. The girls are upset - especially Juliet, who is devastated that Papa won’t be home for Christmas. They all talk to him on the phone and feel better for that. Then we get started preparing to go and visit Papa before we go to Christmas Eve Service with Nana and BoPop that night. In the midst of our day, BoPop and Uncle Austin drop by to drop some things off, and I actually have the house clean enough to invite them in! I feel really good about that. So off we go to visit Papa - taking along a couple of presents for him to open. I made him (with lots of help from the girls!) a bathrobe, and we also took a picture of Pippa that Nana and BoPop had taken and framed that was her gift to us.

At the Christmas Eve Service I spent most of my time in the fellowship hall beneath the church taking care of Johann, who had decided it was his personal mission to say HI! to everyone in the church, starting with the priest. He had come out behind the congregation, and since Johann was sitting on my lap facing me he saw him first. His eyes got big as saucers when this man stepped out in shiny gold robes (I’m guessing they were special for Christmas). Then he waved and called Hi! to him. So after we sang a carol with Johann sticking his hand down my throat every time I tried to sing, and he decided that now was the time to drop the shy act and say hello to everyone, we went elsewhere. Dad says the girls were good, though.

That night after we got home Dad and I finished wrapping the last gifts and made all ready for Santa. The girls had gone out into the pasture and picked reindeer moss, so in addition to cookies and milk for Santa there was salad for his deer! Too cute. Anyway, I was in bed by nine-thirty, and Dad says he was down by ten, but at some point in the night someone quietly shut the outer entryway door - the one that sticks and has to be closed just so.... and left inside the entry....


Well, I am exhausted. More on this later!

Long time since I wrote...

It has been so busy - the few times I have sat down at the computer I have been writing marketing materials and had no time to blog. But, finally, I am seizing a few minutes to update you all...

Let's see - going way back, Thanksgiving! The meal was good, as always, and it was a blessing to spend my day calmly cooking and playing with the kids. I felt as though we had turned back the hands of time as I stood at the sink washing dishes in the early afternoon and they were playing with a top on the floor behind me. Phil had a twisting gig from noon to three, so we ate late. Actually, we started nibbling as soon as he got home and stopped eating around 8:30, so no-one went without! We had our usual Cider-brined Turkey center stage, which was so moist and good even Phil liked it, and he isn't a turkey fan. I could'nt believe how easy my day went. I did most of the cooking on Wednesday and had everything clean - even the dishes - by the time I went to bed Thursday.

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving both Phil and I made our annual trip to the Loon Center open house and he twisted while I face-painted. What a fun gig. We were busy right up to the end, but Phil was out of balloons, so we had to go.

Let's see - since then we have been getting back to the routine of school and getting the Holly Jolly Magic Show launched. The Happy Birthday, Jesus! show will go out on the 12th, so I have a little breathing space to start marketing for January. I have to keep on that - we have decided that we have to refocus the 'business' end of our business. The performing end is doing well, but without marketing, advertising, and publicity we are dead in the water. So - I labor in the office. Actually, it is kind of fun. I like coming up with new ways to tell people what we do, and trying to talk Phil into different shows like the anti-bullying show we did last year that is still being asked for.

The kids are well - mostly. Johann has a head cold today, poor little bud. He was up about four times last night fighting to breathe through his nose and coughing. And then, about 3 this morning, we ran out of oil, thank goodness the checks from this weekend have cleared. We'll be getting a drop this afternoon. Pippa is off with Nana and Bopop, they took her with them to Portsmouth yesterday and kept her overnight. Juliet and Glady are at school at the moment. Glady has a special event coming up - her class is going to carol at the Veteran's Home on Dec. 12.

Well, I'm going to put a loaf of bread in the oven to keep the kitchen toasty. My fingers are having trouble typing while cold!

Little Kid Funnies

Last night, as I was putting yet another basketfull of laundry away in their room, I asked the girls "How can four small children need so many clothes?"

Glady's fast reply was "Because we like to be dressed!"

And the other night, as we all had Family Movie night and were watching Return of the Jedi, Pippa's reaction to one exciting moment was to exclaim "Awesome Kadassam!" which made all of us laugh out loud.

Happy Halloween!

Here are my little trick-or-treaters as they headed out after a quick dinner and face-paint! Pippa is a Princess Dragonrider, Juliet is Strawberry Shortcake, and Glady is Glowgirl. Even Bebe got into the act as Wondercat!

The First Haircut

As Dad was getting ready to travel to Paul's wedding he asked me to trim his beard and hair for him. After I was done making him look as tidy as possible, I took a deep breath and .... Gave Johann his first haircut!

He's so cute! He has very little hair, but it was getting really long in the back. Now he's neat and looking more boy-like than babyish.












I don't think he's even noticed, but his sisters had. Well, speaking of that, they are off on the bus and Pippa is sitting on the floor playing. Time for me to make breakfast for Phil and I and get started on the day. The Halloween show still needs work, and I have office work to do as well.

It's been a busy, busy week

I am telemarketing for Halloween - not my favorite task, but daycares respond better to a voice on the phone than a letter in the mail, so the phone it is. Normally, I end up in the office from 9-3:30 which is a long day to be on the phone. Poor Pippa and Johann have been missing me, too. PHil has taken over the house, the sweetheart. The last few times I've done this I was trying to do everything and that didn't work.

Well, next week is going to be a repeat of this week, but right now I have to go get Phil ready to drive up to Conway in nasty traffic - he's leaving an hour early.

The girls are all up and playng with Johann in their room - he's discovered the joys of legos and they are all buliding happily together.

Poetry Morning

For a moment the house is still.
Awaiting, like me the day.
Washer hissing, coffeepot purrs and gurgles.
Soon there will be the soft patter of feet
Announcing warm bodies with sleepy eyes.
They all like to snuggle, even the littlest one.
Who cries Mum? Mum? from his crib for me.
And if sometimes I wonder where they
Came from, these tall bodies and eager minds
It isn't that I regret... Simply that I feel
Amazed and bewildered by the passage of time.

Laboring all Weekend Bears Fruit...

Let’s see... Labor Day weekend. Well, we had planned on ribs - Phil’s special all-day smoked ribs, glazed in the last few minutes of cooking with his made-from-scratch barbecue sauce. So Saturday we started up the grill around nine, and had the ribs on by ten - and we ate at seven thirty. Ummmmm..... Ribs, fresh bread, summer squash from the garden (sautéed lightly), salad, and of course, corn on the cob. We don’t eat like this but twice a year, and it is worth waiting for.

The kids and I found the swale (in the pasture where the spring is) full of blackberries. We picked almost two quarts of big, juicy ones - they are in the frig waiting to be made into jelly (or jam, if I can figure out how to deseed them). Then reason they are waiting is I am out of sugar. Phil brought me ten pounds, but I am still out, because also on Saturday Dad went canoeing on the Pemi above Newfound Highschool, and came back with two grocery bags full of elderberries. Then on Sunday he went back to dig a couple of plants for establishing a grove here on the farm and brought back two more bags.

So - four bags of elderberries... what to do? Well, the first thing I did was make two loaves of bread with 3/4 cup of whole raw berries in them. The berries turned the dough a lovely shade of purple and added some sweetness and a little extra crunch, too. Then the three of us (Phil watching in amusement as he tended the kids for me) stripped three bags of berries, leaving one for Sharon to take home and dye reeds for basket making. Three bags = 37 cups of berries, in case you were wondering. I boiled the berries for about 10 minutes to release the juice, then left it to cool overnight.

Monday morning we strained berries, finding as we did so that the juice will stain hands slightly, but nothing else. It wiped clean off floors, table, and stove - also Johann’s face. In the end, I had 17 cups of elderberry juice. One gallon and a cup. Whew. Dad brought out his hexagonal jars and added them to my half-pint jars, and Sharon found some cute, short ones at Walmart and added them to the mix. I jellied like mad for the rest of the day, trying two different recipes, three separate batches. The first recipe used honey in addition to sugar, the second recipe was in the Sure-jell package (this is important later).

All told, when the steam settled in the kitchen, I had 40 jars of jelly on the table cooling. They were sizes ranging from 8 oz to 12 oz hexes to a couple of pints, so I have no idea actually how much jelly we made. All of them were hot-water bath processed for ten minutes, something I had never done before, but it seems to be the new protocol for putting up jams and jellies. I used to simply hot-pack them into the jar, lid, and let cool until it sealed. In the past, housewives simply put them in jars and covered them with paraffin. Funny how things change. Have we become more paranoid, or was it really a problem?

That night we made a batch of fluffy pancakes and some scrambled eggs for dinner, and opened one of the pints to use as elderberry syrup. Wow. Everyone devoured the cakes, and the syrup was super. Not only that, I found in my research for recipes that elderberry is edging out echinacea as a cold and cough remedy. Yummy - I’ll take my medicine this way!

Tuesday morning was a small setback, though. None of the jars of jelly had setup at all. I have forty jars of elderberry syrup. Well, even with following the instructions on the pectin box I haven’t made jelly. Not sure why, but I’m happy with syrup. It is great on pancakes, hot cereal (we tried that this morning) and I am going to try topping ice cream with it, and flavoring seltzer water, too. Elderberry soda - there’s a concept. So all in all, I am happy with the end product. Oh, now the blackberries will have to wait, because I used all the ten pounds of sugar and then some. Oh, well. Another day, another adventure!


Elderberry Syrup (Hah!) Recipe

3 c elderberry juice
5 1/2 c sugar
2 c honey
1 box pectin
1/2 c lemon juice

Bring juice, sugar and honey to a boil stirring constantly, stir in pectin. Bring back to a full boil for one minute stirring constantly. Watch it! It foams up wildly! Take off the heat and pour into jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Lid and hot-water process for 5-10 minutes, depending on whether your jars were sterile or not. (mine were, but I went longer, anyway.)
Cool.

Phil’s Phluffy Phlapjacks

4 1/2 c Self-rising flour
2 tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
4 eggs
4 cups milk
2/3 c vegetable oil

Beat wet ingredients into dry ingredients until perfectly smooth. Put spoonfuls onto med-high greased pans (or a griddle if you have one). Once the top is full of bubbles, turn over and cook until springy when touched in the middle. Serve at once, with butter and Elderberry Syrup. Serves 8 hungry people.

Elderberry Crunch Bread

3 c white flour
1 c whole wheat flour
3/4 cup wheat germ
3/4 c whole, ripe, raw elderberries
2 tbsp sugar
2 1/4 tsp yeast
1 tsp salt
1/4 c oil
1c water

Put dry ingredients (elderberries too) in the cuisinart, pulse a few time to mix. Pour wet ingredients in slowly as the machine is on, until a dough is formed that ball together and does not stick to the sides. Process for 60 seconds, remove from the machine and from into two loaves. Allow to rise in warm place for 15-20 minutes, then bake at 350 degrees until hollow when tapped on top. About 30-40 minutes. Serve warm with butter. Lovely shade of purple.

New Hair-dos

Yesterday we took all three girls to have their hair done for school. All of them were looking rather shaggy. Phil had his cut while we were there, too. I took before and after pics of the girls.

Oh, and can you guess who had Papa's Marx glasses this morning? Isn't she adorable?

Getting ready for School

We have two very excited little girls here who are looking forward to Wednesday, when one of them is officially a first-grader and the other is a second-grader. Pippa, of course, is at home with her brother and I, but we are going to do kindergarten together, because she is already teaching herself to read and write - she can write her own name, and she did a pretty good job of writing Nana the other day (she says to me about a lowercase 'a' Mama, it's a turtle with a tail)

Johann is off and walking! He took his first steps on Thursday, and now his sisters take his hands and walk him all over the house, both of them pleased as punch. He is such a sweet little guy. When he first gets up in the morning, he likes to snuggle for a while before he starts to play. He talks to us, but he can't speak much English yet, so we have to interpret :)

Well, the house is stirring and we are going to take all three girls for haircuts early this morning, so I am off to make breakfast and coffee.

Wild and Wet Walks

Bears have a curiosity bump. I had taken a walk this morning, about 6 am, and taken the camera with me to take pictures of dewy cobwebs. All the way at the back of the pasture I found a patch of lovely ones, and was bent over taking pictures when I heard a rustling in the brush. I immediately thought “Oh, Dad’s moose!”
See, Dad has been sleeping out in his tent for a week, and the day before this had awoken to a moose crashing through the brush in the ravine below his tent. He’d crept to the edge and watched the south end of it proceeding north up the creek. So it was a natural assumption on my part to think that this large crashing in the brush was also a moose.
I swung the camera up and took a shot from the hip, flash and all. The flash was my undoing. I might have gotten away with it, but Mr. Bruin saw that light and stood up to see what the light was over the brush. At this point I realized that He was bigger than I, and although not known to attack humans often, I am not going to trust one further than I could throw it. Dad got away with kicking one in the...um. Well, you know. But that one was a yearling, a lot smaller than he, not a big ole bruin looking at little ole me. So I went. Toward the house, wishing that I were a sprinter, not an endurance runner (and that a decade ago!) I am pretty sure he went in the other direction, but I wasn’t really looking. All I know is that he didn’t follow me home!
Talk about adrenaline to start your morning - that was a little too much.

Fun Weekend

Phil and I went up to Milan Old Home Days Saturday, and decided that we'd stay up over the weekend. We went out to dinner, did a little shopping. I got a couple of really cut outfits for Glady to wear to school at TJMaxx, which made me think of Nana. I always shopped with her, but now she is having real problems with recovery from her knee surgery. I am a little worried about her.

Glady just made cupcakes all by herself. All I did was slide pans into the oven. Yay! She is so helpful these days it is a joy.

Not much time - just letting you all know I'm still alive!

My little helper

Glady made breakfast this morning, almost all by herself. She has been so helpful, looking up recipes and helping me with cooking recently. So today she looked up a recipe she wanted, got the ingredients together, mixed (I helped with breaking eggs, showing her how to do it) and I put it on the stove for her. She did an omelette, finished in the oven, with cheese on top. She has become my little Suzy Homemaker the last few days, loving on her little brother and helping take care of her sisters. Of course, she does tend to treat Johann like a big baby doll, but he loves his big sis.

Musical monster child

Pippa, walking through the house singing to herself...

“Jingle bells, Batman smells,
Butterfly laid an egg...
The Bunnymobile lost it’ s wheel,
And Ladybug got away!”

She is her father’s daughter!

I'm so proud of him!

Phil was invited to lecture last night at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester. He was asked to speak about humor and it's relevance in our culture by the husband of one of our clients who teaches sociology there. Poor Phil was so nervous about this, we got the call on Friday and he spoke Monday night, so I suppose it was good he didn't have longer to worry about it, although it would have been nice to have more time to research. He did a wonderful job of getting the students to laugh, and talking about trends in comedy and the practical application of comedy in life for healing and connecting with others.

He has been told that if last night went well, he may be offered a more regular opportunity, which is exciting, and leads us to conclude that he will be going to the Laugh Conference in Sept. I am in the process of filling out a scholarship from http://www.laughterfoundation.org/index-new.asp
for him. Wish us luck!

In the long run, we hope to have him teaching daycare and elementary teachers how to use laughter in their classrooms to connect with and help their students learn. As ever, the practical everyday application of laughter for us is in entertaining kids that he encounters in his audiences, and even our own children. As we start reaching out more into senior centers the use of laughter becomes almost a healing agent, something to lighten weary days there. Because he is an entertainer, the study of laughter and comedy's uses to reach others is a natural extension of what he is already doing, a more guided application of a pratical tool in his repertoire.

The above is the essay for the application. What do you think?

Monday Morning

Sitting here with my mocha, taking a quiet moment after getting Phil and Dad out safely, and thinking. We celebrated Juliet's birthday last night, although she won't officially be 6 until dinnertime tomorrow. I found some pictures of her birth the other day. We had a full house for the event, our midwife, with permission, had brought along two students/apprentices, and her 13 year-old daughter who was interested in following in her mother's footsteps. I have a picture of them in fun balloon hats that Phil did for them at some point before the birth. Of course, Dad was there, and took the pictures as well as being the general gopher. He was able to be at three out of the four arrivals into our family, and this was his role every time.

We had a busy weekend. Saturday I went with Phil, as we had a triple and I was actually hired along with him for the last one, but there wasn't time to come home in between them. Sharon came up in the afternoon and gave Dad a hand with the kids. They taught Johann how to drink out of the hose, which I hear was incredibly cute. Saturday morning the girls had special yogurt with crunchy bits in it, and they were so happy. I was working in the other room, and overheard Pippa exclaiming, "this is so yummy! It's like... like... Cinderella's slippers!" Of course, she meant that since Cinderella is her favorite princess and her shoes are loverly, that is the highest standard she could think of. But it made all the rest of us laugh out loud. Fortunately, she can take a joke, so she laughed along with us.

Friday we went up to Plymouth to the Super Walmart... the first time in a long time we have been able to take all the kids in a long time, but now that we have the van! So as we were checking out, Phil took the girls aside, since we had presents in the carts, and I had Johann with me. He turned around and was kneeling in the front, reaching into the cart and handing me anything he could pick up. Such a helpful little guy! Of course, I wasn't ready for them yet, so I ended up with a double handful of stuff while I waited for the people in front of me to finish.

I have a great family!

Hummmm...

Glady and I saw three hummingbird moths together today! They were feasting on the bergamot (bee balm) and we stood and watched them for a minute or two. We were out there packing the van for a balloon workshop. Glady went with her Papa to help hand balloons out. It has become a custom for her to go along to his workshops as a helper, and last time she earned $5 and a happy meal :)

Hot, hot, hot!

Guess who these little people are!












The picture was taken in Hillsboro about Nov. 2001


Whew. I hope this doesn't last too much longer. The house didn't really cool down last night, even with the fans going. Poor Phil barely slept. The baby woke up thirsty about 4 this morning. He drinks water happily, fortunately, so I don't worry about him getting dehydrated.