Lighting the Menorah.
Telling the story of Hanukkah.
Preparing the feast.
Potato latkes–yum!
Family and friends.
Spinning the Dreidel.
The toy feast.
It was a lovely evening.
Thanks April and Jacob.
The Pumpkinless Pie
My cute little daddy–in the middle, with the beard–had worked in a bakeshop of one kind or another, ever since he was about 8 years old. So, when he went into the Navy, it was only natural that he became a cook. To hear him talk, he must have loved it. One story that he told us when we were little, was of being on a battleship, somewhere out in the middle of the South Pacific on Thanksgiving Day.
He said the food was always as good as they could possibly make it, considering what they had to work with. But today, the guys were hoping for something more–anything that would make them feel just a little closer to those they loved back home.
Canned turkey was expected, along with some sort of dried bread stuffing and soggy vegetables, but what they all were missing the most, they said, was pumpkin pie. Of course there was no pumpkin–fresh or canned out in the middle of the ocean–during a war. But that wasn’t good enough for my smarty-pants dad.
He thought about it and thought about it and realized that cooked pumpkin, in many ways, is quite similar to…
carrots. Yesiree. Carrots.
So, while no one was looking, he cooked them up and added all the right spices, milk, and sugar. He said, that he found that if you treat a carrot like a pumpkin, it will act just like one. So when the “pumpkin” pie was served that day–it was perfect. Everyone thought it was a miracle or that pumpkins had just dropped out of the sky or something. They never knew. But they didn’t think too hard about it because they were way too busy being grateful for all their blessings…
and their amazing Superman cook–my cute little daddy….
who saved Thanksgiving Day.
And that’s the way he told it…
except for the Superman bit…that was all mine.
heh, heh.
Happy Veterans Day!
{Believing}
If you cannot remember believing in God or if you have ceased to believe or if you believe but without real conviction, I invite you to seek a testimony of God now. Do not be afraid of ridicule. The strength and peace that come from knowing God and having the comforting companionship of His Spirit will make your efforts eternally worthwhile.”
– Elder Robert D. Hales
Developing Character
“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.”
Helen Keller
Carving With The Big Kids
Oh, it is indeed an adventure to carve pumpkins with big kids. Think what you like about what it is to let a child work on their own Jack O’ Lantern for the first time—pumpkin seeds and bits and slippery insides everywhere–I know.
But let me just tell you–all these little kids in great big, grown up bodies can indeed make the same mess if they set their minds to it. And sometimes…
some of the mayhem looks…um…dare I say…deliberate. It also seems that every year the pumpkins themselves get way bigger. You know what THAT means…
so. do. the. knives. Now there’s spooky.
Oh, how do I leave these people unsupervised?!!
Fact is, once the nasty, really sharp things were put away and the little carving tools came out–these people were quite fascinating to watch. Everyone was concentrating so hard on what they were doing, that it was easy for me sit back and observe a bit.
Funny–isn’t it, how kid’s, even big kid’s personalities really come out…
when left alone…
with a great big, silly, old pumpkin?