Home for the Holidays with Author Gail Kittleson

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Catherine Castle’s Holiday blog, Christmas Past and Present, Holiday Tradition, Home for the Holidays with Author Gail Kittleson

 

Christmas Past and Present

 

More than thirty years ago, my husband and I spent Christmas alone in a distant land—Senegal, West Africa. Knowing what our two-year-old daughter and one-year old were missing around their Grandmas’ Christmas trees, with cousins and packages galore, we were sort of bummed. But opening the packages we’d packed in a barrel six months earlier helped, and instituted a new holiday tradition.

It was only a cheap metal contraption, but when we put it together and lit the candles, the hot air caused movement and a chiming sound the children loved. So after we returned to the States, we kept unpacking the treasure every year so it could dance in the middle of our table.

At some point, Grandma gifted us with a wooden version—the real thing, straight from Germany, and our grandchildren enjoy it as much as their mom did. Interesting that such a small addition to our decorations has made such a big difference in the eyes of the little ones.

Kind of like the small things in the Nativity story—a stable, no room in the inn, shepherds posted nearby. Those shepherds became real for me in Senegal, where we worked with Pulaar herdsmen, and I wrote an essay about one of them when he visited our courtyard one day. This real shepherd, smelly and germy and culturally worlds apart from us, changed my view of the stable scene.

If you’d like to read more about him, you’ll find the story in a fresh anthology published by Little Cab Press.

 

About the Author

Gail loves Christmas because it’s all about people. From the manger scene in Bethlehem to the modern-day celebrations, people are front and center during this season. And that means STORY is bursting out all over. Gail writes women’s historical fiction, and her debut novel, IN THIS TOGETHER, released in November. Dottie Kyle, the heroine, experiences Christmas 1946, with people challenges galore. And Gail’s finding that even after publication, it’s still all about people.

 

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Home for the Holidays with Author Mary Ellis

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Breakfast casserole, Catherine Castle’s Holiday blog, Home for the Holidays, make-ahead-breakfast, Mary Ellis

Award-winning author Mary Ellis is with us today sharing her favorite Christmas Morning Breakfast Casserole. This sounds so yummy!  I’m doing a Christmas brunch this year, and I’m searching for easy brunch recipes. I love the make-ahead aspect of this recipe.

Christmas Morning Breakfast Casserole

by Mary Ellis

 

Melt 2 Tbls butter in a skillet and add 4 cups of hash brown potatoes. Season to taste.

Scramble about 18 eggs (add a small amount of milk and salt before cooking)

2 lbs bulk sausage – sauté until brown and crumbly. I add a small amount of Lawry’s seasoning salt while sautéing.

Add 1 can of cream of mushroom soup and 1 can of milk to ½ the cooked sausage. Mix well and heat thoroughly.

Layer in the bottom of a 9 x 9 x 3 inch pan the hash browns, followed by the scrambled eggs, the sausage, and finally the sausage/soup mixture. Bake at 350 degrees approximately 15 minutes or until bubbly. Then add 2 cups of a finely shredded cheese of your choice (mild or sharp cheddar works well) and continue to bake until cheese melts.

This recipe can be prepared the day before, refrigerated overnight, and then baked. You might need to add a little extra baking time.

About the Author:

Mary Ellis loves dinner with her numerous cousins on Christmas Eve, followed by candlelight service in the hosting family’s church. Then she sleeps dreaming of sugar cookies, roast turkey and brightly wrapped presents under the tree. She lives in Ohio with her husband, dog and cat, and writes Amish fiction and romantic suspense for Harvest House Publishers.  Mary can be found on the web at: www.maryellis.net

Check out Mary Ellis’ other posts on this blog by searching for Mary Ellis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home for the Holidays with Author Catherine Castle

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Catherine Castle’s Holiday blog, Christmas poems, Ghazel poetry form, Home for the Holidays with author Catherine Castle, White Christmas poem

A Christmas Ghazel

by Catherine Castle

 

I love Christmas music. When radio stations begin playing Christmas music the day after Thanksgiving I turn on the radio and listen to the songs. The music is great, but as a poet at heart, I love the lyrics best.

Around Thanksgiving, I also start thinking about my own Christmas lyrics, aka poems, a few which have been set to music (which only I can play, because I write and sing better than I compose). Almost every year I write a new Christmas poem. I’ve been too busy to write one this year, so I’ll share an oldie I wrote with my daughter in mind.

White Christmas Ghazel echoes another tradition my daughter and I have. We make Sugar Christmas cookies from Great-Grandma’s recipe and watch the movie “White Christmas” starring Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney. Our favorite song, which we always sing together, is “Sisters”.

The poem, which is part of my poetry chapbook Christmas Cacophony © 2011, is written in the Ghazel form. A ghazel is poem consisting of 5-12 rhymed couplets with the same rhyme and pattern and includes the poet’s name in the last line.

 

White Christmas Ghazel

By Catherine Castle

from the chapbook

Christmas Cacophony

© 2011

 

A white Christmas means there is snow.

White Christmas is also a musical show.

Watching the musical, they drink cocoa,

And they roll out Christmas cookie dough.

With flour-crusted hands, they doe-see-doe.

They sing “Sisters” as Bing croons in falsetto.

Their duet isn’t very pianissimo.

Catherine and her daughter sing with braggadocio.

 

Have you ever tried your hand at a Christmas poem?

 

ABout the Author:

Catherine Castle loves every part of the holiday season. She loves the hustle and bustle of decorating, shopping, baking Christmas cookies with her daughter while they sing Bing Crosby, and the family gatherings. She especially loves the quiet, still moments on Christmas Eve when they light the candles at the Christmas Eve service and remember the reason for the season.  You can learn more about Catherine on this blog or at her Amazon