Friday Five: 3 Days, 15 hours and 34 minutes

RevHRod writes:
I have debated with myself for weeks about today's Friday Five.

* Self 1: It should be deep and theological.
* Self 2: But it's almost Christmas, it should be fun and warm and sweet.
* Self 1: But your last Friday Five was sort of silly. You should show your more serious side.
* Self 2: You worry WAY too much!

So after consulting with my fourteen year old daughter, we're going playful, pals o' mine! I love stories, so I hope you'll tell some about your favorite Christmas memories.

1. What was one of your favorite childhood gifts that you gave?

An electric coffee pot for my mom. I must have been 8 or 9 and saved an entire year for the purchase. I think it cost $ 9.99 (you can buy them cheaper now). It was an avocado Regal Poly Perk 8 cup percolator with a flower design on the side. It was quite "modern" looking compared to the stainless or aluminum ones of the time. I loved seeing that pot steaming (with hot water only as we mostly used instant coffee or teabags) in our kitchen every morning for several years...until planned obsolescence arrived.

You can still buy these on eBay, but I only saw beige and gold, no avocado green.

I had to laugh when I remembered that coffee pot. You see, I have a drip coffee maker in my kitchen...with steaming water only. Since hubby gave up coffee a full pot is too much for just me, so it's back to instant and tea bags most mornings.

2. What is one of your favorite Christmas recipes? Bonus points if you share the recipe with us.

I don't think I have a special recipe...we keep experimenting each year with vegetarian/vegan and raw dishes. This year's menu has not been finalized so I'll be spending lots of time on one of my favorite recipe sites VegWeb and searching through my raw food cookbooks.

3. What is a tradition that your family can't do without? (And by family, I mean family of origin, family of adulthood, or that bunch of cool people that just feel like family.)

There is a tradition I wish we could still do. As a child it was a Christmas morning visit from "Grum" (my maternal grandmother) to see what Santa brought. Her 5 children convinced her it was easier to move 1 grandmother to 5 houses for a few minutes each than move the ever growing number of grandchildren to 1 house. Still we usually all gathered at her house or one of my aunt's for Christmas dinner. I wish my Little Sprout could experience the extended family traditions at Christmas time.

Now we've adopted my husband's childhood tradition of attending church on Christmas Eve and opening one present when we return home.

4. Pastors and other church folk often have very strange traditions dictated by the "work" of the holidays. What happens at your place?

Pass...ask me again in about 10 years.

5. If you could just ditch all the traditions and do something unexpected... what would it be?

Maybe a Christmas vacation in Puerto Rico or the Bahamas. Not gonna happen since I don't like airports or waiting on runways, especially during heavy travel times.

Art for Advent: Just a Little Ruff

Christine at Abbey of the Arts has committed to Art for Advent. I've linked to one of her most recent creations, but be sure to go back through her blog to enjoy some earlier works.

She is using prints of some older family photos as the centerpiece for many of her works. I thought I'd do something similar. Reconnect with family roots, move beyond boundaries in the creative process, grow spiritually during this season. I envisioned photos and canvas, maybe some paint. Real Art.

Ahhh, yeah. That was the plan.

During photo sorting with Little Sprout, the project veered off in a new direction when we found my stash of fabrics. It's still about family, exploring new creative outlets, and growing spiritually. But it's just a little rough around the edges...or I should say Ruff!

We had lots of laughs creating this little guy in a somewhat folk art style and the only rule was that we would only use supplies we already had.

I'm not sure what's next for Art for Advent...there's still that box of photos.