grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

Ho-Ho-Holiday Traditions

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Clementines

Yesterday I bought a big bag of clementines at Harps. The mere sight of all that orange fruit piled in the produce aisle where sweet cherries lived during summer nudged me into Christmas. As I dumped them into a bowl on the kitchen island, I thought about holiday traditions and how I do certain things because somewhere buried in my holiday memories, we’ve always done it that way.

Back when I was a kid, Momma bought tangerines. (Clementines are a rather recent U.S. phenomenon, initially shipped over from Spain one year when the Florida citrus crop suffered a particularly bad year.) In my bowl, they smell just like Christmas on the farm, and they help fill the summer watermelon void.Continue Reading

Oh my word, it’s Thanksgiving Week!

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Buttermilk Pie - It's Thanksgiving Week!Oh.My.Word. It’s Thanksgiving week, y’all! I know I say it all the time and odds are good this won’t be the last. This year has flown by. And what a unique one it’s been. 2016 was the year I published my first book—something by the very definition can never, ever be repeated. And yes, I’m already talking about 2016 in past tense because if we round up, it’s over. Stick a fork in it.

Ov-er. Well, except for the flurry of activity ahead of us for Christmas.

So Thanksgiving week. We think about family and food and football and no, don’t you dare step on the stupid bathroom scale because during Thanksgiving week, all bets are off about calories. Who cares! And while we’re at it, let’s not talk politics, just this once. Instead let’s watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade(!), an old movie or two, play Monopoly, drink champagne. Celebrate every teeny tiny thing because, yes, some of the most remarkable goodness is doled out in teaspoons and snippets and slivers of time.  Continue Reading

easing out of Thanksgiving

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easing out of Thanksgiving...

There’s no easing out of Thanksgiving these days. As John and I walk the dogs in the misty, chilly, day-after-Thanksgiving afternoon, I’m impressed to see so many houses on our street already decorated for Christmas. Tree lights flicker in windows. Garland adorns porch railings, and festive red plaid pillows perch in porch swings. I wonder where my neighbor found those cute red pillows, and I wonder where she stores them during non-Christmastime because storing extra pillows takes a lot of space, but mostly I wonder when she found the time to decorate.

Why isn’t everyone piled on the couch watching football?Continue Reading

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