Christmas Cooking

There are a few definitely "for the girls" Christmas traditions in the Bucklew family. We find a day for Christmas pajama shopping. We all buy some kind of Christmas PJ outfit and wear them sometimes for Christmas baking and sometimes just for Christmas morning. We all go to Christy and Chris's house where the kids can enjoy Christmas in their home. All the girls wear their PJ's.

We sometimes wear them for cookie baking. It just makes cookies taste - well - more Christmasy when you have Christmas regalia on in the baking process. Over the years we have let the PJ bake “wear” fall to the more favored Christmas aprons for baking.

Christy and I, without fail have baked for 32 Christmas's together. Emma, for 8 of them and Sarah and Mindy joined in as they joined the Bucklew clan. My mother and I baked Christmas cookies – not so regularly but often enough that I remember it. She joins us too. Some years one or the other of my daughters-in-law hasn’t made it - but this year it was all of us. It was the best baking year ever!

All my girls are at home in my kitchen. We all do the kitchen dance...in a way that baffles the Bucklew male who hovers around the kitchen at the first scent of his annual delights. You see, my little galley kitchen requires that each of us can anticipate where the other is going and what that sweet darling baker needs - a hot pad, a wet rag, the salt, a measuring spoon, an egg from the frig . We fill this need and that need while we smoothly continue our task of pulling a cookie sheet out of the oven, rinsing the mixer sticks, spreading parchment paper for cooling....Of course someone is anticipating our needs too. It is a living drama of perfect Christmas harmony and merriment.

We make some tried and true recipes that are requirements to the guys – then we test this or that recipe, keeping some and throwing others out. This year we are testing names for a new favorite brought by Sarah. The girls like the name – lumps of coal. The boys – reindeer poop.

So here are a few shots from various years. This year will go down in history as one of my favorite nights. I took 60 seconds to watch the girls do the kitchen dance and it filled me with pride!

I wish I had taken a photo every year from the beginning – to watch the baking change – in years past it could include one of the boys, or an aunt, or just Christy and me. But it always happened every year – for 32 years.

2008

2008

2006


2006

2003





2002

2001
2000



1980

Father's Surgery

This has been a rough year for my father. Thanksgiving brought about a hospitalization in Cumming Georgia, that was the first incident in a series of emergencies, doctors, tests, and a second hospitalization. We were stunned to discover that our healthy 85 year old golfing, exercising father, funny, active, sharp-minded, serious enough to read a deep book about terrorism, and always present with us was so seriously ill that he needed immediate by-pass of the heart surgery.

It was also devastating to find that during the by-pass he needed not one or two but four and a valve replacement. They did it all -to a man who had his gall bladder removed in 1980 and his tonsils out in 1935. It was rough on him in the surgery. They had a hard time with the valve and restarting his heart. He is not doing tremendously well...but is fighting to stay alive. I don't know whether or not I think the surgery was miraculous or an invasion on his right to peaceful death. I guess it is only discernable after the fact and the decision will reveal itself as one or the other in the next few weeks.

My mother is so frail and her heart not good. This is a test of her ability to survive. She is a private woman – not prone to complain or share her sorrows and suffering. She wanted to stay at her home alone last night – not come to my house. I had to respect that and let her. I huess I am like her in this way because I understand that.

So the next week here will not be easy. My days are filled with prayer. My mind and heart know the intimate comfort of the Living Lord. Pray – everybody – pray! He truly is there.

But in honor of an unforgettable guy, who has been there for anyone and everyone especially when they have no one else in their lives. Here are a few photos of Mr. Funny Bob.

The Morning After

I have been conspicuously absent from blogging. My work world has been crazy and my personal life as well.

Work
I have been planning for Polk Community College’s graduation. I have planned plenty of events – including plenty of graduations….but this one is different – you see we have a college President that no one ever wants to disappoint. She is amazing, energetic, insightful in every kind of way, and sees every detail you do not. Regardless of my stellar organizational skills. (I would put stellar in quotes but I follow this blog: The Blog of Unnecessary Quotations), I must ultimately depend on others to do the tasks. I have had my most necessary employees for this event out for two months. I am training two new employees. AND it is difficult to depend on volunteers as they drop like flies the day of the event. Then you must factor in the three or four who don’t do what you carefully scripted and trained them to do.
So on Friday I picked up checks, got Board of Trustee reservations, met with the Center where graduation was held, found a garbage can, counted reserved parking places, stopped by to pay for food at Chick-fil-A, picked up a large roll of tape, met with the sound technician and sang into the mike for the initial sound check (this was a disaster as I have no pitch), swept up broken glass, put signs out to point the way, moved 22 chairs, answered 13 phone calls – hour one with 11 more to go.

Home Life
My amazing and darling little parents provided quite the family emergency. Over Thanksgiving, my father had heart failure - in the garage of my brother’s house in Cumming, Georgia on our way out the door to come home. I did what I knew of CPR. The ambulance came – he barely made it to the hospital. In short, we had to leave them in the care of my brother and most wonderful and gracious sister-in-law (okay – skip the in-law part…this is definitely my “sissy” – and forget that blog!!!) – God bless them. So there were multiple trips to Georgia amid the Graduation event. Last night ended it all with a most precious time to decorate my parents home and tree. Mom and I put ornaments up and she told me about each one.

And now – Christmas.

The morning after Graduation

Okay - the real truth of it all.


Guess who got all the sleep