The holidays were fine once the flu left our house | The Plaincity ...

A whole brand new year lies ahead. What does it have in store for us all? Only God knows so let us put our trust in him. I hope everyone had a great, safe holiday. We had a very nice holiday after the flu bug finally left our house.

Christmas Day was spent here at home. Elizabeth?s friend Timothy and Susan? s friend Mose joined us for the day. It was a memorable day playing games and just being together as a family. Our thoughts and prayers went out to the ones missing family members this holiday season. They are missed even more during the special holiday time.

I put a breakfast casserole in the oven to heat while everyone opened their gifts. Days like that go way too fast.

Sunday we had the annual Christmas potluck dinner after church services. As always there was more than enough food. Daughter Loretta made cupcakes and frosted and decorated them to take along.

Monday evening Jacob, Emma and family came in honor of Joe?s birthday which was Dec. 22. Joe grilled chicken and hot wings while I made scalloped potatoes. We also froze homemade ice cream for our dessert and Emma brought donuts.

Jacob, Emma, and family, Timothy and Mose also spent New Year?s Day here. We had a brunch which was a? breakfast haystack.?

Our breakfast haystack menu was biscuits cut into bite sized pieces, scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, chopped bacon, and diced ham, shredded cheese, green peppers, diced tomatoes, diced onion, cheese sauce, salsa, hot peppers, and sausage gravy. After dishes were washed we exchanged gifts with Emma and Jacob?s family. We had a name exchange which was interesting to see who all had who. Then everyone went sledding in our hay field except for Jacob, Joe, Emma, and I. We stayed in the warm house and played board games.

Timothy had a sled tied behind his pony and gave some pretty fast rides around the hay field. It looked liked it was a challenge to stay on the sled when he took some fast curves.

They also had fun sliding down the hill in the sled. The snow made some nice gliding downhill. When they were all tired from sledding they came back in to warm up. We set snacks out for everyone. Emma brought a lot of snacks too.

I heated up the leftover chicken and wings from the evening before. The rest of the afternoon was spent playing games.

Daughter Elizabeth went back to work at the factory on Wednesday. The children go back to school on Monday. Husband Joe will head back to work at the factory, also on Monday.

Daughter Susan has two more ponies here to train. One is a little miniature pony and the other is a bigger sized pony like our pony Stormy. Her friend Mose?s dad gave Susan the pony to keep for her own. She is excited and eager to train her. Benjamin and Susan have the pony, which is named Roxy, hitched to the pony cart now for the first time. It always makes me a little nervous until she has the ponies going good. Benjamin, 13, enjoys helping her train the ponies. Jacob, Emma, and family went to Berne, Indiana to have Christmas with Jacobs? family. While there they stopped in to say hi to brother Amos, Nancy and family. Amos sent along a roll of his homemade summer sausage he made. It was very good and disappeared quite fast around here. We appreciated it very much.

Looking for an easy cupcake recipe? Try this.

NEVER FAIL

CUPCAKES

1 egg

1/2 cup sour milk

1/2 cup shortening

1 teaspoon soda

1/2 cup hot water

1/2 cup cocoa

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup sugar

In a large mixing bowl add ingredients in the order listed. Do not mix until the last ingredient has been added. Beat until smooth. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Add frosting when cool. Makes 19 cupcakes.

Readers with culinary or cultural questions or to share recipes write Lovina at: Lovina Eicher, c/o Oasis Newsfeatures, P.O. Box 157, Middletown, OH 45042. To learn more about Amish culture and the Amish Cook column and to sign up for the twice weekly newsletter, visit www.amishcookonline.com or ?The Amish Cook Fan Page? on Facebook.

Source: http://plaincity-advocate.com/columnists/lovina-eicher/holidays-fine-flu-left-house/

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