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Sunday Letter: 12.23.18

December 23, 2018 By Talya Tate Boerner 7 Comments

Sunday Letter

Dear Sunday Letter friends,

Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

It’s inconceivable to me how quickly this year has flown. I hope Santa is better prepared than I…

I’ve been writing these Sunday Letters for a year now. I’ve missed two Sundays, I think. And a couple of letters were postcard short (like this one).

Today’s letter will be the last for 2018. Thanks for making my Sunday Letters a part of your week.

Play That Song

A few days ago I heard Silver Bells on the radio. Instantly, I was transported to Nana’s house on the home place, her living room to be precise, where she kept a modest stack of albums in a record stand much like a magazine rack. At Christmastime, her Bing Crosby Merry Christmas album was front and center partly as decoration, partly because she listened to it most often during the holidays. And Silver Bells was on that album.

Soon it will be Christmas Day.

Songs have power. Both the lyrics and the tune are as powerful as smells that transport me back to my school library or a trailer full of freshly picked cotton or a Frasier fir wreath hanging on the front door. This time of year especially, each old Christmas song seems to invoke a particular place or memory.

The power isn’t limited to Christmas songs.

play that song

Patsy Kline always takes me to Uncle Rex and Frances’s house, particularly the trailer they lived in on the home place. Old church hymns deliver me to Brinkley Chapel, except for Blessed Assurance. That hymn reminds me of Nana because she whistled that tune until she couldn’t. On the rare occasion when I hear These Boots Are Made For Walking, I am back in Osceola waiting for the slow-moving train to pass through downtown. Frankie Valli’s Can’t Take My Eyes Off You will forever remind me of the Ginza District in Tokyo. Morning Has Broken delivers me back to tenth grade at Rivercrest High School, to my first day in choir. Anything by Johnny Rodriguez takes me to the lake in the 1970s.

And so on.

I’ve been matching songs to blogs posts since the beginning of Grace Grits and Gardening, sort of a theme song or musical accompaniment to whatever I happen to be blogging about. I don’t know if anyone listens. I suppose it’s like all the other writing I do. I do it for myself and hope it touches someone. Or reminds someone of something.

The First Elf

I missed the whole Elf on the Shelf thing because my kids were in middle and high school when Santa began sending elves to watch over children just before Christmas. But for those of you currently living with a mischievous elf, I thought you’d want to know I found the first elf sitting of a shelf at Daisy & Olives in Prairie Grove. Evidently Santa has been sending elves to watch over shoppers for decades.

First Elf on the Shelf

Sock It To Me Cake

Do you remember the Sock it to Me Cake? It was all the rage when I was a teenager. Momma baked it and served it to friends over coffee. She took it to bake sales and cake walks and church happenings.

I made one this past week.

Sock it to Me

Much like the songs that take me back, the smell of it baking took me back, too. The combo of pecans and cinnamon and sugar could cure most any trouble I think.

Click HERE for the recipe I made.

Momma Makes Gravy

See you in 2019 Sunday Letter friends.

Merry Christmas!

Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

Filed Under: Memories, Sunday Letter Tagged With: Barbara Tate, cake, nostalgia, sunday letter, vintage recipes

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Comments

  1. Beth C Watson says

    December 23, 2018 at 8:35 am

    Merry Christmas

    Reply
  2. Colene/Tom says

    December 23, 2018 at 11:09 am

    Merry Christmas! Looking forward to your next Sunday letter! There is one more Sunday in 2018! Haha You deserve a break! Happy New Year!

    Reply
  3. Karen McDonald says

    December 23, 2018 at 1:12 pm

    Thank you for your Sunday letters and monthly book reviews in 2018. Glad we are neighbors.

    Reply
  4. Pam says

    December 23, 2018 at 1:42 pm

    Talya, I read and listen to your “Sunday Letters” each week. Thank you for your faithful posts! I hope 2019 doesn’t fly by like this year, but it seems like life is in warp speed. New book, daughter’s wedding – it will be an eventful year for you. Merry Christmas to you and to your Mama!

    Reply
  5. Sharon Collins says

    December 23, 2018 at 7:23 pm

    I look forward to every week’s Sunday letter. I do hope that you are not going to be too busy to keep in touch with your friends and fans. I love your mother’s comments and it was lovely to see her live and making gravy. Your momma is what we used to call a “Pistol” , isn’t she? Merry Christmas to all and may 2019 bring great success to you.

    Reply
  6. Suzy Taylor Oakley says

    December 24, 2018 at 7:38 am

    What a wonderful way to enjoy my morning coffee: nostalgia, recipes and great music! I’ll finish watching your mama make gravy when I get home from work this afternoon. Thanks for a great start to my day, Talya. 🙂

    Reply
  7. De Ann Bright says

    December 25, 2018 at 7:17 am

    Merry Christmas! I always enjoy reading your letters.

    Reply

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Hi! I'm Talya Tate Boerner. Writer, Reader, Arkansas Master Naturalist / Master Gardener, Author of

THE ACCIDENTAL SALVATION OF GRACIE LEE (2016)

GENE, EVERYWHERE: a life-changing visit from my father-in-law (2020)

BERNICE RUNS AWAY (Now Available!)

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