Christmas Divinity

Christmas always reminds me of little children; Santa; fruit cakes; Christmas trees; bubble lights; carols; Jesus’ birth; Mary; Joseph; donkeys and lambs; shepherds; church programs; gifts and divinity candy. Divinity Candy reminds me of the best divinity maker in this world…Aunt Othel! Years past I couldn’t wait to see the car that delivered my Aunt Othel and Uncle Bill to 1405 Lee Street, McKinney, TX. Out of the car they came, carrying gifts of the best candy anyone has ever put in their mouth. Aunt Othel could sell that candy and make loads of money, but here she was giving it away. You could never eat just one piece. It was a little bit of Divine sweets that you now have to pay $29.00 for a small fraction of the generous amounts she gave us. I can almost taste it now. I open my mouth and take a bite. One bite, and I’m gone. I want the whole batch. Let’s go back in time!

When my daughter’s were young and we lived on Westmoreland Street, I called aunt Othel and asked for the recipe. I wanted to make enough to gain 20 pounds at one setting. Kathy and I together made it. It started to thicken and suddenly we were tossing in the pecans before it turned firm in the pan; Kathy was buttering waxed paper like crazy and had it laid out on the table; the chairs and then on the bed. We made plenty and it turned out perfect. We ate to our hearts content (enough to last until next Christmas). We shared some tidbits of it during Christmas Eve with our friends and mom and dad. Then it was gone! Oh well, there was next Christmas when we would make it all over again.

Christmas came again and we got the recipe out feeling very smug that we did it so right the year before. We cooked and cooked the clear liquid and waited until we had boiled it FOREVER, it seemed, then it would not make a hard ball when dropped into the cold water. We boiled and boiled the liquid until it began to turn slightly yellow (as in burned) and alas, it made a ball, not hard, but perhaps hard enough. We threw the rest of the ingredients in and beat and beat and BEAT SOME MORE! It would not harden. “Kathy, did we pour it up before it hardened last Christmas?” I asked. Ummmm, she wasn’t sure what we did last year. Okay, we’re pouring it up. We dropped large spoons of it on wax paper. It fizzled, ran down and made some type of weird design. Well, we gave up and put spoons in a pan and this year we had divinity pudding.

The next Christmas comes and I call Aunt Othel for advice. She will know what we did wrong. “Did you boil the sugar mixture to a hard boil?” she asked. I said, “Yes, I think so”, then did you beat it long enough? “How long is long enough?” I asked. She said, “Until it starts to harden in the pan”. “I think so Aunt Othel, not sure though, perhaps it was raining outside, can’t remember” Well, okay we’ll try it again this year - - boil until it gets to a hard boil. Double, double, toil and trouble, make this divinity heavenly like Aunt Othel always makes. I’m on one leg and then the other stirring. How many hours does it take to make a good batch of divinity? Kathy stirs awhile wiping down the sides of the pan as it hardens on the sides. This time it’s bound to work. Our mouths are watering. We think we’ve got it to hard boil this time, so now the rest of the ingredients go in and we beat, and we beat and we beat some more. “Sandy, get the wax paper ready”, says Kathy. I get it ready and we start ladling it out on the paper. It looks too glossy. Ummmm, this time it’s turning into jaw breakers or taffy. What happened? We’ll have to settle for getting Aunt Othel’s divinity - - hope she brings some.

For many Christmases after that we didn’t allow ourselves to make any flops. We just didn’t make divinity at all. Aunt Othel was consulted again and she couldn’t figure out what we were doing wrong. Finally, one Christmas I go for broke. I buy a candy thermometer, and guess what, it did the trick. I boiled it to the temperature I needed to, then dumped the rest of the ingredients in and began to beat it with my electric beater until it got too thick, then I took a wooden spoon and dropped my dollops of candy on waxed paper - - perfection! Aunt Othel, you have gone on to your heavenly reward where there is no sorrow; no sickness; age and time does not exist, but you do. You have left us so many wonderful memories of you and your love for us. I will never, forget you and your talents - - the best divinity this side of heaven was one of them. May the Angels enjoy your candy making as much as we have.

I'm Busy, I'm soooooo Busy!

How many times have we heard that phrase? And, what really does it mean. It means, “Don’t ask me to do one more thing”. The other term I hear is “I don’t have time”. What does that mean? Does that mean we all should be in awe because YOU DON’T HAVE TIME! We all have time. We use it improperly, I know, for instance: I was up by 6:30 this morning. It is now 8:22 a.m. and I’m sitting here reading email, been leisurely drinking coffee, dust swirls around me and I look out the window for the 20th time today and each one looks like I have frosted them they are so dirty.

So what am I busy doing? I don’t watch television, can’t sit still long enough, but if someone asks me to do something I think I can’t I’m too busy. Busy doing what? I used to work full time; care for my home; raise grandchildren; handle all the business of our house, and now I sleep late; have a part time job, but I still feel busy! It is a mental state of our minds running forward for days thinking of what we need to achieve when sometimes the only thing we need to do is break the time down, allowing time for being STILL!

Being still means no mental activity for an hour a day--just pondering. What a mentally healthy thing to do! Ponder about the good times; ponder and fantasize about riding a bicycle or go ride one and let the wind blow through your hair; do something stress-less. Sit and meditate for the time you have or lie in the bubble bath with Michael Buble singing in the background of your restful world. But you say, “The stock market is falling; the economy is failing; our finances are in the hole; we are at war; for heaven’s sake, can’t you see that the sky is falling”? Okay Chicken Little, all that is truly occurring - - relax, if the sky falls you can’t hold it up! The Chicken Little book is such a great little book. It was one of my first reader’s along with Dick and Jane. Chicken Little couldn’t relax for he knew the sky was falling. Well, just like in the book, the sky was not falling so settle down - - relax! We woke up this morning, God is still in His Heaven and all is under control! I feel better already as I look at the beautiful morning through the frosted glass. What was that I just saw pass by - - a toolbox from heaven and we thought it was the sky falling…