Chris Loehmer Kincaid's Blog, page 117

Flying Free

This is the final installment of my Christmas inspirational blogs. Since the first Sunday in December, I have been reposting an updated issue of the blogs I posted five years ago. I thought they were kind of cute, so decided they were worth revisiting. All the pictures are of animals either my daughter or I photographed on our trips to Kenya. I hope you enjoy the pictures and the story.
When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”, and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.” Luke 2:22-24 (New International Version)  Dove 1: What are you doing out there?
Visitor: Who me?
Dove 1: You’re the only one out there. The rest of us are stuck in these cages.

Visitor: I’m sorry about that. What are you doing in there?
Dove 1: I asked you first.
Visitor: Well, see that couple over there, the one with the baby?
Dove 2: The people who are looking to buy one or two of us?
Visitor: Yes. I have been following them all over the country side for months. Their baby was born about six weeks ago, and I think He is the reason I have been tracking them.
Dove 1: But you don’t know why you are following them?
Dove 2: That doesn’t make any sense.
Visitor: I know. I just wish I could talk to them. Find out who the baby is. Other animals I have talked to have said that He is a savior and a king.
Dove 1: All I know is that if you don’t want to end up in one of these cages with us, you should fly away. You should appreciate your freedom while you have it.
Just then a man lifted the cage with the two doves in it and handed it to Joseph.
Dove 1: Fly away now!

With that, the visitor raised his wings and did as the caged bird had commanded. He flew high into the air above the crowded city. Yes, indeed, he had his freedom. Looking down on all those people in the market place on their way to the temple, it dawned on him.  That’s why the baby had been born. That’s why He was called Savior and King. He had come to grant them all freedom, the freedom from sin, that only comes from believing in Him, in Jesus Christ.

(This picture is of my daughter when she was staying in Saikeri, Kenya in 2010. It remains one of my all time favorites. I hope you enjoyed this series of blog posts. Have a happy New Year and may all your travels be safe.) 

Before a ramble turns into a rant

First official non-Christmas blog of the new year. And what do I have to show for it? What wonderful things do I have to say? What words of wisdom should I share this first week of the new year which will make the following 51 weeks good? What can I write that will change the world?
You may have read my story before. How, when I was in middle-school, I got it into my head that I wanted to change the world. I wanted to end hunger in third world countries. I wanted to be the catalyst to cause warring factions to put down their weapons. I wanted to blanket the earth with peace and prosperity. I wanted to win the Pulitzer prize. And I didn’t want anyone to know it was me. I didn’t want the fame or fortune or my name to become a household word. I just wanted the world to be a better place, I wanted people to be happy.
And if I thought I saw sadness back in the early seventies, look how far we have digressed. We aren’t just fighting wars across the world with people we don't understand. We are fighting wars against the people we deal with on a personal level every day, who live down the street or next door. New diseases continue to pop up and ravage our bodies. There are as many homeless people as ever. Children worldwide are going to bed hungry with no fresh water to drink, no clean toilet to use and no Mom or Dad to tuck them in at night.
I believe that we have the ability to eliminate pollution and reverse the effects of global warming and cure cancer. We can supply enough healthy food and safe water to the world. Yet none of those things are happening. Those things are all getting worse. And why is that? Why is our world spinning out of control and hate is spreading like wildfire and everything is going down the tubes?
I don’t want to turn this ramble into a rant. I think that almost everyone realizes what the problem is and everybody is like “oh, yes, I’m sick and tired of the way things are too. I want the world to be a better place. We can’t go on like this for much longer.”
So what has got to give? And what are you going to do about it? 
I guess I wasn't done with Christmas after all.

Last Shot at the Christmas Specials

I really meant to blog last week, but Christmas rather caught up to me and I realized that somethings are just more important.
On the first three Tuesdays of December, I had posted my favorite Christmas specials – Rudolph, Charlie Brown and Ralphie. Even though Christmas is long past (really? Coz to my mind it’s been barely a week), I still want to tell you a few of my other favorite Christmas shows.
First, here’s a confession. The only one of these shows which I watched this year was “A Christmas Story”. What kind of a sad confession is that? I wish I could tell you that last week when I wasn’t posting to this blog all week that I was getting caught up on my TV watching, but that would be a lie. I do not know what I was doing. Getting caught up instead on the after-Christmas laziness, I guess.
So here’s another confession, I am a big Jimmy Stewart fan. How can you not be? I love every movie I’ve seen that he’s been in. He is so kind-hearted and gentle and soft-spoken. Ok, he kind of always reminded me of my dad. So, of course, “It’s a Wonderful Life” has to be yet another one of my favorite Christmas shows.
I’ve heard a lot of people say that they hate that movie. I don’t know how that’s possible, and I suppose I should listen to their explanation, but instead, I am like – talk to the hand. There’s no plausible explanation for not loving a movie that asks the question each and every one of us has asked at some point. “What if I had never been born?”
My recommendation to all you who disagree with me, go watch it again.
Moving along, I want to mention another movie, which isn’t a classic, yet. But it could be some day. That would be “Elf”. Maybe in some ways it is like “Wonderful Life”. Take a simple, sweet man and try to turn him into something he’s not, but in the end, the spirit of Christmas always wins out.
I just thought of another one and now it left my mind just like. Oh, but I would include the original Grinch with Boris Karloff if I were making up a list. The remake? Not so much. Speaking of remakes, how many “Christmas Carol” versions are there? My favorite? The one with Mr Magoo. What does that tell you about me?
Then there are two shows from my childhood which I haven’t seen in probably 40 years, so maybe I made this up. “The Littlest Angel” with Johnny Whittaker and “The Snow Queen”, which is the story that “Frozen” was based on, and probably not a Christmas show at all, but it has snow in it and I can’t even find it on IMDb. And I don’t remember much about it, but it had to be from the mid-sixties.
Maybe I need to learn how to use Netflix.
Have I missed your favorite Christmas show?  And could you watch it year-round? 

Is the Quest Nearly Finished?

Even though it is New Year's Day, I am still working on this year’s Christmas editions of my Sunday blogs. Since the first Sunday in December, I have been sharing updated versions of the blogs I posted five years ago. Though Christmas is over for most people, I feel that the entire Christmas message still needs to be told. All the pictures are of animals either my daughter or I photographed on our trips to Kenya. I hope you enjoy the pictures and the story.
After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. (Matthew 2:9-12 New Living Translation)
Visitor: Hi, there. You guys look tired.
Camel 1: Not so much.
Camel 2: Really? We just trekked half-way across the world, loaded down with all sorts of stuff.
Camel 1: Are you truly whining? We are camels, we were born to carry heavy loads for days on end. We do not whine.
Visitor: I didn’t mean to start anything. Why did you come all this way?
Camel 1: Our masters were on a quest to find the new-born king. We have been following the king’s star for a very long time. Our masters are well-educated men who knew the meaning of the star and it brought us here.
Visitor: Something brought me here too, but it wasn’t a star.
Camel 2: What was it then?
Visitor: Something drawing me to the baby. You say he is a king?
Camel 1: The king of the Jews.
Visitor: Hmm? But I’m not a Jew, so why do you think I care so much about this child?
Camel 1: Maybe he really came to be the king of all.
Visitor: Wow, but he’s so little, so young. And his parents are so poor. How can he be a king?
Camel 2: We are just camels. How should we know? We don’t need a king. We have our masters who care for us and feed us. And then work us half to death.
Camel 1: Stop your whining. All I know is that our masters are good men. They have brought expensive gifts to this boy-king. You need to just keep following him. You will get your answers.
Visitor: Thank you so much. I have been questioning all the animals that I have met along the way, but you have been the most helpful of all of them.
Camel 1: Good luck on your own quest. Have faith. 

The New-Born Baby

Merry Christmas and welcome to this series of Christmas blogs. Since the first weekend in December, I have been posting an updated issue of the blogs I wrote five years ago. I thought they were kind of cute, so decided they were worth revisiting. All the pictures are of animals either my daughter or I photographed on our trips to Kenya. I hope you enjoy the pictures and the story.
While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. (Luke 2:6-7 New International Version)
Visitor: This must be the right place. Excuse me, can you tell me if that is Mary?
 Cow: Yes, it is. With her husband Joseph and their brand-new baby.

Goat: You should have been here earlier. It was like a miracle when the baby was born.
Visitor: Really? Why is that?
Goat: I really can’t put my hoof on it.
Cow: Me either. But it was beautiful. It was like total peace and serenity suddenly came over this stable.
Goat: And this light seemed to be coming straight out of the baby. Only it wasn't a light. I can’t explain it.
Visitor: Then I am pretty disappointed that I missed it. I have been all over the countryside the last few months, looking for Mary. I can’t believe that I finally found her.

Cow: Why have you been looking for her so long and so hard?
Visitor: That’s what I don’t know. I thought I was drawn to her but now that she has the baby, I think that all along it was the baby that I was looking for.
Goat: But here you are and you still don’t know?
Visitor: No, I don’t. But I am going to figure it out before I’m through.

(For some, the answer didn't come from just that night when Jesus was born. You'll have to continue following this story for the next few weeks to see if the visitor finds what he is looking for. Today, however, have a very Merry and Blessed Christmas.) 

Fourth and Final Cookie

Here it is the fourth and final week of Christmas Cookie countdown, with the most classic cookie of them all.
1 cup butter or margarine1 cup sugar1 egg1 tsp vanilla2 tablespoons cream (ie skim milk, coz that’s all I have in the house)1 tablespoon orange rind (or whatever I end up with when I am tired of grating the stupid orange)1 tsp baking powder½ tsp baking soda½ tsp salt3 cups flour
Blend the first sixth ingredients together, then slowly add the remaining ingredients. Mix well. Chill for as long as you want to or until you are psyched enough to roll the beasts out.
You’ll notice that I didn’t take any pictures at this stage. A picture of me rolling out cookie dough would be like looking at a crime scene from Criminal Minds. You would be scarred for life.  
You’re supposed to bake them in a 400 degree oven for 5 to 7 minutes. Really? Coz I can get the next pan ready in that amount of time? Nope. I turn the oven down to 375 or even 350 if I am being a putz. Then they bake a lot slower and you can get the next batch rolled out, cut out and panned.  
Oh, yea, and I usually double the recipe to really make it worth the mess. When I was a kid, my mom quadrupled the recipe. The woman was amazing. She could keep up the pace all afternoon and not a speck of flour (or is it a flake of flour?) would stray from under her rolling pin. She was like a machine. 
Every surface in my kitchen, however, including any and all persons passing through, is covered in a layer of white dust, as if it were a coal mine where coal was white instead of black. Or did you read Tuesday’spost? Then you would understand the reference if I called it a white nightmare.

After resting for a few days, I begin the arduous task of frosting and decorating them. I can usually get through about a pan and a half until I have had enough fun with the whole thing.  After that, I don’t much care what they look like. And I still have an ice cream tub full of unfrosted ones. Maybe my kids will work on them when they come home this weekend. . . . Sure, that will happen.

And All Was Right with the World

Christmas is swiftly approaching and I still have to tell you about my favorite Christmas TV specials. So far, I have posted about “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.” Today I have a different spin.
I guess this movie makes the cut because who hasn’t been a kid with one and only one gift on their wish list. Ok, I don’t remember ever being that kid. I remember waking up every Christmas morning oblivious to what might be under the tree, filled with joy that there were presents to unwrap and Christmas cookies to eat. Some details of my childhood are remarkable. Alas, wishes of Christmas past are not.  
Maybe that’s why we all love this movie so much. We want to return to our childhoods and be filled with the hope and expectation of getting that one gift we want. For Ralphie, it naturally is the Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model air rifle. Which of course is destined to shoot his eye out.
Which brings up the myriad number of quotes we all know: “My brother looked like a tick about to pop.” “I’d gone out of my skull.” “Only I didn’t say fudge.” “He looks like a pink nightmare.” “Schwartz created a slight breach of etiquette by skipping the triple dare and going right for the throat!”“Fra-GEE-leh! It must be Italian!” “He worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay.” “All right! Everybody upstairs! Get dressed! We are going out... to eat.”
Then there are the similarities to our current lives. Well, mine at least. Every night during the winter, when it is cold and we feel sorry for our three outside cats who have heated beds inside the garage, and we let them in the back door, they rush into the house just like the Bumpuses dogs. True story. 

But what matters is that all is right with the world on Christmas day.

Where did your Shepherd Go?

Welcome to this year’s Christmas edition of my Sunday inspirational blogs. For six weeks, starting the first weekend in December, I will be posting an updated issue of the blogs I wrote five years ago. I thought they were kind of cute, so decided they were worth revisiting. All the pictures are of animals either my daughter or I photographed on our trips to Kenya. I hope you enjoy the pictures and the story.
 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. (Luke 2:8-9 New International Version)
Visitor: Good evening. It’s sure quiet out here.


Sheep 1: Seriously? You should have been ten minutes ago.
Sheep 2: No kidding. It was ridiculous.
Visitor: What happened?
Sheep 1: We were all having a quiet evening, doing some grazing and thinking about laying down to sleep, when all of a sudden, there was this light in the sky.
Sheep 2: And these people were in the sky and they were singing.
Sheep 3: They were angels.
Sheep 2: How do you know what an angel is?
Visitor: It doesn’t matter. Just tell me what happened? This sounds amazing.
Sheep 1: These angels – if that’s what they were – told our shepherds that their Savior was born in Bethlehem and that they should go meet him.
Visitor: Really? What did your shepherds do? 
Sheep 2: They went and left us out here by ourselves.
Sheep 3: I think when angels tell you to do something, you better do it. I think that one of the angels is still up there, watching over us until our shepherds come back.
Sheep 2: Are you nuts? What are you talking about?
Sheep 3: I think there is something magical about tonight.
Visitor:  I do too. Did they say anything else?
Sheep 1: I think one of them said that there is a baby in a manger and his mother is Mary and –
Visitor: What? Did you say Mary? I’ve been looking for a woman named Mary who was going to have a baby.
Sheep 1: Well, you best get going then, I think this is your gal.
Visitor: I just came from Bethlehem, but I guess I will head back there. Thanks for all your help. I hope the remainder of your night is peaceful.
Sheep 2: I do too.

A Festive Cookie

It is week 3 of my Christmas cookie extravaganza. This week’s cookie is my personal classic, one you may not have heard of.
I must have been a teen-ager when I was going through Mom’s cookbook drawer one year. In addition to her red checkered Better Homes and Gardens spiral bound cookbook, she had a bunch of thin cookbooks with only a dozen or so yellowed pages. I think a lot of them were put out by Gold Medal flour or GW sugar or C&H sugar and also by the UW Extension. Even though I can see them clear as the nose on my face, I can’t conjure up what their titles were.
Anyway, one of these cookbooks was devoted to Christmas cookies. I picked out a recipe that looked the easiest, asked Mom if she could buy me some pecans, and baked up a batch.
They were always one of Dad’s favorites because he said they reminded him of Marzipan. To make him really happy, I would try shaping them into various fruits, just like Marzipan. A few years later, when I ate real Marzipan for the first time, I was like – yuck – this is nothing like my Christmas Balls. Perhaps Dad had just been trying to make me feel special, or perhaps the Marzipan he remembered from Germany, because they were poor, was more like these cookies, than the almond-paste candy.
I’ve never seen this recipe anywhere else. They are similar to Mexican wedding cakes, but made with white sugar instead of powdered sugar and not as crisp. And they look a lot more festive.  In any case, here’s my recipe.
1 cup margarine2 tsp vanilla1/3 cup sugar2 tsp water2 cups flour1 cup chopped walnuts (the original recipe called for pecans, but I generally am too cheap to buy them)
Mix all ingredients well. The dough will be solid and thick, if that makes sense. Shape into balls. Once again I use my Pampered Chef scoop, this time the smallest one. Roll in colored sugar. Push into different shapes if desired and you are artsy. Bake at 325 for 20 minutes. Remove from the pans as soon as they come out of the oven or the sugar will stick to the pans. Freezes well. And you’ll need to freeze them or they will disappear on you before Christmas.

Have fun with them and make them in different shapes and colors.    Can you pick out the bananas?  These were supposed to be strawberries and apples. Can you tell the difference?  I even made Green Bay Packer ones for the Hubby. The Wisconsin Badgers ones didn't show up as well because the white sugar gets overpowered by the red. 

Do we need lights and glitter at Christmas?

 Every Tuesday in December, I’ll post about a different one of my favorite Christmas specials. One look at the piano in my living room should give you a clue of what this week’s show is. You’ve all seen “A Charlie Brown Christmas” countless times. Right? So I won’t give you a play-by-play. Instead, here are some observations.
The other morning, the DJ’s on the Christian radio station I listen to were talking about “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. One of them commented that when Linus is on the stage reciting Luke chapter 2, verses 8 to 14, he suddenly drops his security blanket. As if knowing that his Savior being born in the city of David on Christmas Eve gives him the security to face the world without any other support.
What I noticed was that near the end of the show, Linus uses his blanket as the tree skirt under Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree. Once again, Linus is secure enough just knowing what the holiday is really all about that he gives his blanket up again.
In thinking about it, though, doesn’t Linus seem to be the most well-adjusted kid in the whole Peanuts ensemble?  
And poor Charlie Brown. All he wants is to find the true meaning of Christmas. Even back in 1965, when this special aired, this time of year was filled with commercialism and the message of spending money. Why can’t we remember what we are really celebrating? It’s not about the lights, or the Christmas cards, or the perfect tree, or the Christmas Queen.
It’s about a tiny baby who brings peace on earth, good will towards men.
One side note however. Isn’t the tree Charlie Brown picks out, with its lone red ornament, a better tree than the perfect triangle of a tree that the gang turns it into when they deck it out in Snoopy’s lights and glitter? Christmas is about a simple message, it doesn't need any lights or glitter either.