by admin | Dec 20, 2006 | Blog Posts
Ah yes, the holidays. A time when families gather together at the old homestead, take sleigh rides, sip cocoa before the fire. This is a season when every boy and girl is at their best behavior and mother and father spend each idle moment in warm embraces and pleasant exchanges. Okay, who am I kidding? Life is not that way and neither are the holidays. In fact, I have never been on a sleigh ride and have rarely seen one of my children, or my nieces or nephews (even the ones not in jail) at their best behavior. What usually transpires are cryptic threats to the children like, “If you don’t get this room clean Santa Clause is going to leave you underwear – do you understand me?!” Or how about when all of the extended families come together and secretly everyone is assessing each other to see who has gained weight, whose kids are the brightest (mine are, by the way), and who is having trouble at work. We rush from home dragging our children in tow, along with our casseroles, sweet potato pie and some new recipe from Southern Living. Why do we do it? Why do families do this every year from coast to coast, sea to shining sea? I believe at the heart of the matter it is because we need one another. We really do not need our accomplishments or failures; we do not need our insightful ideas, inspirations or bragging rights. We just need each other. Christian Morgenstern wrote: “Home is not where you live, but where they understand you.” Well, I am...
by admin | Dec 13, 2006 | Blog Posts
Let’s see, in October we were carving pumpkins, in November Amy was picking out a 17 pound turkey of which we are still eating and now in December we removed and displayed from the attic most all of our dusty, Christmas decorations. Every family has their own routine and the DeLoaches are no different. Let’s see how we are doing on our holiday checklist: Good old fashion Christmas tree lovingly selected from the thousands sold at Lowes. Thought about constructing a ginger bread house, but remembered that the last time we made one I had eaten half of it by the next day. Picked up pine needles from last year’s tree. Baked hundreds of cookies and completed all shopping – okay, that one is not true, but we are committed to finishing up this year by the 23rd, 24th tops. Had pictures made with Santa Clause. St. Nick, however, did complain a bit that I was a little too heavy to sit on his lap and insisted I sit beside him this time. It just wasn’t the same. The boys, of course, were nowhere to be found. Well, that is what we have completed, or at least started. You should see the list that so far has no checks beside it. Staggering. ‘Tis the season to feel overwhelmed I suppose. Has it always been this way? In truth, yes. Think of Joseph and Mary. And then there is the tiny village of Bethlehem flooded with “immigrants” for the census. Can you imagine the shepherds out in the fields surrounded by a whole heavenly host? Overwhelmed. As we sink beneath...
by admin | Dec 11, 2006 | Blog Posts
Are you ready for Christmas? I have fond recollections from childhood of my grandmother readying for Christmas by weeks and weeks of baking, boiling and kneading her way to December 25th. The kitchen and spare bedroom of her simple house would be stacked high with Tupperware containers filled with high calorie treats. Each year we could expect lady fingers, date nut balls, divinity, and peanut butter fudge. Just before Christmas day she would buy a few coconuts (we never could grow any in Putnam County) and grate them for a homemade coconut cake. One year my brothers and I decided to help grate the coconuts but failed to properly wash up before plunging into the task at hand. Instead of a pearly white color, the cake looked more like a mud hut on the side of the creek. Needless to say the cake never made it to the table. Another year my grandmother was inspired to try something new. She had read a recipe in a magazine for rum balls. Like any good southern lady of her time, my grandmother was a staunch tee-totaler, but she had always heard you can cook the alcohol out. She dispatched my father to go in the dark of night, so no one would see, and purchase a bottle of rum to make rum balls. Like most grandmothers, she did not always work with measurements so she added rum to the mixture according to what she thought looked right. Take my word for it; minors had no business eating those rum balls! When we took the lid off of the container of rum...
by admin | Nov 30, 2006 | Blog Posts
I use to poke fun at some of the gaudy decorations I would see in people’s yards. Over time, however, I have come to better appreciate the efforts people make so that their houses are festive. When I jog through the neighborhoods I know the houses that will use nothing but blue lights, and the ones that will decorate with blinking lights. I can take you right to the home that has an electric candle in every widow – the bulbs are bright red. The last few years I have seen more and more yards festooned with those giant inflatable characters. With every home that hangs quaint evergreen wreaths there are two more homes that have a giant inflatable bear in a toy soldier suit. By comparison, our yard is rather drab. We have some garland hanging over the banisters with magnolia leaves as accents. Right in the center hangs a Moravian star. That’s it. The star doesn’t sing We Wish You a Merry Christmas and the lights on the garland to not change from purple to blue and then to red. When my children were younger they begged for gaudiness. They wanted lights, and lots of them. One year we added a few white lights to the shrubbery but that was not good enough. They want multi-colored, disco-infused, dancing lights. “Too gaudy” I say. But I think I am starting to change my mind. There is comfort in knowing how my neighbors will decorate to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Sure, an inflatable Snoopy in a Santa hat doesn’t have much to do with the babe in the...
by admin | Oct 25, 2006 | Blog Posts
Every Sunday at 11 AM sharp I am in the Activities Building for the beginning of the contemporary worship service, better known as “Reach.” After a welcome and a children’s message I slip out the back door and I am “whisked” away in a golf cart to the sanctuary building. Sure I could walk, but do church members and those watching by way of broadcast really want to see me sweaty and red faced as I enter the sanctuary? I have many fond memories of these weekly rides in the golf cart, chauffeured by one of our staff members (I have not been here long enough for them to trust me with the keys). Sometimes we will get so enthralled in conversation that we will go right past the sanctuary and have to do a U-turn (I am not exaggerating). I also get a kick at waving at church members while we zoom by. I have heard more than one of you refer to this little golf cart as the “pope-mobile.” Imagine my distress when last week the beloved cab-enclosed golf cart caught fire! I was not riding in the car at the time. It was on some other mission during the week and the electrical system caught fire. I wondered to myself if this would be a good time to suggest procuring one of those nifty segway scooters. “How am I going to get there from here?” My chagrin regarding my transportation options was short lived because this past Sunday I was picked up in a sporty convertible golf cart – no cab, no roof, no doors, just...
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