Food Memory

We're participating in a gift exchange tomorrow with folks from the national church. We drew names a week or so ago and the price limit was the equivalent of 5 US dollars. We both had a hard time coming up with good ideas for the people we drew, until Tim had the brilliant idea of (me) making Christmas cookies to give as gifts.

So, I've been on a baking spree the past couple days, which feels just right for me. A big part of what I remember fondly about Christmases past was all the baking my mom did, most of which was boxed up for gifts to the neighbors. This meant she could bake all kinds of wonderful things, and only have the family overeat moderately. :)

I am sorry to report that in Nicaragua, as far as we can tell, there is no molasses. It seems odd, because they grow sugar cane here and LOVE white sugar (and molasses is a byproduct of making white sugar out of sugar cane). My theory is that they're making it all into rum instead (also quite popular here), but I don't know if rum is made from molasses or not. Whatever the cause, the lack of molasses puts a serious damper on the making of gingerbread cookies (often people-shaped, this year, star-shaped). I attempted a substitution of dark brown sugar and melted chocolate; it was sort of successful. The taste is about right; the structural integrity leaves something to be desired. Nothing is as sticky as molasses!

I also made chocolate chip cookie bars which "were not fancy enough for gift cookies." Or possibly, too delicious -- I am pretty sure they will be all gone by the time of the gift exchange tomorrow at lunch.

Today, I made two of my favorite "special for Christmas" goodies: fudge and sugar cookies. I remembered again this year that I don't actually know how to make fudge (since I make it at most once a year), so I searched the internet for a recipe that "looked right." I sort of thought it was supposed to be just butter, marshmallows, and chocolate chips, but once I started thinking about it, I seem to recall being disabused of that notion the last couple times I tried to make fudge... so I settled for the Campfire marshmallow "creamy fudge" recipe. For the sugar cookies, I searched for "Fannie Farmer sugar cookie" (that was my mom's go-to cookbook), and decided that this recipe sounded right.

The fudge is cooling overnight, but it seemed about right (although I may have overcooked it a little). The sugar cookies taste right, but don't behave the same way as the ones my mother made -- hers were thicker, mine spread out really thin and therefore are also wanting in the structural integrity category. I think I am going to blame the oven, which has numbers 1-5 rather than labeling the temperature in degrees.

Anywsy, when I bit into a sugar cookie, I thought, "Yes, this is what sugar cookies are supposed to taste like." Even though I have no idea about the recipes, I remember eating lots of these treats very well. It's nice to be taken back in that way. It also makes me feel a wee bit of pressure to find (and preserve from year to year) the *right* recipes. Otherwise, I'll never taste (fill-in-the-blank) the way my mother made it again! It makes me very grateful for a) my mom's three sisters and b) Fannie Farmer.

Santa, Maybe

I am going to go ahead and blame Lee for tonight's post. This is also the year for us, when we have to start figuring out what to say to the kid about Santa Claus.

It's interesting, too, that here in Nicaragua there's probably more of an anti-Santa movement than in the U.S. Santa Claus doesn't actually make much sense in a Nicaraguan context, because the kids get their presents on Christmas Eve (sometimes from the Baby Jesus) -- so Santa's late to the party on many levels. The opposition comes from, on the one hand, fundamentalist Christian influences from North America, and on the other, anti-commercialism and opposition to uncritical adoption of North American culture. It seems in many ways quite similar to the anti-Halloween sentiments I've noticed, although not as intense.

But, we are from the United States, so Santa is part of our culture, albeit in varied ways. Quinn's love for the Baby Jesus is firmly in place, so I'm not too worried about Santa supplanting Jesus in the Christmas Story. Not this year, anyway.

So, I decided to tell Quinn the whole story. About a guy named Nicholas who loved the Baby Jesus and loved children, and made sure that poor children (not just children whose parents had enough money) could have a present to open on Christmas in memory of the gifts the Magi brought to Jesus. Who, years later, when people remembered his life, got upgraded to "Saint Nicholas." And who inspired people to make sure that poor children would have presents on Christmas, so they left them labeled "from Saint Nicholas." I glossed over the languages the name went through, and said that it was the children, who sometimes make up their own way to say things, who changed it to "Santa Claus."

She liked the story, and asks to hear it again pretty regularly. Her first question was whether or not we have enough money to buy her presents. She also made up her own story, where Santa Claus "picks the flowers and leaves." But I think she has picked up on a lot of Santa stuff from school, movies, etc., because she said very decidedly that she wanted to get a present from Santa. So, we made a deal. If she can read "Santa Claus" by Christmas, she can get one present that is from Santa Claus. (I think she may be reading "Claus" for everything that starts with C for a while...) We're also watching a lot of Christmas movies to get in the mood (and because she's on vacation from school), so further Santa inculcation is inevitable.

It's also interesting timing because her imagination has just recently taken off. She makes up stories (and words, too, which can be confusing) all the time now. So she is in just the right place to be compelled by the magic of a new imaginary scheme, and already has the capacity to play along. And with her, we get to "play" a little more as well. We are so lucky.

Joseph the Stepdad

In the Christmas story, Joseph plays an interesting role. Certainly not an easy one (although, arguably, none of the roles are "easy"). Some discussion on facebook got me thinking about one of my favorite songs by Wyclef Jean, Baby Daddy. It's from his album The Preacher's Son, also a favorite.



The refrain:
I'm not that baby's daddy
treat him like he's my own
but, sometimes I sit and wonder
how can I father another man's son?
when the argument breaks in the pad
Shorty wanna scream I ain't his real dad now
I may not be your father, but I'm the closest thing to him

***

"Didn't you know that it was necessary for me to be in my Father's house?" (Luke 2:49, CEB) says twelve year old Jesus to his frantically worried parents who have been searching for him for three days.

I can imagine that Joseph would have known something the tension of the step-parent relationship. We celebrate in Advent that Joseph said "I'm going to treat him like he's mine."

All I Want for Christmas...

So, it's been interesting to me, gearing up for Christmas while living here in Nicaragua. I came to Nicaragua thinking of myself as a relatively non-materialistic person. And I still think that's generally true about me. I certainly tired pretty quickly of the required purchasing of things that goes along with moving to a new country and bringing only the possessions that fit in suitcases.

I expected my reaction to living in a country where extreme poverty is common to be developing even stronger feelings about living simply. And this has been true, sort of. For example, the house that was found for us to live in did not exactly meet every single requirement I had listed ahead of time. The budget could certainly bear more expensive housing, and we had the option of looking for another house. But one of the things that convicted me was driving past the houses that other people live in that are made out of garbage bags. It sort of took the joy out of house hunting, for me. (There were other factors, certainly, getting to know and like our neighbors here being chief among them.)

On the other hand, I've also gotten more materialistic, or focused on stuff in some ways. I find myself fantasizing about material things that will be available to me when we go back to the United States for our Christmas visit. So, here is my (mildly schizoid) wish list:

1) It would really make me happy if anyone felt moved to give to my favorite good causes. Partly because I have less extra cash to give out at the moment myself. I have a lot of favorites, but at this moment the top three are:

a) Global Ministries* - I guess the fact that I buy into their mission is obvious by the fact that I'm serving as a missionary on their behalf. I am just consistently impressed by their vision, and the number and quality of relationships they maintain with churches and organizations that are working "on the ground" in some of the neediest places in this world. One of the things that I see so clearly here and have heard about other partner organizations and churches in other parts of the world is that so much can be accomplished with relatively little money.

b) I will always have a soft spot in my heart (and, insofar as it's possible, my budget ;) ) for Christ House, where I served for a year as a full-time volunteer. They do amazing, holistic, compassionate work with sick, homeless people -- and they have been so successful in helping people move out of homelessness and into supportive community that they're starting a second building for their "graduates." They have also formed a lot of young people like myself over the years through their volunteer program, providing a safe space to serve and get to know people on the fringes of society and learn a LOT in the process.

c) Californians for Justice is an organization that Tim and I once volunteered for, doing impressive work in building power in communities of color in California. They have come to focus on public education, an issue I've been captivated by since I was coming up through that system myself. And they're doing it by organizing and empowering youth! (At least one of whom is a member of a church I served as sabbatical interim pastor for.)

I'm more than happy to answer questions about any of these organizations. :)

2) Okay, so that's the non-materialistic side speaking up there. :) The materialistic side has created a wishlist on amazon.com with desired books and music. Actually, I've had even more fun looking up books for Quinn. One of the things I miss the most about the U.S. is our library and the awesome children's book selection.

3) I want different clothes than the ones I brought. It was hard to know what to bring, never having been in this climate or social context before. I never wear my awesome summer dresses. I wear skirts most days. And short-sleeved cotton blouses are pretty much always appropriate.** I only wear T-shirts or shorts when I don't think I'll see anyone from church (and sometimes they stop by unexpectedly!) And I actually wear jeans way more often than I thought I would! (But the jeans issue will be resolved by digging through our items in storage while in Fresno.)

4) Umm, a hot shower? This is material but not shippable. :) I will be enjoying them greatly (and hopefully, daily) when we visit California.

5) A Club (you know, the anti-theft device) for our SUV. Not sure if this is practical to bring with us, because they are heavy, but I also don't know where to find it here.

6) Chocolate is always welcome and appreciated. They grow it here, but I think almost exclusively for export. We pay way too much money for Hershey's chocolate in the supermarket (although now we have a Costco membership, I think we may soon have a LOT Ghirardelli chocolate chips ;) ).

There you have it. It hasn't taken much "deprivation" (because, seriously, our lifestyle is not even that different, just a few more minor inconveniences) to arouse some materialistic longing in my spirit... but hopefully the balance remains (or even swings further to the solidarity/ appreciating how much we have side of things).

*If you're a member of a United Church of Christ or Disciples of Christ congregation that supports Our Church's Wider Mission (UCC) or Disciples Mission Fund (DoC), your church is already supporting Global Ministries in that way. So thank you! But over-and-above giving is also great. :)

**size 16 or XL, if you're particularly curious :)

Christmas Traditions: Quinn's Take

Every culture and every family that celebrates Christmas has its own particular traditions. In starting our own family by getting married, and especially now that we're raising a kid together, Tim and I have thought and talked quite a bit about the differences in the way each of our families celebrate Christmas, and the things that we might want to do in a new way.

But those differences sort of pale in comparison to the differences between U.S. and Nicaraguan Christmas traditions. We learned from a friend while on our most recent trip that as a kid, he always thought that the Baby Jesus brought the Christmas presents that his parents hid under his bed. Christmas trees are not that common here (okay, well, there certainly aren't a lot of pine trees), and, it being so hot, there aren't fireplaces, or chimneys, or stockings hung on said fireplace (much less a fat man magically squeezing down said chimney).

All this to get to my main point, which is that I'm pretty enamored of the synthesis that we heard from the back seat today. Quinn said "I'm going to sing a song." And then proceeded to sing something along the lines of "The stars gave presents to Santa Claus, so he could give them to the kids. And then the baby came, and the angels came to see the baby."