Mom - I Swear I Saw Santa!

Mom - I Swear I Saw Santa!

I have a lot of memories of Christmas as a young boy. It's amazing how children's imaginations can open up whole magical worlds to explore - like the movie "Polar Express".

I can remember one Christmas eve - I must have been 4 or 5 years old, when I swore I saw Santa. It was a full moon that night and I woke up from a deep sleep after hearing bells - the kind of bells that would be on a sleigh. It was very late at night and everyone in the house was fast asleep.

I jumped up out of bed and looked out my window. The light of the moon was so bright, it was almost like daytime. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone walking from in front of my house towards my neighbor's house. That someone had on a red coat, a red hat, a beard and a large bag slung over his shoulders. It was Santa!

My Mom had always told me that Santa wouldn't come to our house unless all the children were fast asleep. So I quickly got back in bed and tried my best to go back to sleep. But there was no way I could - I had just seen Santa walking away from our house! And so that meant he had already left presents for us. But, I thought that he might come back and take our presents away if he sensed we weren't all asleep - because you know Santa knows when you're awake! My heart was pounding!

I managed to fall back asleep at some point - but I woke up again just before dawn and jumped out of bed, ran into the living room. Lo and behold, there were Santa's gifts under the Christmas tree! I ran and woke up my Mom to tell her that I had saw Santa that night. She said, "Of course you did!" and I knew she didn't believe me. So I said, "Mom - I swear I saw Santa last night!". She said, "Well if he really came, did you check and see if he ate the cookies that we left for him?" I ran back into the living room, and sure enough, he had eaten all the cookies except for half of one last cookie. And he had drank half of the glass of milk we had left for him too.

These memories are the ones that I can still remember in vivid detail, even though they were long, long ago. I only hope that my children have had similar memories that they can share when they grow old. Because that is what Christmas is all about. You know - I always wonder who that "Santa" was walking in front of my house that Christmas eve - or did I just imagine it. It must have been the real thing.

-Rick Gurkin

Lib's Chocolate Eclair

Lib's Chocolate Eclair

This is another one of Lib Gurkin's wonderfully quick, easy and delicious recipes that I know for a fact that Chuck Gurkin is crazy about. I guarantee that if you close your eyes and take a bite, you will swear that you just tasted the real thing.

• 1 box Graham Crackers
• 2 small boxes (or 1 large box) French Vanilla Pudding
• 1 large Cool Whip (9 oz)
• 1 can Hershey Chocolate Frosting
• 3 cups cold milk

Mix milk and pudding. Fold in Cool Whip. Place a layer of crackers. then a layer of pudding, etc. End with crackers on top. Spread with Frosting and cool overnight.

Quick Peach Cobbler

Quick Peach Cobbler

• 2 large cans sliced peaches (32 oz.)
• 1 1/4 cup sugar or Splenda
• 2 ready-made pie shells
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2tsp. vanilla flavor
• 1/2 tsp. lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix peaches, sugar, butter, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla flavor and lemon juice. Pour in deep cooking pan. Cover top of pan with ready-made pie shells. Sprinkle with with 1/4 cup sugar (splenda) and 1/4 cup butter, melted, over pie shells. Cook at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until pie crust is done and serve. Allow to cool 30 minutes.

Fried Pie Dough (Applejacks)

Fried Pie Dough (Applejacks)

When we came home from school we would usually have a snack waiting for us. Generally it would be a baked sweet potato and a piece of frying pan bread, but sometimes it would be applejacks. Ymmm Mmm!

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vinegar
• 4 tbsp water
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup shortening
• Fruit of your choosing (apples, peaches etc.)

Combine dry ingredients. Cut in shortening until well mixed. Combine vinegar and water. Dribble in a small amount at a time and use a fork to mix. Cover bowl with a damp cloth and leave about 30 minutes, then pinch off small balls and roll out in circles. Fill half the circle with fruit. Fold over the other half and dampen all around with water. Press together with the tines of a fork. Fry in deep oil.

Note. We generally used apple and called them Applejacks. Today apple pie filling out of a can would work very well, or any other filling you desire.

Buttermilk Pie

Buttermilk Pie

This is an old Southern recipe that was really popular in the south from the late 1800s up through the 1950s. We still enjoy it.

• 1 unbaked pie shell
• 4 eggs beaten
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 stick of butter, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1-1/2 cups sugar or Splenda

Put eggs in mixing bowl. Add and mix remaining ingredients. Bake in uncooked shell at 350 degrees for about 45 mins or until done.

Ice Box Fruit Cake

Ice Box Fruit Cake

This recipe is so old that it literally meant an ice box. When I was a youngin, we used to get a delivery of ice every Wednesday. Us kids would gather at the back of the ice truck and sometimes the iceman would chip off a piece of ice for us after he had put a large block of ice in the oak and zinc icebox in the kitchen. The great thing about a fruit cake is that if you didn't eat it at Christmas, you could always use it as a door stop!

• 1 1/2 cups evap. milk (If you want it extra rich you can use 1 cup evap. milk and 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 4 cups marshmallows
• 8 oz candied cherries (red and green)
• 4 cups nuts (English walnuts and pecans)
• 8 oz candied pineapple (You can substitute mixed candied fruit for the pineapple)
• 1 16 oz bag of coconut
• 16 oz of raisins (or less, if you desire)
• 1 box graham crackers (Be sure to crush them to crumbs)

Mix butter, milk and marshmallows over a low heat. Stir constantly till completely melted. Be careful to keep the heat low and stir so you won't scorch the milk. Pour the mix over all of the other ingredients that you have placed in a large bowl. Mix it well. Place waxed paper in the containers you choose. (Baking pan, bowls, etc.) Be sure to pack the mixure in tightly. (In the old days, we would even use small cardboard containers, such as your raisin box. But whatever you use be sure to put waxed paper in first) Next put it in your refrigerator for approximately 24 hrs or till its firm. As long as it's kept covered this cake will keep for four or five weeks.

Miz Beasley Gets Religion

Miz Beasley Gets Religion

When I was a young lad my grandmother used to take me to the Dismal Swamp Baptist Church of the Holy Ghost. Later, our type of church was called a "Holy Rollers" church. I don't know if you ever saw the church scene in the movie "The Blues Brothers", but that would get somewhat close to a Holy Rollers church. One family in our church was the Beasley family. Mr and Miz Beasley and their seven or eight children. I don't recollect ever seeing the kids still enough to count, so that number is approximate. Mr Beasley stood about 5' 4" tall in his boots and was too skinny to throw a shadow. Miz Beasley was only about two or three inches taller, but she was bigger around than she was tall. When she came walking down the road you just had to stop and watch her go by. I honestly believe you could have stopped one of those Dreadnought Battleships before you could have slowed Miz Beasley. A fine, fine woman.

In the Dismal Swamps it can get awfully hot during the summer and the time I'm speaking of took place on the second Sunday of August. It had been mostly quiet in the church and Parson McCloud was speaking in "tongues" and a few of the men had started saying Amen's and some of the ladies would give out a chirp or "Oh Lawd, hep me" just another typical Dismal Sunday. In the meantime Miz Beasley had slipped out the door and made her way to the little necessary house behind the Church. After doing her business she scooped everything up and came on back into the church. Just as she slipped into the back of the aisle a bumblebee made it clear to Miz Beasley that he had gotten scooped up with everything else. I mean he made it known with a vengeance.

Well sir. You ain't never. Miz Beasley made the most blood curdling screech I have ever heard come from anyone, even including a rebel soldier. For a big woman she would have put the Olympics gymnasts to shame. She did two forward flips, a cartwheel, a backwards flip and ended up doing a really great split. The whole time she was carrying on like the spirit had hit her something fierce. I would give a hunnerd dollars if I could yodel half as good as she did whilst doing everything else. Well, you ain't heard the last of this yet. Miz Beasley sprang up from the floor and started ripping off her clothes and the members of the congregation thought that the Holy Spirit had flung itself upon her and joined in too. The yodeling, screeching, and praising God and the clothes flying through the church made Parson McCloud get right out of the mood of talking in tongues and he just held on to the podium and stood there with his mouth hanging open.

Finally, Miz Beasley had gotten down to where she just barely had enough clothes on for modesty and ran and jumped right through the only stained glass window we had and took off to the pond on a dead run with the rest of the congregation right behind her. Well heck fire, us kids never missed an opportunity to get in the water so we just came right along. Parson McCloud took the opportunity, while everyone was in the water, to baptize the entire congregation again.

I must admit that was the best Sunday I have ever spent in church!

-Bob Gurkin