Five Generations

Recently we celebrated my maternal grandfather's 83rd birthday.  It used to be that when we had big celebrations I was reminded how cool it is to actually have my grandparents.  My husband doesn't even have his parents anymore.  Now, I live in constant gratitude and recognize the extreme blessing to be able to say, "We have five generations here on this earth right now."

There is wisdom to be found in the lives of those that have gone before us.  When we have them in our presence it's like getting to interview a historical figure; no need to read the history book.  I've been planning for months to give my grandparents a list of interview questions.  I'd like to do a video interview with them, but I will be happy just the same if I can get them to answer the questions in any capacity at all.  They are a treasure to behold, and I desire to know all I possibly can from their experiences.  I'm sure they learned a lot of lessons in 80+ years.

"One generation shall commend your works to another, 

and shall declare your mighty acts."

~ Psalm 145:4

All of us really enjoy their company, and it is a treat to spend time with them.  I feel very blessed to actually reside just 20 minutes from their three season residence.  We don't get to the farm as much as I would like, but we do get to play host to all of the family gatherings.  Though it may be tiring at times, I consider it a privilege and an honor.  There are so many fond memories that include them throughout my life.  I remember just sitting on the front porch waiting for their motor home to turn the corner.  Peter Rabbit surely knows my grandmother personally for all the times I made her read me that story when I was little.  There was the sea shell collection that my grandmother started me on from their travels around the world, and the wisdom my grandfather would share as we walked his property with him pointing out various plants that were good and safe to eat.  He walked me down the aisle when I married my husband.  Currently, they play a very important role in our lives, the lives of our children, and the lives of our grandchildren.

Yes, my grandpa is Santa Claus!

Our family is truly blessed to actually have real, live elders.  It doesn't seem so common in our society anymore.  It saddens me to know that the youngest three of our children will not have any elders when they are our age.  If I am honest, they will be lucky to have us.  When we realize just how temporary our lives are it becomes a bit more important to make the best of our time.  We've been working on doing just that.

"Only take care, and keep your soul diligently,

lest you forget the things that our eyes have seen,

and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life.

Make them known to your children and your children's children - "

~ Deuteronomy 4:9

Having already raised seven children to adulthood we recognize very clearly how fleeting time is and just how valuable our time together is.  In that knowledge, and the fact that our youngest three will be left with the absence of elders, it is more important to us than ever to be very conscious about the things we teach them.  We are a bit more purposeful with our time.  The things we do, the decisions we make, everything comes from a different perspective for us now.

There is no greater gift than that of family.  Life happens no matter what we are busy doing.  The memories we create now will outlast our life, so it is very good to create the very best lasting memories we possibly can.  I hope this party lives on for decades with my children and grandchildren.

This is just part of The Crew.
We are missing three children, two son-in-laws, and three grandchildren.
It would be a miracle to find us all in the same spot anymore.

St. Patrick's Day - A Family Tradition

The heritage I was raised with growing up was to know and embrace my Irish roots.  It is with pride that I think on the land from which my family came.  There are fond memories of my Irish family members, their ambitions, their struggles and their triumphs.  My paternal grandparents did a wonderful job of instilling us with Irish pride.  Above everything, it was the greatest thing they gave me; my identity as an Irish American.

Growing up we celebrated St. Patrick's Day in a big way.  There was always wonderful food, stout, and the Chieftans on television.  I have vivid memories of gathering around the television in my grandparents basement, fire blazing, cozy blanket, and the lively Chieftans performing on screen.  Those memories are all happy.

As I got older I continued the tradition with my own family.  Mostly I did it for my dad, as few of my children even like corned beef.  What I didn't realize is that this is something they would grow to enjoy and look forward to as they got older and ventured on their own.  Imagine my surprise when some of my older children were still at home, and some of them were on their own, and I started getting phone calls asking what we were doing for St. Patrick's Day.  Over time our traditions have developed as such that we gather as a family twice a year; once at Christmas and once at St. Patrick's Day.  Since our family is so large we now make traditional Irish Stew instead of corned beef, which is rather costly to feed 30 people.  Sometimes I make Irish Soda Bread or Scones, and we keep it simple as it would have been at its origin.

Do you celebrate St. Patrick's Day in your family?  Are you Irish by birth, or just Irish at heart?  Is there a different celebration that takes place in your family based on your cultural heritage?  I would absolutely love to hear about it.

Here are some of my favorite recipes and resources for making St. Patrick's Day special with family and friends:

The Food

Irish Beef and Stout Stew

My niece shared this recipe with me a couple years back, and I have been making it ever since.  It was a huge hit right from the start, and it is SO simple to make.  I make it in the crockpot, though.  It takes two large pots to feed our big family, with no leftovers!  Maybe I'll make three this year.

Corned Beef and Cabbage

This recipe is very similar to how I make my corned beef.  I am inconsistent as to how I prepare it.  Some years I make it in a large roasting pan in the oven.  Other years I do the crockpot method.  It just depends on my schedule and my mood.  Both are simple and tasty.  My husband likes his served with horseradish, and I like mine with stone ground mustard.  No matter what I always make enough for leftovers.  It makes great hash, bubble and squeak, and sandwiches; on rye bread of course.

Shamrock Shake

As a kid it was always something to look forward to getting a Shamrock Shake from a certain fast food restaurant.  That was before the state of our food system was in question, and most of the food we still ate was actually real.  As an adult I got a Shamrock Shake for old time sake, after which my name for it became "chemical spooge".  It's vile stuff that bears no resemblance to its former self.  This recipe from Your Homebased Mom is a refreshing alternative minus the chemical storm provided by the fast food industry.

Irish Soda Bread

Another one of my favorite St. Patrick's Day foods is Irish Soda Bread.  My family doesn't all like it.  However, making just one loaf is super simple, so I often make it just because I like it.  We all need those little things that we do just for us, and making soda bread is one of those things I don't mind doing just for myself.  I mean, it is only once a year, people.  This is one of those little effort equals big pay off kind of things.  I love things like that!  If you can get it, Gooseberry Jam is perfect on Irish Soda Bread, and Cooking Melangery dishes out the perfect recipe.

A Little Irish History

St. Patrick's Day on the History Channel

Celebrating St. Patrick's Day 2015

Irish History Online

Ireland

Fun Crafts and Activities for the Kids

A fun craft using free paint chips from the hardware store via the Child Care Land Blog.

Being Creative has a fun recipe for St. Pat's Day Play Dough.

There's a fun treasure hunt printable over at Oopsey Daisy.

For even more fun ideas for celebrating St. Patrick's Day with your family 

you can visit my Pinterest page.  

Don't forget to leave me a comment and share how you celebrate St. Patrick's Day, or your own personal cultural heritage, with your family!

If He Had Not Come by David Nicholson - A Review

I have to admit that I have never heard the original version of If He Had Not Come by Nan Weeks, but I can see why it is considered a classic.  The story is thought provoking and a great conversation starter between parent and child.  David Nicholson retells the story sharing his thirty year family tradition so that we can begin our own tradition of reflection and conversation within our own families.  Tradition has been at the forefront of my mind and a big topic for me lately.   Ever since Avery joined our family five years ago, and with the addition of the girls two years ago, I have learned a lot about the importance of tradition.  If He Had Not Come is a perfect fit for our family.

This year is the first year we are planning to take the month of December off from regular academics and take the time to really enjoy the season.  One of the things I have planned is reading Christmas themed books all month.  I really like the idea of keeping a basket of wrapped books in the family room and having the kids take turns picking one to unwrap and read each night before bed.  If He Had Not Come will be in our basket for sure.  I even plan to read it as a special activity for Christmas Eve, as that is when the story takes place.  We'll light candles, make hot cocoa, pop popcorn, and read and discuss the story before bed.  I can think of no better way to send my children off to bed on Christmas Eve.

Even though If He Had Not Come is geared toward the six years and up group, all of my children enjoyed reading it.  (Mine at home are currently three, four, and nine.)  The story is told through the eyes of a young boy.  I like that the relationship in the story is between father and son.  That, along with the artwork reminiscent of days gone by, gives the story a comforting feel lending to that word tradition that keeps popping up around here.  David Nicholson provides some great resources in the back of the book.  Harmony, the resident nine year old, and I enjoyed discussing the questions posed on the Interactive Topics page.  The questions definitely are not geared for toddlers.  Throughout December we will further explore the questions provided by Josh Mulville for Digging Deeper.  We'll even do the Christmas activity in the back.  The little kids are sure to enjoy it with us!

The added resources really make this beautifully bound, hard cover copy of If He Had Not Come a treasure to last generations.  It's a timeless story with a timeless message that is sure to ignite valuable conversation within every family that reads it together.  It's a wonderful resource for beginning a simple tradition that could have eternal implications.

You can order your own Casebound Hardcover copy for $18.95 and begin your own family tradition.  If He Had Not Come is also available for $3.99 as an E-Book.

Follow David Nicholson and his book If He Had Not Come on Facebook here.

Preparing for St. Patrick's Day

In our family we do two big celebrations each year.  With our family size I don't think I could put together more than that.  Over the years it has worked out that we gather once around Christmas and again for St. Patrick's Day.  Being Irish was always a big deal on my dad's side of the family.  It's the only heritage I was raised to know anything about.

When I was younger I always invited my dad over for the typical Irish-American meal of corned beef and cabbage.  Most of my kids didn't care for corned beef.  Once my dad passed I figured we'd just carry on the tradition within our home.  I never planned to make a big family celebration out of it, but my kids had a different idea.  Imagine my surprise the first year after he was gone when I started getting phone calls from our children that had already flown the coop asking when we were going to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.  Thus, a Smith Family Tradition was born.

Over the years I have learned to make a few more traditional Irish dishes that I just love.  One of my favorites is Champ.  This year, however, we are changing things up a bit, and I am making Irish Stew for our celebration with Soda Bread, of course.  Corned Beef is just too expensive to feed to nearly 30 people.  We're reigning it in a bit, and I have locally sourced beef on hand, so I can think of nothing better.  I do get tempted, though, to make Champ to serve the stew over, but the point is simple, right?  We will still be having the "traditional for us" meal on the actual holiday, so we'll get our fill of all our favorite foods this year.

So far the kids and I have made Soda Bread and Scones.  We even made them gluten free this year, and we're having a hard time leaving the scones alone.  They are SO good!

Large Carob Chip Scones

Here's how we made them:

1 1/2 cups   Rice Flour
   1/2 cup    Sorgum Flour
   1/4 cup    Natural Sugar
   1/4 tsb.    Salt
   1/2 tsp.    Baking Soda
   3/4 cup    Plain Greek Yogurt  (I use Fage)
      1          Whole Egg
   1/2 cup     Rice Milk
      2 Tbs.   Butter
      1 cup    Carob Chips or Cinnamon Chips
                 Raw Sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  

Mix together flours, sugar, salt and baking soda.  Set aside.

In mixing bowl, mix yogurt, egg, milk, and butter.  Add the dry mixture a little at a time until combined.

Gently stir in your favorite chips.

I lined my baking sheets with parchment and made both varieties.  We made 12 larger chocolate chip scones  using an ice cream scoop and baked them for 18 minutes.  We made 24 smaller scones using a baking scoop and baked them for 13 minutes.  We sprinkled them with a little raw sugar before placing them in the oven.  The trick is to remove them just as they start to brown.

These are not as dense as traditional scones, and they spread out like cookies.  In the future I plan to try adding a bit more flour.