A Joyful Christmas

Jack, Shawna, Wayne and I went to Mom's and decorated her house. I think she feels a little more like celebrating the season now. The nativity has been set out on her Italian marble table for at least 35 years. Mom's collection of nutcrackers is awesome. But my favorite things are the tatted ornaments. The one on the left, as are all the square ones, was made by my Grandmother, Hazel Turner, and the round ones were tatted by Mom. I think these are beautiful and I know how hard they are to make and how time-consuming. They are indeed lovely.

I decided to add a touch of the British to our celebration, so I made 24 English Christmas Crackers. Our guests were good sports and played with the little toys, read the jokes, and wore the tissue-paper crowns.

Christmas Eve Menu

Appetizer - Stacy Uriona

Roast Turkey - Claudine

Baked Spiral Ham - Claudine

Cheesy Potatoes - Julie

Durkee Baked Beans - Kristy Schwab

Cranberry Salad - Cherie

Cherie's Salad - Cherie

Stuffing - Claudine

Cranberry Sauces - Claudine

Rolls & Butter - Shawna

Berry, Berry Pies - Claudine

Fruit Cake - Claudine

Christmas Eve Program

"Away in a Manger" by Everyone

Piano Solo by Ellie Schwab

"The Three Trees" read by Various Readers

Piano Solo by Mitchell Schwab

"O Hush Thee My Baby" by Cherie, Katelyn and Lauren

The Christmas Story from the Bible by Wayne Cable

"He Sent His Son" by Everyone

I really loved the program. We read "The Three Trees" because it is a beautiful story, and it reminded me of our two Christmas Eves in Wales at Lisa & Peter Hammond's home where we always had that story read. It was fun to have young children on the program again. "O Hush Thee My Baby" was incredibly beautiful. Cherie, Katelyn and Lauren blend so well together and it was a sweet moment. It was nice having Wayne read the Christmas story but it did make us miss Dad as he has read it for so many years.  "He Sent His Son" is one of my very favorites and singing it on Christmas Eve brought a sweet spirt to each of us.

Christmas morning we were at Kari and Cherie's at 7:00 a.m. to watch them open their Christmas. I have never laughed so much. They are a very amusing family, each one with a great sense of humor and they had so much fun together. It is very organized, but also very fun to be there.  Kari surprised Cherie with a new, big iMac - awesome!  Kari has become such a PC guy I was surprised to see him make the change, but thrilled.  They will not be sorry.  Cherie served a delicious egg, sausage and shredded potato casserole. It was fun.

After Cherie's and before Cherie and Julie, et al. came to our home at 11:00, we went to Melissa's. It was fun to see all the great things she made for breakfast and the millions of gifts Ellie got.

Julie actually liked the counted cross-stitch pillow I gave her that she and I had spent 30 years stitching. That was fun. Julie said, "This has one of my favorite sayings on it and I have quoted it to my children many, many times over the years." She read, "Our best friends are those in whose presence we can be our best selves." Spencer said, "Mine too." He read, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, . . ." Loved it. He is hilarious.

In the afternoon, around 2:00, we went to Mom's to share time with her on Christmas day.

Mom's Fruit Cake Recipe - For All Who Have Asked

 Christmas Fruit Cake

Claudine Cable via her Mom, Dawn Mangum via Aunt Rula Turner
(Best made in October for the Christmas holidays.)

1 ¾ cups shortening (Crisco)

2 cups sugar                                           Preparation Time 3+ hours plus baking time.

1 large jar grape jelly (Welch’s 32 oz.)

 1 teaspoon cloves           

1 teaspoon allspice

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons vanilla

8 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup molasses (or slightly less)                                    Large can Pineapple Juice

2 teaspoons salt                                                             6 new Handi-Wipes

2 cups raisins

2 cups dried currants

32 oz. fruit cake mix (2 16-oz. containers)

1 16-oz. jar maraschino cherries (cut up)

1 lb. or more gumdrops (2 18 oz. pkgs.) (cut up – use scissors)

            [Do not use the black ones.]

2 cups walnuts (cut up)

1 ½ teaspoon soda dissolved in 1 tablespoon water

3/4 cup sour milk  (add a little vinegar or lemon juice to sour)

7 cups flour (and use ½ whole wheat desired)

            Prepare the cherries and gumdrops.

(I mixed all the ingredients, in order, down to the raisins in my KitchenAid stand-up mixer.  Then I poured this into a large pan (I used a cold-pack canner, Mom used a dish pan) to mix the rest of the ingredients.) 

            Cream shortening with sugar until soft and light.  Add jelly, stir until smooth.  Add spices, vanilla, then eggs.  Mix thoroughly.  Add molasses and salt.  Stir.  Now add raisins, currents, fruit cake mix, maraschino cherries, gumdrops and nuts.  Mix well.   Add soda dissolved in water, then sour milk.  Beat until smooth.  Add flour. 

            I used a Bundt Pan, a Pyrex loaf pan and 3 medium loaf pans sprayed with Pam. The fruit cake does not rise very much so you can fill them to about ¾ inch from the top. 

            Bake at 300° for 1½ hours or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Those baked in the larger pans took longer.  Cool in pans to touch.  Turn out on wire racks.  When cold, wrap in Handi-Wipes soaked in Pineapple Juice.  Then wrap in aluminum foil (Heavy Reynolds Wrap).  Store in Zip-Lock bags.  Will keep for a year.  

Tradition! Tradition.

When I was a student at BYU a hundred years ago, my Mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas.  I told her that all I wanted was some of her gumdrop-filled fruitcake.  Generally, I am like the rest of the world and don't like fruitcake, but my Mom's is terrific.  Well, now that Mom is 90 it has been a couple of years since she has made it, breaking a family tradition that has gone on longer than I can say. Someone needed to pick up the gauntlet and carry on.

My sister, Shawna who is a very good cook, said, "Why should I make it?  No one will let me eat any." She's right. We won't let her have any because all she does is pick out the gumdrops and leaves the rest. She was banned from having some a long time ago.

Several years ago I decided that I ought to try making the fruitcake to keep the traditional Christmas favorite alive. I got the recipe, read about all the ingredients and the instructions on how to make it and said, "Are you kidding me! This is way too much work." I filed the recipe away.

A few years ago my daughter, Julie, decided she would carry on the family tradition, but after reading the recipe and instructions, she also filed the recipe away and gave up on the idea.  This year, now that I am retired and have more time, I thought I had better try it again while Mom is still around to answer any questions I might have so as to get a satisfactory finished product. I decided to be brave and make the attempt.  Here are the results:

First I assembled the ingredients.
This is only part of what is needed.

Then I used the two recipes I had from Mom and as I went along, I recorded all the instructions and actual sizes of the "large jar of grape jelly," or "one big bottle of maraschino cherries" so I would know exactly how much to buy if I ever decided to make this again. This is a very old family recipe and over the years items are packaged differently so what was "large" once is not the same size now, i.e., Hershey candy bars. I also recorded all the little inside tips Mom gave me. (I had to call her several times during the process.)

I finally had everything ready to start. I could even use my brand new Kitchen Aid stand-up mixer for the first ingredients - until I started adding the fruit, gumdrops, nuts and flour.

The hardest part was cutting up the gumdrops, they are so sticky.

The maraschino cherries took a bit of time too. 

The rest was just a lot of measuring, dumping and stirring to complete. 

 Three hours after I started, the fruitcakes were in pans and in the oven.

The recipe called for eight eggs and seven cups of flour.

There is so much batter, I had to use the cold-pack canner to mix it in.

It was nice to have two ovens,

one convection and 

one conventional

so I could cook them all

at the same time. 

 At least the batter tasted good and I am hopeful that the final result will have been worth it.

 Another hour and a half in the oven and voila - we have the family traditional fruitcake.

After it cools, Mom wraps the cakes in "Handi-Wipes" soaked in pineapple juice, then in Reynolds Wrap. 

So did I.

I hope it is as good as Mom's. She makes hers in October to have ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas but she assured me doing it this late will be okay. My brother, Dick, who is serving a mission in Austria with his wife, Carole, loves this fruitcake, so that will be the test. I sent him a loaf today.

I Can't Help It - I Think She is Adorable

Ellie Dawn Mott

Thanks to Julie & Tom for a Wonderful Thanksgiving!

Uncle Mark

I have always liked my mother's brother, Uncle Mark.  Perhaps because he would tease us when we were kids by spurting water between his front teeth and hitting us squarely in the face. His aim was incredible and the distance he achieved was always surprising. In addition, he was very handsome and had a great smile. His passing last Wednesday, November 3rd, has caused me to reflect on his life. He was born, raised, and lived his entire life in a small, peaceful, country town, Lyman, Utah. He spent his life farming and caring for his wife and five daughters. But during World War II, his life was anything but peaceful.

Partly because I was raised in a military family, I have enormous respect and admiration for those who have served to defend our country. Uncle Mark was drafted into the Army in November 1942 and served until October 1945, participating in some of the very worst battles in Europe. His unit received four Presidential Unit Citations; Uncle Mark was awarded the Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts. It took 50 years for him to be able to talk about the War because "it was too painful" and did so only by the persuasion of his daughters because they wanted his grandchildren to know what a hero he was. Uncle Mark stated at the end of his interview granted in 1990 about his military service, "There were a lot more close calls that I had, but I was trying to forget them which was very hard to do. I still have bad dreams of the war even now. I know I was really blessed to come out of it as well as I did.  My shoulder (having been shot through by a German soldier) hurts all the time but you can learn to live with pain."

He went on to say, "I was with the 2nd Armored Division, better known as the Hell on Wheels Division. It was quite a fighting outfit. Everybody that was there very long had been wounded two or three times." He served honorably and well and we owe him and so many other Veterans so very much. I certainly will be thinking of him and my father this Veteran's Day.

A Quintessential Autumn Day

 Is there anything more fabulous than a beautiful, mild autumn day at a football game.  My grandson, Spencer St. John, is #78 and such a great kid. The weather this autumn has been exceptional. 

Home, Sweet Home

Messages from Prophets on Temples

The Visiting Teaching and Home Teaching Lessons this month are taken from the beautiful publication on Temples made part of the October 2010 Ensign.  I found several of the little quotes by our prophets especially meaningful and shared them with my Visiting Teachees and would like to share them with you.  After I took this photo of the Salt Lake Temple today, I bought an extra copy of the Temples booklet.

"The house of the Lord, bathed in light, standing out in the darkness, becomes symbolic of the power and inspiration of the gospel of Jesus Christ standing as a beacon in a world that sinks ever further into spiritual darkness."  --President Boyd K. Packer



"Every foundation stone that is laid for a Temple and every Temple completed according to the order the Lord has revealed for his holy Priesthood, lessens the power of Satan on the earth, and increases the power of God and Godliness."  --President Boyd K. Packer

"If we do our duty and trust fully in the Lord, we will fill His temples, not only doing our own ordinance work, but also having the privilege of doing work for others."  --President Thomas S. Monson

"Each temple is symbolic of our faith in God and an evidence of our faith in life after death.  The temple is the object of every activity, every lesson, every progressive step in the Church."  --Elder Russell M. Nelson

We are indeed privileged to have so many temples so near our homes. They do indeed inspire us to do better and become more than we ever thought we could be.

Temples in Autumn

I really think the first days of winter have arrived, but the beauty of Autumn still lingers, even on a stormy day.

I took these photos on Tuesday, the 26th, after a pleasant time in the Bountiful Temple.

And Now Copper

The Gift of Lady

When I took this picture of Julie's dog, Lady, on the third of October, I had no idea it would be the last one I would ever take of her.  Lady left this earth on 10-10-10.  Coincidence? Perhaps the stars were aligned and it was her time to go. I am sure there is a doggy heaven and that she is happy and running free. Over the years she has been such a joy to me and a faithful friend to Julie through all her experiences, whether joyful or sad. There are times you really need a friend and Lady was always a comfort. 

The Conference Breakfast Continues

The tradition of a Conference Breakfast gathering at 9:00 am on Sunday started with Doug Parry years ago, but Julie has been doing our family's Conference Breakfasts for many, many years now. She always has great food and makes everything so cute and festive. For the past several years she has added a Girl's Night Out on Saturday evening while the men are at the Priesthood Session of General Conference. It is fun to be together, and it is great to be there when the priesthood men come back and report on any new happenings and the talks they heard, if we can get them to talk. From my experience I find that most men are generally not as chatty as women.

 This year there were babies galore.  Here are two-month-old Cooper and Amelia Thomson with seven-month-old Ellie Mott. We also were honored with Dax, Tess and Hobie Uriona as well as Turner and Max Thomson, the oldest of whom was four. Needless to say, we did not get the quilt tied we were going to do for the Humanitarian Center. Oh well, another day. 

Julie is always such a relaxed hostess, has everything done beautifully but is still able to enjoy her guests.

This was Hayden's first General Conference Priesthood Meeting. Kari and Cherie's boys are really growing up to be fine young men. 

Lauren and Lydia are looking great and seemed to be enjoying being together.

Such a lovely little family. Melissa is a wonderful mother and Jeff is great with Ellie who loves him to pieces. 

ON TO SUNDAY'S CONFERENCE BREAKFAST

I'm always assigned to bring the fruit. Julie makes amazing breakfast casseroles and other delights, others brought their assignments, so there was plenty of delicious food for all.

This is Dane and Stacy's cute family.

Dax, Hobie and Tess will keep them busy and provide plenty of laughs. 

Kari and Cherie have amazing children: Paige, Katelyn, Spencer and Hayden. 

What a wonderful family, and I am so glad they live close by.

We always are glad to see Paul and Emily even though they had to leave early to get back to their studies at Utah State University. Emily graduates in May. What a great achievement!

We were so glad Chase was able to come and that he brought Matt and Rebecca, his friends.

Julie, Tom and Lady. 

And finally, Julie's dog I have loved for years and years.

I think Lady is a great dog.