Wyoming Breezes

It’s Day 21 of  Sprite Write’s Virtual Advent Tour  where bloggers from around the world share traditions they enjoy during the holiday season.  Advent wreath An Advent wreath sits in the center of my kitchen table from the end of November through the Epiphany which is Saturday, January 6, 2018.  The candles on the wreath symbolize the four weeks before Christmas - a time of preparation and anticipation. The first week of Advent, I read my morning devotion in the light of one candle. Now (the third week of Advent), my table is aglow with three candles. The third candle is pink (symbolizing "Joy" ), and the other candles are purple or blue. In the center of the wreath is a white pillar candle that will be lit on Christmas day.  I add the figurines when I first light that week's candle. You can see that the base to the right of the shepherd is missing the figurines of the Holy family.  The Holy family figurines are on the display on t...

It’s Day 16 of  Sprite Write’s Virtual Advent Tour  where bloggers from around the world share traditions they enjoy during the holiday season. Holidays bring families together for an extended period of time. Many travel hundreds of miles in order to enjoy the company of relatives they don't see very often. The kitchen table is a good place to visit, to eat, and to play games. Justin, Marilyn, Dwight, Stephanie, and Harold take a break from a competitive game of Mexican Train (a domino game) November 2017 Whenever my family gathers for the holidays, we enjoy playing games. Sometimes, it's Mexican Train, a domino game, which can last several hours; card games like Nerts, Thirty-one, or Canasta; board games like Sequence, Apples and Oranges, or Rummikub; or dice games like Farkle, Kismet, Yahtzee, or Liar's Dice. Family, holiday entertainment sometimes extends beyond the house, and we go to a movie or bowling. Brenda and Marilyn work on a 1,000 piece jigsaw...

It’s Day 2 of Sprite Write’s Virtual Advent Tour  where bloggers from around the world share traditions they enjoy during the holiday season.  Food and holidays go well together, and in my family, homemade popcorn balls are a delicious tradition. My sister (Marilyn) and her husband (Harold) make several batches during the Christmas season. Over the years, they've fine-tuned the process for efficiently making the popcorn balls.  Marilyn pops the corn Harold prepares the syrup mixture Marilyn fills a roasting pan with popcorn while Harold carefully monitors the temperature of the syrup mixture.  Several years ago for a family reunion, favorite family recipes were complied into a book. Now when someone wistfully mentions a recipe, the response is usually, "It's in the book!" Marilyn pours the hot syrup mixture into the roaster filled with popped corn. She uses spoons to coat the popped corn. Marilyn slightly wets her hands, and popcorn ba...