What are you doing New Year's, New Year's Eve?

I don't think I ever really liked New Year's Eve. I'm not exactly sure why. I've tried to figure it out over the years but I've never been able to get to the bottom of it.
I sigh a sigh of relief when the day is over.
I don't like the countdown to midnight.
I don't like the hugging and kissing. Not that I don't like hugging and kissing at other appropriate times; I just don't like the way it is done before and after midnight on New Year's Eve. It's much too staged and not what I consider the normal or spontaneous expression of affection.
There are also way too many other expectations attached to New Year's Eve.
When you are a kid, you expect to stay awake until midnight, even if you are very tired and would rather go to sleep. You might be exhausted but you just stay awake anyway to prove that you can stick it out.
When you are an adolescent, you expect to be invited to a teenage party. If- God forbid- you haven't received the coveted invitation, you are mortified. And never in a million years would you let on that you were home all night with Mom & Dad.
When you reach "dating age", you expect to have a date for New Year's Eve. If it gets too close to New Year's Eve and you haven't yet been invited out for this very special date night, you begin to panic. Apparently, it is the disgrace of the century not to have a date for New Year's Eve. In fact not only are you expected to have one invitation but rather you are expected to have a "thousand invitations" :

"Maybe I'm crazy to suppose

I'd ever be the one you chose

Out of the thousand invitations you'd receive"

Even the song tells you what to expect for New Year's Eve. Could all these expectations be the reason that I don't like New Year's Eve? Or, is it something else altogether. Could it be that I have to say "good-bye" to the old year? Typically I hate to say, "Good Bye".
Or could it be fear of the unknown? Who knows what lies in the year ahead? "Only a fool would say".
Could it be the outrageous, over the top celebration and the confetti, balloons and noisemakers? Sometimes it seems incongruous to celebrate in such an extreme manner when life might be falling apart around us or the reality we currently face in our lives doesn't match this crazy carnival.
I think I could tell you what I was doing and who I was with every single New Year's Eve from the time I was an adolescent. And I wonder, what is it about New Year's Eve that warrant this type of memory?

Photo of Merrilee & my Dad was taken Dec. 31, 2009 at our home.
Mary Beth

Christmas Eve at Christ Our Light Church

Don't you just love to see the Nativity scene, regardless of how it all actually happened? There is something so moving, so special about it for me. I am transported back to my childhood and my youth and all the Christmases that have come before. I love it. What can I say? I hope you found the joy and peace and Spirit that is Christmas. And I hope that Love abides with you throughout the New Year.
Love, Mary Beth

The First Snowfall of the Winter

This is my nephew, Marty's, favorite little ditty about our dear hometown.
"I don't know
but I've been told
that Albany is mighty cold!"

He loves to tease me about the weather up here in the Capital District.
But I heard that this past Sunday into Monday, his hometown, i.e., Long Island, had blizzard conditions that dumped 20 inches of snow in the area. We, on the other hand, got a mere 6 and a half inches of the blustery white stuff. Now, I'll have to create a little ditty of my own to share with him about the "beautiful weather" on Long Island.

Interesting thing about snow. The older I get, the less I like it. Even so, it is still hard for me to resist the beauty and majesty of that first major snowfall of the season. For a short time the drab, leafless landscape gets magically covered by a sparkling, pristine white blanket. Traffic stops. Stillness and quiet take over. For an enchanting moment we are held in a mystical embrace of peace until the inevitable digging out must begin.
But when your 5 years old, this delightful day continues on perfectly as cherished memories are created.
Mary Beth
PS. I took the photo of Connor today while he played in the snow in our backyard.

Recipe for Rita O'Donnell Fries' Cream Puffs

The Puffs

1 cup water
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/8 tsp. salt
1 cup sifted all purpose flour
4 eggs

Combine water, margarine and salt; bring to boiling. Add flour all at once, stir rapidly over heat until mixture forms ball and follows spoon around pan. Cool slightly. Beat in eggs, one at a time; beat well until mixture is smooth and each egg is blended in. (Meanwhile pre-heat oven to 400 degrees). Spoon 8 even mounds about 3 " apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 45 to 50 minutes. Cool and slice in half (creating a top half and a bottom half).

The French Custard Filling

1/3 cup sugar
1 TBLS. flour
1 TBLS. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
1 and 1/2 cups milk (I used whole milk)
1 slightly beaten egg yolk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup whipping cream, whipped

In saucepan, combine sugar, flour, cornstarch and salt. Gradually stir in milk. Cook and stir until mixture thickens and boils; cook and stir 2 to 3 minutes longer. Stir a little hot mixture into the egg yolk and then return it to the hot mixture. Cook and stir till mixture just boils. Add vanilla; cool. Beat smooth; fold in the whipped cream. Put approximately equal amounts of the french custard into the bottom halves of each puff and then cover each puff with the top half of the puff. Lick the bowl!

The Chocolate Icing

1 ounce of unsweetened chocolate (or semi-sweet chocolate chips). I used the unsweetened squares.
1 tsp butter
1 cup confectioners' sugar and
about 2 TBLS hot water

Melt 1 ounce unsweetened chocolate square and 1 tsp butter over low heat. Remove from heat; stir in 1 cup confectioners' sugar and "about" 2 TBLS hot water. Beat until smooth. Put some of this delicious chocolate on top of each cream puff and refrigerate the puffs until serving time. Make only for special people whom you really, really love. Eat cream puffs with a big smile on your face and absolutely no guilt in your heart.
Mary Beth

Cream Puffs

I could be doing so many things today - the day before the day before Christmas- but instead I spend my day making Cream Puffs. I just had to do it. I was was driven, compelled. I can't explain why. Making cream puffs is very time consuming but the end result is to die for. My mother use to make Cream Puffs when Father Godfrey or some other very special guest was coming over for dinner. We, her family, were thrilled when we saw the Cream Puff mess all over the kitchen because we knew what was coming.
It is a three step process; first you make the pastry, then the delicious vanilla cream filling and then the decadent dark chocolate topping. It is all made from scratch and by the time you are finished there are pots, pans, bowls, sugar, mixers, spatulas,and chocolate all over the place. Chaos reigns but it really doesn't matter. Seeing the Cream Puffs sitting peacefully on the shelf in your refrigerator makes it all worthwhile.
Did you wonder who my very special guest is that rates these extraordinary Cream Puffs? I guess when it comes right down to it you could say that today I was making them especially for my own dear Mother.
Thanks Mom, You were right there in the kitchen with me today!
Love, Mary

Advent Thoughts

I was at Eucharistic Adoration last night and while I was there I was reading something by an author named Ron Rolheimer. I found his ideas concerning Advent so interesting and meaningful that I would like to share them with you.
".....in every cell of our bodies and in the very DNA of our souls we ache for someone or something that we have not yet known, ache in a way that leaves us dissatisfied and restless inside our own skins. Our lives always seem too small for us. Moreover - and this is the key - this is God's doing.
The fire inside us comes from the way God made us, namely to crave the infinite and to be dissatisfied with everything else until that love is consummated. Thus, the fire inside us will never be extinguished simply by attaining the right partner, the right job, the right set of friends, or the right recognition. We will always be on fire.
When St. Augustine says, "you have made us for yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you, " he is, of course, pointing out why God made us this way. It is a guarantee that we will never be satisfied with anything less than the infinite and the eternal".
Some interesting thoughts, don't you think?
Mary Beth

The Joy of Believing

Oh what joy there is in believing. The best thing about our trip on the Polar Express was watching our 5 year old grandson, Connor, interact with Santa. It was priceless and indescribable. As Santa walked down the aisle of the train, Connor caught his eye and without a word, spontaneously leaped from his seat and up into Santa's outstretched arms. Santa hugged him and Connor hugged him back. Before I knew it Connor was back in his seat and the moment was over. It happened too quickly to catch it with my camera but it is a memory emblazoned in my mind forever. God, it was marvelous!
Mema Mary

Hello Again

Well, I guess you thought I died. No, I did not die, rather I have been very busy living. On November 6th, my siblings and I hosted a big birthday celebration for my Dad. He turned 95 years old on November 2nd and we decided it was important to mark this momentous occasion in a special way. 125 people showed up to honor "the man, the myth and the legend". It was a wonderful weekend. Since many of the guests came from quite a distance, we secured a block of rooms at the Albany Airport Hampton Inn & Suites and the party went from Friday afternoon until Monday morning. The main event- cocktails and a sit-down dinner and a special presentation ("This is Your Life, Charles A. Fries, Sr.") prepared by grand-daughter, Diane Buchner, as well as a special visit from Marilyn Monroe - took place on Saturday afternoon at the Italian American Community Center. We had marvelous get-togethers the entire weekend but it also took a lot of planning and work. I expended so much energy in this area, that I didn't have an ounce of energy left to devote to writing.
But since something is missing in my life when I am not writing I have returned to my Blog to get me going once again.
Mary Beth