HEAVEN FOR THE HOLIDAYS

As the holidays approach, I'm always reminded of my family who has passed away and how fleeting life is, even for the elderly. And how, the day we are called home, that's it. Projects are left unfinished, goodbyes are left unsaid and the best intentions go unfulfilled.

Today, December 3, is the day my brother Dan died decades ago, but outdoorsman that he was, he never got to take that first snowmobile ride of the season or check his traps set out all over the home farm and at Cricket Meadow. I teased him about wanting a fox fur for Christmas, or a muskrat muffler. Well, even though my request was made in jest, no pelts were brought to Johnson Fur Company that year. It was with utter pain that my family put the gifts he bought us under the tree and opened them, tears streaking our faces that Christmas Eve.

My Aunt Virginia passed away mid-December the year after Dan and, when Mom and I went to the funeral home to make arrangements, we discovered, in her purse, a poem half written that she had been working on. Ever the poet, she had one last one in her. Just about.

When Dad died on our farm just before Thanksgiving, it seemed he pretty much had organized and thought out how to leave his house in good order. He did, however, only get halfway through the The Best of James Herriot, a book he and I were reading together that fall during his illness. And I have never had the heart to finish it. The bookmark he chose, a renewal form from The Farmer magazine, is still in its place, 22 years later.

Mom passed away just after Christmas, 6 years ago and she had suffered dementia towards the end. Her once rapidly filled crossword puzzle books were left a bit scrambled, unfinished and missing pages. As was the last book I bought her, "A Place in the Woods," by Helen Hoover. She had even ripped pages out of that. I kept a letter she had written to me shortly before that skill left her, in which she refers to me as her sister. I was crushed and touched, all at the same time. Of course, I kept it and it rests in a cherished spot: in my bedside Bible.

When my Grandmother Judith departed right before the Christmas of 1944, she left a gorgeous quilt top, half finished that she had been working on before she died suddenly of a heart attack. My mother kept it, always planning to finish it, but, like many things, didn't ever get to it. I'm looking at it right now, as I write this, draped over the banister. And wondering, does anyone else see a pattern here? All of these deaths around the holidays, all seemingly gone too soon, with work yet to be done. I think this lovely hand stitched quilt top could be a perfect coverlet for someone's bed, the pattern is, fittingly, Grandmother's Flower Garden, but it maybe should stay right where it is, a reminder of how in God's eyes, those lives ARE finished, His time is the right time and we only need to look for HIS pattern in this, perfect and complete.

POET'S POTATO PIE

2 tablespoons butter

1 cup potatoes, diced

1 medium onion, chopped

1 cup Swiss cheese

1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped

1/3 cup milk

8 eggs, beaten

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 tomato, sliced

In a large ovenproof skillet, melt butter. Add potatoes and onion. Bake, stirring once, for 15 to 20 minutes, or until vegetables are almost tender. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together remaining ingredients except tomato slices. Pour over baked potatoes and onions. Arrange tomato slices over eggs. Return to oven and continue baking for 17 to 22 minutes, until eggs are lightly browned and set.

QUILTER'S STEAMED CRANBERRY PUDDING

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 cup milk

1 egg

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 cup flour

2 cups whole cranberries

SAUCE

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except flour and cranberries. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until well mixed, 1 to 2 minutes. In a small bowl, toss flour and cranberries together. By hand, gently stir flour-coated cranberries into batter. Pour into greased 1-1/2 quart metal mold or baking dish. Cover tightly. Place a metal rack in a large roasting pan. Add boiling water to just below the rack. Place mold on rack. Cover and cook over medium heat at a low boil for about 2 hours or until a toothpick inserted in center of pudding comes out clean. Add boiling water occasionally to keep level just below rack. Remove from oven, let stand 2 or 3 minutes. Remove cover or aluminum foil and invert onto serving plate. Serve warm or cold with warm sauce. To make sauce, combine all ingredients, except vanilla, in a 1 quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture thickens and comes to a full boil, 5  minutes or so. Boil for 1 minute. Stir in vanilla. Refrigerate leftover sauce.

TRAPPER'S TREATS

CRUST

2 cups flour

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 cup pecan halves

CARAMEL LAYER

2/3 cup butter

1/2 brown sugar

1 cup chocolate chips

In a large mixing bowl, combine all crust ingredients, except pecans. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until well mixed and particles are fine, 2 or 3 minutes. Press into the bottom of a 9 by 13 inch pan. Sprinkle pecans evenly over unbaked crust. In a 1 quart saucepan, combine butter and brown sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a full boil, stir constantly until small amount dropped into ice water forms a firm ball or candy thermometer reaches 242 degrees. Pour evenly over pecans and crust. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, or until entire caramel layer is bubbly. Remove from oven. Immediately sprinkle chocolate chips over top. Allow to melt for a couple of minutes. Swirl chocolate leaving some whole for a textured effect. Cool completely and cut into bars.