Bena Mae’s Kitchen: Christmas 50 years ago/Christmas now

 In school we sang Silent Night without fear of a lawsuit by the ACLU. And no one appeared to be offended by our secular or religious outdoor decorations. The Christmas holidays were devoid of politics; Washington was eons away and had no place in our celebrating the birth of the Christ child. People actually cared about Good Will Toward Men and folks seemed kinder, more spiritual, or has memory dimmed my recollection of the times back then?

I remember that our church played a large part in our observance of the Christmas season. We gathered food, toys and clothes and took them to the less fortunate in our community. We put on plays featuring the manger scene with Mary, Joseph, and little baby Jesus and no one protested.  We didn’t have to hold a town meeting to get permission or question its legality. Or whether or not it was deemed politically correct. Political Correctness had yet to become a part of our vocabulary and life was far less complicated in those days.

At home we decorated the tree with home-made decorations; strings of popcorn, crepe paper ornaments, and lights. And the season began the day after Thanksgiving when we went to the woods, selected and chopped down the best tree we could find, instead of spending the day in lines with other people at ungodly hours to get the best deal at department stores. Today, we also shop the internet for presents, depriving ourselves of the spirit of Christmas, of being ‘hands-on’ in our selection of gifts.  Nothing there to make us feel all warm and cozy inside.

My father, who was clueless when it came to shopping of any kind, always left his gift to Mama up to his girls to buy. One year we told him he had to shop for his own gift to her. When Christmas morning came and Mama unwrapped her present from him, she found a huge green frog made of a chalk-like substance with big bulging eyes staring back at her. It was a doorstop, perhaps the ugliest doorstop ever made. It provided us with laughs for years. But in Daddy’s mind, it was a gift from the heart, proving that it was the thought, not the gift that mattered. After that, we went back to shopping for Daddy.

Another homage to my father that seems fitting to add to this memory: He never, and I mean never, missed going to church. And if it snowed, which it did on rare occasions during the Christmas season, we kids bundled ourselves up in coats and scarves and gloves and followed in his footsteps the four or five blocks up Kentucky Street to Central Baptist Church in Corbin.  

And I mean literally followed in his footsteps. He would make a large footprint in the snow and we who were walking behind him placed our feet in the deep indentations he had made. We looked like the march of the penguins walking in single file behind him, or that’s what I remember in my mind’s eye. A nice metaphor, wouldn’t you say?

In a little more than a week, it will all be over. “God Bless us all,” said Tiny Tim.

This is one reason why Christmas is so much fun.

Orange Glazed Pecans

4  cups  pecan halves

1/2  cup  frozen orange juice concentrate, undiluted

1 1/2  cups  sugar

1/4  teaspoon  ground cinnamon

Bake pecans in a shallow pan at 350°, stirring occasionally, 10 to 15 minutes or until toasted.

Bring juice concentrate, sugar, and cinnamon to a boil in a heavy saucepan; boil, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in toasted pecans.

Drop pecans 1/2 inch apart onto an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet. Let stand until firm.