It was December 20th that my dad went home to Heaven. It has been about two decades since that happened, but I still miss him and wish I could hear his voice. I inherited his love of teaching, his compassion, and his loyalty.
Ken's sister, Karal, died early in December about thirty years ago. Yes, she was young, and yes it was a sad and distressing tragedy. Earlier today I got out my mother's little wooden recipe box for the first time since she died (last January) and seeing the box full of recipes in her handwriting with notations like "really good" or "Mama's" (my grandmother, gone for nearly sixty years) or "Pauline's." Pauline is my aunt, the best cook EVER, who was the last of eight children to pass away, just a few months ago. And one of my sister Darliane's recipes popped up as there well. I think I will never stop missing her.A couple of my sister Paulette's too. She is still alive and well and living on Planet Earth, but circumstances of our lives have made it so we rarely see one another.
I'm heading to the kitchen to make our family's traditional holiday bread. Find it here. I'm going to try adding craisins to one of them...my mother is probably rolling over in her...well...you know!
And in a few days I'll make Ken's mother's famous Julekaga...and I'll miss her too.
It made me sad and nostalgic and lonely for those I love who are no longer here--also thankful for people in my life. What a blessing to have a husband who loves me, Kris and her little family living only 10 miles away, and to know that our son, Josh, will be home for Christmas. This is our first Christmas with Ken's brother, Kevin, for more than thirty years. He is fragile, but he is here, and there was a very long time when we thought we would never see him again. Maybe someday his other brother, Keith, will decide he wants to have family. We continue to pray for him.
We've also recently heard from two neices we had lost contact with: HI KANDICE and KIMBERLY!
Give someone you love a hug soon!
Christmas is HOPE of life and love eternal.
3 comments:
Just curious -but as one of part-Swedish ancestry, what is Julekaga? Is this a special bread? The ham has a special name too that escapes me right now -but I think it's Jul-something too! Anyway, just wondering if this is anything like some some of the things I grew up having but just under a different name.
Like you, Christmas always brings a mix of the excitement and anticipation but too, it often brings in so much sentiment and a sense of loneliness and missing so many no longer part of my life today. It always comes and sort of dumps on me at sometime over the holidays -usually Christmas Eve or Day but this year, it arrived a bit early. I'm thinking maybe it's better that way as I now have what, three days to try to help it worm it's way out of my system to make room for the joy that is what belongs now.
Peace -and oh yes, God Jul!
Hope you and your family have a peace-filled Christmas!
You too, Kievas! And Jeni, Julekaga is a Norweigan bread that we only make at Christmas. It is a yeast bread with almonds, cherries and raisins in it, and it is made into a big braid before baking. Unlike the similar German bread, Stollen, it is not frosted, and it is only very slightly sweet. It turned out so beautiful this year that I might take a picture! We will also have some of my daughter's FABULOUS cherry bread, which is sweet, and orange nut bread. The Julekaga was something Ken's mom always made. The orange nut bread was something MY mom always made. And Kris decide to trow something new into the mix. LOL We will be breaded to the gills.
Post a Comment