I love the holidays! I mean LOVE them! There is something magical about this time of year.
Turkey Cookies
When Lindsey was four and Rachel was almost a year old, I started making cookies with them the day before Thanksgiving. I have always cheated and used a mix because it is easier. It’s never been about how they actually taste; it’s the process and the memories.
In the early years, Lindsey had a blast tracing her elementary-school hands with a butter knife. Meanwhile, I worked the dough around Rachel’s little fingers, trying to place them just right to form the head and feathers. We made turkey cookie after turkey cookie with sprinkles galore!
Year after year we baked. Sometimes it was just the three of us, but other times we invited friends and extended family. It seems like I blinked and they had grown up. Though our schedule does not allow us to make our turkey cookies the day before Thanksgiving, we manage to still carve time sometime over the holidays to gather, roll, cut out our turkeys, smile, and make memories.
Mom’s Famous Dressing
When Mom was sick years ago, I offered to help cook her part of the holiday meals. I consider myself fortunate that she taught me how to make her dressing. That first year without Mom, I can remember being so nervous making it. It’s not like any of the forty-plus family members and friends, who gather for meals over the holidays, would have cared if it did not taste good, but I did! For some reason, I needed it to be as good as hers.
It never failed. Even fifteen years after her passing, Papa Berry, my adult dad, always made sure to walk by me with his plate filled, and pat me on the shoulder. “Karla, your mom would be proud. It tastes just like hers.” He was such a sweetheart; I know some years the dressing was much drier than others.
As one decade rolled into another Rachel started helping make the dressing, and I know this would make Mom smile.
New Traditions
With the girls being older, I try to put up the Christmas tree the week of Thanksgiving because they have more time to visit. Over the years the location of the tree has seen different spots, but the golds and reds still grace its branches. In the background we play Christmas music, usually drink hot chocolate, and sometimes even have a muted football game on.
Family Time While Shopping
On the days that follow Thanksgiving, my sisters and I do some shopping. For us, it is more about spending time together than the materialism. We always have some fun story from these trips.
This year, one store had a line a mile long. We took turns standing in line while the others browsed the racks for that special something. Finally, I told everyone to head toward Panera with my great-niece. Sharing that I would pay for everything now, we could divvy up later. Looking in the stroller, I was surprised that Gail was buying three stuffed animals, but I paid for them as well as everything else.
That evening, we had some serious laughter as we divided up our purchases. My sister Gail grimaced when she realized she owed me money for the two stuff animals she was only letting her granddaughter hold in hopes to keep her satisfied. had let my great-niece hold simply to occupy her time in line.
I then explained the problem with the third stuffed animal.” It did not have a price tag, so they just charged me the same price as the larger one she had just rung up. ” Gail said, “She only had two. Where did the third one come from?” We burst with laughter when she shared that I had paid for a twenty-five year-old-stuffed animal. She had brought old one from home and did not realize they had even taken it into the store!
Most Importantly
These are just a few of the reasons, plus the beginning of the possibility of a snow day, that make me love this time of year. How blessed I am to know the most important meaning for the glow of the season. I have in my heart, the birth of Jesus.
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)