Christmas . . .

Well, even though most of the cookies have been consumed, I did take a couple more pictures. These cashew cookies are another standby favorite. The recipe is from a wonderful woman, one of my first mentors – "Cillar". She was a second (or third or once removed or something or other!) cousin to my mother. I always saw her as such a free spirit. She died way too young – in her late 40's perhaps? My first degree was in early childhood education because I so admired the work she did with Head Start as it was beginning in the 60's. She and her three children lived in Iowa City; her husband was a funeral director and as kids we used to love playing in the funeral home. Her daughter Melissa was the maid of honor at my first wedding. One time while visiting her, everyone had somewhere they needed to be and I was left alone at home all evening. Cillar handed me a little book that she thought I might enjoy reading to pass the time. That book was "Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah" by Richard Bach and it resonated deeply within me. Amazing how a cookie can take you down memory lane.
Christmas was very quiet and very enjoyable. Dante went to Medford to visit his mom and friends we usually spend holidays with were out of town. A dear friend came over and we prepared prawns the size the rib eye steaks, homemade pasta with leeks, and salad. It always comes back to food, doesn't it? Sue helped me work on a current quilt project…a perfect way to spend an afternoon.
We've been talking about playing mahjong for years and Christmas Day seemed like the perfect time to learn. Takashi hasn't played in nearly 30 years, claiming we needed to have a special table to do so. About four years ago, we bought the materials to build a table top that would sit on top of a card table so we dug out the materials along with the mahjong set, downloaded some tips on playing from the internet and found a book at the library that explained Japanese rules in English. Takashi has a well-worn book but since it was all in Japanese we weren't trusting him to guide us.

Mah jong is an incredibly complex game and we didn't get far…but we will try again…maybe.
My favorite Christmas activity is always the Christmas Eve Candle Lighting service. There is something magical about the story, the music, and the candles that touches me every year. And it just isn't Christmas until I've heard "O Holy Night".