I’m not a butcher, a baker or even a pie maker but I did make this! It came out so good. A little labor intensive but look at the result! And it tastes as good as it looks , very light and fluffy.
Rainbow Christmas Wreath
The professional
My Version
Not bad for a first try if I do say so myself…and it’s really light and fluffy.
I used the egg white version. I saved the egg yolks and made French Toast. 🙂
I know everyone is familiar with Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. But how many know the “Back Story”. I was sort of familiar. It was there in the back of my memory but until my sister sent me an email of the story I hadn’t thought how the true story is as much of a fairy tale as the familiar Christmas story. In case, like me, you had forgotten it or maybe you had never heard it, here it is. It brought tears to my eyes. I hope you enjoy it too.
The True Story of Rudolph
A man named Bob May, depressed and brokenhearted, stared out his drafty apartment window into the chilling December night.
His 4-year-old daughter Barbara sat on his lap quietly sobbing. Bob’s wife, Evelyn, was dying of cancer.
Little Barbara couldn’t understand why her mommy could never come home. Barbara looked up into her dad’s eyes and asked, “Why isn’t Mommy just like everybody else’s Mommy?” Bob’s jaw tightened and his eyes welled with tears. Her question brought waves of grief, but also of anger. It had been the story of Bob’s life. Life always had to be different for Bob.
Small when he was a kid, Bob was often bullied by other boys. He was too little at the time to compete in Sports. He was often called names he’d rather not remember.
From childhood, Bob was different and never seemed to fit in. Bob did complete college, married his loving wife and was grateful to get his job as a copywriter at Montgomery Ward during the Great Depression. Then he was blessed with his little girl. But it was all short-lived. Evelyn’s bout with cancer stripped them of all their savings and now Bob and his daughter were forced to live in a two-room apartment in the Chicago slums. Evelyn died just days before Christmas in 1938.
Bob struggled to give hope to his child, for whom he couldn’t even afford to buy a Christmas gift. But if he couldn’t buy a gift, he was determined to make one – a storybook! Bob had created an animal character in his own mind and told the animal’s story to little Barbara to give her comfort and hope. Again and again Bob told the story, embellishing it more with each telling.
Who was the Character? What was the story all about? The story Bob May created was his own autobiography in fable form. The Character he created was a misfit outcast like he was. The name of the character? A little reindeer named Rudolph, with a big shiny nose. Bob finished the book just in time to give It to his little girl on Christmas Day. But the story doesn’t end there.
The General manager of Montgomery Ward caught wind of the little storybook and offered Bob May a nominal fee to purchase the rights to print the book. Wards went on to Print, “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and distribute it to children visiting Santa Claus in their stores. By 1946 Wards had printed and distributed more than six million copies of Rudolph. That same year, a major Publisher wanted to purchase the rights from Wards to print an updated version of the book.
In an unprecedented gesture of kindness, the CEO of Wards returned
all rights back to Bob May. The book became a best seller. Many toy and
marketing deals followed and Bob May, now remarried with a growing family,
became wealthy from the story he created to comfort his grieving daughter.
But the story doesn’t end there either.
Bob’s brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, made a song adaptation to Rudolph. Though the song was turned down by such popular vocalists as Bing Crosby and Dinah Shore , it was recorded by the singing cowboy, Gene Autry. “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” was released in 1949 and became a
phenomenal success, selling more records than any other Christmas song, with the exception of “White Christmas.”
The gift of love that Bob May created for his daughter so long ago kept on
returning back to bless him again and again. And Bob May learned the Lesson, just like his dear friend Rudolph, that being different isn’t so bad. In fact, being different can be a blessing.
Snow, Snow, Snow! We’re heading into the home stretch for the shopping rush. Yup. Only one more weekend to get out and spend, spend , spend and that snow storm the Northeast just had surely put a damper on things.
Down in southeastern Mass. we missed the bullet. Temps climbed overnight and the snow turned to rain. By Sunday morning it was mostly slush but now it’s going to freeze… ice skates anyone?
As I was poking through my boxes of Christmas (yes I said the terrible word, not the PC Holiday) ornaments I thought it was a shame not to use some more. For years I just had my little table top tree (when the cats would allow it) but now I have all these other ornaments from the years we decorated at the office.
So I thought why not set up the side board. I packed up all my everyday things and spread the fake snow blanket. Oh I had everything from Santa on a boat to snowmen to Christmas Trees. No rhyme or reason to it, just using “stuff”. When it was done it wasn’t too bad. Maybe next year I’ll organize a village. But the best part… the cats were paying no attention! No helping paws!
For about a week the only thing I had to protect was the tree and we all know now how that went.
I’m not quite sure when the Kitty tornado blew through my tranquil holiday collage. I didn’t turn the lights on every night but I did look at it fairly regularly. But today I noticed it looked like a major storm blew in. Trees down, Santa knocked over, even the snowmen and Christmas mouse were flattened.
I just finished setting things back up and heard a “Bump”. I think I know the culprit now.
Rocky you’re off the hook on this one. Looks like Buddy gets to take the blame.
I have a feeling this is only the first of many “Festival of Trees”. I was looking for lighting displays and when the list came up there were festivals of trees everywhere.
How did I end up at the Easton Garden Club’s “Festival of Trees”? A friend of mine asked me to take pictures of her two children for the annual Christmas Card. It took some juggling because between the kids school schedule, my friend’s work schedule and my work schedule there didn’t seem to be anytime to get together. The challenge was complicated by needing a holiday background. They didn’t have their tree up yet. Finally we adults decided to take the kids to see the Festival of Trees. It was close to their home and we figured there must be something there to use as a background. A couple of shots in front of a tree and the kids could go back to being kids. Easy Peasey, right?
I volunteered to take the day off from work. It was an afternoon event and then we’d take the kids to see the “Lighting of the Rockery” in Easton Center in the evening. Sounded like a good idea at the time. The only problem was the kids didn’t get the memo.
I picked the little family up at 2:30 and we took a leisurely drive the couple of miles to the Festival. It was inside so we didn’t need to worry about the weather.
Young Dawn was all dressed up for the picture. So far so good. But that was as far as it went.
Inside the large building tree after tree was decorated. There was so many trees.
They had names like “A Black Tie Affair”,
It’s a Dog’s Life, Aqua Splendor and many more. There was even a tree that I think you’ll recognize.
There was a Grinch set up for photos. Perfect (not). And Thing #1 and Thing #2 with the Cat in the Hat!
That was when I hit the first road block. Both children turned into the human versions of Thing 1 and Thing 2. They didn’t want to be in the same picture together and they didn’t want to be in a picture with the Grinch. Each had their own favorite tree but didn’t want to share.
I’ll let Santa sort out the Naughty or Nice list. Sometimes it’s better to punt, so separate pictures it was.
The Center of Easton was bustling with Bouncy Houses, Fried Dough and Hot dog stands.
Santa arrived riding in a Fire truck and Elmo and Rudolph worked the crowd.
Then it was time for the big event.
A rock wall called the Rockery was lit with hundreds of holiday lights. The DJ cranked out lively Christmas tunes like Rockin’ Around the Christmas tree. It was a jolly old crowd that cheered the lighting.
By now it was quite dark and time to return, Daughter Dawn , Son Alex and Mom Nancy back to their little home.
Mom Nancy and I will put our heads together to plot the next attempt to secure this year’s Christmas photo. We’ll only get one more try because Christmas is right around the corner.
