Blue Jeans and Cotton Tees

I’ve been spending a lot of quality time with my pressure canner in the last few weeks as the green beans continue to ripen.

Using the pressure canner requires a close watch on the pressure gauge. A certain level of pressure is needed – but too much can be dangerous.

During one of my many sessions of watching that all-important gauge – I got to thinking. (Now I know that can be dangerous – but follow me here…)

I got to thinking – it sure would be nice to have a pressure gauge stamped into my forehead so everybody could know how much pressure I was under.

Imagine the conversations between my children:

“Hey guys – better leave Mom alone – her gauge is in the danger zone! She’s ready to blow”

or

“This is a great time to ask mom for (fill in the blank) she’s nice and steady right now.”

Just think of the harmony that would be attained if my husband could – when arriving home from work – see how much pressure had built up that day.

He would immediately know whether it was a good time to tell me that he forgot the milk, or that he had invited company over.

Or whether it was a better time to whisk me off on a walk or just take the children and disappear for a while so the head of steam I was building would have a chance to cool off a little.

Yep – I think I pressure gauge is a really good idea! Just think of the explosions that could be averted!

As a mom of five, I know very well the need we moms have to be alone.

We love our children,  but to be continually needed by someone and always on call is tiring.

Sometimes we’re looking to get away for a few minutes, to sit in silence, to rest our minds.

Sound impossible? If you have young children – it is. They are hard wired to need you. They want to be with you – all the time.

You don’t dare close the door when you go to the bathroom because it’s just asking for a catastrophe to happen!

But – if you have older children – it’s actually easier than you think.

After years of trial and error, I have discovered 10 foolproof statements that are sure to get you some privacy.

All you need to do is announce any one of these and the room will clear instantly as your older children will disappear like leaves in the wind.

1. “I’m looking for someone to wash dishes”

2. “The bathroom needs to be cleaned”

3. “I’m heading out to the garden to weed”

4. “I’m heading out to the garden to pick green beans, or tomatoes, or peppers, or anything”

5. “There’s laundry waiting to hung on the clothes line”

6. “There’s laundry to be folded”

7. “I think we should start cleaning the basement after lunch”

8. “The garbage needs to be taken out”

9.  “I need help canning tomatoes (or apples or green beans)”

10. “Dad said we were butchering chickens this afternoon”

Try one and see for yourself!

When the temperatures soared up into the 60’s this week, the kids and I all played hooky for the afternoon and took a hike.

After all, having 60 degrees in January in southern Iowa is an event to be celebrated!

We made 2 rules for this adventure. The first rule was that each of us needed to have a piece of candy in our pockets that we could eat anywhere, or anytime we wished!

The second rule was that we could not walk on any trails.

We headed down the hill to the ravines and decided to follow them for as far as we could.

Winter is the perfect time to explore the ravines that surround our homestead since they are overgrown, inaccessible and full of ticks during the summer and fall.

But this day was perfect! The snow was melted, the sun was shining and we were all wearing sweatshirts, – no parkas, mittens, or hats – in mid-January.

We climbed over logs and crawled under branches. We slid down steep banks and shimmed back up the other side. We skated across the frozen creek bed and explored the wash outs.

We found several animal bones, turkey feathers, and part of an old foundation.

We discovered with awe that the rushing creek had frozen as it was flowing into amazing little frozen waterfalls.

We talked, we laughed, we ate chocolate and we savored the sunshine.

But most of all, we made a memory.

Christmas traditions are what ties us together as a family.

One tradition we’ve enjoyed with my family for years is acting out the Christmas story.

We started it when the first nieces and nephews began arriving.

We decided that instead of reading the Christmas story to several wiggly little ones, we would have them act it out.

Nana grabbed the box of dress up clothes and tipped it upside down on the floor and everyone- parents included- found a costume and acting out a part.

Whichever couple was pregnant or had just had a baby played Mary and Joseph. The animal hats that my oldest sister made for a Christmas program were perfect for little ones (and sometimes daddies!)

Papa Jim told the story as we all acted it out.

Those oldest nieces and nephews are now in their 20’s, but still participate every year to help bring the story to life for the youngest ones.

There are so many of us now that we have moved our Christmas celebration to Labor Day weekend and our “pageant’ is acted outside with a real campfire for the shepherds to sit around and the barn as a stable.

It’s a tradition that ties us together from the oldest to the youngest and makes memories that will last a lifetime!

One of the things my husband and I bought with our wedding money over 18 years ago was a beautiful porcelain nativity set.

We displayed it every year for Christmas until our first born turned two.

That was the year we realized that while a porcelaim set was very beautiful, it was not very practical to keep little hands away during the entire Christmas season, especially since I was already expected our second child and was exhausted.

I did not want to have a home full of no-no’s for little ones. I wanted them to be able to touch and play with the nativity, act it out, make it real in their little minds.

That year we found a nice little plasticine set on sale at a craft store.

Our little 2 year old sat with Daddy and set it up that night. Daddy told him the story and he carefully set out all the pieces.

He was so taken by it that every day after that, he would go and move the characters around the stable and told the story in his own special toddler-speak.

A new tradition was born.

Now every year we pull out the plasticine set and Daddy sets it up with the children, telling the story of the first Christmas.

The year Pedro was two he was so taken by the donkey that every day he would sneak it out and take a nap with it. Somehow the poor donkey lost his ears.

It now reminds me of the set my parents had when I were growing up. They bought it 40 years ago from a catalog and it has seen many Christmas’s. It has been arranged and rearranged by many little hands over the years, children and now grandchildren.

If you study the picture you will note that there are no shepherds and the donkey is with out ears. All were lost or broken at some point over the years.

They now have a beautiful new Nativity set, hand carved from Israel. But they still display this one over the holidays as a reminder that the Christmas story is to be touched, felt and lived for it to be remembered.

What a beautiful tradition!