Eggnog and Gingerbread

A peaceful quiet night by the fire makes the year complete and the brings the family together.

c e hollis

The quiet is only broken by the pop and crackle of the fire. The night has been closed in on our farm house for hours. The days are short and the nights long. We rest through winter and wait and long for the coming spring. We look for crocus and daffodils blowing with the scent of hyacinths warm from the south.

We wait for the sound of geese overhead honking on the way northward.

We wait for days dawning with south breezes blowing warm air and sweet growing days to us.

We are certain spring will come and we find inside ways to comfort our bodies and our souls. We cook stews and soups for supper. We bake breads and eat them with strawberry jam and creamy butter. We pour over our seed catalogues and order for our vegetable gardens.

We stir pans of pudding because it reminds us of our grandmother and comforts us like her arms and her lap. We plan next summer’s vacation. We dream of days at the park or the lake. We dream of the animal babies born in spring, colts romping in the pasture, birds building nests, rabbits, fawns, puppies, kittens, chicks at the farm store, and soft gray goslings following their mother across the pond.

We think of school’s opening, children out riding their bikes, and playing baseball in the vacant lot. We dream of kite flying, of gardening, of roses and aspargus, of leaves on the trees, of peaches and summer fruits gleaming in the warm sunshine.

We sip hot eggnog and nibble of soft molasses gingerbread like we ate on winter nights when we were just children. The fire crackles and sizzles as it burns the oils and resins in the split wood. We take in the lovely smell of it and absorb the comforting heat.

Oh, Winter, you bring us gray days and cold nights but you take nothing from us because we love your sweets and comforts and because we remember spring and summer following and we know you will pull on your dusty coat and be gone soon.

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Behold God is my helper; The Lord is the sustainer of my soul.

Psalm 54:4 NASB

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