I haven’t written much lately; just haven’t been inspired by much of anything. The flu has kicked our behinds the last three weeks, with my mother in the hospital for one of them. It snowed while she was in the hospital. It was like a giant baker had taken his sifter and sprinkled the whole area with confectioners sugar. Driving home from the hospital that Friday afternoon, I thought I had taken a wrong turn and wound up in Narnia. White was everywhere. Beautiful and cold. I didn’t take a single picture.
My mother’s health has not improved much since we’ve been home. Saturday I listened to Christmas carols, while I baked sugar cookies and fought the dog, trying to keep her away from the bowls of icing. She managed to lap all in the green. No, I didn’t use it. I made more. Bad dog.
I had thought about sharing a recipe for sugar cookies and decorating sugar cookies, but it’s late in the Season and really, do I need to add my trivial offering to the plethora of cookie traditions?
This was as far as I got on documenting my baking yesterday. I finished them, filling them in with tinted icing to look like reindeer. They taste good- small bob of the head to acknowledge my accomplishment.
I mentioned the bad dog. Early yesterday morning I had her on her lead in the back yard. She slipped said lead and disappeared for a couple hours. The animal control officer was about to pack her in when I found her. Back at home, she acted a little off. She disappeared into the hallway and upchucked… Twice! Yeah…. Called the vets office. She’s fine and back to her normal self. Bad dog.
Not much in the mood for Christmas this year. Well, the commercial side of it, anyway.
I lost a sweet friend a month ago. Scrolling through my contacts today, I saw her number and the heart emojis she had typed in answer to a text I had sent back in August.
Also yesterday, in between batches of cookies, I washed a quilt that had been given as a prize at a family reunion a few years back. Each family member present had signed it. As I pulled it out of the washer to put in the dryer, the first name I saw was of my cousin Homer. He passed away in January of this year.
I guess I’m just sad this year and missing many people from my past. My Daddy. My grandmothers. My cousins. My friend. I’m glad, thankful, that one day I’ll see them all again.
We get caught up in the hustle of a secular Christmas. Hey, folks, it’s not your birthday! It’s the Savior’s birthday. Remember what is important.
Christmas Blessings from the Exile’s Kitchen.
theexileskitchen 
I am in the same frame of mine as you. No decorations, no gifts under the tree which, by the way is still in its box. Just sitting here contemplating this past year. The people I’ve lost that I loved and my own journey, as well as the joys of this past year. But a big part of me is wondering why I’m striving so hard when it’s all just vanity of vanities. Everything’s been done under the sun so why I’m I trying to add my own little life to the mix. Oh well 2018 looms ahead, perhaps it’ll be better but I’m not counting on it. Blessings my Exiled Friend and Merry Christmas.
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Love ya, Sister.
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Yeah…This is a hard one for me too…missing parents, brother, grandparents and the family times that Christmas used to be so much! Spending most of the day with all the family piled into one of our homes till laughter and kids spilled out of every door…it something my kids don’t remember much or at all…and they don’t miss it, don’t want to take the trouble to make that happen. I am grieving the loss of feeling truly Home with so many that have gone on to Glory. God is very close and holds me, however, there are so many times I would like Jesus with skin on to hold me a while. So many people I love in my life and am loved by many too. But…I cannot make Christmas what it was again…that is truly a loss. Praising God for the Birth we celebrate and pray that my kids will want to do that someday since they don’t right now. Beckam loves God and he and I will sing happy birthday to Jesus next Monday quietly. May the Prince of Peace encourage, guard and grant overwhelming Joy to us all! SO miss you–someday soon we HAVE to get together. Please give your Mama a hug from me! Your Cuz…Paula
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Thank you, Paula. The ‘new’ way the holidays are done now just don’t cut it, when our parents made our younger years so good. My boys are good about trying to carry on traditions that were started when they were kids. Divorce is an insidious stain that keeps showing up on the family table cloth, splitting that table into multiple households. And I must admit that I often feel cheated– all over again.
But my boys are sweet, and their wives, and my grandchildren. Grandkids are aptly named: Grand! We celebrated Christmas early at Lee’s house yesterday. Lee cooked. He’s good at it. We had fun together. Again, new traditions are being started.
Love you, Cousin.
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