Christiansen Comments, Hinds County Gazette November 2010

The Christmas tree is decorated!

 It was a team effort for sure, I worked on it…not long, but I did work on it, I had guests for Lunch last Sunday they worked on it. Jacqueline came by Saturday and finished it up….Thank you very much Jac.




My friend Suzanne, on the other hand….. Well….she has not darken my door, since I announce my Christmas tree was down from the attic, fully assembled and ready to be decked out. Bless Suz’s heart she got caught one year decorating my tree…and Let me tell you, she was a less then enthusiastic elf. But Suz did call most everyday last week…Asking, rather overly cheerful, “what’s going on?“ I suspect it was just an attempt to find out if the tree was decorated yet, and to see if it would be safe to accept an invitation to stop by on her way home from teaching.



JO Gayle and I may have been first getting our trees up….But The Suz Girl, is not fond of tree adorning.. at all! She was on the phone weeks ago… lining up a crew to come deal with her tree…. Her daughter, Marianna and her friend Ava are coming this weekend to tend to it.

                                                       Ava and Marianna

                                            Deer Hunters  Suzanne drafted.....

My tree is up and beautifully decorated, the fruitcakes are made, dowsed with rum and are ripening in their tins, there is a batch caramels cooked and wrapped. My holiday season has begun.



There are always a good many men in the grocery when I go in the mornings…Mostly old geezers pushing the buggy for the wife…As a rule they aren’t doing a lot of smiling. But Friday morning when I was in the Kroger… there were lots of men, of all ages shopping alone, And they were grinning….I was momentarily puzzled…..Then it tumbled….They have charcoal and beer in their buggies. …they are headed to deer camp.



I told you last week that I was making Yankee dressing to take to “old people club“….They ate it! Wait a minute… I don’t know for sure that they ate it… But they did at least they put it on their plates, because it was gone except two or three spoons full, There were a couple pans of cornbread dressing too…The cornbread dressing was all gone….that’s ok, my feelings aren’t hurt.



My next culinary endeavor is going be, seeing can I make hot tamales… from scratch….I have been looking at recipes on line and watching videos of the process on Youtube. I does not appear difficult….Time consuming but not difficult…..we will see.



Sunday evening we had a lovely community Thanksgiving service at the Edwards Methodist Church …after the service…. the ladies served soup lots of different soups. We do not often get together as a community, except for funerals…It was a very special time. My joyous Christmas season has begun





I hope you have/had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I will be going to Angela’s. We will be eating turkey sandwiches, potato chips and dill pickles. Her philosophy is this, “why make that big enormous meal?…When really the best part of Thanksgiving dinner is the leftover turkey sandwiches. “ Angela will roasting a 20 pound turkey, essentially just to make sandwiches. Angela is a “Cut to the chase” “bottom line” kind of girl. …it must be that accountant gene she has in her.

Love to all

Call if you need me

Christiansen Comments Hinds County Gazette November 18 2010

 I am Never first! Never! Never ever!

No matter when I set  my Christmas tree up…This year, it was in the wee hours of the morning ,Thursday the 11 of November that I brought the tree down from the attic, and put it together, That is early even for me.

Back in the day when the kids still were home and would assist in the tree’s assembly and decor (sort of) we put the tree up Thanksgiving afternoon. Then when they left home and had their own trees to deal with…I was on my own…. John had ballgames to watch, as I have no TV in the living room…he was no help. So to get the tree up and over with, I begin putting it up the first part of Thanksgiving week…now then I am up to two full weeks before Thanksgiving. Jacqueline says, I will soon be beating wal-mart.



I was so sure I was first this year…My friend Jo Gayle Reeves beat me by a hair last year. So soon as it got late enough in the morning, that I felt comfortable calling Jo Gayle, (that would be shortly after day break,) she, like me gets up very early. I called to brag….Jo Gayle answered laughing, not only did she have her tree up…she was decorating it…AND wrapping gifts. Mine was only up…I depend on the pity and kindness of my friends to come decorate my tree.



As you may or may not know, I am not from the south, but over the years I have worked hard at polishing my southern culinary skills and have more or less perfected Chicken and dumplings…. Kay Montgomery says mine taste, “just like the ones my grandmother‘s cook made. “ I don‘t know… could there be any higher praise then that? And after a few fits and starts…. I can now make quite agreeable Ambrosia.



Well, tomorrow is “Old People Club” I am baking a turkey and making Yankee dressing to take….We Yankees make our dressing with white bread, not cornbread…we will see if the gathered crowd goes to spitting and gagging. If they don’t like it, my dogs will. Peggy Ann said she would make cornbread dressing to bring to O P Club…I hope she doesn’t forget….



Next year I may try cornbread dressing. My favorite dressing is oyster. I shall make some to have for Christmas Eve this year. Yum! Me and the cats will eat it even if no one else does.



Becky Montgomery drove Peggy Ann and I to Bolton for the old time hymn singing at St. Mary’s Sunday…What a treat! I love the old hymns….we sang loud … real loud…a lesser building may have collapsed under the pressure of our voices. Lots of folks turned out…nearly a full house….Episcopal, Baptist, Methodist , Presbyterian…we were all there. James Anderson tells me they are planning a special event for every month. Looking forward to them all!

call if you need me