Author: Dara

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Christmas 1986 ~ Stille Nacht

This time of year always brings back memories I thought were long lost. As I was driving to work this morning, I heard this song and instantly remembered Christmas of 1986. I was 19 and still living at home with my parents. The evening I recall was a week night, dark and cold. I had been all over town looking for the big seller that year to give as a gift, Trivial Pursuit. I was pretty down that I couldn’t find the game anywhere. My Dad suggested he and I drive to Davidson Drugs at Midtown Plaza, “hopefully, they will have it!” He and I loaded up into his Toyota truck and he drove me there. It was my lucky day! There, on the shelf, was the box I had been looking for. I was so happy they had it! I paid for it and we headed home. On the way, Stille Nacht came on the radio and I had such a complete feeling of love in that moment with and for my Dad. He had taken the time out of his busy day to make me his priority, even with everything going on between work and my Grandfather. At the time, Grandpa had not been well and passed not long after Christmas. I still remember hearing this beautiful song and seeing all the lovely Christmas lights….next to my Dad, just he and I. A very vivid memory for me that I recall with complete detail 33 years later. You know, I don’t need a single thing this Christmas. All I need are the beautiful memories that fill my ❤.

Thank you, Dad….I love you.

Stille Nacht

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    Reminiscing on 2017

    Happy New Year! I hope that each of you had a blessed holiday season.

    Mine was wonderfully filled with laughter, love, and lots of extra calories!

    The new year always brings reflection for me. Looking back on 2017, there were many golden moments and accomplishments that God blessed my family with. Warning: This may be reminiscent of sitting through the three hour slide show of your Uncle Mike’s vacation….sorry about that!   But today, I’m going to showcase my entire family.

    My daughter, Carly, applied for a nursing bridge program from LPN to RN. She was accepted into Galen College of Nursing and began classes this week. Her social life may be a bit hampered in the coming months, full-time student while working full-time. However, she continues to flourish and grow in her noble profession, and I am so proud of her!

     

    My son, Brett, started a new job this year and sang his heart out at several gigs and events throughout the year. Click here for a listen. I may be partial, but he has a terrific voice that the world needs to hear! I am so proud of him! And yes, here comes the shameless plug. He can be booked by calling or texting him at 941.448.4094.

     

    My mother-in-law, Sharen, moved into her own beautiful little home in Ellenton. She has made many new friends and her neighbors love having a true Florida Cracker in the neighborhood.

     

    My husband, Doyle, celebrated 50 this year, and he continues to grow his business while being the very best husband a girl could ever ask for.  <3 <3

     

    My parents, Don and Sandi, continue their good health. These two stay busy with church, work, and mowing five acres! They are the solid foundation that our family was built on for over 56 years.

     

    My sister, Pam, received a new title at work this year. Also, she and her fiancé, Chris, purchased a motor home and have been traveling the state enjoying the sites during their spare time. My sister continues her good health after a rough patch in 2016. Lastly, she has had two daughters in college for several years with one graduating in December…that means a pay raise for my sista! Cha-CHING!

         

     

    My sister’s oldest daughter, Kelsey, graduated from UCF (go Knights!) with her B.S. in Psychology. We can’t pull any wool over her eyes with our behavior now – she has us pegged! She also moved into her very first apartment. Hold on Kelsey, adulting is comin’ in fast for you!

       

     

    Pam’s youngest daughter, Kaitlin, continues her sophomore year at Flagler College (Pam’s Alma Mater) and just finished a semester in Würzberg, Germany. The jet-setter made it home safely and just in time for Christmas with many exciting stories to share! Paris, Malta, Scotland….oh yeah, and school!

          

     

    My brother, Don, received a promotion at work with his company finishing the year with record orders and sales. He and his wife, Marci, are Poppa and Grandma to Ophelia – what a joy in being a grandparent….and what awesome grandparents they are!

      

     

    Marci has become the baker for the family and the maker of all things cake. She has mad skills…check out some of her most recent works of art:

     

     

    Don and Marci’s daughter, Lauren, started a new and exciting job in 2017. She and her wife, Elizabeth, are doing beautifully at raising my great-niece, Ophelia.

     

    Ophelia is full of sugar and spice, and everything nice….with cuteness and sassiness in between! Did she tell you? Aunt Dara is her favorite!   😉

           

            

     

    As for myself, I also celebrated turning 50 with my entire family by my side over a superb surprise weekend at Lake Grassy hosted by my sweet and wonderful husband. Here is everyone (minus Kaitlin, she arrived a little later that day) :

     

    I also started this, my first blog. I’m glad you’re here, and that you’ve indulged me in reading to this point.

    All this is just the tip of the iceberg so to speak. My family had countless joyous moments that occurred this year. There are just too many to list!

    I have a dear friend that once told me how fond she was of my family in that we always celebrated each other. Truer words have never been spoken. I am blessed beyond measure because we stick together through thick and thin….year in, year out, celebrating and raising each other up.

    So, for my first blog of 2018, I wanted to continue celebrating my family by sharing each of them with you. May 2018 be a year filled with joy, health and happiness while celebrating you and yours!

    Dara <3

     

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    Thanksgiving Blessings aka Cornbread Dressing

    My family’s Thanksgiving meal is traditional in every sense of the word. Turkey and gravy, cornbread dressing (in the south it’s dressing, not stuffing), sweet potato casserole with marshmallows melted oh-so-carefully on top. And don’t you worry, the count of marshmallows is commensurate to the number of dinner attendees so that each receives this heavenly blessing on their plates. Also on the menu – broccoli casserole, mashed potatoes, and the lime green jello salad (which was recently replaced with the cranberry fluff salad). And if all of that wasn’t enough (of course not, it’s Thanksgiving!) we always have a plethora of pies and sweets to finish the meal off.

    But the piece de resistance (that’s french for the yummiest part) in that sea of food for Thanksgiving…is the dressing! What is Thanksgiving without dressing? It’s just turkey and some side dishes! There are so many variations on this favorite. Some swear by three-day old bread. Others contemplate giblets or no giblets. Chestnuts or walnuts? Sausage or chorizo? Bacon or the ever-popular oyster? Who in the world was cooking in their kitchen and decided it was a good idea to try OYSTERS in their dressing? I’ve never in my life! Surely alcohol or some sort of joke must have been involved in that nonsense!

    I digress. The shining star for our family meal IS the cornbread dressing. It is also one of the most labor-intensive recipe of the entire meal. The work begins the day before Thanksgiving with cups and cups of diced onions and celery. Not sliced, no! Diced into millions of tiny, little hand-cut pieces. Also, the cornbread itself has to be cooked the night before as well and then all ingredients are mixed together….then into the oven on Thanksgiving Day to tantalize each and every nose and salivating appetite that walks into Mom and Dad’s house. The dressing is so important, that we calculate individual servings in order to have enough for Thanksgiving Day AND reheat on Friday evening. Yes, as if Thanksgiving Day isn’t enough, we reheat everything the next day and sit down to do it a second time. It is mostly just cleaning up the leftovers, but not the dressing. We always make sure there is a full pan for round number two….it’s that good! And the giblets vs. no giblets controversy…giblets all the way, baby!  🙂

     Thanksgiving 2016

     

    Thanksgiving began with the notion of sharing, so today I share with you our family’s treasured Cornbread Dressing Recipe. Enjoy! And Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours! May every blessing (aka Cornbread Dressing) of this special holiday fill your homes, your hearts….and your bellies!

    Dara <3

     

    Sandi Johnson’s Thanksgiving Dressing

    A day or so before Thanksgiving, mix and bake 2 boxes of Jiffy cornbread according to directions.

    Saute’ until tender in a 1/2 cup of butter:  3 cups of diced celery and 2 cups diced onion. Remove from heat and add 1/2 cup of chopped parsley, 2 tsp. poultry seasoning, 2 tsp. of salt, and 1/2 tsp. of pepper. Crumble corn bread and add celery/onion mixture, 2 eggs slightly beaten, and 1 chicken bouillon cube dissolved in 1 cup of warm water. Toss lightly and placed in greased pan. Bake for 1 hour @ 325°. It will brown on top.  Doubling this recipe will fill a 9×13 pan.

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    Tell us the Play-doh Story!

    Remember when we were kids, and Mom or Dad had that one story that we just loved to hear over and over again?  For me, there are two stories that my Dad tells that fit that bill for me. One is about my Grandma Johnson being shot in the posterior region with a BB gun and who may or may not have pulled the trigger. The other story is about Bobby and the Pig & Whistle. I could listen to every detail of these stories over and over and never tire of it.

    My family tries to get together every so often, and when we do, we love to have a bonfire in the evening. Inevitably, amidst the crackling of the fire and the stories and laughter, the kids (my daughter Carly, and her cousins) will say “Tell us the Play-doh Story!”.  And so, the ritual continues on as I share it with you…

    I was born and raised in Melbourne, Florida, until I was a little older than 11. We lived in a small house in the back of our subdivision on Ixora Park Drive. I shared a room with my older sister, Pam. I can still see that room – our beds were covered in pink and white checkered gingham with shelves wrapped in the same matching print above each.

    While I lived in Melbourne, I was proud to be a part of the Brownies (precursor to Girl Scouts) and my troop met down the street from my home. We must have had a badge project that day that included making homemade play-doh. I was quite proud of how well my large batch of goo turned out and I brought it home to show my older sister. That evening, after being tucked in for bed, my sister and I found that if you threw a piece of play-doh on the ceiling, it would stick! We delighted in this scientific marvel and continued laughing and throwing until the entire batch of play-doh was attached to our bedroom ceiling.

    Well, I’m afraid we couldn’t keep our giggles contained quietly behind our bedroom door, because at some point, my Dad came into the room to see what all the commotion was about. As Dad stood just inside our bedroom illuminated by the soft light of the living room lamp, my sister and I could see the shadow of one looooooong strand of play-doh hanging just above Dad’s head. Suddenly, the idea of throwing play-doh on the ceiling didn’t seem like such a great idea anymore.

    We held our breath and exclaimed. “Yes, Daddy, we’ll be good! Good night!” Anything to get him out of the room and out from underneath our misbehavior! The longer he stood looking at us, the longer the piece of play-doh stretched. And then….it happened. That piece hanging for what seemed like eternity fell right atop Dad’s flat top. Dad threw on the bedroom switch and turned his eyes to the ceiling…and the rest is history.

    I believe the punishment for that little escapade was 500 handwritten lines of…

    I will not play after bedtime.
I will not play after bedtime.
I will not play after bedtime.
I will not play after bedtime.

    The memory of that adventure is as vivid in my mind as this morning’s breakfast…

    I miss that house and the memories we made inside. Oh, if only the walls could talk! But those memories of our home in Melbourne live on in our stories as we share them with others.

    Dara<3

     

    My childhood home in Melbourne. The room I shared with my sister is the window behind the tree and to the left of the front door.

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    A Year Without Elva

    Elva ~ by the fire ~ her favorite spot.

     

    The story of my neighbor, Elva, is large and voluminous. She was a tiny little woman, but don’t let that fool you. She had an enormous personality. Describing her isn’t difficult. She was a crotchety, forward, opinionated, feisty, talkative, no-beating-around-the-bush, right-to-the-point kinda woman. I know I make her sound difficult….and she was! But don’t let that tough exterior fool you as she really was the consummate neighbor. She was the one who took your mail in and watched your dog while you were away on vacation. She was the one who stood in the kitchen for hours baking fresh cranberry bread each Christmas only to give every single one of them away to neighbors and friends. She was the one who baked a batch of her grandmother’s oatmeal cookies and left them on your kitchen counter for you to find when you got home from a long day of work. She’s the one that brought your daily paper to the front door. She’s the one that was always THERE. I know she wanted everyone to believe she was tough as nails. But she was really just a kind and caring little girl from Maine that never grew up. She had a heart bigger than most…and, if she liked you enough, she’d let you experience that sweet side of her. I’m lucky enough to have experienced it all with her…the sweet AND the saltiness of Elva!

    Elva was my neighbor for almost 40 years. But she was more than a neighbor, really. She was family. We pulled her into the fold of ours and adopted her because she was alone and had no close family of her own to speak of. She attended all of our family functions and holidays. Every Christmas, my family has a bonfire outside after all the festivities, food and fellowship. She loved that part…. listening to the stories, the laughter, and the crackling of the fire. I realize now that she’s gone, she was easily pleased by the simple pleasures.

    She died one year ago on November 3rd. Her life changed my life in many ways, and I miss her crotchety self. I’ll share a story or two of Elva in the future. But today, in honor of her one year angelversary, I’d like to pass along her oatmeal cookie recipe. It was her grandmother’s, which makes the recipe even that more special – it’s an heirloom. Maybe you might like to make a warm batch and share them with a neighbor. Elva would love that.

    Dara <3

     

    Grandma’s Oatmeal Cookies

    2 cups butter or margarine (softened)

    1 ½ cups packed brown sugar

    ½ cup sugar

    4 eggs

    7 cups quick cooking oats

    2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

    1 package (5.1 oz.) instant vanilla pudding

    2 tsp baking soda

     

    In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine the oats, flour, dry pudding mix and baking soda. Gradually add to the creamed mixture, stirring well. Drop by heaping tablespoons 2” apart onto a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 375º for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack. Makes about 7 dozen.

     

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