The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

9-27-2014 is a date that will stay in my mind for the rest of my life. Six years ago my dad went home to meet his Savior. We miss him more and more as time goes on. 

My dad was always ready to read a good book. Yesterday I found a story I had never read before. This book tells what happens when a family meets Jesus for the very first time.

Ellis and I were out for a Saturday drive. Garage sale signs swooshed the pickup right off the road and down quiet streets on a search for some new treasure. In Brownsdale we found some books. Ellis found his favorite author. I moved around the table and found childrens books. One took my eye.

I had never heard of this book or this author. The words on the back of the book told about a dreadful family full of bad boys and girls who terrorize the local school and community. The title of the book said, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever! My interest was stirred. I decided to risk fifty cents and bought the book. Worst case scenario I could throw it in the local recycling bin.

We hadn't gone far when Ellis started getting sleepy. I asked if he'd like me to read the book outloud. Before we knew it we were laughing at the absurd situations described by a 5th or 6th grade girl who is telling the story. She was in the same grade as Imogene - one of the little terrors. She tried to stay as inconspicuous as possible to escape all notice by Imogene, a girl who smoked cigars and threatened girls in her grade by saying, "I will push a pussywillow into your ear and then you will have a pussywillow bush growing out of the side of your head!"

In between stops to deliver merchandise for Hog Slat and browse at more garage sales, I kept on reading. To the very end. By that time Ellis was sniffling and I was all choked up and barely able to read. 

There are lots of hilarious stories in this book that will have you laughing out loud, but the main part of the story is - God with us -Emanuel - and some naughty boys and girls who meet Jesus for the very first time.

Imagine you have never heard the Christmas Story. Imagine hearing it for the very first time. I am usually not a fan of starting the Christmas season too early. This year I think I'm ahead of the local stores. If you have a chance to read this book it will change the way you think of Christmas this year - maybe every year from now on. 

Forty Years ago

Forty years ago my aunt and uncle gave a set of dishes to Ellis and me for a wedding present. It was a change from the three patterns of Corelle known at that time. Green, gold and blue ... all beautiful in their own way. 

We had a fall wedding, September 6, 1980.

I thought this pattern was extra special with its bright colors. 

I picked a bouquet this morning that reminds me of the colors at our wedding. I carried a  white Bible with a dainty handkerchief that I borrowed from my Mom. The handkerchief was edged in blue. I carried something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. Hmm! Now I wonder if it was the same hanky Mom carried at her wedding. That is an old-fashioned custom, probably unheard of these days.

Last night we brought out this set of dishes and had a merry supper with friends. Taco salad - crisp lettuce, taco chips, meat and bean sauce seasoned with chilipowder, garlic powder and garlic salt, grated cheese, salsa, all topped with sour cream, chopped onions (for those who are brave) and ranch dressing. My homemade French dressing was in the fridge at home. 

We rented the township hall down the road from our house. There were thirteen people around our jolly table. Lots of old time  memories were brought up and talked about as we made new memories. 

It is always a high light for Ellis and me to open up that old building, sweep out the ladybugs from the corners (ok - Asian beetles - which is the correct name) and let the gorgeous metal ceiling ring with laughter once again. 

We mopped the wood floor with Murphy's Oil and opened windows so cool breezes could blow through the room.

Ellis stirred together a grand mixture of nuts, chocolate covered raisins, dried fruit, etc. We topped our ice cream and brownies with chocolate sauce and nuts and sipped coffee as old stories and new circled around us. 

I suppose the mice were having a party in the basement and hoped we'd leave some crumbs for them. Not a speck remained for their enjoyment. 

It feels like we haul lots of our stuff over there and bring it all back to make a cosy evening.  Ellis told me I'd drive back and forth 50 times before it was all said and done. :)

Quite the exaggeration! But that's why the French dressing stayed at home and was sadly missed at our table. I thought of it at the last minute and decided to skip it. 

French dressing is such a lovely orange color! Homemade French dressing is the best.

1 cup oil

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup ketchup 

1/3 cup white vinegar 

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. paprika

Whirl all ingredients in a blender until it gets thick. Serve on salads.  

I didn't say it was healthy.  ;)

I remember celebrating a 40th anniversary with Ellis's parents in 1984. I thought Mark and Florence were quite elderly at that time.

I suppose the little boys at our party last night think Ellis and I are right up there almost equal to Methuselah in age.

Time changes our perspective. 

Out and About

This morning on the way to the dentist I was praying as I drove. Suddenly I felt quite overwhelmed and the next thing I knew I was crying - blubbering actually - what a fun way to arrive at the dentist. 

Well, a mask hides all, right? then I had to fill out a questionaire about Covid. Which I sailed through with no problem until I got to this ? Do you have a runny nose? I marked "no" while I said to the world at large, "I was crying on my way here so my nose is running." 

 After I sat down the gal across the room said, "Hi, how are you?" I said, "Fine, how about you?"  

But I could not recognise her so I moved closer and said, "I'm sorry, I should know your name but I can't say it." It turns out she is my Mom's neighbor. Masks are just hiding us from each other. 

Last summer she divided her lilies and gave starts to mom and her friends/family. I was one of the lucky people who got an assortment of lilies from her. I have been sending pictures to her all summer. The lilies are beautiful in my flower garden. 

 After the dentist I walked over to the library. 

 We can go in to the library! Happy Days! 

There is no place to sit. You can only stay 15 minutes. Still! The library is open, people! 

Here are my snap dragons!

I am so happy!

The old home place

The roof on the old home place was leaking. Ellis and Allen talked about getting a crew together to go to MT and fix the problem.  We hoped to go over Easter vacation. Then that virus shut everything down. When MT opened up and before Allen and Ellis got swamped with work they asked the youth guys if any would be interested in helping. We had a great crew respond.

I tried to get these pictures in the right order and two were so obnoxious as to get in the wrong places. I will need help from my editor.  ;)

The guys had a great time and so did the gals. My sis-in-law and I made breakfast and lunch. Supper every evening was down the road at a cousin's house. 

The weather was great for two days in a row allowing the guys to get old shingles torn off and a good start on the tin. We heard that rain was in the forecast so every surface that didn't have tin was covered with tarpaper.

We went to bed Friday night to the sound of rain and howling wind. In the morning we found the tarpaper and lathe held up under the onslaught of rain and wind. There were snow flurries at breakfast. This called for some serious site seeing so the roof had time to dry.

We are thankful for all of the Lord's mercies. The timing of the project, the response of those who helped, safety on the roof, safety in travels --

We want to give God all the glory !!

Around noon they were able to get started again and kept working until the job was done at 6:30 - 7:00.

A gigantic thank you for all involved.

May 2020

Time flies when we're having fun. A year ago we were getting ready for this big day. There were three weddings last summer and one in late fall. (Youth from Prairie Mennonite Church) Many times there have been four or five years between weddings at our church. Those four couples are glad they aren't planning weddings this spring/summer. 

This winter, before covid 19 took over, Ellis and I visited Texas. We went to visit Krysta and her husband, Allen. They were working in an area that had been flooded. Allen was a crew leader and Krysta helped with food preparation. New groups came each week to help rebuild homes that had been flooded. 

While we were in Texas we found out a baby is on the way to join the Nolt family. We are excited to meet our new grandbaby!

Back to the 60's. 

   Krysta, posing in her 

           Grandma's maternity outfit ...

And more modern days

April 2020

Happy Days!

Brown Bread

The whole process of making bread was very satisfying. Especially the kneading. It just felt good to work off some extra energy.

Of course eating the bread was super! I was reminded of my Grandpa Ben. He always said the bread Grandma made was bread. Anything you buy at the store is "brind"  --more wind than bread.

Here's the recipe I used. I cut it in half. The original recipe called for 24 cups of flour and made 8 loaves. I didn't feel that energetic!

                        Brown Bread
4 cups warm water
1/2 cup honey
2 T. molasses
2 T. salt  (I think I will use less salt next time)
1/2 cup shortening
6 cups whole wheat flour
4 - 6 cups white flour

Mix 2 T. yeast with 3/4 cup warm water.
Stir everything together and add 6 cups whole wheat flour. Mix very good. Add 4 cups white flour and start to knead. I keep some shortening on hand to grease the sides of the bowl and my knuckles to keep dough from sticking. Then knead, knead, knead. About 10 minutes or more if you really get into the mood. Great for your arms!

Here comes the great controversy... do you knead dough in the bowl or on the counter?
You know what? It doesn't make any difference.  It's all personal preference. Do what you have always done. Or if your mom always kneaded bread dough in the bowl and you'd like to try kneading it on the counter, go for it. If you've never heard of such a red neck method of keeping the dough in the bowl to knead, maybe you want to shake up your life and try that. (It's one less surface to clean so that's my reason for doing it that way.) Lazy or efficient - whatever you want to call it.

Let the dough rise until double, grease pans and knead the dough again, then shape into loaves and let it rise again in the pans. I poke the loaves with a fork before they rise. Again personal preference. It makes a cool design on the top of the bread. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes. Take out of pans and cool. Makes four loaves. Freeze the extra loaves or give them away.

I got teased by my husband who thought I'd forgotten how to bake bread. It comes back to a person - a little like ice skating or riding bike. How did I happen to have yeast and whole wheat flour, molasses and honey on hand? Even white flour for that matter...
Everything was right here in my freezer and cupboards just waiting to be mixed together.

Peaches and Ice Cream and Homemade Bread

I don't want you to think everything was peaches and ice cream in our travels. I'm sure there were days that we didn't like each other very much - pinches and squabbles - that sort of thing. We had a lot of fun together, though. There was that time when all the noise and babbling got on Dad's one remaining nerve. He looked back and said, "Cut that out!" One of us had the impertinence to say, "Give us a scissors so we can cut it out!" Not a wise thing to say we quickly found out.

Our daughter gave us a sign to hang up in our house the other year.
                          REMEMBER  ...
              as far as everyone knows ....
            "We're a Nice Normal Family"

That describes the family God gave Ellis and me, and it also describes the family I grew up in. I think if we are all honest we could say we each come from a "dysfunctional" family. I just looked up a little blip that described what a dysfunctional family is. One of the signs can be perfectionism. Always trying to make the family appear perfect. That hits me square between the eyes. How many years did I try to make my house/life perfect and all the little people in my life as well? Not even mentioning trying to remake my husband ... and the sad task of making myself "good enough." If we could make ourselves perfect why did Jesus have to come to this earth and die for us? I'm thrilled beyond words to accept Jesus Christ's perfection for my life. His precious blood cleanses me from my sins. I am grateful.

To continue on to the mountains ... Dad and Mom were probably very thankful to finally say, "There, on the horizon, you can see the mountains!" We strained our eyes and looked and looked. We had no way of knowing what we were looking for being used to peat bogs and forests and potato fields in northern MN. The only mountains we ever saw were the Turtle Mountains in ND when we went to Bible Camp every summer.

Lake Louise  Banff National Park
Columbia Icefield  Somewhere we trekked out to touch an actual glacier.
Jasper National Park  and Mt Robson which I mentioned before. I've heard if you hanker to go to Switzerland to see the mountains - and can't go - drive to the Canadian Rockies and vacation there. I recommend it.

At last we came to Dunster BC, a tiny village with a school and a depot and train tracks. Maybe a store ... and a post office. A dirt road curved around and took us to our cousins' farm. When we pulled in to the lane we had no idea how often we'd be coming back to visit this family who were, at this moment, strangers to us.

Part of the reason it has taken me so long to arrive is because of all those visits. I don't know what memories are first. Did this event happen on our first trip?  or was that later when we went back for a wedding?

Or when we went back in the fall of 1973 and lived in BC for three months? We went to school in Dunster and made even more friends.

For now we had eight cousins to meet and a new aunt and uncle we barely remembered. To hear all the stories our parents and Lester and Norma shared we finally had to believe that once upon a time they were little people like us with adventures just like ours.

We landed on a working farm where chores went on as usual. I hope we didn't interfere too much with the daily schedule.  I remember picking huckleberries. There was food to make and dishes to wash after the meals. There was a darling baby, only six or seven months old. Cows to be milked twice a day. I think I should ask more questions and find out what my aunt and two cousins older than me remember. I don't even know how long our visit was that first summer.

Around this time I was learning to bake bread. Our recipe was for white bread at home. Now we learned all about whole wheat bread. Freshly ground whole wheat flour was used for bread making. The wheat had to be cleaned. A row of little ones sat at the table with Norma and Mom supervising.We each had a plate with a pile of wheat berries on it. Anything you didn't want to eat was separated from the good wheat. Weed seeds, parts of grasshoppers, etc. The clean wheat was ground in an electic grinder and then mixed into bread dough. There is nothing better than fresh whole wheat bread pulled out of the oven, sliced, spread with butter and honey and devoured. I tremble to think how many loaves of bread we consumed while we were visiting that week.

On that thought we will stop for now. I am leaving you to go bake some bread.