I think the best thing about how we celebrate Christ coming to Earth to live among us and ultimately die for our sins is spending time with extended family. I remember as a child “all the cousins” coming over to our house and some of our traditions together. My family hosted annually for around ten years. Everybody came. (Many stayed overnight.) Each family brought something. Now I am hosting on occasion. This year I made modern versions of some of the foods that were regularly brought to those old Christmas gatherings.
Wisconsin Beef Pot Roast w/ Veggies in honor of Aunt LuAnn Split Pea Soup w/ Bacon in honor of Grandma Crees Sweedish Limpa Bread in honor of Grandma Daniels Homemade Cucumber Pickles in honor of Great-grandma Crees Canned Peaches in honor of my mom My Own Pumpkin Pie German Peppernut Cookies in honor of Aunt Carol Those great ladies had some mad cooking skills. They had to. Some were farm wives. Some lived through the Great Depression. Some raised children during wartime. Some took in boarders to make ends meet. They were among the first generation of women to work outside the home. One was the daughter of virtual pioneers on the Kansas prairie. My own mom perfected her canning and pickling skills during the energy crisis of the 70’s and 80’s when gasoline, mortgage interest, and inflation were all crazy high. They lived in big cities, on homestead farms, in the first ever modern suburbs, on the prairie, even in an old company coal town. How do you suppose my 20th century matriarchs would expect me to cook their dishes in the 21st century? Automated and with robots of course! (Remember back when we were kids and all thought we’d have flying cars by now?) We are surrounded daily with so much innovation we don’t realize how blessed we really are. What is standard in most suburban American kitchens in 2015 was still in the imagination of sci-fi writers a hundred years ago. Here’s a list of the industrialized developments I used to make this meal. 8 qt. programmable crock pot 6 qt. programmable crock pot Automatic programmable bread machine Mandolin slicer KitchenAid mixer Programmable double oven Range with convection Multi-function programmable toaster oven 30 cu. ft. consumer kitchen refrigerator with filtered water dispenser Auxiliary chest freezer Tupperware airtight staples canisters Three separate cutting boards (for meat, veggies, and breads) Bread slicing guide Marble pastry board Multi-function microwave State of the art consumer kitchen dishwasher Kitchen garbage disposal 50 gallon residential hot water heater Gas Forced Air Central HVAC Electric lights Insulated water tight house Today, in most of the world I am keenly aware that a 30 cu. ft. refrigerator which dispenses potable municipally processed water after filtering it a second time is indeed a luxury. Two thousand years ago Mary and Joseph may have carried water in wineskins on their trek to Bethlehem. I have a freezer in my garage full of meet. Jesus had an animal feed bin as His bed. I have a device that makes straight slices of bread which was cooked in another automatic device. Jesus broke handmade flat bread with His hands. Followers of the Prince of Peace are right now being chased from their homes in the Middle East for their worship of Him. No one is presently chasing my family from our house which has heat, water, and food. I will not complain about the “work” of preparing Christmas dinner. Besides the fact that I had so much automation helping me, I consider it a blessing simply to be able to cook healthy food in a safe environment for my protected family to eat even if I don't have mad cooking skills. I do hope the heritage I pass on to my kids is more than recipes and modernization. Christmas is about God’s plan of salvation from this world full of sin. Although then He came as a servant, He will come back soon this time as King of Kings. A table spread with heritage food, which of course includes cookies, is great but Christmas is about Jesus. That message doesn't change over time. Merry Christmas Everyone!
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Brenda G.Enjoying the journey through my kids' childhood as a home educating mom. (And no, I don't have time for a blog but sometimes you just gotta write.) Archives
April 2019
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