Monday, December 4, 2023

Better is the end of a thing than its beginning.  Ecclesiastes 7:8

Illustration by Olivia Overcash, age 8

I remember many things about the Advent season from growing up.  But the thing I remember best is helping Mom with her Christmas baking.

From the time I was old enough to use tools on my own (say seven or eight), one of my jobs was to help prepare walnuts for my Mom’s Christmas baking.  Being frugal, and because she had two free laborers at home (me and my older brother), she always bought Diamond-brand walnuts “in the shell.”  On an appointed Saturday after Thanksgiving, we would head to the back basement.  There we would crack open the walnut shells by pounding them with one of Dad’s hammers on the concrete floor – while trying not to smash a finger.  Then, we’d patiently pry out the nut meats with those silvery nut picks that were ubiquitous in American homes of the 1960s.  It was important that at least some of the walnuts come out as complete halves, which required working more carefully, because those pieces would gain a position of honor on the top of one of Mom’s fruitcakes.  She always made two or three large fruitcakes for our family, and several smaller ones to give as gifts to friends and neighbors.  And yes, I am still a fruitcake fan – late night jokes notwithstanding.  Mom also made a dozen kinds of cookies and fudge, many of which used nuts.  Cracking and picking all those walnuts was a lot of work; and, we had to wait patiently for days or weeks while Mom turned those nuts into cookies, cakes, and fudge.  But the end result was clearly worth the wait.

Heavenly Father, as we begin our journey this Advent season, open our eyes to see hope, open our ears to hear your promises, open our mouths to shout your message of joy, open our hearts that we might be filled with love.  For we know that Jesus is coming.  Amen

Mark Janney

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