Feast of Epiphany

This year's Christmas tree with my felted "Gift of the Magi" picture on the wall

Today, the Feast of Epiphany, is symbolized and enacted by three important men who fell to their knees, finding themselves seduced by the vulnerability of God--sleeping in straw among the animals. Epiphany is the "Self-Manifestation" of God. It is the twelfth day of Christmas.

Do you put away your Christmas decor right after New Years Day? Many do after Epiphany. There has been a year I waited until February 2, the day Jesus was brought to the temple and old Simeon recognized the baby as the "light of the world".

Pinecone decor in the windows

My decor is still up and being enjoyed. I do usually leave my pinecone adorned windows in place till Valentines Day.

My kitchen with my pinecone and fir tree greenery on the windows

My wool "bean bag" Nativity

I don't put my bean-bag creche away. We have 9-10 foot ceilings in our great room and for the rest of the year it's put on the high book shelf that runs around the room. Like Easter, Christmas and Epiphany may be a day on the calendar, but they are with me in my heart year round!

Groundhog Day / Candlemas? and Sourdough Crepes

Candlemas Day

February 2, considered the "midway point of winter", halfway between the darkest day and Spring Equinox.

So what day is February 2? Groundhog Day!
Yes and No.

On the Christian calendar February 2 is Candlemas Day - a Festival Day ("mass") of the Candles. This was the day Jesus was brought as a baby to the temple - the Feast of the Presentation. Old Simeon and Anna were there waiting for years! for the Messiah, and proclaimed "Jesus the Light to lighten all peoples". 

A meeting of the old and new.

For some, this is the official ending of the Christmas season. In some places candles may still be brought to the church to be blessed. In some parts of Europe it's traditional to eat crepes on Candlemas Day. I like Holidays with meal suggestions.

Once done I flip the sourdough crepe onto a plate

I make crepes on Fat Tuesday/ Mardi Gras (which is coming up, February 12 this year). My blog post on Mardi Gras into Lent is here. My crepe recipe is here. Now I mostly make sourdough crepes.

Since I found this crepe recipe (I bought the A to Z Sourdough eBook) I'm making them quite often. Sometimes for breakfast with unsweetened grated coconut, homemade yogurt, fruit and maple syrup. Sometimes for lunch or supper with leftovers of meats and veggies. These crepes can even be fried crisp like chips - use for nachos!

Before I jump into the recipe I have to start from the beginning, a very good place to start. One of my sourdough starters is made from rye flour. I used to have a starter I made from potatoes and wheat flour (it might have used a bit of yeast at the beginning, I don't remember) from an Alaska Sourdough book. When I bought Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions book in the early 2000's I started my rye starter. I use this starter for everything including the sourdough pancake recipe I got from the Alaskan book. My starter how-to along with the Sourdough pancakes I've made for years is here. Now I also have a Parisian sourdough starter.

Starter in jar and crepe ingredients

SOURDOUGH CREPES

1 C sourdough starter
3 Tb butter or oil
3 eggs
pinch of salt

I usually start with melting the butter in a 2C Pyrex mixing bowl, then mix in the eggs and starter. I use a silicone whip, keeping it in to periodically stir while making the crepes.

Pour a few Tablespoons batter and tilt pan to spread batter

Crepe ready to flip, this one looks a bit thicker than I usually make them

Have a very well seasoned smaller cast iron skillet preheated. First add a bit of oil and swish it around by tilting the pan. Then add a few tablespoons of batter depending on what size pan you're using - mine is 8". Wait till the crepe develops little bubbles all over, then with spatula quickly flip it over. It doesn't need to cook on this side for long, like just a few seconds and then flip out onto a plate. The crepes can stack till you're done with all the batter. This amount will make about 10 crepes.

I've put leftover crepes in a zip-close bag and frozen. It works great. No need to put waxed paper between. I've often used these in place of tortillas for enchiladas. Happy crepe-ing. Sharing of crepe filling ideas could be numerous, so how about you? what have you tried, and what's your favorite?

Folklore: "If Candlemas day be fair and bright,
Winter will have another flight; (meaning: more winter)
But if it be dark with clouds and rain,
Winter is gone, and will not come again."

Groundhog Lore: If he sees the sun ...
and is frightened by his shadow he'll crawl back to sleep for 40 days.
If it's cloudy ...
and stays above ground; it's a harbinger of early spring.

Did dislike of religion bring the change from Candlemas to Groundhog Day?

Watch the movie "Groundhog Day".
Bill Murray, a TV weatherman seems condemned to live the day over and over again. He tries every role or small story he can think of. When all fail him, does he discover the real meaning of life?

It's Ecclesiastes in modern film--all is vanity. I love the fact that you can find a part of the Gospel in most every film.

Shared with: The Homestead Barn Hop, The Clever Chicks Blog Hop

Epiphany

My wet felt piece fashioned after Fabriano's Epiphany piece

The 12 Days of Christmas are now over and this day, Epiphany, we remember the wise men of Matthew coming from afar following a star to find a child who they recognize as a king. 

They came bearing gifts very strange and foreign to us. I still love the image in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever of the Herdman's dragging a ham before the manger. That was like the widows two mites to them; or the little drummer boy in the song; or the girl of Mexico bringing all she could find - weeds, which turned red (poinsettias). From Bible studies we've learned that frankincense, gold and myrrh were costly gifts fit for kings (for life and burial!).

The art piece is by Fabriano. I change out art on an easel in my house. I like making friends with art work. Art touches me, often judging me. 

There was a phenomena in the sky with three planets close together: Jupiter, Venus, and Mars. This is why the Magi traveled.The explanation for the Bethlehem Star story I like best describes this planet conjunction. Pisces is associated with the Jewish people in astrology, and within its constellation was a conjunction several times in 7 BCE of Jupiter and Saturn, and then Mars joined them. Saturn was known as representing Mesopotamian deity who protected Israel. And Mars symbolized war.

Christians are afraid of astrology and think it evil. Astronomy and astrology combined are the science of observation and interpretation. In 7 BCE there was no astronomy other than astrology. In Genesis we're told God made the stars for 'signs and seasons'. And here in Matthew God is bringing astrologers into Jesus' story. 

Were there exactly three wise men? We are told of three gifts. The book Ben Hur names three kings and opens with a dramatic description of how they might have met and traveled together to Bethlehem, but there could have been a whole entourage.If you were dramatizing the whole Advent season with nativity figures, your wise men would be off (afar) in a distance in your house progressing to Joseph and Mary - who would in December be progressing by Donkey to Bethlehem. And baby Jesus and the Shepherds wouldn't show up until Christmas Eve or Christmas day? Many, don't do gift giving until this Epiphany day.

What ever came of these strangers in Jesus' story? Jesus began his ministering when he was 30. Were the shepherds and magi still alive? Did they hear of Jesus? In the silence of 30 years, I often wonder if the shepherds thought that night a bizarre event, maybe even embarrassed about their extravagance ... maybe the most passionate thing they ever did in their life. I like to wonder and ponder.

The Epiphany story is a remarkable story of grace. God doesn't need anything from us - he is the Creator of everything. Here God is receiving gifts. The pagan astrologers were not religious insiders. This is a reminder to me that God is at work in the strangest places, and in the people I least expect to respond to him. I want my eyes to be open to the potential and possibilities of God's grace. God's grace is at work far outside the arbitrary boundaries I construct.

AEbleskivers

I don't know how on the computer to make a capital A and E flow together with the right line in the A as the vertical line in the E, but that's how it's written. English spellings are usually just Ebleskiver. 'Aebleskiver' is Danish for 'apple slices', which used to be (or applesauce) put in the middle of these spherical pancake balls.

You need a special pan that has hemispherical indentations in it. It's best with a heavy, like cast iron, pan. Over the years we've tried several kinds and I now just stick with the cast iron one.

How in the world did someone think of this? I read a funny speculation of the Vikings with their many battles having many indents in their shields and they loved pancakes. So without the convenience of frying pans, they greased their shields and poured the batter over them over the fire.

We make these for all holidays and birthdays. Their taste is a cross between a pancake and a doughnut.

I always start preheating the pan while I'm making the batter.
Here's the recipe I've developed -
4 eggs separated
4 tsps sugar
1/4 C oil or melted butter
2 C buttermilk or yogurt (sometimes I just add buttermilk powder to water)
1/2 tsp salt
2 2/3 C flour (I used to use white whole wheat or pastry flour I grind, now I sprout and dry grains to grind into flour for recipes like this. Soaking overnight would probably work too with the buttermilk - I've not tried this yet.)
1 tsp soda
2 tsps baking powder

I beat the egg whites first till stiff and then put them in a dish while I mix up the rest in my Bosch bowl and then gently add in the whites.

In the preheated pan, and now set on medium, put oil in each indent about half full. I find the first ones always need more oil, but then can use less as we're making more. Put batter, about topping the indent, in each. You can use a skewer to turn them, but I've gotten used to using two little forks. When you turn them the middle batter, still liquid, spills into the indent to cook for the other side making actual pancake balls. I'm a clean cook, so I always push the stuff that spills out of the indent back into the balls as I'm turning them, so the pan stays pretty clean. It takes awhile to get the hang of this. But they are so good and worth making.

Years ago, growing up in Tucson, my mom made loquat jelly that we'd serve with these. We always serve them with real maple syrup, melted butter, and then some cooked fruit sauce, like berries. Traditionally they're dusted with powdered sugar, but I'm never one to add more sugar when it doesn't seem necessary. Then we always have bacon and/or sausage with them.

We often invite a family for Christmas day brunch. When our kids were young and we'd moved to Evergreen we had a family we developed a regular tradition with - them coming for Aebleskivers and cross-country skiing, then going to their house for supper, ice skate, and watch movies, and sleep over. Though we've not gotten together for years now, I've never forgot little Kim and Kevin calling them "Able skiers".

At Christmas time, I always have fruit soup and rice pudding around that we'll serve with these. 

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Christmas Time with Family

My boys came for Christmas. Travis and Sarah with their two munchkins stayed for several days. Our wood stove keeps the chill off our great room when cloudy cold. Emery really liked keeping it stoked and our home's mass was quite warm!

Travis in the rocking chair reading

Emery stoking the fire

Little Scout was not feeling well, but pretty cheerful in spite. I stayed home with her one evening as everyone else went to downtown Denver's Zoo lights. Travis took some great pictures with his new camera!

Scout leaning in to hug me, her Oma

Dawson and Splarah silhouetted and Monte framed by the elk antlers

Splarah and Dawson looking at their breath

Dawson and Splarah made their Nephew and Niece some pretty cool Christmas presents: a "lappy" for Emery that has magnet closures for the wood laptop as well as the "pad" chalk cover, along with a cloth carrying case; and then a vacuum.

Chalkboard "Lappy" with magnetic closures

Carved to resemble a Mac

Vacuum

Scout loves her vacuum!

Emery loves to sit and color

Scout playing with the crayons too

Emery loved sledding this year

My back deck

Our Home

Sunrise

Elk in our meadow

Childermas - Holy Innocents Remembered

This is the day Matthew 2:16-18 is remembered. The wise men came asking about the baby born "King of the Jews". Warned by an angel, they did not return to tell Herod where they had found Jesus. Herod, in jealous fear, slaughtered many male children in his attempt to get rid of Jesus. Thus the beginning of the choice for mankind: for or against Jesus.

Matthew quotes Jeremiah, "...a voice was heard...sobbing and loud lamentation; Rachel weeping for her children." Have you ever really thought of this piece of the Christmas story? Many artists have pondered it, so that it's depicted in many paintings and stories. (The pictures here are by Giovanni, Giotto, and Ruebens.)

Joseph was warned in a dream to flee this slaughter and escape to Egypt. I have a book we read every year by Madeline L'Engle called Dance in the Desert. It imagines the Holy Family traveling in a caravan to Egypt, and one night all creation comes to pay homage to their Creator. The pictures are beautiful, of toddler Jesus and various animals. The caravan men have knives ready but Mary always says, "Wait".

All cultures throughout time have the stain of innocent, unwanted children. On this day we can think of children all over the world who suffer innumerable forms of violence which threatens their lives. We can pray for our children and the world.

"Today we celebrate the heavenly birthday of these children whom the world caused to be born unto an eternally blessed life rather than that from their mothers' womb, for they attained the grace of everlasting life before the enjoyment of the present ... For already at the beginning of their lives they pass on. The end of the present life is for them the beginning of glory. These then, whom Herod's cruelty tore as sucklings from their mothers' bosom, are justly hailed as 'infant martyr flowers'; they were the Church's first blossoms, matured by the frost of persecution during the cold winter of unbelief."
-- St Augustine

The 12 Days of Christmas / Boxing Day

So, do you think Christmas is over? No, Advent is over. It's now the season of the 12 Days of Christmas. You can think of the song if you want to, and there are interpretations of it floating around on the internet. I gave an interpretation if you click on December 2007.

But we are now building to Epiphany, January 6 - recognizing the coming of the Magi, Middle Easterners following a star, or a sign in the sky - do you know your sky? There was a phenomena in the sky with three planets close together: Jupiter, Venus, and Mars. This is why the Magi traveled.

But Christmas is really all year. Christmas is all about Incarnation. "Be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." This is incarnational living, day-to-day, moment-by-moment, abiding in God. Not cautious, but extravagant living!

December 26 is known as Boxing Day. Does 'Boxing Day' come from the need to rid the house of empty boxes the day after Christmas? In Britain it has always been a day for remembering the people who work for us. Boxes are often left out in places or people carrying them, asking for donations, much like we have the Salvation Army bell ringers at stores. But gifts are given to employees and boxes of food are given to the needy.

Also on December 26 in 1223, Francis Assisi assembled the first live nativity scene in Greccio, Italy.

I'll write more as the days progress . . . 

Potato Sausage

Monte showing Emery the potato sausage mixture!

Though we could buy potato sausage at a meat market, we've been making it since we got married in 1975. It's our Christmas tradition food, along with Scandinavian Fruit Soup and Rice Pudding.

I have a meat grinder attachment for my Bosch Kitchen Machine and a sausage stuffer attachment. Before that I had a KitchenAid and a meat grinder for it too. Before that, how funny ... I still laugh! we scrunched up the casings on an angel-food cake pan center, and tried stuffing the meat mixture thru that tube. It was not easy and a mess!

Usually we grind the meat ourselves too, because then we have control over the fat amount and the kind of fat. For years we did it with elk, but now we don't have any elk or venison. I grind the onion first and then the potatoes, because the onion mixed with potatoes helps keep them from turning brown.

The meat casings we use are hog, and we get them at the meat market. Some stores have them in the freezer compartment. The casings are in salt and need to be soaked in warm water first. Then we like to put an end under the faucet and run water thru them to rinse the salt out. After grinding and mixing everything together the sausage stuffer attachment is put on and the casings are pulled over it - they end up sort of bunched up. Then run the meat mixture thru to start stuffing the casings. We have a cookie sheet with sides under the machine to catch the sausage. We always bag up extra sausage in Ziplock bags and freeze.

4 lbs meat
4 lbs potatoes
1 onion
1 1/2 tsp pepper
7 tsp salt
(1/2 tsp allspice - optional)

So grind all this and mix together well and stuff the casings. Boil and then simmer whatever you're wanting to eat in salted water, to cover, for about an hour. We cut up sections and have on a serving platter. I eat the casing's, and others don't, but yes, they are edible. Monte likes to eat his sausage in his doppa i grytan, Swedish meat and veggie soup.

Leftover, we like to saute it in a skillet for breakfast, or sliced and heated (or cold) for sandwiches.

Fruit Soup

Scandinavian Fruit Soup

When I was dating Monte and he told me about fruit soup, I thought it sounded awful. But now it's my favorite Christmas food and I make a big pot so we have leftovers and plenty for serving at all sorts of get-togethers during the holidays. Here is my fruit soup recipe:

Fruit Soup Ingredients

FRUIT SOUP
12 oz bag of pitted dried prunes, cut them up
1 c raisins or currants
1 c cut up dried apricots
1 c cut up dried apples
1 c cranberries
1 c dried cherries, dark sweet or sour
10 cups water
2 cinnamon sticks
6 whole cloves (put in a little mesh basket or cheesecloth)
slices of lemon

Bring this to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes.

Add 6-7 Tbs tapioca to grape juice to soak a bit before adding to the soup. I eventually pour in a whole jug (32 oz) of unsweetened grape juice. This needs to simmer a bit more for the tapioca to cook and thicken.

It's good both warm and cold. I like it room temp. We love to eat it with cream. It's great with ice cream. It's good with aebleskivers and pancakes and rice pudding ...

Knit Vest and Felted Decoration

I knit my daughter a vest for Christmas gifting.

Vest I knit for my daughter

 I also needle felted over styrofoam forms for a decoration.

Needlefelted wool over styrofoam shapes

Got gifts wrapped and boxed and shipped.

Textile Christmas

Luminous Wool Felted Ornaments

This year I'm decorating with a nature and textile theme. I've left most of my decor in the box. I have lots of felted ornaments I meant to sell and decided to keep them for my tree. I have way more than the three shown. I'll post my textile tree later.

Felted Ornaments

Textile Ornaments and Knitted "light" garland

I also have made felt wreaths for years and am finishing up one for ME this year.

Wool Felt Wreath in the works

Wet felting over styrofoam first

In the process of making all these I've learned some things. When using styrofoam for needlefelting over you do not want the smooth styrofoam. It's got to be the rough kind. And rather than needling it all on, I start with wet felt process first, then needle on the details. I have posts on this.

My last post had other textile giftings I make - preferring Handmade!

On the subject of felting and gifting, I also periodically knit booties to felt. The pattern did not come with a ribbed cuff. I had to knit this on after the booties were felted. Without this cuff the booties fall off!!! I've been a MOPS Mentor going on thirteen years now, so new babies are in my world.

"Soap in a Sweater", Felted Booties, Needle-felted wool face needing a body!

I teach felting classes. I love to teach and like using this blog for tutorials.

Sock Earrings and other Giftings

My hand-knit sock earrings

We like most of our giftings to be handmade. Most of my friends have my sock earrings. I've posted about them before. I started knitting these years ago and every year pull out the pattern, needles and yarns and make more. I am now deplete of my stock and need to make more. Monte just gave my last ones to friends of his. Needles? They are like toothpicks, probably actually thinner! I guess I should offer to make these for anyone wanting to buy some.

Varieties I've tried knitting over the years - sticking moreso with those on the right.

Handwoven dishtowels and Handknit dishcloth.

One of my weaving looms is set up with the same colorings in this picture for dishtowels that match the dishcloths I knit (how-to here). The weave structure is set up for the very absorbant towel on the right. I'll often give a set along with my homemade soap.

This year I've made so much Healthy Cold Cereal via Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist, I'm making up a bunch to jar up with pretty cloth tops and include the recipe.

Monte's made the Grandkids homemade blocks, varying the sizes, including some tree branch pieces. These sets are quite expensive if you were to buy them. They are asking for more, and have specified the sizes they want more of. Our kids often built structures to the ceiling over and over and the grandkids are carrying on the tradition. I've added wooden train tracks and trains to my Grandmother "wood" toy bin. I like building upon quality sets, including Lego, rather than a wide variety of toys. Now that there's girls, I'll be adding some wood furniture and people and animals to this bin. Can't wait to make "handmades" with them too!

Handwoven hot pads

My kids always wove my potholders, but now I have to make my own. They have always been my favorite, preferring their size. Dawson wove so many once that he stitched together for a rug.

Every Fall I used to take the kids to a large craft store and look around for ideas they could work on for giftings. I used to read aloud to them a lot and I always liked them to be busy handcrafting or drawing. I even let them carve in the house!

One of my journals with a felted decor

We also made handmade books for giftings. I'll still occasionally do that for journaling. I used to have the kids tell me their dreams  and write them out myself when they were little. Eventually they wrote their own stories and we'd make books. I used to make my brother and sister handmade books all the time when they were little. Illustrating them too. The Grandparents still have the books they gave them.

Knitted toy for the Grandkids

I like knitting them hats and toys. I have a monkey pattern, boy and girl, along with clothes that I periodically keep adding to. Both the older grandboys have a monkey with pajamas and robe. I need to now make girl monkeys (next year) and more clothes.

Hand-dyed hat, socks, and t-shirt for kids

Men's dyed T-sh

I'm also very set up to dye stuff easily. When my kids were born I often dyed second-hand clothes in darker, brighter colors - all pastel back then, which I hated. Whenever I'm tired of something I'll redye it - like one of my bathrobes has been dyed three times. I'm always now dyeing T-shirts with matching bamboo socks for everyone. One Christmas everyone got dyed canvas aprons. Now my kids have taken off with a technique I taught them - painting or spraying over a stencil dark T-shirts with bleach (outside of coarse - and wash right away so doesn't eat the fiber). In fact, Dawson gets cheap shirts and bleaches a design and a resale shop buys them or gives him store credit. I order my dyes and dyeables from Dharma Trading Company. They have GREAT tutorials and lots of gifting ideas!

My boys with their wives showing us their bleach-dyed t-shirts

Best of all . . . A lot of these doings, meaning "think handmade" is caught moreso than taught! Dawson and Splarah kinda copied (I'll post another post with the picture of mine - it's probably back in the Dec Archives) my 'bean-bag" creche - wanting to make one for her Mom. I LOVE it!!!!!!

Nativity Scene made by my Dawson and Splarah for her mom

My next post will have some felt stuff.


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