Starting a Thanksgiving Tradition

I've thought lately about what kind of traditions we could start as a family, and I read an article in a parenting magazine about how different families shared their thanks at Thanksgiving. One family had an "album of thanks" (basically a folder with notebook paper), and every year on Thanksgiving morning, they would take time before the day got hectic, and would sit around the table, drink coffee, and write down what each person was thankful for that year. Their kids are older now, and they said it was neat to look back on what they'd written in years' past.

Well, the whole "sitting at the table and leisurely drinking coffee and sharing our thoughts and thanks" concept probably isn't going to happen for a few more years, but I liked the idea. And, there's no time like the present, so I started a "Reginald Family--Why We're Thankful" album.

We got around to filling it out this evening while Lucas wandered around and can hopefully make it a yearly tradition. Most of our thanks revolved around being able to pay the bills and save money to do so while I stayed home with the boys this year. Jacob is thankful for his toys, Lucas, Mommy and Daddy, and his hats. I'm also thankful for the friends we've made, like the ones who came over and shared a meal with us today. God has blessed and faithfully brought us through another year. Happy Thanksgiving!

Our Baby Is One!

We celebrated Lucas's first birthday yesterday! The year has flown by, and it's sometimes hard to believe it's been that long since we brought him home from the hospital as a tiny newborn.

Earlier in the week, he got his first haircut with Miss Tammy. I remembered how much older Jacob looked after his first haircut and told her not to cut off all of Lucas's baby curls. He had taken off both shoes and socks during the 5-minute ride over there, so I yelled at him when we got to the shop and I was frantically trying to put everything back on, knowing we were already late. That made him cry, and he wasn't in a good mood when we got there, but he soon warmed up to the ladies at the beauty shop. And, he did a good job of sitting still on my lap for his trim.

On Saturday, we celebrated with family friends whose son is Jacob's age. They like Indian food, so I made buriyani, beef curry, and a few other things. I bought a regular birthday cake and Lucas's smash cake at Safeway. He dug into his cake like it was the best thing ever and went to sleep about half an hour later with a belly full of sugar.

Happy Birthday, Lucas!!

Interview With My Sri Lankan Mother-in-Law, Part 2

Here is the second part of an interview with my mother-in-law, Mrs. Beryl Reginald. To see the first part, please read my previous post.





Tell us a little about the boarding school that Nelson and Harry attended.
In keeping with our determination and dreams, we were overjoyed when we got an opportunity to educate our sons in one of the very few best, well-reputed Christian private colleges in Sri Lanka,  S. Thomas' College, Mt. Lavinia in Colombo, which was quite far from our home. Since it is extremely difficult to get admission at a later grade level, we determined to board them in the college hostel when they were six, with the assurance that the matron at the children’s hostel would take good care of them in all respects. I also had the satisfaction of both my brother and sister being in Colombo at that time, and they visited them often. Though it was heart breaking for all of us at the beginning, we had no regrets later. It was a good solid foundation preparing them for a successful life, opening a way for a bright future.

What things did you do to train your boys in the Lord?
I feel our very way of life made a great impact for them to grow in the Lord. Reading the Bible and praying was a daily practice both morning and night. We regularly attended Sunday Service, and the children went to Sunday School.  Reading Bible stories was a regular event.

For special occasions, like celebrating birthday parties, it was customary to invite the priest, as well as family members, friends and relatives, we had prayer meetings followed by a fellowship tea party. In the same way, we too had quite a number of opportunities to participate in events where prayers and worship were of priority.

What are some of the hardest things to get used to in Canada? What do you like most?
When I first came to Canada in winter, it was quite difficult to manage the cold. I found it difficult to move about freely and also felt the loneliness of missing my home, my loved ones back home, and being indoors most of the time.

But all these shortcomings were nothing compared to the happiness, contentment, and satisfaction of being with my son, playing the traditional role of helping raise the grandchildren, and  helping fulfill the desires of my late husband of seeing both my sons married and settled well in life. It gives me a world of happiness and peace of mind to see both my sons with a family of their own and also being able to meet together and enjoy the fellowship and being of help and strength to one another. I am also very pleased and well satisfied with all the facilities available, along with peace, order, justice, human rights, and a friendly environment.

What are your dreams for your four grandchildren?
I am greatly blessed with the gift of four wonderful grandchildren and thank God from the bottom of my heart. I claim the promises of God. Grandparents are proud of their grandchildren, while children are proud of their parents. My dreams and wishes are almost the same as I had for my sons but at even a much higher level of than my sons. I believe in faith God has a blessed wonderful plan for each of them—Jacob, Sheishan, Lucas, and Atarah. My prayer is that with all the sacrificial love, care, and parents’ guidance, along with those who would be influencing their life, they would develop all their God-given talents and abilities to the full potential. I also pray that they will be children of great character, have good attitudes and values, and live a very successful, happy, contented long life for the glory of God making the parents feel proud of them and reaping the rewards of their hard labor. I would also like them to follow the family traditions, unity, fellowship, culture and values of ancestors and wish them all the best in life.

Interview With My Sri Lankan Mother-in-Law

My mother-in-law, Mrs. Beryl Reginald, and her husband raised two sons in Sri Lanka, a country just south of India and about the size of West Virginia.  I was very happy that she was willing to answer a few questions about life when they were small. "Amma" (the Tamil word for mother) moved to Canada in 2004 and lives with Nelson's brother, Harry, and his family. She taught for more than 30 years at an all-girls middle school and is now helping take care of her grandchildren--three boys and one girl.  This is Part 1 of the interview; the second half will be posted in a few days.


When the boys were small (before school age), how did you manage to get everything done, in addition to teaching school?
We were greatly blessed by God with the necessary help, provisions, and guidance in every step of their growth. Since I was entitled to only six weeks of maternity leave, we had to employ a helper for a small salary to take care of our children during our absence. I had to be away from home from 7:45 am to 2:30 pm, and my husband was gone from 6:45 am to 6 pm. Fortunately, my husband’s father and my parents were more than willing to help us, to make sure one of the family members was always home. In the beginning,  my brother, who was waiting at home before he entered the medical college, was happy to help us during the day to make sure everything was done perfectly at the house and Nelson’s needs were met during our absence.  We used to get up very early in the morning to cook and get everything ready for the children before we left home. We also made sure to spend quality time with the children while we were home, which gave us great satisfaction and happiness.

What did your family enjoy doing together?
As a family we just enjoyed being together, playing, going for walks, going shopping on our way home from church and having snacks and sorting out things once we got home. There were times when we would all be in the kitchen while I got ready to cook. My husband would scrape the coconut (one coconut was used every day to cook curries in the coconut milk). Nelson and Harry would try to help us peel onions, which was a great mess, but we enjoyed the fun. Both Nelson and Harry were overjoyed to meet their father after work at the railway station, so every now and then, I would take them to the station and we would come home with both walking on either side of the father. Visiting family members, relatives, and friends as a family was really exciting.

Describe a typical family dinner back then.
It was mostly dinner we had together, starting around 7:30 pm. Usually I prepared the food and my husband fed them or saw them eat.  Then we would eat. Both children liked roti (a flat bread made with rice flour) made in various shapes and enjoyed it with butter and jam while we ate it with pol sambol (a dish with scraped/grated coconut and chilis) and leftover curries. For variety, we’d make thosai, string hoppers, and pittu (all are variations using rice flour). Egg hoppers (kind of like thin, crispy pancakes in a bowl shape) were their favorite. Other favorite foods were eggs in any form, pudding, tropical fruits and especially a glass of milk before going to bed in the night.

What were your dreams for your boys when they were small?
When our sons were growing up, as toddlers we started to recognize their interests, God-given talents, and abilities. Our dream was to create a suitable environment within our means, and we were determined to sacrifice in many respects to do our very best for the welfare of our sons, We wanted them to excel in their field of interest, and we enabled them with a sound education with a Christian background. Our will was for them to be sons of great character, to shine well in life with God’s blessings, and be God-fearing children free of pride, growing up physically, spiritually, and intellectually.

Remembering Grandma D

Grandma D was a mom of two boys. She was 60 years old when my twin sister and I were born and was 27 or 28 when she got married. She once told me, with sympathy in her voice, "I was old, too, before someone wanted to marry me." Back then, I guess that was considered old! I was 30 when I got married.

Grandma turned 90 on the day before my wedding, and my uncle was able to bring her from the nursing home to attend. She sat in the front row with her older sister, Faye. She died the following March.

Grandma lived only a mile away from us when we were growing up, so I saw her several times a week. She would watch my two sisters and me when Mom had errands to run. She loved to shop and was always buying us dresses. Having two boys of my own, I can now understand how much she enjoyed buying "girly" things.  She also had two sisters, like me, who lived within a five-mile radius of her. I always imagined my sisters and me being like them when we were old--best friends but also fighting at times.

Grandma and Grandpa had a little rental house on their farm, and almost all the grandchildren lived in it at some point. I stayed there for a few years after I moved back from Florida. Looking back, I'm so glad I got to spend the time with Grandma, but oh, it was so smothering. Especially after living on my own for several years in the city. I knew, at the time, that I would look back on those days after she was gone and and wish for that time back. But, it was hard back then. Now, how I would love to spend some time hearing the old stories at her kitchen table that she told over and over again.

Grandma was a very nurturing lady and always thinking of others before herself. I thought of her when my first son was born and knew she would have made me a pot of vegetable soup and sugar cream pie if she were still here. She always had a cake or cookies on the kitchen table when we visited, and sugar cream pie was one of her specialties. Christmas and Thanksgiving were not the same without it.

Grandma would have been 97 this month, and I always fondly remember her this time of year. I would make a sugar cream pie in her honor, but it unfortunately doesn't support my weight loss goals. Here's the recipe if you want to make this Indiana classic:

SUGAR CREAM PIE

1- 9" baked pie shell

1 cup white sugar

1/4 cup corn starch

2 cups milk

Cook until thick, then add 1 stick butter and 1 tsp vanilla. Pour in baked shell and sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Pumpkin Carving and Roasting the Seeds

We took the boys this week to a local farm, Shlagel Farms, and picked a pumpkin from their pumpkin patch. So,yesterday Jacob and I made a jack o' lantern and roasted the seeds. Lucas supervised from his stroller, off the ground and away from my knives.

Cleaning out the seeds and "gunk".

Despite numerous attempts, I couldn't get both of them to smile at the same time, so here are two pics!

We roasted the seeds using a recipe for Kids' Favorite Pumpkin Seeds from Country Woman magazine's website. It called for a little cayenne pepper, so I almost didn't use it, but I thought maybe it was just enough for a little "kick", since it was supposedly for kids. Well...they were pretty hot. Jacob ate one, and my husband who usually likes spicy food didn't seemed thrilled with them. I ate a few handfuls but probably won't finish them. After all, how many pumpkin seeds can a girl eat?

Cute Boy Clothes--My Ongoing Search

I'm always looking for cute boy clothes, and anyone who has ever bought boys' clothes knows that there is a lot more out there for girls. If someone could open up a store with affordable, cute clothes for boys, I think they'd do very well.

I really don't have the patience or time to sew, but I found this link last week:
Make for Baby Boy: 25 of the Cutest Coolest Free Tutorials for Boys' Clothing.

Unfortunately, none of these really struck me as something I wanted to make. Maybe I'm just picky because someone obviously thought they were "cute and cool".

This past year, Jacob has really liked "helping" me in the kitchen--especially baking. He liked a book from the library about a boy named Jacob who liked to bake and called himself "Chef Jacob". So, I've thought about buying him something like this set (see below) for Christmas that I found on www.etsy.com .

It wouldn't be that hard to make, I think, as I look at the price tag. Especially if I could find the material on sale. After all,  I did take sewing in 4-H and made more difficult outfits back then, even if it was with a lot of stress and tears. Then, I remember the pair of Jacob's pants that have sat on my dresser for at least two weeks now waiting to be hemmed and remember I have, like, no spare time and get little sleep the way it is. So, Etsy it will be.

What is your favorite place for cute boy clothes?