GardenWanders, Etc.

Christmas Pies (by DH *D*)

There was always plenty of food to eat at our house. My folks survived the Great Depression of the 20’s and knew how to make do and to conserve. My Dad worked five and a half days a week in the oil fields in Union County, AR. Somehow he still found time to raise a huge vegetable garden, milk twice a day, tend to about twenty more head of cattle, raise an occasional hog and from time to time a yard full of pullets.

Mom prepared all of our meals from the garden and from the place. There was no such thing as one of us kids saying, “I don’t like that,” or “It doesn’t look good.” We learned to eat what was set before us (we ate very well). The menu of turnip greens, boiled okra and cabbage would not go far with the youth of today. Dried beans and boiled squash are not even close to a Big Mac and fries.

There was an exception to our normal meal preparation. The week of Christmas my Mother would spend baking sweets. Of course, every pie or cake was prepared from “SCRATCH”. That is, the ingredients did not contain any mixes or pre-prepared ingredients; they were made from “SCRATCH”. She would bake Pecan Pies, Dried Apple Pies, Raisin Pies, Mincemeat Pies, Coconut Cake, “Secret Recipe” Fruit Cake, Egg Custer Pies, Cherry Pies, and her tasty Christmas Cake. Sounds like a lot doesn’t it? You are right. Sooooo the rule was, the week of Christmas, you could eat all the desert you wanted at any time you wanted, in place of any meal you wanted. YUMMM, YUMEE!! I always had desert for breakfast, desert for lunch and recall an occasional trip through the kitchen in the afternoon to snag a slab of pie to hold me over till suppertime. For a child that grew up on dried beans and corn bread that was quite a week.

Bless Your Heart. The Bible tells us that one of the first things we will participate in, as the Family of God; in heaven will be the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. A Royal Banquet to celebrate the salvation that comes only from our wonderful savior Jesus and to celebrate our relationship to and with Him. One can only imagine what the menu will be like. I must admit I have wondered how those who profess Jesus as savior but at the same time have no appetite for spiritual things, will make it on a heavenly diet. Makes you wonder if perhaps they will be taking their meals some place else. If one does not have a taste for spiritual things now, they will probably not be able to develop one then. Revelation 19:7-10 (copyright)