Problems are for Solving

Tonight is the 5th Annual Night of the Burning Plum.

We’ll be feasting on ham and potatoes with salads and enjoying mead mixed with plum wine, and our traditional flaming plums and cherries over ice cream for dessert.

Then we will retire to the Plum Room for stories where many accounts of the legend of the Burning Plum will be presented.

In short, tonight we celebrate friendship, as we do every year at this time.

Let the Night of the Burning Plum commence!

Last night was our annual celebration that we call The Night of the Burning Plum. There is history behind this (you can read more here), and this is our fourth celebration of the night.

We had a big ham, horseradish spiced mashed potatoes and a raspberry/walnut/gorganzola salad with a vinegrette. It were all *delicious*. Accompanying dinner was a mixture of plum wine and homemade sparkling mead. Also quite tasty.

For dessert we had our traditional Flaming Plums and Cherries served over vanilla ice cream and 8 year old Plum Brandy. It was lovely. Ralph brought some cream Sherry from the winery near where many of used to live in Pennsylvania which was also quite tasty.

After dessert and conversation we adjourned into the newly painted Plum Living Room for our tradition of telling stories. The children told many stories, including one from Toby that had Cthulu, Agent X, and Dr. Frankenstein. Their story telling has vastly improved over the four years and I’m glad for this tradition. Seth told his usual three stories, and we all shared in a lovely time (you can read Gabrielle’s story from last night here).

After all this we did a little cleaning up and then most went to bed and a few of us wandered down to Seth & Crystal’s for some Jungle Speed (which I won more times than I usually do against Seth and Ralph!).

Of the family traditions we’ve begun since our family was founded, this is by far my favorite. Next year, the 5th annual Night of the Burning Plum promises to be even better. I’m already starting to think of changes to the evening (minor, improving changes!) in preparation.

All in all, another lovely night, and a grand annual celebration of friendship. Hopefully those who couldn’t make it this year will be available in 2009.

It has been a full and sometimes difficult year, and we are thankful to have made it through to this lovely time where we can celebrate our Savior’s birth and rest from our labors, or at least my labors in my vocation.

Jesus has come to bring light and life into a world filled with darkness and death. May He bring both to each of you!

We have finally come to the point where we have Christmas traditions that we hold tight as a family:
**Christmas eve (last night) we enjoy a traditional Swedish Christmas dinner with the Ben-Ezra family in their home.
**Each year we purchase a Christmas tree late, so that it will last through the 12 days of Christmas, including Steven-mas and Gabrielle-mas.
**We decorate the tree together. I put on the star last as we sing As With Gladness Men of Old.
**We have the traditional NOEL vs. LEON battle held on the mantle in the burnt plum room.
**We have Christmas morning together with presents
**Christmas brunch including the Ben-Ezras and anyone else who was invited in a given year, including biscuits and gravy and kringle pastries (this year we made our own!)
**Reading the story of Stephen the martyr and singing Good King Wenceslas on the 26th. (there are others, I’m sure, but I’m not remembering them at the moment)

Whatever your family traditions, join in celebrating the love, light, life and peace that Jesus has brought into the world today and every day–and may His love capture your heart and life so that you celebrate as one of His saved souls.

O come let us adore Him
Christ the Lord!

Merry Christmas from our house to all of yours!

I’ve been a bit under the weather this week (I had to take a day off in fact) and so I’m looking forward to our annual celebration of the Night of the Burning Plum. I will, Lord willing, get a post up in the next couple of days detailing this year’s event, but for now:

A Road Less Travelled » The Night of the Burning Plum (Gabrielle)

A Road Less Travelled » Thoughts on the Burning Plum (Raquel)

A Road Less Travelled » The Night of the Burning Plum 2006 (Gabrielle)