Christmas - grace grits and gardening

The Scary Side of Christmas

December 21, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

As a child, Christmas was my favorite time of the year. Homemade stockings hung by the chimney with extra-care. Daddy was in a semi-decent mood. Yummy food spread on the kitchen countertop morning, noon and night. School was out for weeks. Sometimes knee high snow fell while I slept. Plus, Christmas was Jesus’ birthday which included certain church perks like singing Christmas hymns instead of regular hymns and receiving tangerines at the end of the Christmas program.

Brinkley Chapel Choir. (l-r Monica, Staci, Lesa, Mitzi, Me, Kim, Karen, Jamie)

But.

In my young mind, there was a scary side of Christmas, too. A dark side that adults glossed over or ignored altogether. Two worrisome things in particular kept me awake at night during the most wonderful time of the year.

Number 1 Scary Christmas Thing: Jesus was born to a very young virgin mother. Although the specific details of being an unspoiled virgin versus “one of those girls” were fuzzy, I had a vague idea of what it meant.

WHAT IF THAT HAPPENED TO ME?

I wanted no part of it.

When the angel Gabriel said, fear not for behold I bring you tidings of great joy, Mary and her whole family went right along with everything. Mary was so wonderful and worthy she even sang a song about it.

If Gabriel visited me in the night, such tidings would not be well received by Thomas Tate.

Daddy (Thomas Tate)

Not at all.

I also believed the more I stewed on something, the more likely a self-fulfilling prophecy would occur. So I tried to focus on other things—anything other than being a pregnant virgin child like Mary. Like trying to be extra good and not pouting because Santa Claus watched my every move.

Number 2 Scary Christmas Thing. The Naughty or Nice List that controlled Christmas. I knew Santa made a list and checked it twice, but that’s all I knew about his curious list.

When did he make the list?

What were the list guidelines?

Exactly how bad did I have to be to find myself knocked off the good list and onto the bad list?

I had lots and lots of questions that no one seemed qualified to answer.

Each year, I felt certain I had NOT been good enough. All throughout Christmas Eve night, I worried that I would wake on Christmas morning to no toys, no new Barbies, no clothes even. Nothing at all. After all, I wasn’t nearly as agreeable as Mary (see Number 1 Scary Thing above).

Worry-wart much?

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis]The scary side of #Christmas…Yikes! #VirginMary #BetterNotPout[/tweetthis]

Musical Pairing:

Mindy Gledhill – Santa Claus is Coming to Town

I miss Dallas at Christmas

December 17, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

Yes, there are a few things I miss about Dallas. Especially at Christmas. Not that I don’t lovelovelove Fayetteville, because I do. But I miss Chester and his people, Harold and Gale, and other Munger Place friends too numerous to mention.

Chester and Annabelle. Best buddies.

Munger Place porch parties, impromptu get togethers and holiday parties are unique and special.

Especially at Christmas.

I missed my nephew march in his first ever Christmas parade. I’m all about a Christmas parade. Shout out to Zach!

I don’t think Zach is in this picture, but he’s somewhere in this group. Jasper Band (Plano, Tx) is HUGE.

I miss Pei Wei. I do. And Scalini’s. And Tex-Mex in general. Tex-Mex is hard to come by in Fayetteville (or at least I haven’t found it yet).

I miss my rosemary plant. For the first time in at least twelve years, I had to buy rosemary at Thanksgiving. Craziness. I’ll be planting rosemary soon, but I’m not confident it will survive Northwest Arkansas winters.

Truly fun neighborhood. There’s even a hoola hoop in the picture.

I miss Northpark Mall. Although I’m not much of a shopper, I do miss Northpark.

Especially at Christmas.

Dallas, I’ll be visiting soon! But I do lovelovelove Fayetteville. Just so we’re clear.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis]I miss Northpark at Christmas. @NorthParkCenter #Dallas [/tweetthis]

Musical Pairing:

I’ll Be Home for Christmas – Josh Groban

Handmade Snow Globe

December 10, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

Yesterday during a short burst of craftiness, I made a snow globe using a Mason jar. From start to finish, this handmade snow globe took less than thirty minutes which included scrubbing clean the Mason jar which contained oily, congealed, leftover Thanksgiving salad dressing inside.

Last year, Annabelle gnawed the base off the tiny white Christmas tree (pictured below). Since I couldn’t throw it away, it’s been waiting for the perfect project. I’ve had the miniature snowman candle since my children sold wrapping paper and other stuff no one needed during school fundraisers in the early 1990s. Not kidding.

Step One. Secure embellishments to the jar lid using a hot glue gun. Use whatever you have on hand. I used the snowman candle and tree. (I added a tiny piece of berry garland to my tree – visible in the last picture.)

Step Two. Add snow. I used a combination of granulated sugar and…wait for it…wait for it………..GRITS! Yep. (You can use that cool fake snow sold at craft stores, but I improvised. Plus, I’m partial to grits…) And I added a sprinkle of red glitter which served no purpose, and I would omit next time.

It looked pretty cute on my windowsill, and I considered stopping there, but then I would have made a snow lid instead of a snow globe. Not that there’s anything wrong with a snow lid.

Step Three. Screw the jar onto the lid. I did this backwards, but it worked. Next time, I’ll glue my embellishments onto the lid, pour my snow into the jar instead of the lid, screw the lid on and flip upside down. But whatever. It’s meant to be shaken, so no biggie.

Step Four. I glued a little festive decoration on top because once I start with the hot glue gun, I can’t leave well enough alone.

Step Five. Shake it up. Watch the snow (grits – heehee) fall. Admire the marshmallow world you’ve created. Gift it to a friend or keep it for yourself.

Mr. Snowman does look a bit freaked to be in there, doesn’t he? Bless his heart.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis]I made a snow globe. Guess what I used for #snow? [/tweetthis]

P.S. I discovered through the wonderful world of Instagram, my friend Busvlogger and his adorable kids made snow globes yesterday too. If you don’t know about Busvlogger and his YouTube videos, you are truly missing out. He is a stay-at-home dad who shares his daily adventures with wit and charm. Check out his snow globe project below. He shows how to do this with children (sans hot glue). You are very welcome.

Musicial Pairing:

A Marshmallow World – Frank Sinatra / Dean Martin

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