Episode Transcript
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Allison (00:03):
Merry Christmas,
homemakers. And welcome to the
art of holiday home podcast,where we are exploring how
homemakers cultivate a place tobelong during the most wonderful
time of the year. I'm your hostAllison weeks. I'm a wife. I'm a
mom. I'm a homemaker of 30years. Now, I know that some of
you may be thinking, I want thisto be the most wonderful time of
(00:26):
the year. But there is so muchto do. And so many expectations,
I am so stressed. And it's onlyNovember. Never fear. We are not
here to give you more to do orto overwhelm you with Pinterest
standards that no one humancould possibly live up to. As
always, we are here to encourageand inspire you in your art of
(00:48):
holiday homemaking. It's uniqueto you. So take bits and pieces
from these stories and just usewhat works for your situation.
Or not at all. Just enjoy thestories for what they are. Each
of the women we featured in ahomemaker portrait throughout
this past year will share someholiday memories and stories,
(01:09):
family traditions, recipes andtips on how they keep from
losing sight of what reallymatters in this season. You will
also hear a few fun ideas andtips from my 30 years of holiday
homemaking, as well as some funpoems, maybe a few historical
tips and other Christmasgoodies. Now, what's Christmas
without a little gift giving, wehave a very special gift to say
(01:33):
thank you to our listeners whohave helped us grow in this
first year of the art of homepodcast, we've put together a
delightful little ebook thatincludes all the holiday recipes
that you will hear about fromthese homemakers over the next
four weeks, as well as somesuper fun retro photos of these
ladies. Some of them are aslittle girls in front of the
(01:53):
tree, we've got a few of themwith when they were teenagers
with maybe some big 80s hair orsome 70s bell bottoms. It's so
fun. You don't want to missthis, and it's absolutely free.
If you're subscribed to ouremail list, you'll be receiving
your digital copy soon, so checkyour mailbox. But if you're not
subscribed, you will want to dothat right away so you don't
(02:14):
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Just click the link in the shownotes below to subscribe or just
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subscribe, we will not spam youand we will not sell your email
to anybody. We will simply sendyou a notice every time there's
a brand new episode of The Artof home. And beginning next
year, you will get a quarterlynewsletter highlighting the
(02:37):
stories and the resources, therecipes, anything that was
featured on the show throughoutthat quarter. So whether you're
decking the halls or getting ajump on holiday baking, we know
you will enjoy these holidaystories of home. Okay, I am back
here with my friend Athena Odin.
(03:00):
And we are actually not going totalk about Christmas, we are
going to talk aboutThanksgiving. So Athena, can you
tell us about your holidaytraditions?
Athena Oden (03:11):
Sure. Christmas for
our family. And I have to guess
this might be true for severalfamilies was not always a
pleasant experience. There weresome relational issues in the
family. And I'm sure people aredealing other people have dealt
with that too, about the amountof time we'd spend at one house
(03:31):
versus the amount of time thatwe spent at another house versus
the pressures that were on us tobe certain places and do certain
things for the holidays. And soas our children began to grow,
we realize this was really verydifficult for us. So we wanted
to pull away and not pull awayfrom Christmas. We participated
with our families in that but wewanted to pull away and have a
(03:54):
holiday of our own. And so webegan to because of some of that
turmoil, have Chris, excuse mehave Thanksgiving at our own
home. And we invited our familyto come to see us. And we
developed the tradition the waythat we wanted to do it. And
Thanksgiving is a course of veryimportant time and a very
important subject. And we allneed to think about Thanksgiving
(04:17):
to the Lord. So we kind of builtit around that. And it didn't
become just Thanksgiving day itbecame a week we would have
everyone come all the familyfrom both sides of the family
whoever was willing to comeright and some in the situation
were not willing to come in thiswas kind of part of our pulling
(04:38):
away from some situations. Yeah,and that's okay. So we invited
them every year. Sometimes theydid sometimes they didn't. Yeah,
but when everyone arrived oftenit was Tuesday night or
Wednesday night. And we wouldstart off with a big bowl of
chili for everybody as they camein and various stages and hours
(04:58):
from from four o'clock in theAfternoon to midnight, there was
always a bowl of chili on thatDavid had made good venison
chili at that. And then we wouldstart finding places to put
people up. And so depending onwhat home we were in the we had
a little barn or outhouse thatwe would have children in, in
(05:19):
sleeping bags all over thefloor. We've had people on
couches, people on sleeping bagsin the living room, just
everything you can imagine. Andeveryone would stay with us. If
occasionally there was someonewho needed a hotel room, they
were pretty far and few between,you know, though, that wasn't
something that we did veryoften. One year, we actually
(05:42):
borrowed a Winnebago parked inour driveway, and had families
sleeping there. Good idea. We'vealso split up all the girls and
all the boys, we could cram allthe boys in one room and all the
girls in another room. And weput the kids out in a tent in
the front yard before
Allison (05:56):
did you have like a
number system for the bathroom?
How did that work?
Athena Oden (05:59):
No, you were on
your own, you have to figure
that out. fight your way. Andthey had too much to do to get
in the middle of that argument.
Yeah. And so there were three ofus sister in laws, that for all
those years, pretty much putpull the Thanksgiving meal and
things together. And we did thatwhen all of our children were
young. The our brothers andbrother in laws were very sweet.
(06:22):
The day after Thanksgiving totake care of all the children,
while we sister in laws went anddid something ourselves, we
might go shopping, or we mightjust go out to eat or go to
lunch. And there wouldoccasionally be the call that
well, we're at ER with one ofthe kids, we've got this under
control. So don't worry aboutit, we began to learn that they
(06:43):
probably did have it undercontrol. And it was just fine.
Yeah. So now that all of us allthree of us sister in law's or
grandparents, we still save thatday. And we still go out to that
go out that day. And all thechildren still stay home
together with the kids. Some ofthe children now who are on into
their 30s, we have probably youknow, 10 or 12 cousin's two
(07:06):
children together. Some of themare into their 30s, they will
get together and go out for aday or two as well. And then on
Saturday, we always have agingerbread house competition.
And we will take graham crackersand build gingerbread houses.
And we have the issue is thatyou are allowed to build if you
(07:30):
are a child, or you are allowedto help your own child to build.
So some of these kids have grownup doing this and they now are
helping their own childrenbuilder. Grandma comes around
after everything is put away.
And judges those two, there's nonames on them. And of course,
you know that the three yearolds is not going to be as
beautiful as the engineer son inlaws will be right. But she
(07:56):
still judges them.
Allison (07:57):
How long does it take
the children to come off of the
sugar high? From all the candy?
Athena Oden (08:00):
Yeah, from all the
candy, it takes a while. That's
why Sunday afternoon is prettymuch go out and play by
yourselves. Because yes, they'rewearing off all that sugar. And
we have, we have a wonderfultradition with the food too. We
all work together to do thefood. So one sister in law will
take Friday, and she'll prepareeverything for Friday. And so
(08:21):
the other two sister in law'sconsidered out. And another one
will take Saturday. And then myhusband and I will take
Thanksgiving Day and have thatall prepared. And so it's a
really wonderful way for us toall participate, but not have to
be in the kitchen at the sametime. Right? There are games
going on all the time all overthe place. And so you have 97
year old grandma playing games,domino games with the younger
(08:45):
ones and the grandkids and, andit's just wonderful. We would
have ping pong tournaments andDavid's mother up until she was
about 80 would win a lot ofthem. Wow. She was amazing. And
we'll have a whole ping pongtournament session. We have had
three legged races, yeah, withfive year olds to 80 year olds.
It just whatever we can come upwith. It's fun to pair
Allison (09:08):
Did you pair the five
year old with the 80 year old?
Athena Oden (09:11):
We paired the five
year old actually, with the 17
year old again, believe it ornot, they went very far and very
fast.
Allison (09:19):
Yeah, well,
Athena Oden (09:20):
okay. Yeah.
Interesting. And our long boxare a big part of what we do. So
it's a long holiday. For us.
It's a good four day holiday, ifnot more, depending on when some
people come in. Okay. It's alsoa time of reflection. David will
usually come up with a questionfor us and we will all gather as
a family in one room, sit in acircle and talk about what we
(09:44):
might be thankful for that year.
One year David asked thequestion, what was the most
difficult heart wrenching thingyou went through this year?
Allison (09:53):
Oh wow.
Athena Oden (09:54):
How can you be
thankful for that? So we and we
will go around it round as afamily all knowing each other
very intimately and now knowingeach other even more intimately,
yeah, about how their year hasgone.
Allison (10:07):
Yeah. That's a great
suggestion even for people
listening who, you know wherethis is being aired during the
Christmas season getting readyfor Christmas, but word, these
are these these ideas areapplicable really? Anytime. And
we have listenersinternationally, you know, so
you don't all celebrateThanksgiving, like we do here in
the States. But you couldabsolutely do this exercise at
(10:30):
Christmas. Yeah, absolutely.
Because it that it's at the endof the year is a good time for
reflection over all that'shappened over the past 12
months. And I really love thatidea.
Athena Oden (10:40):
It's really helpful
to to look at all of those
things with thanksgiving. Yes,whether they're difficult or
not. Yes. And so it's it's, it'san important time for us to
share those things with eachother as a family too, and
create that intimacy with yourfamily, right?
Alma Wakefield (10:54):
And really,
really bringing you together to
be able to empathize with oneanother. Right? Understand what
you know, what you've gonethrough that year, right. Okay,
so what about the food? I wantto know, what do you guys eat on
Thanksgiving? Well, on
Athena Oden (11:07):
Thanksgiving Day,
we have the some of the
traditionals we have thetraditional Turkey. And of
course, we made brine itdifferently or cook it
differently. We've gotten to thepoint now that we're smoking the
turkey, we will have traditionaldressing, which was my
grandmother's and my mother'srecipe and we continue that my
daughter has taken up baking thepies, which was a traditional
(11:29):
thing. We always had pecan pies,and pumpkin pies and all
different kinds of pies. And wehave, she will come maybe on
Tuesday or Wednesday and she'llbake 10 pies. And then last us
all week, we have some of thetraditional vegetables. Yeah.
And that part is fairlytraditional. Okay, but the rest
of the week, we do somedifferent things. And it's kind
(11:52):
of fun. What we've done thesepast few years now that the the
younger generation or the secondgeneration, as we call it is old
enough, is David has set up amenu, we have the food here and
ready to go. And they are souschefs. Okay, and so each family
will take a sous chef day, andthey will get everything
(12:12):
together and one or two of themwill cook it and they clean up
and do all the dishes. So therest of the family gets the rest
from all that. That's great. Andit's a it's a wonderful idea
about, I'd say three years ago,my three sister in laws and I
said, we're tired. We're tiredof cooking the turkey, we're
tired of putting the dressingall together, we're tired of
(12:34):
being in the kitchen, while allthe little grandkids are running
around and we don't get to playwith them. So we gave the second
generation, which basically wasI would say 12 to 30 years old.
We gave them all aprons and saidsecond generation, Thanksgiving,
Allison (12:52):
Oh nice.
Athena Oden (12:53):
We told them to get
ready with a group text. Find
somebody who's a leader. And youguys split up making the turkey,
the dressing, whatever. And youguys bring it all together for
Thanksgiving Day. That isawesome, did it, they did it.
And it was fabulous. They did itwithout us interfering. They did
(13:14):
it without telling them how tocook it. And they did it well.
And so now the second generationkind of gathers up that
Thanksgiving stuff to give us alittle bit of a rest.
Allison (13:24):
That is wonderful.
That's really good for you forpassing on your knowledge for
passing on responsibility. Andthat's so great.
Athena Oden (13:34):
Well, I I might not
call it passing on, I might call
it pushing on. Because it tookus a little bit to convince them
to do it. We finally pushed itupon.
Allison (13:44):
Like if you want to eat
right, you have to write the
food. There are some
Athena Oden (13:47):
in that generation
that can cook in Arizona that
don't cook in that generation.
So
Allison (13:51):
so they've been doing
this for the last three years.
I'd say last
Athena Oden (13:53):
year. Yeah. Last
three years.
Allison (13:55):
Did the reluctant ones
come come a long way. Like do
they actually enjoy it now?
Athena Oden (13:59):
Yes. Oh, yeah.
Yeah, the reluctant ones did andthen some of them came out just
shining. And we thought we neverknew these kids could cook like
this was amazing. That's cool.
Alma Wakefield (14:09):
Did they throw
anything unusual into it? Like
did they take your, yourtraditional menu and then bring,
you know, new ideas and freshthings into it?
Athena Oden (14:18):
Yes, a few things
they did. But I have to admit
that they enjoy thosetraditional foods as much as we
do. Yeah. So it might have beena little bit of a different
flavoring or a little bit of adifferent, you know, sweet
potato dish. But
Alma Wakefield (14:30):
isn't that
funny? How we, I mean, my kids
are the same way. You know, ifif there's not sweet potato
casserole, on Thanksgiving,there might be a revolt,
Athena Oden (14:39):
right? Absolutely.
Somebody had to have green beansbecause yeah, that was an
absolute necessity. But theythey changed it up a little bit
but they wanted to stay with thetradition and that was part of
what they wanted.
Allison (14:50):
Is there a particular
family recipe that like like
that, that must you must havethis?
Athena Oden (14:56):
Absolutely every
year? It is my grandmother's
Mother's dressing, cornbreaddressing cornbread
Allison (15:02):
dressing. Now let's,
there. Let's clarify for our
listeners the difference betweendressing and stuffing.
Athena Oden (15:08):
Okay, well, so in
the south, we call it dressing.
But it might be called stuffingelsewhere. Okay, so it's a sweet
corn bread mind you made withsugar that we start with. So we
start with a sweet corn breadand then some dry herb bread.
And we mix those together withthe A eggs and the vegetables
(15:30):
and the celery and the gibletsas well. Right. And we cook that
in a dish. So spoon it out.
Allison (15:38):
You do not put it into
the bird. We can and we do you
have in the past? Yes. Okay,
Athena Oden (15:43):
we don't eat it out
of the bird. Okay. Yeah. Okay,
you don't eat it out of thebird. We just eat it out of the
because my goodness, everybodyyou have to make
Alma Wakefield (15:50):
so much. That's
kind of been the issue. We've
never done it in the birdbecause it just doesn't make
enough. So you might as welljust make it in the, you know,
like a casserole dish.
Athena Oden (16:00):
And and how are you
going to have a turkey and
dressing sandwich if you don'thave enough of it? Exactly. So
we do that too.
Alma Wakefield (16:06):
Yeah, that's
great. Cool. Is that a secret
family recipe? Or can you shareit with I can share it? Okay,
great. Well, we will we will putthat on the website so that
everybody can enjoy that. Allright, well, the holidays can be
completely hectic and crazy. Andeven in this situation, you're
talking about having lots ofpeople in your home for many
days. Lots of meals to beplanned, all that kind of stuff.
(16:29):
So how do you keep from justgoing nuts?
Athena Oden (16:34):
Yeah, we've it's
taken some time to kind of
figure that out. But one of thethings that we've always done is
it we've always tried to reservetime to do nothing. And so you
can escape the sister in lawscan escape into a patio and have
a conversation, which is thethree of them, right? The kids
(16:54):
can escape to the front yard andplay and the brothers get to
spend some time together. And Ithink that's what makes it so
enjoyable is that we have thattime of intimacy when small
groups and then that time ofintimacy in large groups. And to
keep it from being kind of nutsand crazy. We've always divided
up the responsibilities. Yes,none of the people that were
(17:16):
here. We're trying not toparticipate those
responsibilities. So we'vealways been able to divide up
either you take a whole day ofcooking, and I'll sit by or, you
know, a family take a whole dayof being a sous chef or that
type of thing.
Allison (17:32):
How did you How do you
prepare, before everybody gets
here? Like what do you? I mean,do you go on this massive
grocery shop? And yes,
Athena Oden (17:39):
well, so here's,
here's how we do it now. Now
that we've got two or threegenerations going on now, and
actually four generations ofgrandmas gets to come. We at
this point, David being the goodcookie is will make a menu for
the whole week. Okay. And thatexcludes Thanksgiving Day,
(18:00):
David, and I do David and I doThanksgiving Day. They don't
have to make that. But we'llhe'll make a menu for the whole
week for breakfast, lunch anddinner, we will go and purchase
that food so that these peoplewho are traveling long distances
don't have to carry ice chestsand don't have to bring things
in or go to the grocery storewhen they get here. So we'll
have all that food set up andready and a menu set up and
(18:21):
ready. And then David may be ifhe's cooking out on the grill,
they're doing everything else.
So one day will be Jimmy'sfamily, and they will make
breakfast, they will do thedishes, they will make lunch,
they will make dinner. And thenthe next day, Chris's family
will come in and do the samething. And Jimmy's family will
rest.
Alma Wakefield (18:41):
So everybody's
pitching in on the labor. But
you guys have done the preplanning. You planned ahead
what's going to be prepared?
Athena Oden (18:47):
And it actually
made it easier when we finally
went to doing Yeah, because itwas really difficult on having
the families come in and maybethen have to make a trip to the
grocery store. And oh, sure thateliminates our time together.
Yeah, it's easier if we can plansomething that's simple. And we
know we have the capacity to dohere and do it easily.
Allison (19:04):
Great. Cool. Very good.
Well, anything else you want toshare about holidays?
Athena Oden (19:09):
No, just to say
that holidays are important no
matter what day it is, whetherit's Christmas or Thanksgiving
or Memorial Day or whatever,those are important for us. But
I think that the thing we reallyneed to focus on is is gathering
around with each other. Yeah.
And doing that in the Lord.
Allison (19:26):
Yeah. Great. Thanks for
sharing.
From our happy home through theworld we roam one week in all
the year making winter springwith the joy we bring for
Christmas tide is here. Now theEastern star shines from afar to
light the poorest home, heartswarmer grow gifts freely flow
(19:47):
for Christmas tide has come. Nowgay trees rise before young eyes
of bloom with tempting cheer.
Black voices sing and Blythebells ring for Christmas tide is
here. Oh, happy time. Oh, blessa time that draws us all so
near. Welcome, dear day, allcreatures say, for Christmas
tide is here. Louisa May Alcott,1885.
(20:14):
All right, I'm back here with myfriend Alma. And we're gonna
talk about Christmas. So whatdoes a typical Christmas look
like in your house? Or what didit look like when you had your
kids still at home, or you cantell me about both?
Alma Wakefield (20:29):
Well, like
Christmas, most of the years are
in California. So Christmas wasnot a snowy Christmas, right at
all. But sometimes we would goto the mountains where the snow
was, which wasn't that far away.
And there was a cabin thatsomeone would let us go to,
which was nice. But Christmaswhen I think of it in
(20:50):
California, we reached out topeople during that time, because
we didn't have extended family.
I there. And when I was growingup, it was extended family. So
that's how I thought ofChristmas. But in California,
that was impossible. And so wejust reached out to people that
didn't have extended family, ora few times I don't think it was
(21:12):
every year but a number oftimes. We did homeless feeding
just to reach out to people. Didyou go to a shelter? Or do we
went to a shelter. And anothertime when we didn't go to a
shelter? We fixed some TVdinners, I think it was and
drove around and look for peopleon the street. Oh, wow. You
know, and had the kids get outand hand them a meal. That was
(21:35):
not a special meal. But it wasturkey and dressing still.
Because we didn't know who wewere going to meet or where we
were going to meet them. And sowe did that one year. But
traditionally with the family.
We did stockings we didChristmas tree we did
decorations, baked cookies,Christmas cookies, we did those
(21:55):
things that most families Ithink enjoy doing.
What was your typical ChristmasDay or Christmas Eve menu?
Christmas Eve menu was finding apizza place. I'm not sure how
they got started. But we foundout that most pizza places are
(22:16):
closed. And so it would be quitean adventure on Christmas Eve to
get in the car and try to find apizza place that was open.
Allison (22:22):
So did you did you like
look at Christmas lights while
you were driving?
Alma Wakefield (22:28):
Yes. And I don't
know how they got started. But
we started doing that. And thenwe wanted to do it every year.
So we did that during thoseyears. On Christmas morning I
fixed creamed eggs, which iskind of like creams Benedict,
okay. And it's just somethingthat norm enjoyed a lot growing
up. And so we carry thattradition over nice. The food
(22:49):
was traditional, usually turkeyand dressing sweet potatoes,
green beans, you know, homemadebread. During those years. I
like to bake my own bread. So wehad that a lot. And
Allison (23:05):
did you have a special
dessert or a particular kind of
Christmas cookie that you wouldalways make?
Alma Wakefield (23:11):
Not always there
was this jello that my mom made
growing up that was to cranberryand strawberry jello. It was
real red and Christmassy I thinkI did that for a while. Until it
kind of just we didn't care forYeah. I remember doing that when
the kids were younger. But onething we did do in California
that was special is we wouldhave we had a friend that had a
(23:33):
home on Balboa Island, which wasnot far from where we lived in
Huntington Beach. And there wasa boat parade all these big
fancy boats that people ownedwould decorate their boats for
Christmas. And we would go sitand watch the boat parade and
they would sing and you know, itwas kind of a special event we
would do many years we did that.
During Christmas. I'll go toKnott's Berry Farm where they
(23:55):
had Christmas caroling. I thinkwe did some Christmas caroling
from time to time yet. And oneof the things with the
grandchildren at Christmas wasexchanging gifts of course,
white elephant gift times.
Sometimes we go to the beach,here in Texas. Just different
(24:17):
things that we did as a familyseeing music was always a part.
Yes. Of everything, too. Yeah,same
course your piano teacher andmusic is a big part of your
family. Yeah, it is. So you havea lot of boats in your
traditions, too, because youhave this tradition about going
down to the riverwalk in theboat. Oh,
(24:37):
that's right. Yeah, that'sright. Since we've been in
Texas, almost every year for 20years. We have taken a boat ride
during the month of Decemberwhen the rivers all lit up. And
this the grandchildren camealong. I can remember them being
very young all the way to almostadults taking this trip each
(24:58):
year. but it really is atradition that we missed last
year. Yeah, for the first time.
Allison (25:06):
And you guys sing,
Alma Wakefield (25:07):
and we sing. We
sing Christmas carols. Yeah. And
if we have room, we'll inviteother people on the boat, but
usually our families that reallybig fills up the boat. Yeah. And
so that's, that's been fun forthe grandkids.
Yeah. And good. And I think myson got to go on one of those.
Did he do that? Okay. I thinkit's right.
(25:27):
So for our listeners, my son ismarried to Alma's granddaughter.
Yes, yes. Wonderful.
Allison (25:35):
And so we have that
connection. So yes, I do believe
that he got to go maybe on thelast one that you guys did.
Alma Wakefield (25:41):
I think you're
right. That's right.
Allison (25:43):
That's so fun. Well, we
all know that it can be crazy
during Christmas, just hectic,crazy schedules, lots of things
to do. You want to do all thethings, but we can't do all the
things. So what what are someways that you have found to sort
of curb the craziness of theholiday season
Alma Wakefield (26:02):
For me, it's
keeping a schedule. And part of
my schedule, daily schedule isgetting up and spending quiet
time with the Lord. And thatsets the pace for my day. And
when I don't do it, I'm sorry.
Especially during the December,do you follow a particular
devotional at Christmas time?
(26:23):
Like anyI have done different ones?
Nothing in particular, everyyear, but just different
Christmas devotions? Yeah. Butthat's so good to set your mind
at peace and rest and and trynot to do everything right,
realize that there's so manygood and wonderful things you
can do, but you can't do themall. And so pick out the ones
(26:44):
that are most special. I lovedalmost every year when the
granddaughters and grandsonswere little. We would do
Christmas gingerbread man.
Cookies. Yeah. And sugar cookiesand Christmas cookies. And that
was always a lot of fun, or dothe gingerbread house. But also,
(27:07):
you know, just on Christmas Day,we usually read the Christmas
story. And when the kids werelittle, we had different
activities. I can rememberAmanda playing with plastic one,
you know, that? We mica wouldour son would tell her the
Christmas story. Oh, and so justlots of good memories like that.
(27:27):
Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's thedifferent seasons. There's time
when I was growing up. Yeah. Wewent back to my grandparents
always Christmas, both sets ofgrandparents. So that's my
memory. Yeah. And my cousin, Ialways got the same gifts
wrapped. Exactly. But anyway,that's that was. And then
(27:49):
there's the season of raisingthe children, you know, and then
the grandchildren. And it's realdifferent now. Usually on
Christmas Day, it's just normAmanda and me unless we have
someone in, like, because thefamilies now do their own
Christmases on Christmas day.
Yeah. But we always get togetherwhen we can, right. It's not
that we don't get together, wejust make it another day or, you
(28:12):
know, things change as familiesgrow. Absolutely. And so we we
still do that with family, butnot on Christmas Day. Like the
last few years, we have spentChristmas Day with his parents a
lot. And before that sometimesmy parents, which seemed to be
(28:33):
important when they're alone,perhaps to go and spend it with
them. We've done that a fewtimes. So the changes, yeah.
Changes that we still have greattime last Christmas, we did it
with a renter. So I was justfabulous. Went to did stuff
together and had a good time,you know, on Christmas day.
Allison (28:57):
That's great. It's a
great way to show hospitality
and
Alma Wakefield (29:02):
now just invite
someone in that she didn't have
her family here. And so
Allison (29:08):
I think there's always
seasons where you find yourself.
Either you're single or you areliving away from home for
whatever reason. Or like yousaid, you know, maybe you're
young, maybe in the youngmarried stage when you don't
have kids. Yes, you can. You canstill reach out to people.
Alma Wakefield (29:24):
Yeah. Yeah. And
I think just remembering that
during holidays, especially isimportant. You know, in the
past, we would sometimes haveforeign exchange students or you
know, people from a differentcountry. Yeah. What are they
going to do on a holiday? Rightand done that before? We haven't
always done the same thing everyyear. Now that I think about it,
(29:45):
we've lived in so many differentplaces, but some traditions you
keep the same. Yeah. Otherthings you change and seasons J.
Allison (29:54):
Again, that's being
flexible.
Alma Wakefield (29:56):
I do have the
same Christmas tree I've had for
20 years. The grandkids can'tbelieve it. That's impressive.
It's still standing. That'simpressive. I don't think it has
too many more years left.
Allison (30:10):
All right, well, thanks
for sharing your Christmas
memories and ideas with us.
Okay, who has already done alltheir Christmas shopping? Yeah,
me neither. As you know, if youlisten to our homemaker profile
of Gayle Wills, I hate the mall.
So I will gladly be doing mostof my shopping online. And that
(30:34):
means lots of delivery driverswill be visiting my front door
over the next few weeks. I am sograteful for these people
helping to make my holidaypreparations way easier, as I'm
sure you are, if you choose toshop online as well. So let's
thank them, shall we. I starteddoing this last year after my
mom mentioned that her sister,my aunt, whose job involves
(30:57):
receiving a lot of packages ather house shows her gratitude
for the delivery drivers makingso many stops at her home by
putting out a big basket ofsnacks and water for them. I
have never heard of this before.
I know it's not a new idea. Butit was new to me. And I just
thought it was the kindestnicest thing ever. So I decided
(31:21):
to set up a snack station on myfront porch between Thanksgiving
and Christmas last year, and itwas a big hit. I made a little
sign to indicate that the treatswere for any delivery drivers or
service providers visiting myhome. So that included the
Amazon folks, of course, themail carriers, the pizza
delivery guy, the bug man, theguys who delivered a new
(31:42):
mattress a week before Christmasto my house, and the guy who
drops off and picks up the drycleaning every week. And then
anybody else that came by myfront door. People were so
grateful and pleasantlysurprised to find that they were
included. In this show of goodcheer, we had to convince the
pizza guy that he was in fact,he was very hesitant to come
(32:03):
forward and take some snacks.
But eventually we did get him totake something and he was so
grateful. And he said you knowI'm working late. And I don't
know when I'm going to get toeat because we are so busy. So
thank you very much for thesnack. Now it doesn't have to be
fancy. I just put out a littlebasket on a plant stand that
came off of my back porch, I putit out on the front porch, I set
(32:23):
the basket on top. And I justput in some individually
packaged snacks, I do recommendthat you do that. I don't know
how comfortable strangers comingto your door would be taking
homemade snacks, but you'rewelcome to try that if you'd
like but I just found it waseasier and more comfortable for
them. If I just put out likefactory wrapped pre packaged
(32:44):
snacks. So things like littlesandwich crackers, you know that
have either peanut butter in themiddle or cheese in the middle
and then like packages, littlepackages of nuts, packages of
chex mix. And then I would alsooffer some sweet snacks, some of
both because they could take oneor the other or both. So I would
have little packages of cookies,some candy bars, little packages
(33:07):
of you know just any littlesweet treat maybe some caramel
corn, like some Cracker Jacks orsomething. And the idea is just
to give them a little somethingto tide them over until their
next meal, which might be a longtime from then if they're really
really busy, which most of thosepeople are during the holidays,
it's just a busy time for them.
And I always had bottled waterout. And then around here we
(33:29):
drink a lot of sweet tea. So Iwould put as well I put out
bottled sweet tea, like someLipton peach tea or something. I
didn't bother with an ice chestor putting out a bucket of ice
because it's generally prettymild weather here. It's not
super cold. It's typically notreally hot in December at this
part of Texas. But you mightwant to think about that if
(33:50):
you're going to put out somedrinks considering you might
want to put them in a bucket ofice or something like that. But
that's totally up to you. Andthen of course make sure you put
a little sign near the basketthat explains what it is and who
it's for ours was really simple.
It was just like a little poem Imade up you know, something like
to delivery drivers and serviceproviders. We're so thankful for
you. I don't know, it rhymed, itwas better than that. But you
(34:12):
can go on Pinterest, look thisup on Pinterest, there are tons
of ideas and some people getsuper elaborate with it. You
don't have to do that. But ifthat's your if that's your jam,
then go for it. But you cancertainly get some inspiration
on Pinterest and then a lot ofthose pins they will link you to
a free download of a poem at ourcute little sign that they've
(34:35):
already created that you canjust download that and print
that out and that can be yoursign. Or maybe you want to get
your kids involved and have themmake a sign for the to put out
with your little refreshmentstation. This might not work for
you if you live in an apartment,or a similar kind of situation
where the delivery persondoesn't come right to your door.
However, if you do have frequentdelivery services, and they come
(34:57):
right to your front door I justI can't recommend this enough.
Just take this opportunity toshow hospitality and gratitude.
You never know how this simpleact could impact someone who's
on the receiving end. And afterall, this is the season of
giving.
(35:19):
Alright, I am back with myfriend Jan, and we're going to
talk about Christmas. So whatdoes a typical Christmas day
look like in your house?
Jan Lockhart (35:27):
My mom started a
tradition. And I'm so thankful
that my mom taught me thatChristmas does not have to be
celebrated on Christmas. Becauseonce your kids are grown, and
they all start to have their ownfamilies, right? I am not going
to be that mom that saysChristmas will always be at my
house. Yes, no matter what.
Because my mom was like, she'slike, You know what? I mean, my
mom is in Illinois. And theyears that we could come home, I
(35:50):
couldn't come home at Christmasvery rarely. So we would
celebrate Christmas the firstSaturday of December or
whatever. And I want to be thattoo. For my kids. I want to be
whenever we celebrate Christmas,we're going to celebrate
Christmas. But all that said,when we do celebrate Christmas,
Christmas Day, we don't do thebig dinner. We have a big
breakfast. Okay, big, bigbreakfast. Everybody helps you
(36:12):
know, the bacon and the eggs andthe biscuits and gravy and the
pancakes and the toast andeverything. So everybody's in
here cooking like crazy. Andthen we all sit down to
breakfast, have a great time,clean up and then we open
presents. Then the rest of theday is just spent in pajamas
hanging out. We'll have soup,we'll have sandwiches. Nice,
(36:33):
very relaxing day. Very fun.
Wonderful. And my kids know,they're all starting the
tradition today.
Allison (36:42):
That sounds wonderful.
And I love the the that youpointed out we need to be
flexible. Yeah. As ourespecially as our kids get older
and and yeah, yeah. Yeah. So um,let's see. Actually, I wanted to
ask you before we move on tonumber two, is there a you said
you do breakfast so you do eggsand bacon and all that? Is there
like any sort of special familyrecipes that must be made during
(37:03):
the Christmas season? Maybe notthat day for breakfast, but I do
have a particular because youlove to bake? Do you have a
particular kind of cookie thatyou have to make every year or
anything like that?
Jan Lockhart (37:16):
I do. Yes, there
are certain things we always I
always have to make. Greg'sgrandmother had a fudge recipe
that we always have to make. Andthen my mom always made these
cookies that were a littleshortbread square cookie with a
little Carmel on top and littlechocolate on top of that night
and I always have to makechocolate covered peanuts. And
then we always have to decoratethe cookies now, and they're not
(37:39):
fancy cookies. They're justcookies that that you're going
to eat. You're just going to eatyour joy and then a variety of
other candies. I start baking inthe beginning of December my
cookies, my candies because mymom did that you would go OUT
out into the laundry room andthe whole top of the washer and
dryer is full of you know candyoh my goodness, divinity and all
(38:02):
kinds of stuff. I love it. So Ican definitely carried on that
tradition.
Allison (38:06):
That's so cool. Do you
have a couple of recipes that
you'd be willing to share withour listeners? Sure. Okay, that
shortbread? That sounds reallygood.
Jan Lockhart (38:14):
They are amazing.
Allison (38:15):
Did she make the
caramel? Or did she use like a
caramel square? Like you makethe shortbread? Oh,
Jan Lockhart (38:20):
you, you you you
melt the caramels so you melt
them down and then you pour thata little?
Allison (38:27):
Like a double boiler?
Jan Lockhart (38:28):
Yes. saying okay,
yeah. Yeah, evaporated milk.
That sounds powdered sugar.
Fabulous. They're fabulous.
They're a labor of love.
Allison (38:34):
Yeah, I was gonna say
it sounds kind of
Jan Lockhart (38:36):
But they freeze
well, so you can stick or you
can make them in August andstick
Allison (38:40):
them in the freezer.
Yeah. Good to know. Thank you.
Okay, well, we'll link a recipeto that. Thank you. So how about
traditions? During the holidayseason, maybe on Christmas Day,
but like you said, you always dobreakfast. But do you do other
things? Do you go caroling? Doyou do gingerbread? What's any
particular tradition?
Jan Lockhart (38:58):
Since the kids are
grown? We really don't anymore.
But when the kids were little,we always used to go and pick
out our tree. You know, wewouldn't go to a Christmas tree
farm we would go to Home Depotor what? Christmas tree lot and
pick up the tree. And then wewould bring it home. We used to
have a little glass Rudolph.
That would hang on the tree, butit got broken. So and then, you
know, we would take turnsputting the topper on the tree.
(39:19):
Yeah. So we actually had towrite out who did it this year.
So that the because manyarguments about that? No, they
did it last year. So I actuallystill have that piece of paper
two. And then we always used togo to a friend's house to do
gingerbread. The girls wouldalways do gingerbread houses and
we decorate cookies and go overto grandma's house and decorate
cookies. Yeah, Christmas wasfull of a lot of traditions.
(39:41):
That's fine.
Allison (39:43):
Yeah. So we know the
holidays can be just crazy.
Crazy, busy, hectic. How do youmaintain balance during the
holiday season?
Jan Lockhart (39:55):
A couple years ago
is actually I'm kind of ashamed
to admit It was a lot morerecent than it probably should
have been. I decided thatChristmas is going to be crazy.
And I am not going to let thecrowds bother me. So the times
you have to go to the grocerystore the times you have to go
(40:17):
to the mall. And it really is astate of mind. Yeah, really is
when I pull up to HEB. And ittakes me 10 minutes to find a
parking space. Yeah, okay. It'sgonna be crowded, take a breath,
it's going to be okay. And forthe most part, I can you know,
enough, I need to run in for onething, then it's gonna be a
little snappy. But for the mostpart, I can put myself into that
(40:40):
frame of mind and say it's goingto be okay. But I think really,
it's my husband, who is the onewho is the balance. He is the
one who says, Let's go sit up onthe fire pit. You know, let's go
put the music on. And let's gosit up at the fire pit and let's
just relax and catch a breath.
And he forces me to do that. Andit's a good
Allison (41:00):
thing. Yeah. Yeah.
Otherwise, you would just stayin the kitchen and make more
divinity.
Jan Lockhart (41:04):
I would because
somebody is coming. And I gotta
make sure I have their favoritecandies. So. Gotta keep going.
That's great. All right. Hemakes me breathe.
Allison (41:12):
Good. Anything else
about Christmas that you'd like
to share? Oh, it's
Jan Lockhart (41:16):
amazing. It's
amazing. I love it. And this
year, unfortunately, none of thekids are going to be home for
Christmas. And so
Allison (41:24):
so what will y'all do?
Jan Lockhart (41:25):
I don't have any
idea. Okay, I don't I don't know
if we will go to see his familyup in Dallas, or we'll just stay
here. But they do. I'm verythankful that they do try to
work it out so that they'reeither all here or they're all
not here. You know, so it's mydaughter's just in Houston. So
she will be here at some pointover the Christmas holidays. But
(41:47):
I know Christmas Day, it willprobably just be us.
Allison (41:50):
Will you still make
breakfast?
Jan Lockhart (41:52):
Yes. Yes, I will
hang on to that tradition. Yes.
That's great. And we will justsit in our pajamas all day.
Allison (41:58):
That sounds wonderful.
Jan Lockhart (41:58):
Yeah, it is, you
know, sometimes those are the
best days.
Allison (42:04):
Well, thank you. And
Merry Christmas.
Jan Lockhart (42:05):
Thank you. Merry
Christmas.
Allison (42:12):
I am back with my
friend Joyce Newhall, we're
going to talk about Christmas.
Joyce Newhall (42:16):
Yay. I love
Christmas.
Allison (42:19):
So tell me about a
typical Christmas Day at your
house.
Joyce Newhall (42:22):
So Christmas day
in our house would be wake up.
And whoever lives in the housewho's not Scott or me has to get
on the staircase and have theirpicture taken. So before they're
allowed to go down and find outwhat's under the tree. And then
after that, when we lived inIndiana, we would always go to
(42:45):
my sister's house. And thatwould be once upon a time it was
a big meal and all all thepresents and the cousins and
everybody. And we all decidedthis is just too much work. And
so I don't know, maybe 20 yearsago, probably when the kids were
all like everywhere, and we're15 grandchildren, we decided
let's just do like, good funappetizers and desserts. And so
(43:08):
we like cover the counter withall of that and then just stand
around and graze and have aEuchre tournament play, you
know, card, rotate card game,and and then open presents. And
usually it's the the youngerones who get presents now. So
that's, that's our Christmasday.
Allison (43:31):
That's my favorite way
to eat Christmas food.
Joyce Newhall (43:34):
Is it?
Allison (43:35):
Yes. Because you get so
many different flavors that way.
Yes. You know, you just get alittle bite of this and a little
bite of that. It's so great. Ihave a question though. What is
Euchre?
Joyce Newhall (43:45):
Oh, yeah, I
realized, I don't think as I was
saying it. So Euchre is I thinkit's a card game that really
mostly Indiana and Michiganpeople know how to play. When my
kids went to college in otherstates, they realized, Oh,
everybody doesn't know how toplay this game. So can you play
with a large group or it's likea four, four people already play
(44:07):
it. So when we do a tournament,we set up a bunch of card
tables. And now all of ournieces and nephews are adults
and they're married and alleverybody knows how to play
poker. And so you know, you kindof get assigned a partner and
then winners. Winners move andlosers stay. I think that's how
it goes when you move to thenext day the next day. Yeah.
Allison (44:28):
And so do you have to
have a special kind of card deck
or you use regular card?
Joyce Newhall (44:32):
You use regular
cards but you only you only play
with the 910 Jack, Queen, Kingand Ace and
Allison (44:41):
Okay, yeah, does it get
crazy and rowdy? Is that that
kind of game?
Joyce Newhall (44:45):
It's not one of
those fast games like spoons or
something. But it's it can getrowdy when once you get down to
the place where you know we'regetting to the end as is like
the last table okay, andeverybody is gathered around
watching to see who's actuallygoing to win This tournament.
Yeah, that's actually that'sreally really fun.
Allison (45:02):
That's fun. Okay, well,
I'm gonna have to go do some
research and find the rules ofpoker somewhere and I'll link it
on the on the show note. Yeah,
Joyce Newhall (45:09):
I think it's, I
think it's like e-u-c-h-r-e? I
think that's how you spellEuchre.
Allison (45:15):
We'll figure it out.
Yeah. Okay, cool. Well, whatabout food? Is there a
particular you know, you saidyou do appetizers and desserts?
Is there like a special recipethat must show up on the table
every year? Or there'll beproblems?
Joyce Newhall (45:27):
Yes. But it's
actually for our family, it's
Christmas Eve. Okay, so onChristmas Eve. For years, I was
directing the children's choirat our church. And so we had
Christmas Eve service, and thencome home. And now I'm going to
make dinner. Well, that doesn'tmake sense, right? So we started
(45:48):
doing homemade, cheesy potatosoup with bacon and green onion
on top. And so I can't I can'tremember really, when that
started. It's been more than 30years that we were doing it
because like the kids were notall my kids weren't even born
yet. When we started doing that,and homemade vanilla ice cream
(46:09):
follows that. So yeah, that's,that is Christmas Eve with
homemade bread, no salad.
Allison (46:16):
Oh, my goodness, I'm
hungry now. Well, can you share
your cheesy potato soup recipewith?
Joyce Newhall (46:24):
Sure. Great. Yes,
no, I wouldn't be very happy to
share that with you. I've sharedit with a lot of people. It's
great special to our family. AndI would love to do that.
Allison (46:32):
Thank you. Appreciate
that. Well, what about other
traditions that your family doesat Christmas time? Just any time
throughout the season? Are therethings that you, you feel like
you really need to do or it'snot quite been the right
Christmas?
Joyce Newhall (46:44):
Yeah. And it's
funny now, because Christmas is
very different. Our kids are allmarried. And so every other
year, we have Christmas with ourkids. And then every other year,
we get Thanksgiving with ourkids. And so we've all decided
that Christmas Day and ChristmasEve can be any time that we need
them to be in order for us to beall gathered from all these
(47:05):
states together. But somethingthat just must happen after we
eat our cheesy potato soup, andeat our bread. And before we get
our ice cream. We always whenthe kids were growing up, we
would ask on somebody'sbirthday. So how has this person
been a blessing in your life forthe last year? And why are you
(47:28):
thankful for this, you know,brother, sister, mom, daddy,
whatever. And we've always onChristmas Eve, it's Jesus's
birthday that we're celebrating.
So we know when they were littlethe things that they shared were
just so little kiddish asthey've grown and become adults,
and the things that they shareare deeply meaningful. And it's
a super bonding time for ourfamily every year. And we all
(47:52):
look forward to it. That is areally, really neat tradition.
Allison (47:58):
I like that a lot.
Yeah, holidays can be just crazyand hectic. What are some of the
things that you do to keep themain thing the main thing and
keep it between the rails duringthe holiday season?
Joyce Newhall (48:11):
So I remember a
long time ago, I was a mentor
mom for MOPS. And I always thinkwhen you're the one who's
serving or doing something tohelp somebody else. The truth
is, you wind up being the personwho gains something, because I
gave a little talk. And I askedthem the question as we were
going into the Thanksgiving,beginning of the holidays, I
(48:35):
said I want you to envision withme that it's December 26. And,
and that has stuck with me forall these years. That to kind of
begin with the end in mind.
Yeah, what do I really want tohappen through this, you know,
several weeks where we are evenlike celebrating Thanksgiving,
(48:57):
but then preparing forChristmas. And, you know, we've
always done, you know, some wayto celebrate Advent as we've
gone along through the year, orthrough the month, I should say,
just slowing ourselves down alittle bit. Something that's
also really been helpful sincethe kids have all grown up is we
(49:17):
a lot of times we'll just dolike a one big family gift. And
you know, we've rented an Airbnbfor the kids, you know, for the
following summer. And we allgather in have a great time, but
that was our present to them.
And yeah, the truth is, itturned out spectacularly that we
(49:38):
could all be together and enjoythat time. But it eliminated a
lot of extra stress. And I Yeah,it was one of those things I
kind of fell into. Yeah, reallygreat. Like I just thought we
should have a vacation togetherand wouldn't it be great if we
gave it to him as a present thatthen I thought well, that took a
lot of stress out because I'mnot shopping for You know, 14
(50:01):
people. Right? Right. Yeah,exactly.
Allison (50:03):
I like that idea of
imagine that it's December 26.
And what do you want to haveaccomplished or happen? Or how
do you want to feel?
Joyce Newhall (50:12):
How do you want
to feel at that point? Yeah.
Like, oh, man, I'm so glad it'sover. And we just made it
through or I feel like closer toeach other closer to the Lord.
We've celebrated for real whatwe're here to celebrate. Yeah.
Yeah, that's been reallyimportant to us.
Allison (50:32):
Great advice. Thanks.
Thanks for sharing aboutChristmas. Merry Christmas.
Joyce Newhall (50:36):
Merry Christmas
to you too.
Allison (50:41):
Don't you just love the
question, Joyce asked that group
of moms at the beginning ofDecember. Envision with me that
it's December 26. How do youwant to feel? Do you want to
feel exhausted, irritated,disappointed? Or frankly, just
glad it's over and you cannotget the tree thrown out to the
curb fast enough? Or do you wantto feel content, satisfied,
(51:04):
closer to your family and closerto the Lord? I would say that
most of us would choose thelatter, but the former is
probably more often ourexperience. So here's your
homework. Take some time toreflect on what your goals are
both personal and family goalsfor this Christmas season.
Envision it's December 26. Howdo you want to feel? And the
(51:28):
plan your commitments youhospitality, your gift givin
your calendar accordingly. NowI cannot promise you a perfec
Christmas. But might I recommed that you intentionally, regula
ly set aside time throughout tis season to reflect on the rea
on why this is the season of jy. Something I've done
(51:49):
to accomplish this over the yers is incorporating Advent into
my Christmas rhythms. So whatis Advent? The word comes from
he Latin for "coming". Advet is usually observed for the
four Sundays leading up to Chrismas. Most Advent traditions in
olve lighting a candle and readng a scripture or a reading bas
(52:12):
d on that Sunday's theme. Ther's a new theme every Sunday
and depending on your denominaion, it'll vary slightly. The
rder that I'm most familiar wih is hope, peace, joy and love.
Then Advent culminates in ainal candle called the Christ ca
dle, which is lit on ChristmasEve. Advent as a seas
(52:33):
n of anticipation of the comig of Christ to earth. It is a s
ason focused on waiting, al of hopeful expectation of some
hing glorious, that is certinly coming. So sometimes we've
done this as a family withjust simple devotionals and a l
ttle candle each weekend. Otherimes I've done this as a pr
(52:54):
vate devotion. Either way, theoint is to be intentional and re
ular about the practice. So we hve a few resources that are l
nked down in the show notes youight find helpful. Many of the
are free. There are a few relly, really great books out
here that will walk you througthe whole admin season with
aily devotions. There's onefor families with kids, cou
(53:18):
les, there's all kinds. Soheck those out. And also a few
ears ago, I created some playists for each of the weeks of Ad
ent. And those are linked in theshow notes. There's one for
very theme and the idea is to lsten to that themes pla
list throughout the week, andhelp you keep your focus o
the mattering things of thismost wonderful time of year
(53:41):
And those are all available forfree on Spotify. Just follo
the links in the show notes.
ell, that's it for this episoe of holiday homemaking. 2021
hank you so much for listening.
on't forget to subscribe to ourmail list so you can get your co
y of our companion ebook, whichwill include among other th
ngs, Joyce's cheesy potato soupan's chocolate, caramel short
(54:02):
read cookies, and ALMAZ creamedggs. You don't want to miss it,
o to the art ofhome podcast.com/subscribe Or
just click the link in the showotes below. And if you enjoyed
this episode, would you share itwith a homemaker you know who
ould use some holiday homemaing, encouragement and inspira
ion. We will be back next weekwith another special Chri
(54:23):
tmas episode. Until then,keep practicing your art of mak
ng a home for the holi