Baby Jesus Is Back

Once upon a time, many years ago, maybe thirty years or so, the mother in the family spotted a tiny wooden manger scene in a holiday catalog. The carved figures, none taller than an inch and a half, were brightly painted. "This set would be perfect for my children to play with at Christmas," the mother thought. 

And verily so, she ordered the toy crèche and throughout the children's growing up years the miniature figures became a part of the family's holiday times. The children would set up the manger scene on the kitchen table or under the tree, and, in so doing, the Story was told again and again. 

But the children grew to be adults and one Christmas, in setting the tiny figures out in the kitchen windowsill, the mother noticed that Baby Jesus was missing. "Lost," she thought. "We have lost the baby." Like all mothers, when their children leave home, even though mothers know that children must grow up, the mother felt the loss of the tiny carving for the little creche had found its way to the family's Christmas celebrations.

She knew it was just a representation  of the Christ Child, just a piece of painted wood, yet every Christmas she would take out the little figures and, fingering them and remembering, she would wish that they would somehow or another find the tiny painted figure somewhere in the big empty farmhouse. 

Christmas after Christmas came and the mother became a grandmother. The little toy crèche moved to another house. By now the grown up children talked about how Jesus must have been tossed out with wrapping paper some year. Jesus was probably in a landfill, or worse, incinerated. But maybe, the mother thought, the little wooden piece is stuck in the cracks of the oak flooring in the old farmhouse. 

Finally the mother thought and thought about the Story. Baby Jesus was still in the manger. The problem wasn't that Baby Jesus was gone. The problem was that the tiny painted piece of wood was gone. The mother knew a famous woodcarver and a talented Artist. "Maybe I could ask the Carver and his Wife if they could make a new baby for the very old manger scene," she thought. 

And so she dared to ask the famous Carver if he would gently carve a new Baby Jesus. And she asked, too, if his wife, the Artist, could paint the baby so Mary and Joseph would have their baby back.

And it came to pass that the Carver and the Artist, using their magical talents, created a new manger and in that manger they fashioned a Baby Jesus for the Holy Family. When Christmas time came, they bundled up the little creche with all of its brightly painted figures and packed them safely into a postal box.

The Mother, upon opening the box, carefully pulled out the figures, one by one, until she came to the Baby. Yes, a new Baby, but still the Old Story.

And so the figures returned to the kitchen windowsill where they remind the Mother, when she pauses in a day's work, that Baby Jesus really isn't lost. In fact, Baby Jesus comes back every Christmas, making the Old Story into a New Story, again.

Walk To White Rock

White Rock in the background -- Dec. 26, 2014

A bunch of us walked to White Rock on the day after Christmas. Our walk was a repeat of our hike to White Rock (the rock, out on the Shoal) last year, but this year we had to stay on the shore since there is no ice on White Rock Shoal.

The town of White Rock is one mile south of our lake house and so we walked to White Rock (the town) along M-25 on a cold and sunny day. Here we are on the lookout on the base of the stairs at the roadside park just south of the junction of M-25 and Atwater Road.

Walking on the ice toward White Rock -- Dec. 26, 2013

Lake Huron was so iced over last Christmas that we could walk on the ice out for about a half mile. This year the water levels have been up since the start of the summer and the temperatures have been moderate, so there is no snow and no ice.

What a difference a year can make.

Christmas Quilts Day Five: Winter Pines and Sister Quilts

Fifth in a series of five blog posts about Christmas quilts, today's post is about quilt with pine tree blocks. 

During the years that I owned a quilt shop I had to give up the idea of ever finishing many of the quilt projects that I started. Part of the energy of selling quilt fabrics comes from always having something new coming into the shop, and so I had to be moving on to the next best thing, even if that meant putting really cool quilt ideas and projects aside.

I did manage to complete one quilt and that is my "Winter Pines" quilt. The tree blocks in this quilt were cut using a tool called Easy Angle that my mother enjoyed using. I saw how much she enjoyed making pine tree blocks with the tool and sewed some blocks of my own.

Those blocks ended up in this quilt. Several of my friends also made the exact same quilt using the same tool. Their quilts were finished way before my quilt was done. I know that Carol Bain and Gloria Bush are enjoying their winter pine tree quilts year after year, and I consider their pine tree quilts as "sister" quilts to my quilt.

I used red quilting thread in the loops that arch through the trees in this quilt. It is entirely hand quilted, by me, and is one of the quilts that links me to my quilting sisters, those many friends who came to the quilt shop and sewed right along with me.

Christmas Quilts Day Four: I'm Pining For Christmas

Fourth in a series of five blog posts about Christmas quilts, today's post is about a quilt with wool batting.

This little quilt, finished in 1992, has wool batting from the sheep that we once raised on Graywood Farm. Hand stitching through a wool batt is like stitching through butter; the needle and thread glide effortlessly.

The quilt is a single Irish chain with a pine tree block in the center of each chain. I am thinking that I used cardboard templates to cut the blocks, which would mean that this quilt predates my ability to use a rotary cutter.

It is hand quilted with stitches tracing the outline of each tree and forming a gentle curve in the border fabric. My cutting skills may have been minimal, but I was working toward even hand stitches in my finishing work.

The label on the back of this quilt names the quilt as "I'm Pining For Christmas," a very apt name for a precious little quilt.

Tomorrow's quilt -- a tree block from my Mom and sister quilts.

Christmas Quilts Day Three: Star in Star

Third in a series of five blog posts about Christmas quilts, today's post is about a rescued star quilt.

Fifteen or so years ago we were strolling through the Bay City Antiques Mall and I happened to spy a quilt that was red and green and pink. The pink should have been white, but the quilt had apparently been washed, and the red dye had stained the white fabric pink.

"I think I could rescue that quilt," I told Ed as we both handled and looked over what seemed to be an irreversible situation. Susan Fuquay, the designer of yesterday's Simpleworks quilt had just written in her magazine, "American Quit Retailer," about her saga of having the reds run in her first sample of the red and green Simpleworks quilt. She told about "moving the dye" which meant using a surfactant like Synthrapol (think, mild soap) and submersing the quilt time and again until the pink water turned clear.

That Christmas, I found the damaged, pink stained star quilt, the one in the photo above, under the tree with my name on it. "You said you thought you could fix it," Ed said. "Now you can try."

The end result, after about six or eight washings, was this delightful star in star quilt that we enjoy so much every holiday. The pink is gone and I often wonder about the quiltmaker or maybe her child (daughter? son? niece? nephew?) who abandoned this quilt.

Surely there is a story that lies in these stars.

Tomorrow's quilt -- tiny trees and some wool batting.

Christmas Quilts Day Two: Simpleworks

Second in a series of  five blog posts about Christmas quilts, today's post features a hand appliqued beauty. 

Here's a quilt that is based on the Baltimore Album quilts made on the East Coast in the 1800's. Called album quilts because each block is different, like a photo album, Baltimores are a genre reserved for quilters who are willing to tackle the hard stuff. Usually consisting of red and green designs on a white or cream background, Baltimore Album blocks are hand appliqued with one block taking anywhere from ten to twenty hours of stitching time.

This album quilt, designed by Susan Fuquay of the Dallas area, is called "Simpleworks" and was one of the many block of the month quilts that were sold at my quilt shop, Pigeon River Mercantile & Wool Co. The Mercantile opened in November of 1992 on Main Street in Pigeon, Michigan, and was a mecca for quilters for almost ten years.

Pat Smith of Cass City, Michigan did the careful applique and piecing work on this sample. I love the sawtooth borders and the subtle gold touches that Susan's design worked into the quilt. This Christmas, Simpleworks is hanging above a console table that is on the backside of the fireplace at our lake house.

The dessert plates are already stacked on the table and Mary Gettel's hand woven basket holds the extra flatware that we use for desserts. I made an old fashioned frozen fruit salad for one of the desserts. Tomorrow I will bake a maple pecan pie for the other dessert that will be served on Christmas Day.

The Simpleworks quilt, stunning as it is displayed this holiday, has its roots in Baltimore, is touched by a Texas designer, and has found its home in Michigan. This Christmas I am displaying this quilt as a reminder of people like Pat Smith whose loving stitches and smiles graced the quilt shop for many years. Customers and friends, their support made The Mercantile a special place and I am grateful for that.

Tomorrow's post -- A quilt found at the Bay City Antiques Mall, and then rescued.

Christmas Quilts Day One: Glad Yule

This is the first in a series of five blog posts about some of my Christmas quilts. Each post will feature a bit of story telling about the featured quilt or quilts.

My holiday quilt book, "Glad Yule," was published by Graywood Designs in 2007 and remains one of my favorite design collections. The ideas were percolating for quite a few years until they began to take shape as stars and trees and houses and flowers that peppered the table runners and wall quilts in the book. This collection was introduced at International Quilt Market in Salt Lake City in the spring of 2007.

These two designs use an easy five inch tree block that features Thangles, an innovative notion that helps quilters make successful half square triangles. Thangles are an invention of my clever quilting sister, MB Hayes. Making Thangles is a little like eating potato chips -- you can't stop at just one.

The wall quilt, "Starry Yule," has several dozens of Thangles that make up the central tree and the side borders of trees and stars. A smaller size, it ended up just the right size for the limited wall space in an apartment or kitchen or a hallway.

I can't look at these quilts without thinking of Danielle Damen, my able helper and editor, who sewed so many of the samples as the book took shape. Danielle's expertise rescued me in those months of design and layout and editorial work, since it was in those months that my mother, Val Hayes, entered her end-of-life months, and then died in January, just as the book was taking shape.

Quilts can be very communitarian, in that they join you to other people who touch your life as a quilt takes shape. That quilting community certainly surrounded me in the days and months of publishing this book. From a sister's clever thought, to a colleague's careful work, to a mother's final days, and then to the many quilt shops who sold this book, these quilts let me touch, again, those whose lives have made a difference in mine.

Tomorrow -- from Texas to Michigan to Baltimore, the Simpleworks quilt.

Holiday Greenhouse

Poinsettias, so characteristic of Christmas, stand in ordered rows in the Tohono Chul greenhouse this month. Their crowns of bright red dominate the benches that are home to cactus plants and succulents, all typical of the desert.

Just behind the poinsettia parade are the Christmas cactii.  Red, pink, peach, white. The colors are commanding and it is hard for someone like me, who loves these harbingers of the holiday, to walk away without buying a single plant.

Out in the courtyard there are scads of pepper plants. Edible and tiny, these little gems finally remind me that I'm in the desert Southwest and it is almost Christmas.

The Demise of the Christmas Tree

Our poor Christmas tree stood neglected and without water for over a month. The branches drooped and dried out. The bead strands slipped and slopped.

So today, finally, we took the tree down. There were seven strings of lights, dozens of red glass balls, eight bead strands, and a lot of individual ornaments on the tree.

The needles on a fir stay somewhat soft, even when dried out. This tree was so dry that the tips of the branches flipped off as we removed the beads and lights.

Ed has a nifty way of taking the tree out of the house. He cuts the lower third of the branches off, opens a window, and pulls the tree through the opening and out onto the terrace beyond. Then he carries it out to the woods where it will shelter the bunnies and birds for the rest of the winter.

Putting the tree up and decorating it takes us at least a day. Taking it down can be accomplished in two hours and around our house, this day is known as the demise of the Christmas tree day.

Christmas Eve Walk

My Christmas Eve walk to the compost pile was exquisitely beautiful. Winter cold, ice on the trees cracking, long December shadows, thoughts of family coming on Christmas Day -- these are the best of times, the waiting and hoping for a special day.

Merry Christmas, from under the Willow that shades us all.

Christmas Album Favs -- Six More

I can't let this season escape without looking at six more favorite Christmas albums.

At the top of this list is the 2000 release of "You Better Watch Out" by Michigan's own Three Men and a Tenor. I'm pretty sure it is Chuck Colby's rendition of Elvis's "Blue Christmas" that gets me singing along with their a cappella arrangements. The 3MT guys are regulars around Michigan and deserve to be heard again and again.

"Come Darkness, Come Light -- Twelve Songs of Christmas" by Mary Chapin Carpenter fits the category of holiday albums that feature winter, thanksgiving and Christmas, all on the same disk. Her "Children, Go Where I Send Thee" is plaintive, yet festive, and a carol that is not so over done on albums.

I have to include "The Muppet Christmas Carol" which is available as a DVD and a CD. My nephew Matt loves this production and watching it with him brings out all the subtle lyrics, especially those by the long suffering Beaker. My favorite song, "Bless Us All," is sentimental and syrupy and right to the point. It's a Jim Henson production with songs by Paul Williams.

My sis-in-law Sue gave us a copy of "Carols By Candlelight," that features the Falcone concert grand piano at Marshall United Methodist Church. Performed by Dr. David Sly, this collection of piano music is what I listen to when I'm in the kitchen making cookies. It is a limited edition album with local connections that warms the heart. Somewhere I have a Philadelphia Singers album from my sister Heidi that falls into this category, too.

I'm a Harry Connick fan, especially at Christmas. "When My Heart Finds Christmas" is from 1993 and includes "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve," a great song for a guy like Harry to have recorded.

NPR fans willl recognize Garrison Keillor's "Now It Is Christmas Again," a compendium from the Lake Wobegon Lutheran Church, with story and song. My high school choir director was a graduate of St. Olaf College and in his choir you learned Norweigan carols, many of which are on the album and take me back to my Ripon High School choir days.

There you have it. Six more holidays favorites from Wanda's big box of well loved holiday CDs. Enjoy.

Advent Angel

 

It's the bleakest week of the year, these next few days. In the run up to Solstice Day I begin to feel the cumulative effects of short days and long nights. 

The weariness of the year presses on my heart and, like the ancients, I look around for some meaning, some sign. 

Ah. There she is. An advent angel with her 24 heart shaped pockets full of promise. Hung on a wall, with a funny nose, funky hat, and bead like eyes, she silently sings the song of hope. 

"Christmas is coming and things will get better."

A smile crosses my face. This unlikely icon, a doll hung on a wall, reminds me that in the darkest days there is light ahead.

There is still time for Christmas cookies and phone calls to faraway family and friends. Time to watch a holiday movie and sing a quiet song. 

And that, my friends, is good news, good news indeed. 

Christmas Album Favs -- First Six

Christmas music is a big joy of the season. I'm always watching out for new albums, but get out the old ones every year, too. My box of CDs grows with the years and it is officially the holiday when the box is unearthed from its year round hiding place.

John Denver and the Muppets did "A Christmas Together" in the early 1980's. There's a great version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" on this album and the "Silent Night" is one of my favs. I even have the piano music for this album and enjoy playing it every year.

Sting's very medieval sounding "If On A Winter's Night" brings me back to my days in high school madrigals when the group of us would carol with our luscious 8 part harmonies. This album is almost mystical and kind of edgy. It counters all of the sweet and syrupy stuff that is holiday music these days.

Straight No Chaser, an a cappella group from Indiana, has several holiday CDs. I listen to "Christmas Cheers" and enjoy the tight harmonies.

Amy Grant's "A Christmas Album" is plop in the middle of the 1980's Christian music scene, but her "Tennessee Christmas" always reminds me of my Memphis sister and her family. It can be a tear jerker for me. Yes, it can.

Chris Botti's silver sounding trumpet shines in his album, "December." Mellow, very mellow, and with a jazz touch. Listen to "Winter Wonderland" on this one.

Then there's Tony Bennett's Christmas album, "Snowfall." He sings with such exquisite diction, so full of soft vowels and consonants that flow that you hardly miss a word. Tony is a big favorite of mine and this album does not disappoint. "White Christmas" has some great trumpet behind Tony's voice, too.

I haven't listed these in any order of preference. Christmas is Christmas, and music is music.

Big Tree

Lunch at The Atrium in Bay City was made even more special when we visited their really big indoor real Christmas tree. The tree touches the rafter structure in this expansive dining room. 

The Atrium is located on Water Street, right across from St Laurents Nut House, home of our favorite peanut butter, along the Saginaw River. 

Sugar Cookies

Both my mother, Val Hayes, and my grandmother, Rose Luedtke, used the Mrs. Mehn's Cookbook, published in 1939,  in their kitchens. Here's Mrs. Mehn's sugar cookie recipe, all slicked up for the Van Camp House 4th annual cookie contest that was held tonight at the restaurant in Port Sanilac.

A Cranberry Coconut Bar cookie won the contest, but, really, I enjoyed the afternoon of messing up my kitchen with flour and sugar and butter and almond extract. This recipe makes over six dozen cookies. I took 18 to the contest and brought some home, so there will be lots of cut out cookies left for this holiday season.

Mrs. Mehn was the wife of an Wisconsin Evangelical Church pastor. She must have been quite the entrepreneur to have published and then sold this cookbook to many of the church families in Wisconsin. My sister Carla makes a great Cowboy cookie using a recipe from this cookbook. Or is it the corn flake cookie? Hmmm, I will have to find out.

A church history note: The Evangelical Church and the United Brethren Church merged in 1946 to form the EUB (Evangelical United Brethren Church). Neither of the two denominations nor the resultant EUB denomination were very large, so many of the pastors and their families knew each other quite well. So, Mrs. Mehn's Cookbook had quite an audience among church folk.

My father was ordained in the Evangelical Church before the merger, graduated from seminary after the merger, and served most of his ministry years in the United Methodist Church, a 1968 merger of the EUB's, the Methodists, and the Central Jurisdiction of the Methodist Church. The Central Jurisdiction was the segregated black church.

In 22 years, from 1946 to 1968, those denominational flavors came together to form one church, quite an accomplishment when you think about how factionalized much of American society is today.

Store Windows

The space that was the Graywood Designs Studio Store in downtown Pigeon got a sprucing up for the holiday season. There are two window displays, some little Christmas lights, and Christmas quilts from my Christmas design collection, Glad Yule, on the walls.

Pigeon's town wide lighting ceremony is this weekend, but I wanted to get the 44 South Main building looking a little festive.

Enjoy the sight, Pigeon and Thumb area people, when you drive or walk by. I hope that it will warm your holiday a little. I know that we all wish there was more retail in our little towns and that spaces like these were active stores once again.

Forlorn Owl

He looks kind of forlorn, this little owl from the tree ornament selection at Target. I brought him home to hang on the critter tree that will grace a corner of the sunroom this holiday season.

With his big eyes, crooked beak, and burlap body, this little guy must feel out of place. We will welcome him to the congregation of critters -- moose, deer, squirrels, fox -- that will gather to celebrate a Great Lake Christmas.

WHO knows, he might like it here by the shore of Lake Huron.

And then again, he may not give a HOOT.

Big Smiles and Happy Faces

That's Griffin, being a sneaky cousin, in the center of this family photo of Will and Wendy and their two girls, Vallanee, on the left, and Hannah. I grabbed my camera yesterday morning to take some quick candid shots of our kids and grandkids as we all packed up after Christmas. This is one of the resulting photos.

The cousins had a wonderful time together, as did all the adults surrounding them. We ate. We opened presents. We ate. We played in the snow. We ate.

It was a great Christmas together as you can tell from big smiles and happy faces.

Copyright 2012
Wanda Hayes Eichler

Grandma Elsie's Tree

 

My Grandma Elsie kept her Christmas tree out on the front porch where it was cool and the tree would last longer. Covered with tinsel and big electric lights and glass balls, it was where she piled all of the presents for us Hayes cousins.

 

We kicked off our boots on the way into her house for our annual cousin gathering and enjoyed a meal and opened presents. Her tree has a vintage flavor, thanks to the tinsel, but I remember it as a wonderful front door greeting when we visited her house at Christmas time.

 

Copyright 2012

Wanda Hayes Eichler

 



Christmas Dessert

I can always count on my cinnamon roll recipe but baking, other than cookies, can be a challenge at holiday time. There was a decidedly un-holiday Yule log one year. And there have been cakes that were less than a hit.

This year I chose a maple walnut tart recipe from Fine Cooking magazine and waded in. I didn't have a fluted tart pan with removable rim. I used a springform pan instead.

I also did not have maple extract and the recipe called for both maple syrup and maple extract. We, however, keep really good maple syrup on hand from the Sugar Shack on U.S. 2 in the Upper Peninsula. I used walnuts that are marketed by  Ferris Coffee and Nut Company out of Grand Rapids. Those two ingredients, I decided, would make this a made in Michigan specialty.

So I gave the recipe a try and, lo and behold, it was a wonderful success. Clay took my picture with the luscious tart before we cut it. John made vanilla sweetened whipped cream and we enjoyed a gooey pastry, unlike anything that I have baked before.

Copyright 2012
Wanda Hayes Eichler