"How The Grinch Stole Christmas," "The Wizard of Oz" and others...

As most of you know, what's on tv is really not important to me. Whether or not the tv is even on is not important to me. However, when it comes to the shows that come on only during Christmastime, all that changes. I look forward to all of them. In the past week I watched "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" and as always it reminded me of being a little kid and being scared to death that the little dog is going to fall out of that ridiculously over sized harness.

If you will recall, he's forced to wear the fake antlers and he's forced to drag that huge sled packed full to overflowing with all the "Who" decorations, the "Who" food and all the "Who" gifts. An impossible feat to be sure but throughout the course of the show, he does it. He climbs that mountain and as the sled perches on the very tip top (lending you to believe it will go over just any minute now), with the little dog dangling from the reigns, the Grinch's minuscule heart begins to grow...

Talk about something happening in the nick of time...whew!! I always get a little worried that the little dog is simply going to go over and all the bulging bundles will tumble and plummet to eventually land right smack on top of him. In his own right, Dr. Seuss created the ultimate in suspense in just those few minutes of tv time. Then we ask ourselves, why did the little dog stay with the Grinch when he was treated so poorly? Dogs are loyal. If that story doesn't prove it, I don't know what one does.

Indeed, the suspense is not my favorite part... that would be when little Cindy Loo Who comes out of her room to see why Santa Claus is taking their Christmas tree. The mean old Grinch explains to her that a light is out on it. He's going to take it and fix it and bring it back. Ever so trusting is little Cindy Loo Who that she believes him, takes the milk he offers and off she goes, back to bed to await his glorious return. Poor child.

The story does bring home the meaning of Christmas and if you've never watched it (really?), you should. The Whos of Whoville didn't need all the trimmings or the food or the gifts or any of the materialistic things that the Grinch thought in taking he would thereby ruin Christmas. They only needed the feelings they had when Christmas finally came, the gathering together and the celebrating which, in their case, was hand in hand and singing at the top of their little Who-lungs! While the Whos don't elaborate on it, the celebration is that of the birth of Jesus.

Gift giving comes of the story of the three wise men who brought gifts to celebrate and rejoice in his birth. Dr. Seuss was very wise in bringing us a story of celebration without actually bring the religious aspect into it. Many people would be offended as indeed, some of you may be by my bringing it in. Well, to each their own I say. I'm not trying to convince you, I'm simply telling it as I believe it to be. Hey, it's my blog, if you want to write how you believe Christmas (or anything else) to be - feel free. I promise I'll link up to your blog (got my internet lingo on... lol) and read all about it. I'd be happy to in fact.

So the Grinch changed his ways and that's one of the best parts of the story. No matter how bad or how mean or how cynical a person can be, there's always hope that they will turn themselves around and let their heart grow to 10 times its original size :)

I have a Grinch ornament that rightfully hangs in the upper-middle-front section of my Christmas tree every year as a reminder of all the meaning in that one little story. I'd love to have you come see it. Neccy, Jack, Mom and the kids are all coming up to see it... :)  and maybe to eat some of my cooking that they've been missin out on lol!

I had to watch the "Wizard of Oz" in parts. It came on too late for me to stay awake for the whole thing... lol! The first night I watched all the way up to when Dorothy had the tin man join her and the scarecrow on their mission to find and speak with the wizard. I know - that's only about a half hour into it... ha ha ha I didn't make it very far at all that first night. The next time it was on I happened to wake up in the middle of the night and I managed to stay awake from the time the lion joined the gang until Dorothy finally made it back home (hope I didn't ruin the ending for anyone...lol!) to Kansas and Auntie Em and the rest of her family and friends.

There are so many messages in that old classic that you'll just have to figure out what all of them mean to you in your own way. My favorite part? That's a tough question but I guess it would have to be when Dorothy reaches out and plucks an apple from the tree. The old apple tree gets upset and asks how would she like it if people were always plucking something from her? In response she says she never really thought about it that way.

Perhaps we should all be more thoughtful of others? We don't really know their situation and everyone has one no matter what their life seems like from our perspective. All of that might sound kind of sappy but if you know me, you know that I do try to be that way. Granted, some people are more of a challenge than others... ha ha ha You know who you are!! lol just kidding.

Coming up this week, Rudolph and Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Both classics and both equally as endearing with Burl Ives reading the story and the animation of old. Those shows all bring back memories of us kids sitting scattered about the living room in our pajamas with Mom on the couch reading a book and eating popcorn and Dad in his chair tolerating us watching our shows until they were over when we would be ushered to be and he could watch his own. Isn't it funny how back then there was only one tv in the house, no cable, no remote and Dad was always in charge of what was on? We knew Christmas wasn't far off when we had watched all those shows.

Have I mentioned how meticulously our tree was decorated? Oh please, not a bulb or ball or ornament or tinsel out of place. Our tree was a work of art, a design beyond compare if you will. Mom was the artist, the designer, the master of the tree domain. Dad may have been allowed to help with the lights, not positive on that score. I don't think any of us kids were allowed to help until we were so much older that we didn't even want to... lol If we were allowed to hang an ornament, it was probably the one Aunt Karen made us - we each had one with our name on it and mine had my name spelled wrong, of course lol. I still have it :) and cherish it! I've no doubt they were moved from where we hung them to where Mom thought they would look better. It's just plain silly how someone can be so picky about something like decorating a tree... wink, wink ;)

So my lovely daughter will turn 20 this Saturday (right Rebecca?) and her dear, sweet, Aunt Neccy picked up her present for me last night. She still gets to be my shopper even 750 miles away :) If you happen to see Rebecca, give her a hug for me - and she'll need those spankings too... jeez 20 of them will hurt your hand, you might want to share ha ha ha!

Onto the food stuff... :) For dinner last night we had pinto beans with some left over riblets cooked in with them and I made cornbread and a sugar free Devil's Food cake. The beans and ribs were tender and flavorful as they bubbled away in my big red pot. The cornbread was crusty and crunchy on the bottom and light, sweet and hotter than the dickens in the middle - the top was browned to perfection and the little pat of butter I put on mine slipped right off and melted down the side. It was about 42 degrees outside and quickly getting colder so having the oven on wasn't a bad thing at all.

While the dinner was cooking, I mixed up the cake ingredients. Now this can be done by hand as I witnessed Teri doing so over the Thanksgiving holiday but when I tried it, it seemed to take forever. I'll be going back to that old fashioned method of using my trusty mixer going forward. lol It was in the oven for about 10-15 minutes when all we could smell was chocolate cake. It's one of those smells that you don't mistake - nothing else smells like warm chocolate cake.

Well as it turned out, it was simply delicious and undeniably chocolately in flavor - oh the pitter-patter of my heart could surely be heard all the way in Centerville... lol! Chocolate cake that is sugar free... mmm mmm good! Now you must know that when the cake came out of the oven I could barely contain myself. I wanted to cut right into it and gobble up as much as could as soon as I could. Calm down - I held myself back - for at least 10 minutes...

When I did cut a piece, I put the first one on a plate for Wally. The second piece was to go on my plate when I realized I'd rather have the corner than the middle. C'mon, who could pass up the warm, slightly crispy edges and moist brown top? I guarantee I'd have a fight on my hands if Dizzy Debbie was with us... lol!! As I happened to mention that I like the edges better, Wally handed his plate over to me :) ahhh now that piece was chocolate cake perfection.

It was still warm from the oven so it felt like a brownie but it was definitely cake and it was definitely to die for. If you haven't ever eaten a cake while it's still warm from the oven, I suggest you try it next time you bake one. Better yet, I suggest you bake one just so you can try it warm from the oven. You'll never frost another one! My kids now prefer their cake without frosting since we've been eating cake this way for years.

This cake melted in our mouths. Wally chased his with a big glass of ice cold milk but I would never consider that... EW!! Sorry all you milk lovers - that's one thing I have never been able to tolerate the taste of... yuck. But then I'm sure I talk about eating things that you don't like too...

Even though it is sugar free, it has been artificially sweetened so we have to eat it in moderation but boy it sure is nice to know that cake can be back on the menu, if only in limited quantities. We have Teri to thank for sharing this grocery store find with us and I hope you'll try it too. None of us could tell the difference.

Around town this weekend there are Christmas parades, arts and craft shows, firewood for sale and Christmas trees on display for you to pick and choose among. Brentwood has their Christmas banners hanging from the street lights and the mansions are all professionally decorated. The tree lined driveways have men in bucket trucks hanging lights and wreaths from trees, columns and 2nd and 3rd floor windows.

In our modest little town there are banners to be sure but you won't find any mansions or professionally decorated entryways. Rather the decorations are hung by homeowners and while they may not be picture perfect, they do display a festiveness that all the fancy stuff just can't hold a candle to. There are little reindeer made from piecing logs together and they have red bows tied around their necks. Their antlers are sticks attached to the top of their little log heads. Hand-woven wreaths hang from fence posts and electric candles sit in the front windows of farm houses all along the way.

Dickson, Centerville and Fairview are all having Christmas parades. I hope to make at least one of them :) The high school band is the highlight of the parade unless there are horses in it. We won't be riding ours...lol could you see Smokey behaving in a parade with people clapping and shouting and moving all about? huh! not with me on his back you won't... ha ha ha The finale is always when Santa rounds the corner. All the little kids get so excited when his float slows down and he waves to them from his sleigh. The parade just heightens the anticipation for them as they know Christmas is just around the corner. The banks, the churches and the various shops are all offering free hot chocolate during the parade :)

I hope to finish my decorating efforts in the next few days so I can post some pictures for those of you who won't be able to visit this holiday season. The mantel, the bookshelf and the piano are all finished. My cowboy boot stockings are hanging from their stand by the fireplace and the manger scene is set up and waiting for the kids to rearrange.  The tree still needs a few hundred more ornaments and I have yet to unbox my old world Santas. It's a work in progress and a labor of love all at the same time.

The countdown has begun as Neccy and company are scheduled to arrive on the 23rd of December! My Tennessee Christmas Cabin awaits them...

"A daughter is a day brightener and a heart warmer."  ~Author Unknown

"And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more." ~Dr Seuss