Gingerbread and Christmas Politics
Happy Friday! Thanks to a little encouragement from Berlinbound
I will try not to be so Lazy with a capital Z this time and let my blog go abandoned. Just kidding about the lazy part, though. It is not an issue of laziness. It is an issue of not-being-able-to-sit-stillness. I am a freakin' nutball and doing something as stationary as blogging is very difficult. I feel the same way about television. Unless it is the MTV Music Awards (like last night!) or something very funny like Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat or Ali G or Dave Chapelle.
So if you check my blog and wonder where I am, I am racing around my house moving things from point a to point b much like a pacing, neurotic lion in a zoo, scrubbing little things here and there, wiping noses and asses, etc.
Here's what's been baking:
Gingerbread
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup sugar or brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup light molasses
1. grease baking pan. combine flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder, and baking soda.
2. beat shortening. add sugar. beat until fluffy. add egg and molasses.
3. add dry mixture and 1/2 cup water alternately to beaten mixture. beat after each addition. pour into prepared pan.
4. bake at about 200 c (350f) for 30-40 min. or until toothpick comes out clean.
5. serve warm, with whipped cream of course.
Lordy is that gingerbread ever good. Make sure you bake it for company or something, otherwise you'll eat the whole dang pan yourself. :)
So, on my way back from Kaiser's this morning, after having beamed at how close I am to getting that free frying pan with my collected hearts, and before hearing that flippin' song "Beautiful" for the upteenth time flowing out of a bakery as I passed by, I started to think about Christmas.
Every year I grapple with the same issue: Feed the commercial Christmas Frenzy or not. This is a hard one, and I'd love to hear your thoughts. I can just imagine that the pressure in the U.S. is about 50 times worse than here when it comes to buying buying buying at Christmas time. Christmas shopping has always struck me as a horribly hollow event. Of course, it can be exciting in one way, especially if you've found the "perfect" gift for someone. But generally, it can feel like just buying to have something to give to someone who might (probably) either recycle it and give it to Aunt So and So for her birthday next year, or put it into one of those closets or drawers of miscellaneous objects...and this is where I can't cope. This isn't to mention the time (wandering aimlessly through flourescent lit stores...headache...panic attack) and expense (so many relatives and so many friends, so little money) involved. So I offer the following solution...or at least this is how I subvert and/or deal with the Frenzy: Homemade presents, but good ones! The key is to start early.
One year we actually succeeded. We made a video, "The Day in the Life of 'FirstBorn'." It was all fancy filmed and edited with music and the family loved it. Being so far away, everyone really enjoyed seeing what our typical day was like, especially the layers and layers and LAYERS we had to put on her to ride her to kindergarten on the back of the bike during the winter. The best part, in a way, was that we weren't contributing to the Frenzy.
2 Years ago, for all my friends, I went to Ikea and bought these big, open-mouthed vases and filled them with all different kinds of cookies (baked of course...this is fun for the kids to watch and participate in too...having bajillions of cookies in your kitchen can only be an awesome experience.) Wrapped really nicely in clear wrapping paper and tied with ribbon, they were pretty, yummy, inexpensive, homemade, and didn't contribute to the Frenzy.
This year, I have another idea up my sleeve...nothing new, just we are going to actually do it, instead of talking about it like we do every year!! I will have to tell you after Christmas though!
But when it comes to the children, is there a way to avoid the Frenzy? I guess my feeling here is that I just don't think its necessary to overdo it. Our older one has never been too wired out at Christmas, and I am very happy about that. She always takes her time opening presents and often gets distracted playing for awhile and forgets the rest of the pile. We have to stop ourselves from saying, "okay, moving right along...there are still 87 presents over here..." Just kidding about the 87 part. One year, it took 3 days for her to open her presents. You are probably thinking...that is actually something to be concerned about rather than proud of! I think she just likes to savor things. When she wakes up on Easter or Christmas, for example, she likes to take a bath, have breakfast, get dressed, read some books, etc. before going out to check if Fictional Character so and so has eaten his carrots and left her some presents. She enjoys the excitment. She does this with a lot of things, mail she receives, for example. So much so, that she often forgets to open the letter.
And here's another thing: the idea of Santa Claus. Just call me a big ole freakazoid, but I have never been comfortable with the idea of lying to my child about the idea of Santa Claus or Easter Bunny, and soon, the Tooth Fairy. I thought this one out long ago, when our little one was actually still little. We discussed and discussed, but came to the conclusion that we would spoil it for others if we were to let our daughter in on the Big Lie. We'd get calls from other parents saying, can't you damn Communists just play along? Just kidding about the Communist part. So, here it is, five years of lying, and I have to say, I feel just awful about it.
I remember distinctly being 6 years old, living in Georgia, and one day at school hearing that Santa Claus didn't exist and that actually the parents were the ones that left the presents under the tree. I remember first being in denial, then feeling devastated. Could it be fun anymore? I called a conference with my mom in the bathroom. I wanted to know the truth. She gave it to me. It was one of those milestones of growing up, like losing your first tooth, or getting your period. There is this mixture of excitement, sadness, fear, disappointment. But every big event is like that (I am thinking about moving now)...so do we create these little scenarios as much for the fun as for the easing the children into the harder things in life? Its a little like all those damn scary Disney movies. I am always shocked at how scary these movies are. But my husband defends them (not Disney of course, but the archetypes and the darker sides of the story).
Okay, enough on Christmas for now. Have a great Friday.
I will try not to be so Lazy with a capital Z this time and let my blog go abandoned. Just kidding about the lazy part, though. It is not an issue of laziness. It is an issue of not-being-able-to-sit-stillness. I am a freakin' nutball and doing something as stationary as blogging is very difficult. I feel the same way about television. Unless it is the MTV Music Awards (like last night!) or something very funny like Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat or Ali G or Dave Chapelle.
So if you check my blog and wonder where I am, I am racing around my house moving things from point a to point b much like a pacing, neurotic lion in a zoo, scrubbing little things here and there, wiping noses and asses, etc.
Here's what's been baking:
Gingerbread
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup sugar or brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup light molasses
1. grease baking pan. combine flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder, and baking soda.
2. beat shortening. add sugar. beat until fluffy. add egg and molasses.
3. add dry mixture and 1/2 cup water alternately to beaten mixture. beat after each addition. pour into prepared pan.
4. bake at about 200 c (350f) for 30-40 min. or until toothpick comes out clean.
5. serve warm, with whipped cream of course.
Lordy is that gingerbread ever good. Make sure you bake it for company or something, otherwise you'll eat the whole dang pan yourself. :)
So, on my way back from Kaiser's this morning, after having beamed at how close I am to getting that free frying pan with my collected hearts, and before hearing that flippin' song "Beautiful" for the upteenth time flowing out of a bakery as I passed by, I started to think about Christmas.
Every year I grapple with the same issue: Feed the commercial Christmas Frenzy or not. This is a hard one, and I'd love to hear your thoughts. I can just imagine that the pressure in the U.S. is about 50 times worse than here when it comes to buying buying buying at Christmas time. Christmas shopping has always struck me as a horribly hollow event. Of course, it can be exciting in one way, especially if you've found the "perfect" gift for someone. But generally, it can feel like just buying to have something to give to someone who might (probably) either recycle it and give it to Aunt So and So for her birthday next year, or put it into one of those closets or drawers of miscellaneous objects...and this is where I can't cope. This isn't to mention the time (wandering aimlessly through flourescent lit stores...headache...panic attack) and expense (so many relatives and so many friends, so little money) involved. So I offer the following solution...or at least this is how I subvert and/or deal with the Frenzy: Homemade presents, but good ones! The key is to start early.
One year we actually succeeded. We made a video, "The Day in the Life of 'FirstBorn'." It was all fancy filmed and edited with music and the family loved it. Being so far away, everyone really enjoyed seeing what our typical day was like, especially the layers and layers and LAYERS we had to put on her to ride her to kindergarten on the back of the bike during the winter. The best part, in a way, was that we weren't contributing to the Frenzy.
2 Years ago, for all my friends, I went to Ikea and bought these big, open-mouthed vases and filled them with all different kinds of cookies (baked of course...this is fun for the kids to watch and participate in too...having bajillions of cookies in your kitchen can only be an awesome experience.) Wrapped really nicely in clear wrapping paper and tied with ribbon, they were pretty, yummy, inexpensive, homemade, and didn't contribute to the Frenzy.
This year, I have another idea up my sleeve...nothing new, just we are going to actually do it, instead of talking about it like we do every year!! I will have to tell you after Christmas though!
But when it comes to the children, is there a way to avoid the Frenzy? I guess my feeling here is that I just don't think its necessary to overdo it. Our older one has never been too wired out at Christmas, and I am very happy about that. She always takes her time opening presents and often gets distracted playing for awhile and forgets the rest of the pile. We have to stop ourselves from saying, "okay, moving right along...there are still 87 presents over here..." Just kidding about the 87 part. One year, it took 3 days for her to open her presents. You are probably thinking...that is actually something to be concerned about rather than proud of! I think she just likes to savor things. When she wakes up on Easter or Christmas, for example, she likes to take a bath, have breakfast, get dressed, read some books, etc. before going out to check if Fictional Character so and so has eaten his carrots and left her some presents. She enjoys the excitment. She does this with a lot of things, mail she receives, for example. So much so, that she often forgets to open the letter.
And here's another thing: the idea of Santa Claus. Just call me a big ole freakazoid, but I have never been comfortable with the idea of lying to my child about the idea of Santa Claus or Easter Bunny, and soon, the Tooth Fairy. I thought this one out long ago, when our little one was actually still little. We discussed and discussed, but came to the conclusion that we would spoil it for others if we were to let our daughter in on the Big Lie. We'd get calls from other parents saying, can't you damn Communists just play along? Just kidding about the Communist part. So, here it is, five years of lying, and I have to say, I feel just awful about it.
I remember distinctly being 6 years old, living in Georgia, and one day at school hearing that Santa Claus didn't exist and that actually the parents were the ones that left the presents under the tree. I remember first being in denial, then feeling devastated. Could it be fun anymore? I called a conference with my mom in the bathroom. I wanted to know the truth. She gave it to me. It was one of those milestones of growing up, like losing your first tooth, or getting your period. There is this mixture of excitement, sadness, fear, disappointment. But every big event is like that (I am thinking about moving now)...so do we create these little scenarios as much for the fun as for the easing the children into the harder things in life? Its a little like all those damn scary Disney movies. I am always shocked at how scary these movies are. But my husband defends them (not Disney of course, but the archetypes and the darker sides of the story).
Okay, enough on Christmas for now. Have a great Friday.
posted by mama jens at 10:40 AM
4 Comments:
Dear Jen:
If it is any consolation to you, I find your posts to be shockingly in synch with the issues pulsing through my brain and life … be it the gingerbread (the smell of which conjures up my New England grandmother’s kitchen cupboard) to the discussion of the commercialization of Christmas, to the tooth fairy and Santa Claus … I love your blog!
Some thoughts: I hate buying things at Christmas. I’m convinced that department stores keep the same piles of crap sweaters and bathrobes and socks in the back room all year, bring them out after Halloween, spritz them with Holly juice or Pine-Sol or something and try to pass them off as new. All year I am on the lookout for the perfect Christmas gift and try like hell not to wait until Christmas to buy it. This year we bought a dozen or so key chains that have a color picture of our local beach on one side and a small mirror on the other… The Smallwood Community Improvement Board made the key chains as fundraisers and as a way of enhancing the sense of “community” in the hamlet where we spend our summers. The key chains are super-corny but I love them.
Santa and the Tooth Fairy are major moral issues we are soon to face with His Holiness … He’s just two – but this Christmas he will know something is going on and I will feel compelled to give him an explanation (I don’t know why I feel compelled but I do – some sort of parental imperative) … I read “Twas the night before Christmas” all year long as a bedtime story and I know one day he is going to make the connection … I might pass on the Tooth Fairy – Is that mean? I’m sure there must be some German myth/fairy stories/legends that we will encounter in our new home … More anon …
Mmm...I love gingerbread!
As for the Christmas thing - we try to stay in "less is more" camp. We have no relatives here, other than my husband's parents, so it's not that difficult. They tell us a couple of small things that they'd like, and we get them. No guessing involved. We also made a mutual decision with our friends years ago that we (the adults wouldn't exchange gifts - homemade cookies, cake, maybe a bottle of wine - fine, but nothing else. So that just leaves the kids. Our kids get onc big present (sometimes with many family members and friends chipping in) and a couple of small ones.
With my relatives in Canada we've dispensed with the gift giving since the cost of postage is usually higher than the the cost of the gifts themselves. My parents get recent photos of our boys, which they really enjoy. When we all get together during our summer holidays, we take them out for a nice dinner or something in lieu of presents.
As for Santa/Easter Bunny/Tooth Fairy - OK, I admit it - I let my kids believe in them until they figured it out for themselves a few years ago and it wasn't traumatic at all. We still enjoy the holidays just the same way as we always did and I think they have fond memories of those mythical figures. I mean, childhood is all about pretending, right? And then we grow up. *sob* ;-)
Dumb question time ... where do you find light corn syrup in Germany?
Hi Marco,
That's a very good question!! I have looked and looked. Christina said,
"Yeah, no corn syrup in Germany. In a pinch I think you could substitute that "heller Sirup" from Grafschafter. Comes in a little yellow container and makes its home next to the jam and honey at our local Edeka. They have "Zuckerrübensirup" - dark molasses type thing, and the light stuff."
So, the Zuckerrübensirup should be okay for the gingerbread...but for candies and caramel apples, I guess I would improvise with heller Sirup or else make some corn syrup, which would be:
1 cup sugar
2 cups water
Mix them together in a saucepan, then cook over medium heat for about 1/2 hour or until thickened, stirring occassionally.
-mama jens
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