Yard Decorations: Sacred, secular and scrambled

The turkey is just a carcass and here at Western Gardens (name changed to avoid offense), the residents are decorating their buildings for the traditional contest. 

I overheard two women in the locker room talking about which company they hire to put up their lights and displays. Whoa, our one-man committee (me) put up the wreath left by the departing building representative, upgraded it with a string of lights, and plugged it in. 

Wreaths, swags and bows suit my fancy. So do giant trees wound with thousands of tiny lights. Discombobulated, include-it-all displays leave me shaking my head. Themes are more relaxing, more elegant. Unless it's my four year old grandson's vision of adding a new inflatable snowman to their yard every year.

Last Sunday, which was a pleasant 70 degrees, the serious contenders for the development's contest were busy. I passed another walker coming my direction from a building bustling with industrious volunteers. I commented, "They're working hard." 

     

"They're fighting about where everything goes," she said. 

Well, I could see why. Their collection of miscellany don't fit in the secular, or the sacred, or any other category. 

I took another walk today to check on the procrastinators.  Animals decked out with hats and angel wings are popular.

      

But so far, no red and green dragons, like this one in Home Depot. Can anyone explain its connection to Christmas, Hanukah, or Kwanzaa?

 

I didn't see anything I would vote for. 

Too bad we can't just project a giant video of the newest grandbaby on a wall. She's the best gift ever, and a winner!

Gratitude: Call to Action

All across America today, people have tied on aprons and are spooning up mashed potatoes and spearing slices of turkey. They serve total strangers they will never see again.

I know many of you like to volunteer lots of other days too. There are hosts of reasons. 

It makes us feel good. 

It reduces feelings of hopelessness because at least we’re doing something about homelessness or the environment.

We never outgrew being Girl Scouts. 

We are members of faith communities that teach the importance of helping others. 

Or, that’s just what citizens do.

I believe most of our service springs out of gratitude. We have discovered that gratitude is more than an adjective, it leads to action. According to the etymonline.com , for about five hundred years, the word gratitude has been used in such a way to go beyond a feeling about what pleases us, to making us “disposed to repay favors bestowed.” 

 I grew up free and inestimably blessed by a college education. As a teacher I chose to work with immigrant kids, many of whom who had already faced adult-sized challenges by the time I met them at age eight. Their difficulties made me more determined to do what I could to open their futures to more opportunities. 

Once retired, I kept at it as a volunteer. I met a family who wanted tutoring for their children. Bill and I spent many happy hours with the girls, helping with homework, reading to them, and introducing them to new concepts and vocabulary. 

This school year I help out in a 4/5 classroom in Denver’s international school for new arrivals. The teachers in this group have their hands full. There are at least five different native languages, probably ten different countries represented, and three kids have never been in school. Those children are not conforming to our standards of how to do school. Some afternoons my frustration is greater than the satisfaction I feel. 

The fact that the situation is not as conducive to learning as it could be makes me more grateful for the orderly schools and one really savvy principal I worked under. And in turn it makes me more determined to “manifest the feeling by acts.” 

I asked the school’s volunteer coordinator to pair me with a family. The apartment buildings across the street from where we live are home to many of the school’s families. She introduced me to Ameneh, a young woman from Iraq with two young children at the school.  Ameneh wants to give her kids every advantage she can. While her husband works, she volunteers at the school and takes their English class for parents. My extra help will move her closer to her goal to enroll in the community college. 

For our first meeting, I walked through the complex of rather shabby buildings, down the hall covered with thin, tired carpet, to their clean nicely decorated apartment. She has Iraqi touches all around the apartment, an "I love Iraq"  banner, embroidered red curtains and a lovely beaded table runner. American culture rules in the kids’ bedroom with a Cars movie bed spread for her son, some pink princess for her daughter. The bathroom is dominated by Dory. 

She served me ginger tea, pastries made with phyllo dough and pistachios, and dates stuffed with walnuts. She treated me like an honored guest. I was humbled and I hope I can live up to her expectations. 

Isn’t it wonderful how gratitude can lead to action, and then to more gratitude!

I hope that’s a lesson we share at our tables today. 

Happy Thanksgiving, and thank you for your acts of service to others. 

Thanksgiving holds the prime spot in my heart for holidays. 

When our family was young we tried to fill the table with other transplants to Denver. I embroidered a special table cloth to fit the table with all of the leaves in it, and loved setting a pretty table. We were all young and everybody brought something to round out the meal. One bachelor brought his coffee cake and ever since we enjoy Wacker cake as we prepare the meal. 

When we moved away we became guests instead of hosts. I was grateful to  enjoy other families' traditions. It reinforced my opinion that Thanksgiving is the best holiday. Here are ten reasons why.

1)   It’s less tainted with commercialism than Christmas. I’ve never heard  grandchildren clamor for a giant inflatable turkey.

2)   It’s an important reminder of our country’s origin, the desire for religious freedom on one hand, and the conflict with Native Americans.

3)   Our communities noticeably pause their frenetic pace of life. I've actually seen adults and kids at play in their yards. Until recently, stores have had shorter hours. 

4)   The day is used to share ourselves — time, traditions, a feast.

5)   We add others' traditions, like the Wacker cake. In North Carolina women make home made macaroni and cheese to place on the side board buffet. Oh, yum. I’ll miss that this year.

6)  The traditional menu is as close to a symbolic meal as we Americans get, short of Passover. Our menu at least has roots in what we think Squanto and the ninety warriors brought to the Pilgrims: wild turkeys, pumpkins, probably corn, and mussels and lobster. Check out this Smithsonian site for more information.

7)    The day is relaxing. We don’t rush. The meal is designed for conversation. (And our TV doesn't go on until after.) And there's even time to make a craft with the kids like these turkey cookies. 

8).    Thanksgiving sets a time boundary to keep Christmas at bay until December. I savor each holiday more that way.

9).    Even if I’m in charge of the meal, it means no-cook days later. I look forward to the left-overs as much as the fresh dinner.  

10.).  Thanksgiving has fewer expectations than Christmas. We can roll with no pumpkin pie easier than the disappointment of gifts missing the mark. 

I have some holes in my arsenal of Thanksgiving foods. Please share your best pecan pie recipe, best mac and cheese, and favorite “rite”, or special observance of gratitude. 

Wacker Cake:

Cream 1/2 pound softened butter and 1 cup sugar.

Add 3 eggs and 1 tsp. vanilla

Mix together: 2 1/2 cups flour, 3 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp. baking soda. Add to the creamed sugar mix. 

Fold in the sour cream.

Put into greased and floured bundt pan.

Combine 1 cup sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon. Sprinkle on top of cake along with chopped nuts and about 3/4-1 cup chocolate chips. 

Bake 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool before
removing from bundt pan. 

   

"Ideal" Fall

Vermont in October

Thanksgiving is only two weeks away which seems too soon. 


I'm grateful for past falls, like the ones we drew with primary crayons in grade school. We enjoyed this season in Massachusetts and Vermont several years ago. The colors were vibrant, despite the dreary sky. 

Ripe pumpkins tumbled down the hill like kids pushing out doors for recess.  They were so cheery, and promised the goodness of the Thanksgiving feast coming soon. 


This lovely sundial symbolized the change in seasons to me. It's on the grounds of the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller home in the national park in Vermont. It's a beautiful estate, and worth a trip to southern Vermont.  

I'm grateful that I have memories that fill in the chinks in my present discipline towards gratitude. To have experienced quintessential autumn on the east coast makes me feel full, that I haven't missed the beautiful places that created our ideals of fall and Thanksgiving. 

 I will be with my daughter and her family for the holiday. She and the kids have never seen an eastern fall, but I hope that's the vision in their imaginations. And I hope someday they get to see the real thing. Nevertheless, our western setting will not dim our celebrating the good things in our lives this year.