WHAT GIFT SHALL I LEAVE BEFORE HIM?

Dennis Rasmussen (The Lord’s Question, pp. 60-4, from the chapter "Knowest Thou the Condescension of God?")

A thousand years before a thousand years ago a holy night descended on the world.

In the darkness of Bethlehem the omnipotent God became an impotent Baby.

The hands that made the world and hung the stars in the sky were now just large enough to grasp a mother’s finger ...

What would be said of a God who came not in glory but in secret, a King who came not to command but to obey ...

He revealed that man’s greatness is not to be found in dominion over the will of another but in submission to the will of God ...

He began his life in a stable, that no one should ever feel too lowly to approach him ...

And now that I have come, what gift shall I leave before him?

I know, because he has told me, what will gladden his heart

"Love one another; as I have loved you … By this shall men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."

As I bring the gift of love, I shall see the smile of my Lord Jesus Christ.

CHRISTMAS LETTER

Merry Christmas Family and Friends,

We are enjoying our new home and all of our new feathered friends in the trees in the wooded back yard. Mike came home one day with a big bag of birdseed and several bird feeders. We have our binoculars, bird books, and birdbath. This summer we had breakfast on the deck with the birds most days. Is this what old people do?

Mike is still working half time and since our 401K has turned into a 201K we may have to stretch it out as long as possible. We thought we might be planning a mission by now but Mike began having problems with his hips after the move last fall and the Dr. has confirmed that he needs hip replacements. He is trying to see another Dr. for a second opinion on when the best time to do it will be. I told him I am not sure I can go on a mission with him groaning so he needs to get an answer before we go.

Other than a couple of trips to St. George and a small jaunt to LA we have been pretty close to home all year. Mike has played golf regularly. He is keeping busy making frames for my paintings in his new workshop. He has a nice set up for working now and has recently started making two large stained glass panels for our master bath.

Mike is still our fearless Spanish discussion leader. In about 10 years I may know something but Mike knows Spanish. He even read the Book of Mormon in Spanish this year. He just needs an opportunity to immerse so he can actually learn to speak. I am sure we will get that opportunity in time.

I taught my 5th Family Writing class in February. I had a great group of writers and we have organized a monthly writing get-together to keep ourselves motivated. I started a blog last November and enjoy the opportunity to write and connect with other bloggers. It is another world and I think I am addicted.

Stop by and leave a comment now and then. The Mormon Times section of the Desseret News published 3 of my essays this fall. They are all on my blog.

I try to paint most days and love it. I have photos of my recent paintings on my blog. I may pursue getting into a gallery this year or at least have a home show. The paintings are piling up.

Mike and I put in a flagstone patio in the woods behind our house, which was more work than we wanted to do but it is nice. We have a fire pit for roasting marshmallows and are working on a Tarzan swing off the hill. I planted and maintained a little flower patch in the front. That was the extent of our gardening and we are not missing it at all.

We are enjoying our new neighbors here. We have a group of about 10 empty nesters that meet once a month for Family Home Evening. It has been a nice bonding event especially since our Ward is full of young people.

Beau is still in LA working for Electronic Arts making video games. He has a new little boy Luke, who is 6 months old living in LA.

Maren has been putting together a new Tai Pan store in Rancho Cucamonga, California off and on all summer and fall. We went to see the store. She did an awesome job. She went to the temple this year, which was a joyful experience.

Ian is still in Portland working as a bellhop. He had several showings of his artwork this year. He did a series of crashing horse pictures in a watercolor like medium called gouache. I need to get one posted on my blog.

Leif was accepted into the University of Washington’s photography program in Seattle. He is leaning toward teaching on a high school or jr. college level.
My grandson Michael started first grade this year. He suddenly started reading everything in sight. It has been quite amazing to watch. I have never seen anything like it.

Life is good. We are content and we keep busy. What more could we want?
We wish you all a Wonderful Christmas and the happiest New Year.

Love, Charmaine and Mike too

AUSTRALIA - Movie Review

I don't see a lot of movies. I am fussy in my old age. I can't do Batman or James Bond type movies anymore. If too many things blow up I am miserable. Then the sexy comedies drive me crazy. Mike says I only go to those movies where there is British accent. James Bond doesn't count here. The critics didn't like Australia much but I loved it. It is a wonderful epic story that they just don't make much anymore. The reviewers didn't like the series of different stories unfolding but I thought they were woven together beautifully with some sweet elements as the harmonica music and the villain who was left menacing until the very end still making me nervous; the emphasis on the importance of stories in the Aborigine culture and the sweet love story. Nicole Kidman played a great part starting out as a quirky character and gaining strength through her tough experiences. Hugh Jackman was perfectly cast in his tough sensitive role. I even cried and that hasn't happened in a long time. I give it 3 1/2 stars.

MEATBALLS

These are really moist and tasty meatballs. I have included the sauce recipe if you want to make bar-b-qued meatballs for a holiday party. To use them for Spaghetti and Meatballs just leave out the chile powder and put in a tsp. of basil leaves and 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese. This makes 75+ balls.

1 can of evaporated milk
3 lbs. of extra lean ground beef
(I have made them with ground turkey also)
2 C. quick oatmeal
2 eggs
1 C. Chopped onion
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. chile powder
Mix together well and form into desired size balls. Place close together on a cookie sheet and broil until they are lightly browned. Turn if you want but it is not necessary.

The sauce: 2 C. catsup, 1 1/2 C. Brown sugar 1/2 C. chopped onion and 1/2 tsp. garlic powder and 1 T. liquid smoke.

Pour the sauce over the meatballs and bake covered at 350 for 1 hour. Stir gently after 1/2 hour.

Make the entire batch and freeze half for a later time if this is too many for one use.

Rabbi Harold Kushner is blessed with wisdom that I admire. I have read several of his books and he touches my mind and soul. I like what he says here about fun. Affluence seeks constant entertainment at the expense of learning responsibility. I think about my teenage experiences now and am grateful that I was tall and homely and didn't date. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. At the time It gave me a lot of pain and disappointment to be the wallflower. I had girlfriends and we had fun but the ideal was the Friday night date and the Prom. Now I see the wisdom in having time to grow up, to go to college, to develop some hobbies and skills and to gain spiritual strength. Many of the girls I knew who dated young ended up divorced with a life altering dilema. My life with love and security was worth the wait.

"Fun can be the dessert of our lives but never its main course. It can be a very welcome change of pace from things we do every day, but should it ever become what we do every day, we will find it too frivolous a base to build a life on. I think of all the people I knew (and envied) in high school whose lives seemed to be so much more full of fun than mine—the athletes, the good-looking, smooth-talking students, the first ones to have serious boyfriends or girlfriends. We all envied them back then, because their lives seemed to be one long party, one fun experience after another. Neither they nor we could have known back then that a life of constant pleasure during those teenage years almost inevitably sets one up for a life of frustration afterward. There are skills not acquired, habits not formed, and lessons about the real world not learned during those years of having everything go smoothly for you…Will someone to whom things came effortlessly in youth ever learn the disciplines of patience and postponing gratification, or will that person be unprepared for the day when the music stops and people start saying no." (Rabbi Harold Kushner, When All You’ve Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough, p. 69-70)

THE CARROT PUDDING STORY

(stock photo)

My childhood family didn’t have many traditions but carrot pudding at Thanksgiving was one that I remember and cherish. This is an old pioneer recipe handed down in my family. Its invention could be centuries old. It incorporated all on-hand staples—carrots, potatoes or apples, dry bread crumbs and spices. I know lots of families have their version but the thing that distinguishes our pudding from others is the sauce—the very unusual Vinegar Dip as my family called it.

Carrot pudding is steamed on top of the stove. This method made a moist baked product without an oven. I am sure that was part of its original desirability because those old timers didn’t always have ovens. I have a recipe for the pudding that came from my great-great grandmother Hamblin. I have changed it a bit by using butter and oil instead of shortening. My mother and grandmother always used shortening because it was less expensive. (Butter probably was in the original) I use apples instead of potatoes but the potatoes work fine. I know in days past apples were not always available so a creative woman threw in some grated potatoes, which they had in the root cellar, and it worked famously.

Now the sauce is the special part. Most carrot puddings have lemon sauce or hard sauce but our sauce is made with vinegar. I am sure a resourceful woman who couldn’t get lemons or vanilla created this. She decided to add some vinegar for a little zing—Wow! Did it ever. I have vivid memories of the family women congregating around the kitchen stove trying to get the vinegar dip to taste right. No one ever worked up a recipe. They would just get a pot and start putting the ingredients in and then stand around with a spoon sipping and trying to decide what it needed to taste "right".

When I started cooking Thanksgiving dinner for my family carrot pudding was a must but I wanted a recipe for the vinegar dip. (Even if I was the only one to eat it – this is not fruitcake but it’s hard to compete with chocolate pie now days). So over the years I have worked on the ingredients. If the truth be known, I tweak it a bit every year trying to get it to taste just "right"—but it’s close to perfect—very close.

This is a double recipe and will fill a large bundt pan. (I figure while I’m at it, make lots.) The recipe can be halved and steamed in a smaller mold or tube pan. My family often steamed it in a coffee can. I have a steam canner, which works great for steaming the pudding, but one can be jimmied. You need to have a large pan, which will hold your mold. You want your mold raised up so the water can steam under it. If you don’t have a small rack use a few canning jar lids lying in the bottom of the pan. Put in 2-3 inches of water. Cover the pudding tightly with foil. I like the bundt or tube pan because the steam can come up through the middle and bake it evenly. The pan needs a tight fitting lid. Bring the water to boil and let simmer on low as the pudding bakes for 2 to 2 ½ hours depending on the size of the pudding. It can be made one day and steamed the next if you desire. Or steam ahead and reheat the individual pieces in the microwave a bit before serving.


STEAMED CARROT PUDDING

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup oil
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 cups ground or grated carrots
2 cups grated apples or potatoes
3 cups dry bread crumbs (I like to make my own bread crumbs made in a food processor because the commercial ones are too fine. If you use the store bought only use 2 1/2 cups)
2 cups flour
2 tsp. Soda
2 tsp. Cinnamon
1 tsp. Salt
1 ½ tsp. Nutmeg
½ tsp. Cloves
½ tsp. Allspice
(Butter, margarine or shortening can be used in place of the butter and oil)
Cream the butter, sugar and eggs. Add all the remaining ingredients. Grease or Pam your mold well. 1 cup of chopped nuts and raisins can be added to your batter if desired. I sometime do half-and-half. (And then I eat both halves)

VINEGAR DIP
 2 cups of water
 ½ cup cider vinegar
1 cup + 2 T. sugar
3T Cornstarch
1 tsp. Cinnamon
¼ tsp. Salt
2 T. butter
Bring all ingredients to a boil and you are ready.
The pudding keeps well wrapped in the refrigerator for weeks (it makes a very healthy lunch for a couple of weeks – all those carrots must be healthy don’t you think?) Just warm in the microwave a bit before eating along with the sauce that keeps nicely also.

I’m afraid I haven’t given this recipe enough credit for being wonderful. I have served this at dinner parties and had people beg me for the recipe. And my mouth is watering as I write this.

AWESOME FRESH CRANBERRY SAUCE

This is a favorite!

1 12 oz pkg. Of fresh cranberries
1 ½ C. of sugar
2 pears peeled and sliced in small cubes
(Apples are also good)
1 8 oz. Can of crushed pineapple
Juice from one large orange
1 T. orange zest

Simmer everything except the zest until
The cranberries pop and the sauce thickens.

Add the zest and chill until ready to serve.

THANKSGIVING AND MORE - A TRUE STORY

http://mormontimes.com/mormon_voices/reader_voices/?id=5182

This was published in the Mormon Times section of the

Deseret News on Thanksgiving Day

We just never know how our desire to do a little service can expand into something bigger. The year this happened my brother Jack and I had so many teenage children it took two hands to count them. We thought it would be nice to harness this teen power for a good cause. My brother had recently started a catering business and had a big kitchen in his basement. We discovered a trailer park where people live in small camp trailers all year. The park owner gave us the names of five families that would appreciate having Thanksgiving dinner brought to their home.

Thanksgiving morning bright and early we all organized for the meal preparations. There was a good feeling with all the boys sitting around a garbage can peeling potatoes and chatting amiably. We cooked sweet potatoes and big pans of wonderful stuffing. We roasted extra turkeys so all would have a good portion. There were quarts of gravy for the fluffy mashed potatoes, fresh rolls and pumpkin pies. We piled up generous helpings of all the food for each family. Our delivery time was 1:00 P.M. and we wanted everything to be hot at drop off.

Everyone was interested in the delivery so we all squeezed into two cars and drove to the trailer park, 10 minutes away. We all agreed that a camp trailer wouldn’t be a good place to spend the winter. Jack was enlisted to carry the food to each home. When he returned to the car we were anxious to hear who answered the door and how it was received. Everyone was gracious and thankful. One older lady cried.

The fourth delivery shocked us all. As we drove to the spot we could see the mom, dad and two children standing by a car—this was their home, for now. We were glad the food was hot, knowing they had no way to heat it. We delivered our last dinner and as we drove out of the park we noticed the little family eating their Thanksgiving dinner huddled around a picnic table on this cool crisp November day. Our group was humbly silent. We could only quietly gasp.

We drove home to a warm house and had a wonderfully sumptuous meal. Good feelings prevailed as the girls cleared the table and the guys went to the basement to scrub all the big pots and pans we used. It was just the Thanksgiving we had hoped for.

A few days later Jack decided to drive through the park to find out about the homeless family. They were still there. He talked to the mother and the two little girls. She said that they had moved from another state on the promise of a job that didn’t materialize. The father did eventually get a job but it would take a while before they could save enough money to rent an apartment. My brother left determined that this family would have a home by Christmas.

Jack stood with his hand on the door knob and a lump in his throat, not knowing if he could go into the neighborhood and ask his friends for money—his goal was $4,000 for a camp trailer. He went back into the house and knelt down to pray for courage and generous friends. "How much do you want?" they would ask and when he answered, "$200 if you can"—most would write a check. When I found out he was collecting money, he already had $3,000. I solicited donations in my church paper and collected $500. When it was over, $4,644 had been donated. A suitable trailer was located in the newspaper from someone anxious to sell. He offered a good price. It needed a water heater, plumbing supplies, and carpet—All was donated along with food from a local grocer. There was money left over—enough to help someone else.

The owner of the park said there was a woman with three children in a desperate situation living in one of the camp trailers. She had been in and out of the hospital with pneumonia and her ex-husband had not been paying his child support payments. Consequently, she was in arrears on her rent, had very little food and absolutely no Christmas presents for her children. The rent was paid, gifts for the children were purchased, and the remainder of the money went towards food for the two families.

The trailer was delivered before Christmas. When it arrived many people in the park came to help set it up. There was great excitement in the neighborhood that day but the man who received this gift was amazed.

"People just don’t do things like this," he cried.

My brother said, "You know there is a price."

"Oh, what is it?" asked the man.

The answer, "You must promise me that when you are back on your feet and you see someone in need you will help them."

WHAT I HAVE LEARNED IN 62 YEARS

Tomorrow, November 19, I will turn 62 years old. Getting this old has made me reflective. Life is good for me right now even though I didn’t get some of life’s goodies that I expected, like better health, married children and lots of grandchildren. But,


1. I have learned I can be happy and content without getting my fantasy expectations. My life has many opportunities to serve, to write, paint and to share my days with a wonderful partner. Dwelling on what I didn’t get would be foolish.


2. I have learned that you can rise above the insanity and domestic violence you grew up in and be somewhat normal. I give God credit and good people in a church setting who taught me another way. The hand of God has been in my life from my first prayer with Oral Roberts in front of the television.


3. I have learned that the mothering time is so short that it would have been best to give up some of my selfish pursuits in order to have more time to enjoy and teach my children.


4. I have learned that you don’t mold children. They come as they come. Your job as a parent is to love, be a good example, teach to their willingness and laugh a lot at least more than I did.


5. I have learned that I need an artistic outlet and because this urge can be obsessive in me I have let it crowd out things I should have been doing.


6. I have learned that miracles can take a long time but if you never give up, keep fasting, praying and going to the temple, surprises can happen. I will never limit God’s ability to answer my worthy prayers because I have experienced real miracles.

7. I have learned that I married the right man. Mike is a gem. He has given me the space and means to grow without stress. He has taken good care of our family, often at the expense of his own comfort and happiness.

8. I have learned that choosing not to take offense can save you from a lot of heartache and pain.

9. I have learned that the most important prayer I can pray is as Mormon said in Moroni 7:48 "Pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart that ye may be filled with this love..." When I began to pray to be more loving my life changed—I saw my relationships differently. I have definitely caused some pain in my life. I now see the importance of being a healer as Christ was a healer. But, I know that without His help I can’t do it.


10. I have learned to love the scriptures and understand that they have power beyond their words. I am in my 3rd year of reading scriptures every day "no matter what". The Word never fails to buoy me up and give me hope.


11. I have learned that trying to control another person is evil. A war was fought in heaven over our right to have agency. "No power or influence can or ought to be maintained ...only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned: By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile—" D&C121:41-42


12. I have learned that the Holy Ghost is a gift of unspeakable value. "...put your trust in that spirit which leadeth to do good—yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously; and this is my Spirit...which shall enlighten your mind which shall fill your soul with joy." D&C 11:12-13


Of course, I know many things intellectually and spiritually but still fail. I do believe that in time "I can do all things through Christ which Strengtheneth me." Philippians 4:63