A Thanksgiving Walk

"'Ah! So nice to see you again! It's me this time, Aaron Rochester.
Let me invite you to read the second and final part of my family's Thanksgiving story.
Now close your eyes...

Ivy clears her throat from behind me and peeks around. "Aaron, how can they read with their eyes closed?"
I rub my chin thoughtfully. "I was going to describe what our Thanksgiving hike looked like. It's easier to get a mental picture when your eyes are closed. You've told me that yourself countless times."
Ivy pooches out her lips, and shrugs. "Oh yeah. Well...carry on."
"Alright," I begin, turning back to you; my lovely audience. "As I was saying...

A Winter Wren chirps gaily from overhead as you find yourself on a forest pathway covered in vibrant yellow, red, and orange leaves.
The sound of laughter and chatter falls on your ear as you spot the figures of a group of people coming your direction.

"Ivy, if you take a picture of every single pretty leaf, your camera is going to implode."
Ivy looked over at Caleb with a crinkled nose. ''If it does, I can always have Aaron fix it."
I pulled my scarf closer around my neck, and raised my eyebrows at my twin. "One of these days I'm not going to be able to figure out one of your electronics. What then?"
She snapped a picture of me, and grinned; a dimple creasing her right cheek. "Nah, that'll never happen."
Caleb grimaced, and glanced at Dad; who was batting at a cobweb that had attacked his face."Well, don't you start hollering too loud when that camera finally biffs it."
After our Thanksgiving feast, which we have around three or four in the afternoon, it is our family tradition to take a hike in the nearby forest before returning home to settle down and watch the Canadian Football game on our DVR.
As is the normal protocol, Dad took the lead. Though this particular Thanksgiving, he collected a lot more spiderwebs on his face than usual. Sputtering once again, he rubbed his hands over his face and turned to us.
"Alright, new rule; Aaron, you take the lead."
I shuddered at the thought of running into my least favorite creature, and attempted to do the opposite of pulling rank. "You'd send your youngest child out in front to battle the elements? Alone?"
Mom bit back a smile as Dad narrowed his eyes to ponder the question.
Caleb raised his hands up in the air when he noted Dad's eyes flicking towards him.
"Hey, I'm the oldest. I have obviously been through far more than my baby brother. The Bible says that Tribulation worketh Patience; and Patience, Experience. Me thinks my young brother should be given the chance to learn some great lessons."
Dad nodded slowly. "Hmm, excellent."
I cringed, not being able to argue, now that the Bible had been brought into it.
Ivy grinned, and held out a stick in my direction. "Here, a cobweb wand."
I sighed, and took the stick. But as I stepped ahead to lead my pack, I remembered the last part of the verse Caleb had quoted.
Spinning around, and held up a gloved index finger.
"Oh, one more thing--Your quote also mentions that this Experience I am gaining produces Hope. So in the trying, patience, and experience I'm going through, I'm going to hope that in all of this, my brother will kindly take the lead, and battle the raging autumn spiders."
Ivy lowered her camera from a bright leaf, and squinted at me.
"Oh for goodness sake."
She brushed past me, and yanked the stick from my hands.
"I'll lead. Ya sissy."
Dad put his arm around Mom's shoulder, and laughed. "There now, Ivy saw a need, and took the initiative."
Ivy flashed a smile at me, and began marching ahead.
"Follow me! I'm not afraid of spiders."
As I fell in behind our parents, Caleb clumped his hand on my shoulder and grinned. "Teamwork."
I pushed my beanie back, and shoved my hands into my coat pockets.
"Why lead the way and get covered in webs, when we both know Ivy's going to end up doing the hard work for us?"

Well...Perhaps that statement would have been better off unstated--
Upon realizing that Caleb's and my plan had been to get Ivy to take the webs in the first place, Dad promptly ruled that the both of us were to take the lead...
Without sticks as our defense from the spider webs.

~ Fin.

Alright, so I hope you guys enjoyed reading my short story!

~ When walking in Autumn, do you often run into spiderwebs? ~
~ What are your after Thanksgiving traditions? ~

Alright!
I have been kindly tagged for a NaNoWriMo tag, so I will be returning soon with that!
Until then,

God bless!

Megan

Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving!

*A cold breeze blows, a leaf swirls past*
*Two shadowy figures come walking through the early morning fogginess*
*They stop, and start waving. A light clicks on, and they are recognized as the Rochester twins.*
"Hi! Ivy here. Since Megan has apparently gone poof, my brother and I have stepped in to write up a blog post."
*I frown and cross my arms in front of my chest.*
*ahem* Guys, I'm right here. I've just been busy! I haven't had time to-
*Aaron's eyes widen* "Ivy, listen! Sometimes I can still hear her voice, off somewhere in the distance."
Okaaay, I'll just leave you two to your craziness. But if you get into any shenanigans...remember who writes your stories, eh?
Ivy; "Hmm, she has a point. Come on, bro. Let's get to the reason for our hijacking this laptop."
*The light clicks off, and you are transported to a kitchen where the savory smells of roasting turkey, pumpkin pie, and other culinary delights greet your nose*

Ivy looks up from her position in front of the oven. "Hey mom, could you toss me that hot pad? I think my sweet potatoes are finished."
The Rochester family was hard at work preparing their yearly Thanksgiving supper.
Mr. Rochester was bent over the turkey, carefully basting the bird; as was his assigned kitchen duty.
The task of overseeing, and perfecting the pumpkin pies was Mrs. Rochester's job, which she took very seriously.
The twins' brother Caleb, who was four years their elder, always took it upon himself to make sure every dish and utensil was spotless, and the kitchen as free from clutter as he could keep it.
Utilizing the hot pad her mother had chucked to her, Ivy pulled out her dish of piping hot sweet potatoes, and set them on the stove top.
"Dad, is the turkey ready yet?"
Mr. Rochester replaced the lid on the turkey roaster and wiped his hands on his borrowed apron.
"Nearly. I'd give it ten minutes."
The backdoor swung open at that moment, and in came Aaron; a steaming pot in his hands.
"Make way, hot potatoes coming through!"
He shuffled to the sink, and there he placed the steaming metal pot.
Caleb backed away, and frowned at his younger brother.
"Aaron, that pot is covered in soot and charcoal, what did you do to it?"
Aaron chewed his lip, and tilted his head to better look at the blackened bottom of the pot.
"Hmm, I guess I turned the flames up too high on the burner..."
Caleb removed his glasses indignantly; rubbing the fog that had condensed on the glass.
"Burner is a good word for it. My spotless sink is ruined."
Mrs. Rochester tisked from where she stood at the kitchen island, pressing the pumpkin pie crust.
"Oh Caleb, it's nothing a little scrubbing won't fix."
Caleb grunted in response as he replaced his glasses.
Ivy slid a bowl over to her twin, and grinned. "Here, mash the potatoes in this." She shifted her look to Caleb. "Would you like me to scrub the sink for you, Caye?"
He shook his head, and rolled up his already bunched sleeves. "I'll do it."
Aaron dumped the potatoes into the offered bowl, and returned the burnt pot to the sink.
"Sorry it's so messy."
Caleb raised an eyebrow. "Don't worry about it. If the mashed potatoes weren't my favorite part of the meal, I might complain a bit more." A grin cracked through his frown, and he winked good-naturedly.
Aaron grinned as he pulled out the potato masher. "Saved by the love of food. I love Thanksgiving."

(to be continued)

Thanks for reading, we'll be back soon to share part 2. :)
Hope you enjoyed, and happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian readers!

God bless!

Megan Ivy

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Beannachtaí!
Greetings, dear reader.
A very happy St. Patrick's day to you!
This is one of my favorite Holidays.

How familiar are you with the story of St. Patrick?
I'll start off with some fun facts!

1. St. Patrick wasn't Irish; he was born in either Scotland, or Wales.
2. His real name was Maewyn Succat, changed to Patrick after becoming a priest.
3. St. Patrick didn't even wear green, but wore "Saint Patrick's blue"!

Check this out to learn about this saint and the holiday that celebrates him:

https://drivethruhistoryadventures.com/st-patrick/?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=The+History+of+St++Patrick+s+Day+-+Free+DTHA+Video%21&utm_campaign=Saint+Patricks+Day+Side+Road 

Traditions
They say, "Everybody is Irish on St. Patrick's day".
Now, having Irish heritage in my blood, I do love to celebrate this holiday by wearing a bit o' Irish green, and this year, I shall add a bit of St. Patrick Blue too!

Music:
I like to listen to as much Irish music as I can, since it's not only one of my favorite genres of music, but it adds to the feel of Irish on the holiday!
Some of my favorite groups are: Celtic Thunder, Celtic Woman, and High Kings.
And my favorite Irish tenor: Emmet Cahill.
He not only sings the lovely Irish classics like Danny Boy, or When Irish Eyes are Smiling, he also sings beautiful renditions of hymns like; Be Thou My Vision and How Great Thou Art.

Foods:
Have you tried Irish Soda bread? It's super simple to make, and delicious too! Of course, I like mine with raisins, (which aren't used traditionally), but this is a tasty recipe I like to use:

content://com.sec.android.app.sbrowser/readinglist/0302220025.mhtml

Some delicious Irish foods include Shepherd's Pie, (fun fact: it's only considered "Shepherd's" if it contains sheep meat. Otherwise, it is called "Cottage Pie"!), Corned Beef, and of course, a hearty Irish Stew!

I think that's it for this post!
So what are some things you enjoy doing (or eating!) for St. Patrick's Day?

Thanks for reading!
I shall leave off with a lovely, (and my personal favourite) Irish Blessing:

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Until next time,

God bless!

 Megan

On the 6th Day of Christmas...

Hi, I’m Bridget! I’m from the same story as Colm O’Reilly.
I am here to share a more New Years-y themed post!
Now, in Scotland, (Where I’m from. A Scottish Lass is what I am!) Christmas isn’t actually an official holiday. It’s currently the mid 1950’s.
It was actually banned in the 1600’s. It’s been 300 years since yule celebrations were made illegal.
But now that I’m living in Ireland, we are free to have all the Christmas we want!

Enough about that now, I’m here to talk about Hogmanay. (Or, New Years Eve.)
We have delicious traditions to celebrate.
One of my favorite traditions, besides the annual steak-pie dinner, is the tradition of First Footing!

Tradition goes that after the stroke of midnight, friends, family, and neighbors go around visiting each other bearing gifts! (Usually of the food and drink variety.)
The first person to cross the threshold of a friend or neighbor’s house is considered to bring good luck to that house.
But, there is a catch. It is preferred that the first-footer is a tall, dark haired fellow.
It is a jolly tradition that goes into the wee hours of the New Year.
Sometimes even longer! First Footing has been known to last for days!

But probably my favorite thing is when we sing “Auld Lang Syne”.
Now, amongst many things, I love poetry; and Robert Burns has always been a favorite poet of mine. It is one of his most poplar works.
It’s a beautiful poem, set to an equally beautiful tune.
It is commonly sung on New Years Eve to usher in the New Year.
Which we do every year!
And now, I would like to share the whole poem with you.

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

And surely you'll buy your pint cup!
and surely I'll buy mine!
And we'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

We two have run about the slopes,
and picked the daisies fine;
But we've wandered many a weary foot,
since auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

We two have paddled in the stream,
from morning sun till dine;
But seas between us broad have roared,
since auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

And there's a hand my trusty friend!
And give me a hand o' thine!
And we'll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne!

A few of the words were changed for ease of reading, but there you have it!
I hope you all have a wonderful New Years Eve! I’m off to celebrate with my family now.
Bye!

Thanks Bridget!
I hope all you readers had a great 2018. May your 2019 be filled with God’s blessings, and may His joy fill your hearts and homes this coming year!
Until tomorrow,

God bless!

Megan

poem written by Robert Burns, courtesy of Wikipedia.

On the 5th Day of Christmas...

Hello there, Aaron Rochester here.
Seems it's my turn to do a post, so here's what I've come up with. Hope you enjoy!

I looked at my twin, and grinned. “Ready?”
She nodded, and cracked her knuckles. “Oh yes.”
We both took a deep breath and started singing. Ivy took the melody, I chimed in with the harmony.
“We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!”
A blond head poked out the previously closed door. “What the heck are you two doing?”
We stopped singing as soon as the door opened.
I shrugged. “Why, caroling of course!”
He pushed his glasses up his nose, and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Since when do carolers go around inside their own house?”
Ivy clasped her hands behind her back innocently. “Since now. Come on, Caleb. Join us?”
Our twenty-three year old brother shook his head. “I’m busy.”
I crossed my arms. “Sorry, can’t back out. We’re all going caroling in town.”
Caleb narrowed his eyes at us. “Why wasn’t I informed of this trip?”
I grinned at my sister. “We just decided a few minutes ago. Mom and Dad agreed that it would be fun. You wanna come?”
Our tall brother sighed. “Ah, why not...”
He straightened. “Are we supposed to dress up?”
Ivy nodded the same time I shook my head. When she saw my answer, she nodded again. “Of course! Get a vest and coat, and your nicest hat too. It’s common knowledge that all carolers have to look like they’re from the 1800’s!”
Right then, Dad walked up behind us. “What’s this? Who’s from the 1800’s?”
Ivy looked at him and grinned. “We are! Don’t you agree that we should dress up to go caroling?”
He feigned shock at the idea of not dressing up for the occasion. “Why, of course!” Caleb groaned. “Not only are you making me sing, now I have to dress up too?”
I scoffed. “Ha! You’re the one in the house who always dresses up the most when going places, and don’t deny it, brother.”
Caleb shrugged; a grin spreading across his face. “Ah, tis true, little brother. Unlike someone—” he poked my chest. “—I care about what I look like in public.”

An hour and a half later found us in the middle of the old section of our little town, wandering through the town square singing Christmas carols and hymns that pertained to our Savior’s birth.
Dad played his squeezebox in accompaniment while we all sang.
“God rest ye merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay...”
I normally didn’t care to sing in front of people, but if I had someone to sing with, it certainly made it easier. And my family was the best group to sing with, in my opinion.
Once we had our fill of singing in the cold snowy weather, we all shuffled into the local coffee shop and jumped into line to order something to warm up our frozen insides.
We decided to go easy on the baristas, and all ordered hot chocolates.
Dad took a sip of his beverage once we gathered around a circular table.
“Ow!”
We all chuckled and giggled at the expression on his face.
“Daaad,” Ivy giggled, cradling her paper cup. “It’s hot!”
He puckered his lips and stuck his burnt tongue out. “Ya could have warned me.” Caleb smirked. “The name wasn’t a dead giveaway?”
Mom carefully sipped her own. “It’s hot cocoa for a reason, dear.”
Dad grinned and took another sip. “I knew that. I was only joking.”
I reached for the basket on the table that held complimentary candy canes, and stuck one in my mouth. After a couple minutes, I pulled the cane from my mouth; revealing a sharp pointed end.
“My favorite Christmas treat is the peppermint candy sword.”
Ivy rolled her eyes. “They’re called candy canes, not—”
I waved it around in front of me. “Now once you’ve sucked on it a while!”
Dad laughed. “Who knew such a delicious treat could be so lethal...”
Caleb set his cup down, and drummed his fingers on the tabletop. “Certainly wouldn’t be a choice weapon. The strength of the peppermint would be easily detected.”
I scowled. “Brilliant deduction, Caleb. Way to ruin a good plan.”
My big brother flashed a grin. “Just keeping you from being dragged off to jail, dear brother.”
I popped the top off my beverage, and stuck my peppermint stick in.
“Well, I don’t plan on bumping anyone off right now anyhow. But thanks for the warning. I’m much obliged.”
After we had fallen silent for a couple minutes, Dad lifted his cup.
“I’d like to propose a toast.”
We all turned our attention to him, and raised our own drinks.
He cleared his throat. “To Christmas, family, and hot cocoa. God bless us!”
We all echoed his toast, and took a drink.
I grinned, and raised the cup to my lips again.
“God bless us, everyone!”

Thanks for the snippet, Aaron!
Have a lovely Sunday, everyone. I'm off to prepare for church!

God bless!

Megan

On the 4th Day of Christmas...

Greetings! Tis I, Joshua Peterson.
Merry (four days after) Christmas, everyone!
Well, I was going to write about my latest Christmas, but...Amy kind of beat me to that...so...
How about I just share my favorite Christmas drinks and foods with you?
Since my dream is to own my own pizza joint when I finish culinary collage, I have a handful of great recipies to share!
(Don't worry. They're not pizzas. Though...A turkey sandwich pizza sounds really cool right now...)

Drinks
A very important part of any day is drinks, am I right?
So two of my favorite things are Hot Cocoa, and Eggnog.

Hot Cocoa:
2 Tablespoons Cocoa powder
2 Tablespoons Sugar
And enough Milk to fill your favorite mug. (as long as it's not one of those ginormous cups...Then you'll have to add more cocoa and sugar...)
A half teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Mix those, and heat them up on the stove. Once it's hot, but not boiling, pour it back into your mug and add two big Marshmallows, and a Candy Cane.
Viola! Vuwalla!...V....phooey.
And there you have it! A delicious Hot Chocolate!

Eggnog:
6 Eggs
A Half Gallon of Milk
3/4 to 1 cup Sugar (depends on how sweet you like it. I suggest starting with 3/4 and working your way up.)
A teaspoon Nutmeg
And a half teaspoon Vanilla
Blend the eggs and sugar in a blender until totally mixed together, then add flavors, mix until completely blended, then add milk. Blend again. You can't overdo it. Always overblend than underblend your eggnog. Trust me on this one...
Once done, pour into a tall glass and add a tiny sprinkle of Nutmeg on top for decoration.
Enjoy!

Not Drinks:
Very important, this.
And by not drinks, I mean food.
Now these aren't my very own recipies, but I recommend them:

Peppermint Cookies:
https://preppykitchen.com/white-chocolate-peppermint-cookies/#

Chocolate Fudge:
https://foodieandwine.com/3-ingredient-easy-fudge-recipe/

You may not have known, but my father's side all comes from the Scandinavian countries, so we have quite a bit of Scandinavian influences on our Christmas meals!
The above recipies aren't Scandinavian...That I know of...
But here are a couple delicious things we enjoy during the Christmas season:

Spiced Cake:
https://www.redonline.co.uk/food/recipes/a501507/spiced-christmas-cake/

A Yummy Roast:
https://www.finecooking.com/recipe/roast-pork-with-crisp-crackling-red-currant-gravy

Mom isn't too into fish, so we don't have many of the fishy things that Scandinavians usually eat during most of their meals.

There! Now that I'm totally hungry from talking about all this food...
I think I'll go grab myself some fudge I think is still leftover in the fridge.
Hasta la Pasta!

Great recipies Josh, thanks for sharing.
Hope you enjoyed this post, and maybe will try out some of these tasty recipies!
(I highly recommend the fudge!)

Until tomorrow,

God bless!

Megan

On the 3rd Day of Christmas...

Hello there, my name is Colm O'Reilly. (pronounced; Call-um).
You haven't met me yet, but my story is still a work in process. It's quite long.
Megan has been working on it for a couple years, but not a lot, so it's coming along slowly.

Anyhow, I hope you all had a very lovely Christmas!
I decided to see what sort of post Miss Hyde wrote yesterday, (I found it enjoyable, I hope you did as well!) and I decided that I am going to share a different sort of post.
I thought I would share some of my Irish Christmas traditions.

Nollaig Shona Duit!

This is the Gaelic greeting for this festive time of the year. Though I normally speak English myself, I do like to use my native tongue on occasion!
Nollaig Shona Duit is, as you have probably already guessed, means Merry Christmas.
You pronounce it: "Null-ig hun-a dit."

Decorations

Since my family isn't much for expensive decorations or extravagance, most of our decorations are handmade.
Ever since I was a wee lad, I liked to make the annual Holly Wreath.
It is still my job to build the wreath every year, but I always let my ten year old sister, Sarah, help me gather the prickly greenery.
Holly Wreaths are a very common sight here in Ireland. Since holly grows wild, the richest even to the poorest of us can make a lovely bit of decoration for our front doors.

Besides our annual holly, we always have a large pillar candle in our front window that we keep lit from Cristmas Eve, all the way to what we like to call "Little Christmas", or, Epiphany. (January 6th).

A frosty holly wreath

Celebrations

We have a small family celebration on Christmas day, a lovely meal with a nicely roast goose, potatoes, a Christmas pudding, and sometimes a few delicious rolls.
I dearly love Christmas celebrations, rejoicing for the birth of our Savior and King!
My family and I, which consists of my father, mother, younger brother Jack, and little sister Sarah; gather in our living room and sing Christmas carols, then give each other our gifts.
January 6th is a special day for the mothers, sisters and wives in our lives. We like to give them a day off, so us men take over the cooking, dishes, and all their usual housework while they get to visit each other and just enjoy a full day of no worries or work. In my opinion, our ladies should have far more than one day vacation from work, they work so very hard to make our lives easy and enjoyable... But I digress.

At the end of the 6th, we take all decorations down. Nobody dares to take them down before, as it is considered bad-luck to take down our Christmas decorations before the 6th. Perhaps it's a silly superstition, but we treat it as tradition. The decorations are lovely, so I'm never in a hurry to take any of them down.

Goodness, I think this post has been long enough, I don't want to bore any of you with my dull writing skills!

I had better go, I have some wood to chop. It's rather nippy outside, and I don't want the cold to find its way in here...

Nollaig Shona Duit, readers!

Thanks for sharing, Colm.

Hope ya'll enjoyed reading my dear character's post!

Hope you come back for tomorrows post, too.

God bless!

Megan