Traditions

Today I spent the day with my sister - and for a little while with one of uncles and my dad too. But really I was with my sister. It’s one day a year I can count on us being together. The day before family Christmas that we host. It’s the day we spend in the kitchen working on recipes that Grandma used to make. The cooking takes most of the day to make this one particular dish - Babalki.

This is a traditional Slovak Christmas Eve dish. Grandma would only make it this one time of year. If I had to pick a single dish that tasted like Christmas to me, it would be babalki.

For those of you who have not had the pleasure to eat babalki allow me to explain what it is. This dish is made of homemade dough balls, fried sauerkraut, and Kelbosi. I promise it tastes amazing!

As we spent the day making the dough and preparing the other dishes, we chatted and reminisced about Grandma. We recalled how she went from the one making it, to supervising, to watching a movie in the other room and only entering the kitchen if we called in a panic. We talked about how she would kneed the dough by hand and how we decided a mixer would be a good choice this year.

It’s nice to talk about the past in a way that isn’t sad. It’s nice, really nice to laugh, talk, and cook the day away. There is a part of me that wishes this happened more than once a year. Yet, I know part of what makes it so special is that it only happens once a year.

Tomorrow I’ll spend the day with my extended family. There will clearly be food, lots of conversations, and hopefully no drama. There will be some family that I haven’t talked to since last year and you can be sure the kids - yes that’s still me and my cousins, will likely play some games.

I think my Grandma would be happy to know we all get together. I like to think that she would be kinda proud of my sister and I carrying on the babalki tradition. I’m glad that we spent the time with her when we were young because when we make the food, it’s like she’s still with us in the kitchen.

I hope that this Christmas you have at least one tradition that lets you remember the past with a smile on your face.

To Everything There Is A Season…

Kiley Ann

Christmas Is...

It’s that time of year where we all go digging through the attic or storage space to pull down the Christmas boxes. When we open those boxes we aren’t simply getting out decorations - no, we are opening a box that leads to Christmases of the past. Know what I mean?

You pull out that ornament you got when you played baseball or the ceramic christmas tree that used to be in grandma’s window and bam! Those objects take you back. Sometimes they take you to happy memories and sometimes to sad ones, but either way you are transported. Do you have a decoration that means more to you than others? What is it? Why is it so special?

I have one particular decoration that has to be out for it to be Christmas. It’s the picture frame you see above. Until that is hanging on the wall it just isn’t Christmas time.

“Christmas is goodwill and compassion, firelight and candlelight, a family time, a time for worship. It’s the glow on a child’s face. BUT MOST of ALL it is a story of love which began centuries ago and spread to all the world.”

My mother made that the year I was born. There hasn’t been a year of my life that that picture frame hasn’t been present on Christmas morning. I’ve always loved it. It draws me in year after year. The message is so simple, but I often lose sight of it as season gets going. I’m guilty, like many, of getting caught up in the bustle of the season - the shopping, the baking, the decorating. None of those things are bad, yet none hold the true meaning of the season. This year I want it to be different.

As this season starts I want to keep that message in mind. I want to focus on goodwill and compassion. I want to choose to worship in the hard situations. I want to appreciate the glow and excitement I see on the kids faces. I want to remember WHO the season is about, far more that what the season holds.

Will you join me? Will you choose to keep your eyes lifted to the heavens and see what God is going to do this Christmas season? I just have a feeling that it is going to be amazing.

To Everything There Is A Season…

Kiley Ann