It is Christmas Day 2012!

When the hour struck midnight, Gordon and I,  kissed each other Happy Christmas.  All was so quiet around our little abode.  Then, quite unplanned, we got into a run-away conversation about the circumstances around the last Christmas with Michael:  the fevers, the knowledge that there would not be another earthly Christmas for him – how the oncologist broke the news – no last straw grab. We looked back, and chatted to deep in the first hours of Christmas night and stood in amazement again at how our strong God carried Michael, carried us the parents, the siblings, family and friends to stand by the Michael we loved to bits.
This Christmas morning was………..

• Unlike some other years when we were woken up by “It snowed!” in Germany, or to a simmering sunny day in South Africa, 
• Unlike our last Christmas with our son, Michael, less than a month before he died physically. 
• Unlike like the Christmases we leapt out of bed to get the last touches of big Christmas meals with many. 
• Unlike the Christmases when our three little children were awake long before we were!

1. This is our first Christmas after Gordon’s retirement in June 2012.
2. This is our first Christmas in Edinburgh after 12 years near London.

I went to bed, knowing that a bad cold got hold of me, woke up on Christmas day, good and solidly in that cold’s grip. 
So it is the two of us at home:  my true love, who should have been in a medicine career, brings me tablets and liquids to go with the chocolates our neighbours kindly brought us.
Our original plan to spend a good chunk of Christmas day with our far-away family is materialising,

What an uplifting Carols at Candlelight at Charlotte Chapel on Sunday evening!  And then those after-chats, for example:  Irene, who read Mary’s song was struck by “all generations will call her blessed”.  The question was along these lines:
Do Protestants not call Mary blessed, because the Roman Catholics call her  “blessed”  for many an extra man-made reason?
Here are Mary’s own reasons:

• she was not deserving of this honour.
• it was nothing that she earned.

All generations will call Mary blessed because…

1. God has done great things for her.
2. and because God’s Name is holy.

Here is a link to further reading on Mary and her song.

Sharing Christmas 2012 with far away family.

It's our privilege to make telephone calls to our dear mom and cousin in South Africa and have a scintillating skype-time with our Schmidt children and grandchildren in Germany:  our sweet Michael, Isabelle, Josie and Evie.   We could scarcely believed that  the gifts we chose with lots of love and posted on 17 December arrived in time.  We were as hyped up as they when they opened the Christmas parcels!   And now we are waiting for our Sanders children and grandchildren to wake up in New Zealand after their Christmas which has already come and gone.
And so, though we are by ourselves at home, we are content, using every means of communication.  

An overflow of this joy………


And here is our Christmas 2012 card designed for our loved ones and anyone who may find themselves on this page – yeah you whether we are in contact on face book or not.

Have a brilliant Christmas! A lot of life-change happens around a table and the happiest of moments are ours when we give.   Christmas doesn't have to be one that is off the chart as to what people think is a Christmas with the X-factor. You may be all by yourself, you may be heart-broken. We know something of that kind of Christmas...take heart, here's good news.

Toying with the idea of a Diary Blog 2013

 

It’s that time of the year again:  to reflect on time-management, weight-management,  priorities, etc.  We have a couple of days to get our ducks in a row, so when January 1st, 2013 is upon us, we can “take off!.

Gordon and I have very many face book and email contacts and we are wondering how we could maintain relationships with those far from where we live in Edinburgh, Scotland, without overburdening ourselves or them.

Here are ( 5 ) goals to get our re-thinking going:

1. Real and meaningful communication and relationship over distances.
2. Wise length and varied content so as not to burden or family/friends nor over-burden ourselves.
3. To avoid “us, us,us” communications, rather send “testimonies”.
4. On the email front, to avoid general letters, except our “diary-blog”-posts.
5. Frequency of emails to family, to close friends, to general contacts?

Some of my attitudes, ways and opinions definitely need re-defining. Am I open to wisdom, wisdom discovered in God’s presence, Bible and in people and media?  So many more insights and perspectives than my own!

 

Tshabalala Togetherness and his taxi – his têêêxie

 

My husband, Gordon, dons the mask and my mom enjoys his rendering of this little South African story about our wonderful, all powerful taxi drivers who own the roads.

This has become a family tradition and we laugh, loud belly-laughs – every time!

Here's a little South African story for you guys overseas, just in case you forget about our wonderful all-powerful taxi drivers who own the road. Togetherness Tshabalala jinks his High Impact African Culling Equipment (HiAce for short), with BMW hub-caps through the rush-hour traffic, occasionally using the pavement (sidewalk) to increase productivity. Togetherness is a confident man with high spirits, as evidenced by the stickers on his rear window: "GOD LOVES TAXI-DRIVERS" and "AVOID CONSTIPATION - TRAVEL BY TAXI". On the front of his taxi, between a large dent which, ominously, is in the shape of a large traffic cop, and the holes from a small spray of bullets, is a lurid notice reading: "JUKSKEI PARK EXPRESS INAUGURAL FLIGHT". Using the word 'flight' is Togetherness' own little personal joke. What we are witnessing is the inaugural leg of what is hopefully to become a daily service between Jukskei Park and Johannesburg - a 25 km journey which takes 10 minutes - less if the pavements are open. The percussion waves from Togetherness' powerful radio ('organised' from a BMW Z3) pushes back the early mist. He is playing Boom Shaka's latest low frequency, 120 Db hit (How low can we go?) He hoots as he drives. Togetherness hoots (toots the horn) at anything he sees - including trees - as is the custom of his people. On board the taxi are sixteen white people. They do not come whiter than this. They are Omo white. They were not born white. No, their pallor is due to fear and stark terror. Take John Mleka. Never in his life has he done 0 to 100 km/h in six seconds - especially not in heavy traffic. Denise Mtha's colour has changed from green-black to a sort of waxen ivory as quickly as the last traffic light had changed to red. (A colour that traditionally prompts taxi drivers to make even more haste.) Togetherness regularly looks over his shoulder while driving - even for a full minute - asking passengers their destinations. Elizabeth Mronwo, sitting right at the back, has the opportunity to say: "Randbag centa" even though she works in Johannesburg. She worries about how she will make her way to the front, but only fleetingly, because the taxi has now reached Randburg and Togetherness has stopped. He has stopped as suddenly as a plane might stop up against a mountain. Now EVERYBODY is at the front in a warm, intimate heap. Elizabeth alights as gracefully as anybody can with one knee locked behind the other. She is vaguely aware of passers-by loosening her clothing and shouting: "Give her air!" Togetherness bowls happily along Jan Smuts Avenue, overtaking a police BMW that is chasing a getaway car. Then he overtakes the getaway car too, exchanging boisterous greetings with the driver whom he knows. Togetherness is steering with his elbows because he needs his hands free to check the morning's takings and to wave to the girls on the pavement. He announces: "Ledees and gentlemen, thees is your ceptin. We weel shortly be lending in Johannesbeg. Please make sure your seatbelts are in the upright position and your seats are fastened. Thank you for flying with us. We hope to see you again soon." John Mleka is gripping the seat in front of him so tightly that he notices his fingertips have gone transparent, as a passing taxi fires a brief burst from an AK 47 in his direction. Togetherness now reaches the city and merges with the in-bound traffic like his ancestors merged with the British at Isandlwana. He stops at his usual disembarkation point in the middle of an intersection and picks his teeth patiently while people sort out their legs, arms and teeth before groping their way towards a pole around which they can throw their arms. By the time his passengers' eyeballs have settled back in their parent sockets, Togetherness is already halfway back to Jukskei Park with another load of passengers. Yebo Goggo!

The traditional Christmas cinnamon roll

 

December 16th, 2012

If you have shied away from baking homemade cinnamon rolls or have never had a good experience in making them, please try again and please use this recipe! From the now-out-of-print Pillsbury Complete Book of Baking, this version of the traditional cinnamon roll is just about the most delicious pastry you will ever taste! (Look for the book in used bookstores and online; it is the best ever go-to baking book!) It freezes well and makes a wonderful gift for friends when presented in a round tin foil pan topped with a bow. This recipe makes 3 dozen regular size rolls and is easily doubled or tripled. It is also versatile and can be turned into orange rolls and pecan-caramel sticky buns.

Basic Dough

6 to 7 cups of flour

½ cp sugar

2 tsp. salt

2 TBS active dry yeast

1 cup water

1 cup milk

½ cup butter 1 egg

In large mixing bowl, combine 2 cups flour, sugar, salt, and yeast; blend well. In small sauce pan, heat milk, water, and butter until very warm but not hot. (about 120 to 130 degrees) Allow to sit  until butter melts. Add warm liquid mixture and egg to dry ingredient and mix well. Add more flour a bit at a time until you have a soft dough that pulls away from the side of the bowl. Knead with dough hook or by hand on floured surface until elastic, about 8 minutes. Place in greased or buttered bowl, turning once and cover loosely with plastic wrap and a light dish towel. Let rise in warm place until light and doubled n size, about 45 to 60 minutes. Punch down and divide in half; shape and finish off according to one of the following options.

Tip: If you want to make this the night before to have warm rolls with breakfast, after first rise time, punch down dough, cover and refrigerate dough overnight. Continue in the morning.

Basic Cinnamon Rolls

Half recipe of basic dough

¼ cup softened butter

½ cup sugar or firmly packed brown sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

¾ cup powdered sugar

1 TBS butter

½ tsp vanilla or almond extract

1 to 2 TBS milk or cream

Generously grease 13 X 9 pan. On lightly floured surface, roll out dough to about 18 X 12 inches. Spread with ¼ cup butter. Combine cinnamon and sugar blending well, and sprinkle over rectangle.  Starting with the 18 inch side, rolls up tightly, pressing edges to seal. Cut 18 slices and place them in pan. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, about 40 minutes. Bake at 375 for about 25 minutes, until light golden. Immediately remove from pan and place on wire racks. In small bowl mix rest of ingredients and drizzle over warm rolls. These can also be frozen individually and micro waved one at a time for a few seconds. Makes 18 rolls.

Caramel Sticky Buns

Half recipe of basic dough

1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

½ cup softened butter

2 TBS light corn syrup

½ cup chopped pecans

2 TBS. softened margarine

¼ cup sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

Generously grease 13 X 9 pan. In small bowl combine brown sugar, ½ cup butter and corn syrup, blend well. Drop mixture by spoonfuls onto greased pan, spread evenly, and sprinkle with nuts. On lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 18 X 12 rectangle. Spread with 2 TBS. butter. In small bowl, combine cinnamon and sugar. Sprinkle over dough. Roll up tightly from 18 inch side, pressing edges to seal. Cut into 18 slices and place them in bowl. Cover and allow to rise for about 40 minutes. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes. Cool in pan only one minute, invert onto tray.

Orange Rolls

Half recipe of basic dough

2 TBS softened butter

1/3 cup sugar

1 TBS. grated orange zest

For icing:

½ cup powdered sugar

1 TBS softened butter

2 TBS orange juice

Generously grease 13 X 9 pan. On lightly floured surface, roll out dough to about 18 X 12 inches. Spread with 2 TBS butter, sprinkle with sugar and orange zest. Starting with the 18 inch side, rolls up tightly, pressing edges to seal. Cut 18 slices and place them in pan. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, about 40 minutes. Bake at 375 for about 25 minutes, until light golden. Immediately remove from pan and place on wire racks. In small bowl mix rest of ingredients and drizzle over warm rolls. Makes 18 rolls