Tag Archives: Christmas

Holiday Traditions

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empty road covered with snow

Image by: Flo Byderman

The semester is officially over and Christmas is quickly approaching. Winter has officially begun so it is a time to fight through the frigid temperatures and to fellowship with friends and family. Whether it be putting cookies and milk out for Santa, decorating the Christmas tree, or giving gifts; Christmas is a time of togetherness and joyous times. For me, this time gives me the opportunity to find a new hobby or to explore new adventures that will be embarked during my break from the hectic schedules of college. But as always, I plan to bake so as I encounter this holiday season that is about to take place, I am filled with the endless ideas of all the traditional desserts that are often served around this time of year. The holidays honestly are interpreted differently to each individual person but I find that there is this common ground that it is about celebrating love with those you truly care about…those who are special and have endured some of the toughest times with you.

A traditional Christmas dessert is the Yule log cake, also known as the bûche de Noël or Swiss roll, which is an sophisticated creation that consists of a beautiful construction of a filled sponge cake that is delicately rolled and frosted with chocolate buttercream. It is usually designed to look reminiscent of a tree bark. The Yule log cake can be thoroughly decorated with an array of edible decorations such as holly crafted out of marzipan or mushroom shaped meringues. The history of this widely celebrated dessert of the Yule log cake dates back to the European medieval era. In that particular time, the Celtic Brits and Gaelic Europeans would come together to welcome the solstice of winter in the cold December months by feasting in celebration for a lingering amount of days. The cake being shaped to look like a wooden log was in dedication of the meaningful use of wood in these historic times. Wood was viewed as an offering that would be burned and the ashes were valued to protect the inhabitants in terms of guarding them from evil and being used for medicinal purposes.

yule log cake covered with frosting flowers and pinecones

Image by: Bethel Bakery

While many bakers have popularized the production of this holiday-themed confection in the 19th century and a variety of bakeries created their own representations of the classic look of the cake. But, nowadays, the Yule log cake has become somewhat obsolete as a Christmas dessert tradition; it has become almost completely replaced by the likes of apple pie and other seasonal baked goods.

So enjoy the holidays with your respective celebrations and comment below on some of your favorite holiday tradition that you partake in.

Diary of A Former Nomad: My Story, Part 3 & 4

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Happy holidays everyone! As the year comes to an end so too does my story. For those who have been following me and reading each part of my story I hope that it has given you some hope, inspiration, or even gotten you through a day that you thought you couldn’t. Sharing this story was not an easy decision but I know that because of it I have become stronger. I know that I needed to let go of this baggage that I have been carrying around for years in order to be better for the coming years. I hope that you all have a great holiday season and the new year brings you happiness and success!

Here are the final chapters of my story. If you haven’t read yet read the first and second part click the links below.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

I returned home to my small battered village, a battered child. My emotions, self esteem and confidence were at an all time low. I returned to parents who seemed somewhat genuine and had flourished during my absence. The house was filled with much more but the stench of pain and sorrows still remained engraved into the walls. My mother was different. She was colder and less nurturing. My father was as before, standoffish and his eyes still had no light. I still remembered arriving home early that morning and being amazed of how monumental the house felt. I had my own room. It was pink and bright and everything I could have hoped for in a room. I had pets too. My life finally seemed to be what I could have imagined it to be. But soon enough the welcome home mat had been removed and it was back to the ways things used to be. My parents fought and pushed me in the middle to choose a side. I told my mother I chose her and my father I chose him. I couldn’t choose and as small as I was, I remembered thinking I shouldn’t have to. I had given up so much for them and yet they couldn’t give up fighting for me. Maybe it was now that I was older and could understand more that the fights seemed worse. Looking back now, I’ve shed more tears with my parents than laughs. They have been the reason for my birth and the death of many of my beliefs, hopes and dreams. As much as they have given me, they have taken away so much more.

 

I lost my innocence the day I saw my mother try to hang herself in our living room from the rafters.

I lost hope for my father the day he slapped me for standing up for my mother then emptied out the cupboards and left us hungry for weeks.

 

I lost faith in God after many more fights and nights of crying myself to sleep after I realized he had made my life this way.

 

I had lost so much but had gained something I never thought I would. I had friends now due to my father’s new and well-known name. People say money can’t buy happiness but in my case, it sure did. After the beatings and the blows I got money, a lot of money. The money did nothing but numb me even more but one good thing came from that money. I never knew her name, but she was about 5 years old. She had no money to buy a Popsicle and without hesitation I bought it for her. I bought it and a smile shined from one end to another on her face. Sometimes I remember this day and think of how much joy I found in that little girl and my ability to help her and my regret for not giving her more. I wonder if she wished she was me and had the ability to buy more and have more. I hope she didn’t. I had nothing or should I say nothing I wanted.

 

Before I knew it, it was time to leave again and a broken family was going to be broken once more. My father couldn’t leave with us and I question if my fight to wait for him meant anything to him both then and now.

When he did get his papers, we all packed up and I wished and prayed in that moment that my new life would be three things: permanent, happy and enough. Enough for my parents, hoping they would be content with whatever we had because we had each other, that we could finally be a family. A family who loved each other and appreciated one another. That I would be more to them than a bargaining tool, I would be someone they were proud of. I would be worth their love and appreciation without having to be someone else but their daughter.

 

I got on that plane and left again. I left behind hardships that children should not have to endure. I hoped to leave behind sorrow and all the pains. I would be living in a new place and no one would know how bad my dad beat my mom and punished us. No one would know of how damaged I was. I would be able to dream, grow and flourish into the person that the creator of the heavens and I knew I would become.

Part 4

This October makes 11 years since I made that wish. I can’t say that it’s been granted. My story has not been an easy one and I don’t think it’ll get easier but it has become one that I could manage. Life is fluid, it doesn’t stay still. It moves, grows, and evolves and by doing so we find ourselves, our purpose, our reason. What has happened in my life doesn’t define me but it’s given me many roads to determine my own purpose and my own reason. I can’t say that I wouldn’t change the things that have happen but I also can’t say that I would change how my life is now. I’ve had to chance to live freer than most people do their entire lives and it’s something I hold dear to my heart. My life, all 22 years has been trying to find the right place and maybe we never do. Maybe we find the best parts of all the better parts of life. Maybe it’s all one big trial and at some point in our lives whether we are aware or not we find that place. I’ll keep searching for mine.

 

Until then, I hope this story, my story; opens yours eyes to seeing that life even in its worst parts it just that. It’s just a bad day, a bad part, a memory. Life is just a trial subscription to many opportunities, many lives, and loves. So live and be open to the possibilities that no matter what happens someday and somehow it gets better.