Holidays

Valentine’s day … it’s all about the love!

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Mimi clutches her Valentine Card ... note the Elmo sticker on her shirt

Mimi clutches her Valentine Card … note the Elmo sticker on her shirt

Love is in the air more than usual today don’t you think? Hubby and I are celebrating Valentine’s Day tonight with steaks grilled to perfection … and a veggie or two. Oh, and I’ve already purchased some limited edition strawberries to dip and drip chocolate on later. I know … I’m a sucker. But the words “limited edition” did just what some crafty marketing person intended … drew my left hand like a magnet to the strawberry crate.

But back to love. It’s comes in many forms today. My special needs daughter is so excited! There’s a Valentine’s party at the day center with cookies and candy and lots of fun. Mimi probably won’t want to eat dinner tonight … and that is SO okay.

Mimi is so blessed to have so many people who show their love to her all year long. Her sister, Katie, sends her singing cards. Mimi’s sister-in-law, Kate, sends her fluffy stuffed animals. Her godmother, Aunt Cece, sends her cards and little gifts. All for a 28-year-old wheelchair bound young lady perpetually stuck at the age of 3 or 4.

Today Mimi received a Valentine’s card and a sheet of Elmo stickers from my sister, Mimi’s Aunt Gretchen. You should have heard Mimi squeal when I opened the card for her! It is the same for every card sent her way. Love is all about those little special moments strung together like a long string of precious pearls. Perhaps we focus on those special moments a little more on Valentine’s Day. They happen at our house all year long.

Nothin’ quite like my sister’s …

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Potato RollsMy little sister, Gretchen, is an exceptional cook. She has one standout recipe that is a Frantz family favorite. In fact, it adorns our table most all of the major holidays … Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Groundhog’s Dog … you get the picture.

Yep, I seem to recall a time or two when the family was in menu development mode it was the item we built the whole meal around. Gretchen’s shining gem of a recipe is … official drum roll please … potato rolls. Bet you thought I was going to say something like rack of lamb or that beef dish only Julia Child can pronounce.

The legend goes that many years ago Gretchen took a mediocre recipe and substituted real butter for shortening or some other oily substance. Then she turned right around and, kinda like Tinkerbell with her Disney magic wand, made another change. The sugar component vanished and in was poured fragrant sticky honey. It’s hard to decide what makes these rolls sing the loudest … the butter … or the honey. We took a poll at our house once and the honey won. Those bees really know what they are doin’.

Don’t take my word for it. I won $25 in a recipe contest held by our local newspaper many years ago with the potato rolls. Our oldest was two or three at the time. I gave the winnings to my sister. Katie and I got our picture in the newspaper. I made sure our daughter was perched on the kitchen counter covered in flour when the reporter was scheduled to come by. Nothing says “major cute” than a two-year-old dusted with a little Gold Medal flour.

Gretchen gave me permission to share the recipe but I have to warn you they take some effort. Check the recipe tab of this blog. There is yeast, some kneading, and rising twice involved. You will not be disappointed.

Santa reflections

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Before I packed up Christmas this year I wanted to reflect a little on that jolly old fellow. Was it me, or did there seem to be more Santa sightings than usual this Christmas season? Santa made it to the day center my special needs daughter attends. Santa also visited a YMCA party a couple of days before Christmas. With a fan base greater than Justin Bieber, Santa even stayed for pictures.

A couple of days before Christmas I saw him sitting on his throne at the mall. Nothing super unusual about that … except for the thousand very patient people in line waiting their turn. Perhaps the most unusual sighting for me was the grocery store. Actually, I never “saw” him with my own eyeballs but the announcement over the loud speaker spoke for itself. It was the same grocery store that a Facebook friend commented seeing an especially handsome Santa hangin’ out in our local Kroger.

“Would Mr. Claus please return to Customer Service for a message,” the voice boomed.

Oh, and did I mention Santa made a stop on Christmas Eve at our house. Mimi has an especially large lumpy spot in her heart for the bearded fellow. Always has. Most parents have that one special photograph of their little crying child sitting on Santa’s lap. Not so with Mimi.

Our son is a different story! Ricky was probably two when we hit the mall for our annual Santa photo. The two older girls went first as a reluctant Ricky watched. Katie sat on one of Santa’s knees and Mimi on the other. There were lots of smiles and laughter! We actually have much the same photograph of Ricky. Ricky is wailing on one of Santa’s knees and my husband is on the other knee. I offered to buy Santa a six-pack of ear plugs. He just shook his head and smiled.

“It comes with the job,” he whispered.

Since 2007 Santa has been parking his sleigh out in front of our house so he can get his annual “Mimi hug.” Mimi and Santa met at a Christmas party when I was working in the back office of a hotel several years back. He’s been coming to our house on Christmas Eve ever since. The photos don’t capture the lingering embrace and the way Mimi pats Santa on the back as they hug. But you get the gist.

Our “Sharing Sunday” tradition

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The beauty of a blog is having the ability to tell the story with words and pictures. I’m not used to that luxury with writing a column for a newspaper. So let’s see what happens with this week’s post!

Every year for about the past 30 years, St. Martha Catholic Church in Kingwood, Texas has had a special weekend in mid-December called “Sharing Sunday.” The gist is parishioners bring mostly gifts, and some groceries, to church. We wrap and tag them with age and gender and bring them up during the offertory. I mean … a boy wouldn’t want to get a baby doll if you know what I mean.

This year the gifts were to benefit 14 local parishes in the Houston area, as well as the needy in our own parish. It is quite a sight to see hundreds of wrapped presents, stuffed animals, bikes and sacks of food stacked in front of the altar and around the church. Our special needs daughter used to point and say “mine,” but not this year. Mimi has her mind focused on “Ho-Ho.”

Our family starts saving for the next “Sharing Sunday” on December 26, by collecting loose change in the empty glass milk jugs that rest next to the microwave. By the time we feed the CoinStar machine the coins almost always total 100 bucks. This year hubby went along for the first time to see how the entire process of purchasing gifts works. I gave him camera duty so he could pay his way.

Next we were off to On the Park, a local Kingwood toy/candy store. I like to use local businesses, and the friendly owner, Fred, is always up for some fun small talk. This year we talked politics for about 30 minutes right next to the stuffed Frosty the Snowman. The other benefit of On the Park is they will wrap everything and I’m a certified terrible package wrapper. Just ask my kids.

“Mom wrapped this one, right?” Katie and Ricky have been known to say on many occasions.

Rick followed me around the store pointing out toys he thought kids would like. I turned down everything with a large price tag. My goal is to purchase as many fun toys as I can for a reasonable price. Did you know “Melissa and Doug” gifts are hot gifts for kids? Who knew? Not me … I’m still waiting for grandkids. We walked out with a dozen nice gifts and can’t wait for next year. Sharing … it’s another reason for the season.

Its Christmas ladies sew let’s party

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I have belonged to a Prayer Quilt Ministry at our church for the past five years. We make prayer quilts for the sick of our parish and have quite an operation. Around 60 prayer quilts each year are blessed by one of our parish priests and given to ill parishioners. Most every Wednesday we laugh … sometimes we cry … we always pray … and sew.

There are a couple of tables on one side of the room with a nest of ladies hand sewing bindings down and prayer pockets on the back. On the other side there is a group of tables with two or three sewing machines humming along way over the legal speed limit. They are creating quilt tops and machine stitching bindings. There is another table where the three layers of a quilt are being tied. And we’ve got this awesome station where the ironing gets done. Our fabulous Helaine custom-made this huge heat-resistant cover for one of the tables. You can have dueling irons working at the same time.

Now I know my husband “follows” my blog and there is no way he understood what I just wrote. He thinks I knit quilts together. It is okay sweetie … you are not supposed to know about that kind of stuff.

So today we celebrated the 10th anniversary of the group and had a Christmas Party. Hey … we are ladies … we like to party. It’s in our DNA. Of course there was food involved complete with festive centerpieces and tablecloths. Can’t have a party without the proper décor. Betty came prepared with a couple of Christmas games she found on-line that was a crowd pleaser. No acts of sewing were accomplished but we connected and celebrated the reason for the season … the upcoming birth of our Lord.

Blackened and most memorable

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I stopped by our local Hallmark Shop last week for a couple of sheets of fancy-looking Thanksgiving-themed paper. Actually, it’s the sort of pretty paper used to print party invites on. I use them to handwrite our holiday menus. Our daughter, Katie, has the artistic flair in the family, so she has handwriting duty.

Every year we audition a couple of new recipes for the holidays along with our favorite tried-and-true dishes. The menu this year kinda looked like this: hickory-smoked turkey with horseradish applesauce, mixed greens and goat cheese with bacon-wrapped figs, homemade orange liquored cranberry sauce, citrus-glazed carrots, sourdough dressing with sausage and dates, sweet potato rolls with honey butter, mashed potatoes and gravy … and for dessert pumpkin cheesecake tart and thick-as-mud chocolate pie. It all tasted as good as it reads … except for … well …

This year I’ve decided to make some notes on the back of the menu like who attended the Frantz family festivities and a couple of memories of the day. Yep, memories like the sourdough dressing with sage-inspired sausage and dates (the recipe called for figs) was the best stuffing ever. And where have bacon-wrapped figs been all my life? Oh, and the delicious pumpkin cheesecake tart from her new Smitten Kitchen cookbook our daughter crafted from scratch that almost wasn’t. Katie didn’t like the thinness of the pumpkin part of the recipe and almost threw the whole thing in the trash. Thanks to our new son-in-law the tart was saved.

Did I mention there was a very important football game on while the finishing touches were being put on the Turkey Day meal? It was the Texans vs. the Lions. We had survived one tense overtime just the week before. Would we survive another? The citrus-glazed carrots were on the grill when the game went into overtime. And you know how long “overtime” sometimes takes in a football game? Let’s just say it was way more than the four to six minutes needed for adding grill marks to carrots.

One of the reasons we make up holiday menu cards is somewhere between the blessing and going through the buffet line, I run a reality check to make sure I haven’t forgotten anything. One year a batch of rolls got left in the oven for a week because I just forgot them.

“Where are the carrots?” I remarked in alarm.

Two sets of eyeballs opened wide, my husband and son-in-law, as they realized they were still on the grill. Let’s just call the citrus-glazed carrots this year’s most blackened and memorable dish. Funniest thing you’ve ever seen! It further lightened the Thanksgiving mood as family stories would soon make it around the table.

In a few days I’ll make my way back to our local Hallmark shop. I need some of that pretty paper for makin’ Christmas menu memories.

Pink boas and tiaras

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Happy Halloween!!! Leaving a trail of feathers as I wheeled Mimi down the driveway this morning to her bus, I had to admit the girl was looking mighty fine. Mimi was all decked out in a long pink feather boa and sparkly tiara. Then there was Mimi’s bus driver, Miss Beverly. She was kinda scary-looking dressed all in black with a long black wig and colorful mask. Strange … she must have cast a spell on me. I can’t remember if the mask was orange or pink.

So anyway, today the day center Mimi attends is going to be partying hardy. This year Mimi is a princess for Halloween. Actually, she totally fits the part without the garb. Last year Mimi was an angel … same boa and tiara … but since she has gotten a new wheelchair, the pink angel wings keep falling off the back. I hate when that happens.

Halloween is Mimi’s most favorite holiday. It’s not so much about the candy, although she would totally eat chocolate anything for breakfast if we let her. I’ve never seen Mimi’s baby blues any wider then when she is chugging chocolate milk. We have surmised Mimi’s fascination with Halloween is because she can’t pronounce Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter and Valentine’s Day. Actually, she calls every holiday “Halloween,” but we know what she means.

Except for a year in Michigan when Mimi was a tot, we’ve lived on the same block since she was born with cerebral palsy 28 years ago. And we’ve tricked and treated for all but the past couple of years. It takes two people to get her and the wheelchair up the curbs so now Mimi helps hand out the candy. Actually, if the truth were told, Mimi could care less about the candy. She was always more interested in the bear hugs from the neighbors. Oh, and then there are the neighbors who dress up their dogs. That always got ginormous squeals from Mimi.

Yep, I suspect by the time Mimi gets home from the day center, the tiara will be a bit bent and there will not be one feather left on the boa. Next year I’m buying a six pack of both.