Category Archives: Holiday

Christmas Dinner

January 2, 2010

For Christmas, we had a new item on our menu - GOOSE.

Mom preparing the table with her fine china.  We only use these dishes for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Passover.

The menu looks tantalizing.

So does this first course!

Quiche, deli rolls, pickled onions, peppers and mushrooms… yum!  I especially loved the pickled mushrooms.

Fresh made sushi with jalapeno and shrimp.

And here is the main event!

Goose has the strangest drumsticks I’ve ever seen.  The meat was dark all over the bird, even on the breast, and absolutely delicious.

Kimmy with her favorite cut: the wing.

Annie holds up the wishbone.  Weird shape.  I thought all wishbones were straight.

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Christmas Recap

December 30, 2009

Christmas morning, we all came down to find that our hoard of presents had mysteriously grown.  Santa (aka. Dad) was blamed as the culprit.

No one was left out.  Even Joy was given something to play with.

Kimmy got a set of pots and pans to play kitchen (her favorite game when she’s not actually helping someone in the “real” kitchen).

Emily got a mug for coffee, a beverage she has taken to liking in the past two years.

I got a beautiful mug with horses (that was a real surprise ;-)).  It sure holds a lot of wassail!

Kathy got a book by Mark Twain called A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.  She says its hilarious, so when she’s finished, I will probably read it.

Matthew got a new top.  Matthew enjoys playing with hands on items like Rubik’s cubes, yo-yo’s, and tops.  He knows quite a few interesting tricks, such as spinning the top on the palm of his hand.

For breakfast, we had apple dumplings made by Kathy.  This is a favorite in our house.

After breakfast, Dad read the Christmas story for devotions.

Annie preparing to read aloud a passage from Luke.  Sitting next to her is Grandpa.

After devotions, we opened up the gifts we gave to each other.  Emily got a beautiful piano for her doll house.

Abigail opening up a set of Mini Whinnies, tiny model horses the girls love playing with.

Matthew shows off the scarf Emily crocheted for him.

Grandma opening a gift (a wind chime of some sort).

We made sure that our resident spinner got some fiber for her new spinning wheel: superfine alpaca and Bactrian camel down.  I can hardly wait to see what she makes out of it!

Kimmy with new book.  It took Kathy a while to find this book, which we both enjoyed as children.  One very unfortunate thing I have noticed is that many of the books Kathy and I read as children are disappearing from libraries and bookstores.  Either the books aren’t “with it” or they’re politically incorrect.  Makes me feel a little dated, and I’m not 24 yet.

Notice that Kathy is the one reading the book. ;-)

Mom with the pot holders I crocheted for her out of cotton yarn (cotton is the best yarn to use in the kitchen).

Matthew was given one of his favorite books: The Time Traveler by H.G. Wells.

Kimmy with a new stuffed animal.  Kathy is reading another book about Winnie the Pooh.  She loves Winnie the Pooh.

Books seem to be the trend this Christmas.

Emily with her new penny whistle (from me).

She also received a box full of yarn and instructions on making washcloths and pot holders.

Grandpa with the scarf Emily wove for him on her loom.

Mom and Dad commiserating.  This is a fairly common occurrence in my house.

I gave Dad the new cardinal picture for his brand new office at work.  Cardinals are one of his favorite birds.

The kids gave Mom several snowmen.  She decorates the entire house with snowmen for January.

Now you might be wondering what I got.  Well…

Click this link to hear a sample of one of my gifts.  I can’t play it anywhere near as good as this, but I want to someday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdJYbOkbetQ&feature=related

I also received a CD by Brad White, a musician who plays recorders, pan flutes and penny whistles.  It’s lovely.  Click the link to listen to samples of the CD.  O Holy Night is my favorite - it features a bass recorder solo that is haunting.

http://homepage.mac.com/bradwhite/pan/albums_flash/wintermain.html

Also posted in Family, Family Events – 0 Comments

White Christmas

December 27, 2009

Well, I lived in Texas for nearly a quarter of a century, and I’ve never woken up to a Christmas morning like this.

It had snowed during the night.  We almost never get snow until late January/early February, so I was really surprised.  And pleased.  A winter wonderland is a wonderful thing to wake up to on Christmas!

Also posted in Winter – 2 Comments

December 24, 2009

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining;
It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,
Here came the wise men from Orient land.
The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger,
In all our trials born to be our Friend!
He knows our need—to our weakness is no stranger.
Behold your King; before Him lowly bend!
Behold your King; before Him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His Gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother
And in His Name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy Name!
Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever!
His pow’r and glory evermore proclaim!
His pow’r and glory evermore proclaim!

 Placide Cappeau, 1847

Translanted from the French by John S. Dwight 

 

Also posted in Poetry – 0 Comments

December 19, 2009

At a certain time of the year, we make sure to have lots of jam around…

…and the kitchen is taken up with baking for the entire day.

Christmas is the time of year we make Spitzbubens, the richest, the most suculent and tender butter cookie in the world made into sandwiches with jams and jellies.

Peach is my favorite flavor.

Also posted in Family, Home – 0 Comments

The Christmas Tree

December 6, 2009

What kind of Christmas tree to get?  That is a deep question.  It can’t be too tall.  It can’t be too wide.  It can’t be too skinny.  It can’t be unhealthy.  It’s also very confusing when you walk into a store and see your options. 

That’s why you bring along your little sister to help select the right one.

Hmm… this Noble fir looks pretty good, albeit a bit small.

But Abigail seems to think this one looks just right.

So this is the tree we selected.

Now for the preparations.  First, you need to lay down some sort of barrier to protect a 17 year old carpet.

Even better, spray it a complimentary color before you bring it in the house.

The tree is sent home in a webbing.

It’s usually a good idea to snip off the webbing…

…so the tree will retain a natural shape.

Next come the lights… the least said about that process, the better.

After the lights have been twined onto the tree, it is then time to decide what ornamets to use. 

We usually let the younger children place their ornaments first; then Kathy and I come along after and add the rest and declump areas. 

The effect is usually very charming.  Because each of us kids has our own set of ornaments, the tree can look rather eclectic.  The balls my mother made years ago give the tree a sense of uniformity.

Some of our ornaments are store bought; others are home made.

This angel is made from Sculpy Clay.

This felt heart was made by my great-grandmother.

This is my mother’s Christmas angel.

After the tree was completely assembled, Dad got busy.  It’s been years since we’ve had a Christmas train chugging around the tree.

Here is one of my dad’s engines. 

“She’ll be coming ’round the mountains when she comes…”

Here is the Village Dad set up under the tree.  I’m starting to wonder where we’re going to put the Christmas presents on Christmas morning.

Not a bad looking tree, I must say!

Also posted in Family Events, Winter – 1 Comment

Thanksgiving

December 3, 2009

To see what we did on Thanksgiving Day, click this link: http://familybuildingworkshop.com/Hope/

Also posted in Family Events, Family Outings, Visiting Friends – 0 Comments

Homstead Heritage - Draft Horses

December 2, 2009

One highlight of our trip was the Homestead Heritage Child and Craft Fair. We’ve been there a couple of times in the past, and each year it gets bigger. This pleasant sight greeted me when I stepped out of the van. 

I’ll admit the principle reason why I wanted to come was because I knew there would be horses.  The people at Homestead Heritage only use horses for farming.  They even explained a bit how they work with their them.  This fine mare is a Percheron.  Percherons are an old draft breed from France that carry a high prepoderance of Arabian blood. They are considered second only the the Scottish Clydesdale (think of the Budweiser Clydesdales) in elegence. They are excellent work animals.

Draft horses, for all their bulk, are usually the calmest horses on earth.  Even tiny children can approach them without fear.

This mare was especially friendly and actually seemed to enjoy the attention Annie and Abigail were giving.

When we arrived, the horses were being groom in preparation for harnessing.

First up, the harness collar.

Next comes the rest of the equipment.

After that, the bridle.

These are blinkers.  They are designed to keep the horse from being distracted by objects on the right or left.

All set to go.

There were other teams.  Here is a fine pair of bay mules.

One of the buggy horses.  I think this one was at least half-Arab.

They also had a set of matched pintos.  Very stylish.

But this pair was my favorite.  There’s just something majestic about a draft horse.

Now if I can just convince my parents to let me have a crack at it… ;-)

Also posted in Family Events, Family Outings, Horses – 1 Comment

Spitzbubens - a Family Tradition

December 22, 2008

One of my favorite family traditions at Christmas is Spitzbubens, a German butter cookie sandwich.  We’ve made them every year as long back as I can remember.   My paternal grandmother started this tradition many years ago.   Perhaps she will tell us where she found the recipe.

Cream 2 cups of room temperature butter, 2 2/3 cups of sugar, 2 tsp. of vanilla, and 6 eggs.

In a separate bowl, combine 6 cups of flour, 4 tsp. of baking powder, and 2 tsp. of salt.

Add to creamed mixture.  This constitutes the practically perfect tasting cookie dough.  It’s my favorite out of all the different kinds I’ve tried (and there have been quite a few!).

Chill the dough.  Too long and it becomes crumbly.  Too short and it stays really sticky.

Once the dough is chilled enough, roll out a small ammount.  For me, this is the trickiest part because if you use too much flour, you can ruin the dough.  I did that the first time I attempted these.

Spitzbubens are a type of cookie sandwich, if you will, so you make the bottoms first.

The batch makes about 50-60 complete cookies (I usually aim for 50 - it gives me a larger margin for error).  That’s about 50 bottoms and 50 tops.  When I make these solo, I tend to roll out all fifty bottoms before baking them and have the extra ones on large trays because once I start baking its very difficult to roll out more cookies while juggling cookie sheets.

 

The reason for that, of course, is that it takes 5 minutes or less for the cookies to bake.  They are very easy to burn.

You can see that I have a few dark ones.  I didn’t quite burn them. 

I think this is Abby’s idea of a joke.  I had finished rolling out all the bottoms and actually had about 3 minutes before the next batch came out.  My new pennywhistle just happened to be in the vicinity so I picked it up and attempted to play Donnybroke Fair in 2 1/2 minutes, not knowing that Abby had swiped my camera!

 

Spitzbubens are filled jelly or jam.  Grape seems to be the family favorite, however a few of us prefer strawberry.  Mom and I like apricot or peach.

You’re supposed to spoon the jam onto the cookie bottoms before making the tops.  The reason for this is that the tops have to be hot when they are placed over the jelly.  Something about making it stick better.  It’s actually a rather nice break from rolling out dough because I get to sit down.

I’ve found from experience that it’s a lot easier to use jam.  It spreads better than jelly.  There’s a little too much jelly on the grape cookies.

These are the tops.  You can use all different shapes; we like a simple flower.

Cutting out the center of each flower.

Immeaiately after the tops are out of the oven, they are placed on top of the wating cookies. 

The kitchen is now very dirty.  Clean it up!  (This picture was also taken by Abby unbeknownst to me)

At the very end, it’s time to sprinkle the 10x sugar over all the cookies.  Abby apparently thought this was the best part.  One final note: spitzbubens are best if they sit and ripen for 4-7 days so no one gets a bite just yet!

Apricot…

Triple berry…

Strawberry…

Grape…

Yum!  I can hardly wait until Christmas Day to eat these!

Also posted in Homemaking – 2 Comments

Spangler Thanksgiving Candid Camera Moments

December 2, 2008

Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, I thought I would post a few of my favorite pictures.

This is our annual Creepy Crawler spree.  We’ve made Creepy Crawlers every Thanksgiving for 16 years now.

Kimmy with her “sharp-tooth” Creepy Crawler that she made herself.

A close-up of a Creepy Crawler.  They’re made by baking plastic goop in metal tins over a hot light bulb.

Kimmy brought a guest to dinner.

A fellow blogger.

Abigail wiggling a loose tooth.

Now that’s what I call a Thanksgiving turkey.

Kimmy likes eating what she terms the “feather-bone.”  She was thrilled with the size of this turkey wing!

This is a traditional Spangler Thanksgiving meal.  Starting at the top, clockwise: pumpkin pie with whipped cream, turkey with gibblet gravy, mashed potato with gibblet gravy, homemade bread stuffing made in Dutch style, and fresh potato rolls.  (Mother’s Note:  And just where are the vegetables, my dear Karen?  There is nothing green on that plate! )  A little later we had homemade vanilla ice cream and apple cranberry pie.  If my mother would have done it like back home we would have added cooked dried corn, pecan crusted sweet potatoes, creamed celery, cranberry relish, strawberry pretzel salad, pickled beets, Dutch relishes, candied carrots, shoo fly pie, whoopie pies and slices of cheese.  And one of these years my mom says she is going to serve one of her favorites from back home …. cottage cheese topped with dark brown apple butter.  I think I will just stick with the plate pictured here.

Also posted in Family Events, Home, Humor – 0 Comments
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