Advent 2010 #7 - Twas the night before Christmas

Tonight we went to our last Advent activity for this year, the Christmas Eve service at our church. As traditions go, this is one of the most special. During years when I have not focused on Advent, this service often stops me in my tracks. During years when I am enjoying the season and not consumed with other things it is the culmination of a season of remembering and reflection. Tonight, it was the latter.

We sang a medley of Christmas Carols and the choir sang accompanied by a string quartet. A poet read, various soloists sang. I am not usually excited to hear a choir sing - no offense to choir folks. It is just too easy for me to become passive and just listen instead of being drawn in myself. But at Christmas it just seems appropriate. And of course there is an offering, focused on organizations we support that are trying to make a difference in the community. But the message is the center of it all. And the pastor always makes sure that the message is clear. And after the message, a final Christmas carol, a benediction, and that is it. Tonight we paused for a couple of conversations with families we see just this one time each year as a whole but these were brief.

We'll spend Christmas in airports as our family converges in a common location. But for tonight I paused to be thankful for Advent, both as tradition and as the center of my faith. Tonight I reflect. Perhaps next year will be one of those years when I am too busy to reflect much, but hopefully, as a result of this years reflection, it will be due to more useful pursuits than what often fills my time.

Tonight, the fifth candle was lit, the Christ Candle. Merry Christmas. May the peace that passes understanding fill your life.

Advent 2010 #6 - Lessons from the kitchen...

This one really is about Advent 2010, emphasizing the 2010 and not the Advent. A few days before Christmas we found ourselves with an amazingly light schedule. So, at a time that is supposed to be hectic and filled with busyness, I thought, "Let's have people over for dinner tomorrow." This, three days before Christmas.  One email later, we had a dinner party scheduled. (Thank goodness for spontaneous people.).

So what did you learn from tonight's dinner for four? Tonight I learned that it is important to read the fine print. In honor of your time here is the short version...



Yummmmm.

 I scour the ads, for three minutes, and see that both Ham and Pork Shoulder Picnic Style Roast are on sale. So are Filet Mignon and Ribeye...  

Pork Shoulder Picnic Style Roast





This looks nice...

Pork wins. Now I need a recipe. Cooking Light comes up with Pear & Cranberry Stuffed Pork Roast. This really does fit the season. The recipe requires butterflying, stuffing and trussing (sewing together is closer to what was called for but I like the word trussing).

Perhaps I should have read the fine print, "Pork Should Picnic Style Roast - bone in." For some reason my eyes glossed over that interesting bit of information, bone in. My lovely roast has a big bone going the wrong way. It makes butterflying rather difficult. Since it was too late and I was too cheap for the Ribeye Roast I had to proceed. Carving around seems to work, kind of. Instead of 1 nice butterflied piece or a top and bottom I can roll back together, I end up six interesting pieces of various sizes and thicknesses.  A few skewers and some nice twine save the day. Note the following picutres are not for the faint of heart, but just remember this is six separate pieces of pork.

 Here's the process and the results... 



Pears & Cranberries Stuffing

 

Sorry for this picture but remember the six pieces. Now one.



 

Preparing for Trussing



This will never work...

And here is the result.

This may work...

While this may not look that appealing, note that the stuffing stayed in for the most part.

When the twine was removed (Lesson 2 - use different string) and the roast placed on a plate it was just the thing to grace thte table. It worked.

What made this event worthy of Advent was not the pear and cranberry stuffed pork but the good company and pleasant conversation. (Though the pineapple upside down cake will be remembered as a close second in making the event). Good times with new and old friends is not what Christmas is all about, but I have a sense that this is the right way to celebrate this special season. It turns out I was the only spontaneous one in the group and everyone else just humored me by dropping plans to rest quietly in preparation for Christmas. I am glad they did.

This is an advent blog post so without hesitation I wish you a Merry Christmas! And just in case I missed the holiday wishes that you would prefer, then I will wish you a Very Happy New Year.  

Advent 2010 #4

For the four Sunday's before Christmas at church we light one more candle on the Advent wreath. Then on Christmas Day the fifth candle is lit. I think we may do this Christmas Eve. A different family in the church reads the scripture and lights the candles each week. The full story may come later but  here is the picture of Sunday's third candle:

Advent Wreath - Week Three

I forgot to mention in an earlier post on our family traditions that the third major activity we did with the girls during Advent was to light the candles on the Advent wreath at home each night. This was the favored activity and the rotation was strictly adhered to, at least once all three girls were old enough to do it. Since the tradition faded as the older girls were not around as much, MCP probably had fewer opportunities to light the candles. (Warning: This probably means that she is the one who is most interested in playing with fire.)

Cheap Advent Wreath Story?

There are lots of sites that tell the story and symbolism of the advent wreath. My search started with the realization that I had lots of options if I wanted to purchase the story of advent.

I started to post a list of the more interesting web sites that give the story. But since each story has a little different focus and the symbolism behind each element of the advent wreath varies I will spare you all the variations on the theme. Here is the quick summary. Multiple sites identify the meaning of the candles and the traditional colors:
Week 1: Prophet's Candle (Purple)
Week 2: Bethlehem Candle (Purple)
Week 3: Shepherds Candle (Pink or Rose)
Week 4: Angels Candle (Purple)
Christmas Day: Christ Candle (White)

Catholic Advent wreaths have 4 candles in stead of the 5 we use at our church. On Christmas day they switch out all four candles for white ones. I imagine some Scottish Presbyterian probably determined that it would be much more frugal to 5 candles rather than 8. Undoubtedly this is the cause for some serious seasonal debate somewhere in the world. Maybe not. I just like the fact that each day and each week I am reminded about why we celebrate. And a good discussion of the variations on the theme probably would point out a whole lot more reasons to rejoice.

Advent 2010 #3

The Peters' Gingerbread House 2010

No deep thoughts here... A friend's gingerbread house party is a tradition we have enjoyed since the kids were young. Even though none of our kids came home to join in the festivities this year, we still and made a gingerbread house. Marsh and I collaborated on one house. She took care of decorating the house proper while I focused on the yard.  A new insight this year was that you should complete the decorations on house before putting up the fence. Every gingerbread house needs a fence but the fencing contractor was not happy when asked to remove part of the fence to put on the house decorations. In the end the Christmas festivities were saved from disaster. Only one cross-beam (pretzel) was removed and a special tool was invented to place the decorations behind the fence posts.

No Chimney this year - going green in gingerbread land.

Note Side Building (Dog house or ???) and nice walkway

Note the wise selection of candy for the wall and roof  (Wrapped candies can be eaten!)

Taking your time in building and plenty of breaks to see other construction techniques is the proper approach. As each new family arrives throughout the afternoon, more dishes arrive that it is only proper to sample. I was content with hot cider and a couple of variations on meatballs augmented by chips and dip. But then the clam chowder came. It demanded a second helping. But, as always, the main event was not the houses or the holiday foods but the great conversation with old friends and a few new ones.

Note the lovely fence (Pretzels and small Gingerbread men probably won't get eaten.)

Hershey's Kisses for me, Rolos for Marsh. No one actually eats the little hard candies that have the little Christmas trees on them, do they?

Continuing the tour - Candy Cane Door - Bet you wish you had one.

Note the fire pit and walk ways in the front yard - oooo - 

So much for going green

And a first for all the years and hundreds of houses made at this party - a fire pit with Gingerbread kids roasting marshmallows. The correct way of course, letting them flame up.

With a better camera you could see the tremendous skill required to create the blazing fire ... Well, perhaps not much skill, but definitely a tremendously random mind to conceive of it.

Advent 2010 #2

Sun rising in the Neighborhood

Today's post was actually the first thought that caused me to think I should post an Advent series.

I took a walk the other day just before sunrise. As I walked the sun was striking the mountains, too bad I did not capture that picture. The sunlight struck the mountains then the houses across the street. The mountains were filled with dark shadows until light broke through, exposing more and more of the valleys and crevices. And the houses, shrouded in a dim light. slowly filled with light. What I had thought I could see clearly suddenly became even clearer, revealing things I had been staring at but not able to see.

Sunrise

Looking toward the sun, it was still hidden from my sight by a hill. The hill itself was in the dark. As I walked, the edge became more defined and the glow somehow made the hill look even darker, darker than the mountains. The edge of hill became clearer and clear until when the sun finally rose I could no longer see the edges or the hill, until I was forced to look away. I found that at sunrise, the clearest view was in looking away from the sun toward what it reveals.

My faith has brought me to a place where I often look at the completed picture, exposed to the full light of day. And sometimes I lose sight of how that picture came together, both in history and in my life. Each day, considering a new facet of the Christmas story draws me into the story. Slowly the full story is exposed but I have connected with each part, distinct and special. The words of Isaiah and Psalms, the announcements by the angels, the musings of Joseph, the reaction of Mary, the birth, Simeon, and Anna, the Wise men, and the shepherds all bring me to a place of anticipation and hope. 

I appreciate that our culture provides some symbols to remind me of Advent. But my anticipation is not what it was as a child looking forward to Santa Claus and Luminarias and presents and snow. My anticipation is not about some celebration of a historic event (which it is) or even some final end result (which it has). It is deeper or different than that and I don't have the words, or enough of the right ones to describe this today. But even if I did explain it, since it does have to do with faith you may not even think it is rational. That is okay. For now, just know, that I connect with that story and sense a bit more of its depth with each year. And for this month I'll simply take it in, and let the story speak.

Peace to all.

Advent 2010 #1

If I were a very linear person this post would have been on the 1st of December to initiate an advent series of posts or on November 30 as an introduction to what it is I like about this season. But here it is, the 7th and I am finally posting this note. I do have a number of thoughts that would make a nice series of reflections. If there are no more posts in my Advent series then the thoughts were not as grand as I had originally thought. Here goes, Advent 2010, #1. 

My wife went to Paris. My kids (who are not kids) went to Thailand except for one who went to school. And I, not able to go to Paris or Thailand went to Palo Alto. But on the way home I do go to Paris, at least the Paris Bakery in Monterey. A close second to the real thing I am sure. Note the lovely fruit tart and the cake. And of course the card...

Driving in the rain...or... Sailing on PCH...

I begin again. It is not that I have not wanted to write for the last year. The highs and lows of the past year were really at the wrong level for a public airing. So this blog has been spared the depths and the heights. But hopefully it will benefit from the results. Fortunately beginning again is just a new beginning for this blog. And this could also be the end of this blog if words fail. I begin.

I drove to LA yesterday. It was raining. Hard. I am not complaining because it never rains in California. My complaint is that Mia, (the Miata), does not like the rain. And with the hard top on, driving down PCH, rain pelting down, Mia was feeling pretty small. I tried to be encouraging, giving her room to avoid the rooster tails of the SUVs, but this was impossible at times. And I have found that hydroplaning in Mia can be quite exhilarating. But not on PCH. Not a good idea. So to avoid the hydroplaning, we kept our distance, and were careful on the brakes.

But hydroplaning on PCH solved a puzzle for me. I noticed every time I started to slow down I would let the car slow a bit and then would press on the brakes, slowly to be sure. But when I did Mia would speed up a bit. I guess Mia did not think going 60 on PCH with SUVs on both sides was not exciting enough for me. Actually, she did not really speed up. It was just that when I expected the car to slow more rapidly she kept sailing along. So as I was being careful not to become a road bump for one of the SUVs, Mia did her little rain trick of not responding quite as quickly as I had in mind. It suddenly dawned on me, while I had been successful not to hydroplane much on PCH, Mia's brakes were doing a little hydroplaning of their own. In California, it really is not often that I get reflect on the impact of rain. The spray of water from the SUVs provided a very nice coating for the disk brakes, allowing the pads a slight moment to skid along the disks before taking hold.

I arrived safely, eventually found coffee and proceeded on to my day.

Evening drives in LA are always fun. Mia and a few hundred thousand other cars all making their way to the exits. But traffic along my route was not bad and I was not in a big hurry. It was still raining but I was settling back into the routine of avoiding congestion. I decided west on the 90 would be better than north on the 405 (no rocket science there for those who drive it and have a choice). And I noticed that there really wasn't any traffic coming the other way. So LA - traffic stopped in every direction and one road wide open. And then the emptiness on the other side became a conscious thought as the red lights flashed on 2 or 3 fire engines and 6 to 8 CHPs on the opposite side of the road. KNX was kind enough to tell me that this was a fatal accident. Some family is rather sad tonight.

Back on PCH, the rain came on. The beauty of Malibu was lost on me as an SUV on my left hugged the white line next to me. Escalades are made to expand in the rain. Being in the front of the pack Mia and SUV strained to distinguish between the road and the water. Unfortunately, SUV got the road. Mia got the water. See hydroplaning above. But I did not really have trouble hydroplaning. hitting the small lake in the right lane at 45 MPH slows you down really quick. The SUV behind me was not too happy about that part, especially after the second time. But the SUV one on my left, watching MIA slam in to the lakes suddenly became a little more polite and hugged the yellow line on the left instead of the white line next to me. Smart move.


I found coffee, proceeded on my way, and arrived safely.

And pretty soon - because it never rains in California - Mia and I will store the hard top, we'll find a nice dry road without any SUVs, and Mia will be happy.

No great American novel tonight. Perhaps next time. Just thankful. It's a beginning.