Republished from Dec 21, 2013.
Tag: Christmas
Dec 21 2014
Because We Need A Little Christmas
Too much bad news, so here are some of the best Christmas Light Shows brought to you by some ambitious folks with huge electric bills and lots of time on their hands. With a h/t to Suzie Madrak who posted the the Star Wars light show at Crooks and Liars that led me to the others. And in case you can afford the electric bill and have the ambition and too much time on your hands, here is the link the video, How to Make Christmas Lights Flash to Music.
Post your favorite holiday music. Merry Yule, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Festivus and Merry Christmas, too all.
Amazing and Hiliarious Best Christmas Light Show 2014 – Can Can (Straight No Chaser)
Carol of the Bells – Best Christmas Light Show! WATCH END! Sarajevo – Trans-Siberian Orchestra)
Dec 17 2014
What’s Cooking: Sugarplum Bread
Republished from 12/11/2011 from the What’s Cooking Archives at The Stars Hollow Gazette
In Autumn, the appearance in grocery stores of stacks of candied fruit and mountains of nuts in all their wonderful variety is a sure sign of the approach of the holidays. As the days grow short and the nights grow cool preparations for a joyous time of baking begins.
My daughter is the bread baker but Sugarplum Bread is the one I enjoy making, too. This sweet bread studded with candied fruit is not as heavy as fruit cake. It is topped with a white icing glaze and decorated with red and green cherries to look like clusters of berries. It is a treat for breakfast or in the afternoon with tea. I make small ones baked in large muffin tins, decorated and wrapped in colored plastic wrap tied with ribbon as gifts for guests.
The following recipe is a rich dough flavored with nutmeg, candied fruit and peel, and raisins
Candied fruit would have melted in the summer heat and its sweetness would attract ants but it keeps well in the freezer. After the holidays, when the price is reduced for clearance, if you have space in your freezer buy a supply. It assures that you’ll have candied fruit on hand in the months when it can’t be found in the market.
Dec 25 2013
“Christmas Eve And Other Stories”
In an old city bar
That’s never too far
From the places that gather
The dreams that have beenIn the safety of night
With its old neon light
It beckons to strangers
And they always come inAnd the snow it was falling
Neon was calling
The music was low
And the night Christmas EveAnd here was the danger
That even with strangers
Inside of this night
It’s easier to believeThen the door opened wide
And a child came inside
That no one in the bar
Had seen there beforeAnd he asked did we know
That outside in the snow
That someone was lost
Standing outside our doorThen the bartender gazed
Through the smoke and the haze
Through the window and ice
To that corner streetlightWhere standing alone
By a broken pay phone
Was a girl, the child said
Could no longer get homeAnd the snow it was falling
Neon was calling
Bartender turned and said, “Not that I care
But how would you know this?”
The child said, “I’ve noticed
If one could be home, they’d be already there”Then the bartender came out, from behind the bar
And in all of his life, was never that far
And he did something else that he thought no one saw
When he took all the cash from the register drawerThen he followed the child to the girl across the street
And we watched from the bar as they started to speak
Then he called for a cab then he said, “J.F.K.”
Put the girl in the cab and the cab drove away
And we saw in his hand, that the cash was all gone
From the light that she had wished uponIf you want to arrange it
This world you can change it
If we could somehow make this
Christmas thing lastBy helpin’ a neighbour
Even a stranger
To know who needs help
You need only just askThen he looked for the child
But the child wasn’t there
Just the wind and the snow
Waltzing dreams through the airSo he walked back inside
Somehow different, I think
For the rest of the night
No one paid for a drinkAnd the cynics will say
That some neighbourhood kid
Wandered in on some bums
In the world where they hidBut they weren’t there
So they couldn’t see
By an old neon star
On that night, Christmas EveWhen the snow it was falling
And neon was calling
In case you should wonder
In case you should careWhy we on our own
Never went home?
On that night of all nights
We were already there
Dec 24 2013
The Ghosts Of Christmas Eve
Remembering all our ghosts tonight
Dec 19 2013
What’s Cooking: Sugarplum Bread
Republished from 12/11/2011 from the What’s Cooking Archives at The Stars Hollow Gazette
In Autumn, the appearance in grocery stores of stacks of candied fruit and mountains of nuts in all their wonderful variety is a sure sign of the approach of the holidays. As the days grow short and the nights grow cool preparations for a joyous time of baking begins.
My daughter is the bread baker but Sugarplum Bread is the one I enjoy making, too. This sweet bread studded with candied fruit is not as heavy as fruit cake. It is topped with a white icing glaze and decorated with red and green cherries to look like clusters of berries. It is a treat for breakfast or in the afternoon with tea. I make small ones baked in large muffin tins, decorated and wrapped in colored plastic wrap tied with ribbon as gifts for guests.
The following recipe is a rich dough flavored with nutmeg, candied fruit and peel, and raisins
Candied fruit would have melted in the summer heat and its sweetness would attract ants but it keeps well in the freezer. After the holidays, when the price is reduced for clearance, if you have space in your freezer buy a supply. It assures that you’ll have candied fruit on hand in the months when it can’t be found in the market.
Dec 26 2012
The Ghosts of Christmas Eve
It ain’t Dickens. Narrated by Ossie Davis with the music of the Trans Siberian Orchestra.
In this room where shadows live
And ghosts that failed learn time forgives
Welcome, friends, please stay awhile
Our story starts with one small childWho spends this night in attics dark
Where dreams are stored like sleeping hearts
And so it’s here that they must wait
Till someone wishes them awakeFor somewhere on this night of nights
She’s looking to believe
Here among the ghosts on Christmas EveAnd there near an old looking glass
There was a trunk from Christmas past
That she had somehow missed before
But now decides she will explore‘Twas filled with toys and one old wreath
And several letters underneath
So as the evening hours leave
The child sat down and started to readFor somewhere on this night of nights
She’s looking to believe
Here among the ghosts on Christmas EveOn Christmas Eve
On Christmas Eve
Dec 25 2012
“Breaking the Silence”
When you see a wrong there is only one way to right it, shout it to the skies.
Break the silence. Silence Kills.
I hear some distant drumbeat
A heartbeat pulsing low
Is it coming from within
A heartbeat I don’t know
A troubled heart knows no peace
A dark and poisoned poolOf liberty now lost
A pawn an oppressor’s tool.Oh my heart be strong
And guide when eyes grow dim
When ears grow deaf with empty words
When I know there’s life within.A gunfire shatters silence
Where birds once sweetly sang
A mother cradles a child now dead
Now death where life beganFrom the troubled heart of South Africa
Nicaragua’s festering sore
The turmoil on the streets of China
Death crying out for moreA change is slow in coming
My eyes can scarcely see
The rays of hope come streaming
Through the smoke of apathyBut oh my heart be strong
And guide when eyes grow dim
When ears grow deaf with empty words
When I know there’s life within.May the spirit never die
Though a troubled heart feels pain
When the long winter is over
It will blossom once again
May there yet be Peace On Earth.
Dec 25 2012
The 12 Gifts of Christmas Aftermath
Dec 24 2012
What’s Cooking: Sugarplum Bread
Republished from 12/11/2011 from the What’s Cooking Archives at The Stars Hollow Gazette
In Autumn, the appearance in grocery stores of stacks of candied fruit and mountains of nuts in all their wonderful variety is a sure sign of the approach of the holidays. As the days grow short and the nights grow cool preparations for a joyous time of baking begins.
My daughter is the bread baker but Sugarplum Bread is the one I enjoy making, too. This sweet bread studded with candied fruit is not as heavy as fruit cake. It is topped with a white icing glaze and decorated with red and green cherries to look like clusters of berries. It is a treat for breakfast or in the afternoon with tea. I make small ones baked in large muffin tins, decorated and wrapped in colored plastic wrap tied with ribbon as gifts for guests.
The following recipe is a rich dough flavored with nutmeg, candied fruit and peel, and raisins
Candied fruit would have melted in the summer heat and its sweetness would attract ants but it keeps well in the freezer. After the holidays, when the price is reduced for clearance, if you have space in your freezer buy a supply. It assures that you’ll have candied fruit on hand in the months when it can’t be found in the market.