Family Recipes and Traditions

 by Judy

On most days I do not enjoy cooking or baking.  All that meal planning, shopping, executing...ugh..  After so many years of marriage doing just that - well, I'm longing for a gourmet chef to come to my house and cook for me.  I wish I could be like the smiling cooks on the Food Network, but I am not.  When I bake, all the precise measuring, sifting and leveling necessary for a successful product makes me use every measuring spoon, bowl and pan in the house, or so it seems. 

So why in the world is this post titled Family Recipes and Traditions?  For some reason, when the cool temperatures hit, the leaves change color, and the cozy sweaters come out, well, that is the time of year I actually like to bake.  When I do, I love to bake the recipes that have been handed down from generation to generation. 

Imagining my great-grandmother (Gammy), my grandmother (GG), or my Mother making the same recipe fills my heart.  I remember all the delicious breads, cookies, cakes and pies that all three of these special women have made for our family, and I am a sucker for tradition and family memories.  Choosing a few of my favorites and baking for my family makes me happy, and I am certain that Gammy, GG  and Mom felt/feel the same way. 

Since it is Fall, and all things pumpkin are found everywhere we look, I am sharing my favorite family bread recipe - Pumpkin Bread.  This is an easy recipe that produces a super moist bread that is great on a Thanksgiving table, or simply with an afternoon cup of tea.  I hope you enjoy, and if you have a favorite family recipe, please share it with us! Post photos of your finished product, and/or the messy process as you bake or cook, on the Focusing on Life flickr page, or our Instagram feed.   

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Bread

1 and 1/3 cup of sugar

2 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 cup pure pumpkin

1/3 cup water

1 and 1/3 cup sifted flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground ginger

I don't add anything to the batter, but if you'd like, 1/3 cup raisins, and/or, 1/3 cup chopped nuts can be added.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Cream the sugar and oil together, then add eggs, pumpkin and water and stir till combined.

Sift the flour and add baking powder, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and ginger and combine.  Add flour mixture to wet mixture and stir till fully incorporated. 

Pour batter into a greased bread pan and bake for 50 minutes .

It's a Family Tradition

by Terri

When my boys were growing up, we spent a week or two every summer on the beach in San Diego. I can’t tell you how many wonderful memories were made during those family vacations.  In 2010, I created the above scrapbook layout to gather together in one place some of the memories made over the years.

And I am happy to say that this tradition is continuing and all of us plus three wives/girlfriends and three grandkids will be spending next week on the beach, making even more memories. I’m sure I’ll be reporting on and sharing photos from the week after I get back. But the number one thing that keeps ringing in my mind is gratitude – for the fact that we were able to give our boys these memories, that they still want to vacation with us, and that they now want to continue the tradition and make even more memories with their families.  That is something pretty special, don’t you think?

Family is what life is all about and I am proud that we instilled that in our kids. I hope you are all able to make some wonderful family memories this summer whatever it is you choose to do and that you are recording them. I know with age my memory is not what it used to be but all I have to do is pull out my photos and it all comes flooding back. When you look back at your photos, as I did these, you'll remember those special times and will be so glad you took the time to click that camera shutter.

Holiday Traditions 101

by Dotti

Professor:  Good morning, class! Many of you, I know, are in a great hurry to get through this class and head home for the holidays but we have one more subject to discuss in order to complete this semester's class on Holiday Traditions. To help put you in the Christmas spirit, we're going to discuss the tradition of Christmas lights.

Now, does anybody have any ideas about how the practice of using Christmas lights began? Yes, Susie, please tell us what you know.

Susie: Didn't it begin during Queen Victoria's reign?

Professor: Well, Queen Victoria certainly had a big role in making the tradition popular.

As best we can tell, the practice of using candles to light Christmas trees began in upper class homes in Germany in the 18th century. Since candles were quite expensive then, only those who were rich could afford to do this.

In the United Kingdom, the practice did indeed become established during Queen Victoria's reign. From there it spread to North America and Australia. Candles, of course, were not an ideal way to light a tree and care had to be taken to avoid fires.

Electric lights were introduced during the 1880's and eventually replaced most, if not all, use of candles, although some cultures do still use candles today. In the United Kingdom, the electric lights are commonly referred to as 'fairy lights',

In 1895, President Grover Cleveland had the honor of lighting the first electrically lighted White House Christmas tree. It's said that there were 100 multicolored lights on it. That seems odd to us today when we realize that trees in most American homes have far more than one hundred lights. But the lights then were quite a bit larger than the lights we see today. Today's lights do truly look like 'fairy lights'.

At first all the Christmas lights remained indoors. It wasn't until the early 1900's that lighted Christmas trees were introduced to the outdoors, perhaps in San Diego, though other cities also lay claim to being the 'first'.

After that, Christmas lights seemed to appear all over, in doorways, windows, store windows, on light posts, just about everywhere. It wasn't until the 1950's that the practice of using lights as outdoor displays found its way into the average American home.

The first Christmas lights were indeed crude by our standards today. Now 'twinkle lights' or 'mini lights' are very inexpensive and seem to appear everywhere during the holidays. Some outdoor displays are quite elaborate not only using thousands of lights but mechanized special effects to create scenes and stories. And now almost every American city of any size has a commercial Festival of Lights.

So there you have just a brief history of the use of lights at Christmas time. Wherever, whenever this tradition began, the best part is simply enjoying all the beautiful lights that surround us at this time of year. And if you're like me, the lights you enjoy most are those on your very own Christmas tree.

Merry Christmas!

Class dismissed.

Research for this post came from Wikipedia.

The Season of Light

by Terri

Winter, the coldest and darkest of seasons — a time which holds

some of the warmest and brightest celebrations of the year.

 

As the year draws to a close and the annual holiday season is upon us, I have noticed an interesting pattern in the familiar holiday rituals. It is striking how many of the holidays that fall around this time of year involve the ceremonial kindling of light as an element of the celebration. Many of the world's most endearing holiday customs involve lighting up the winter season — from the burning Yule log, sparkling Christmas tree lights and candles in windows, to the lighting of luminarias in the American Southwest and the traditional ritual of the Hanukkah Menorah.

It is no surprise that we seek light in a season of darkness. We are, after all, a visual species. As compared to many other living creatures that rely on their senses of hearing or smell, human beings make their way through the world with vision as our primary guide, and devote far more of our brains to sight than we do to any other sense. And, as photographers, light is what makes it all possible.

At this time of year, the days are short and darkness falls early. As the sun sinks from view and the land grows dark and cold, it is understandable that people across many cultures would respond by kindling their own light, seeking to preserve some of that precious illumination to lift their spirits and sustain them through the winter.

But there is another kind of light, more profound than mere physical illumination. The holiday season has never just been a time for ceremonial illumination, but a time to remind us of our moral duty to ease the burden of suffering in this world and brighten the lives of others through acts of compassion and charity. In truth we should be devoted to this cause twelve months out of each year, but any effort at all is far better than none. If the holidays are a season of light, then this is the most important kind we can bring about – the light that shines into the lives of others and leaves them aware that they are cared for and loved – and this, far more than candles or Christmas lights, is the kind we should all seek to promote.

So for the month of December, we hope you will join us in our celebration of the Season of Light and that you will share your light-filled images with us in our Flickr group and on IG. With all that light, the galleries are sure to be spectacular!