Happy Holidays to All our Friends and Family!

Well, this year has gone by fast! And it was an action-packed year, at least by Prairie family standards.
I turned 40 this year. (40!) Monkey started kindergarten and discovered cafeteria food. And since kindergarten is now an all-day affair, Pumpkin finally gets some time to herself, some time with Mama to herself, and some much-needed peace and quiet. It’s tough to be the baby.
In the interest of finding some peace and quiet myself, and some money, I got a job. One that pays. I work part-time in a bank call center now. I told Mr. Prairie that even if every single caller yelled at me (they don’t) it would still be quieter than our house!
Then we had a House fire. OK, a garage fire. There was an electrical fire in the garage and due to the fact that John was home with the kids while I was at work, and did everything right, and also to the incredibly fast response time of the Tulsa Fire Department, the fire’s damage was confined to the garage. But we lost power, of course, and part of the house filled with smoke.
So, we stayed in a way-too-small-for-the-kids hotel room for three weeks that felt like an eternity. The good part—it was, in reality, only three weeks and not an eternity. I owe those firefighters a batch of cookies!
Mr. Prairie, who is my big-time hero for saving my babies from a fire!, has gone into business for himself. He is now doing web design, information architecture, user experience, and lots of other things that I don’t understand, from home. Part of the reason he chose to strike out on his own was to spend more time at home with the family.
Well, in the just-over-a-month that he has been working for himself, he has flown to Tennessee and New Jersey! And he’s busier than ever, but at least he’s got a great boss. He has wanted to do this for a very long time, but it was the fire that gave him that extra little push to do it.
It was as if the fire cleared out the underbrush that obscured his path, and then lit the way. Fire is such a mainstay of human experience. For thousands upon thousands of years we have both feared fire’s awesome, destructive power and valued its usefulness. Fire warms our hearths, cooks our food, and heats our water. And while we no longer rely on fire to provide light for our homes, we still fondly recall the days when we did. Ever wonder why candle shops do such brisk business in this electric age?
Candlelight has long played a roll in holiday traditions. Candles in a menorah are the central symbol of Hanukah, representing the re-consecrating of the temple ordered by Judah Maccabee. The menorah needed to burn all night, every night for re-consecration but there was only enough oil for one night. But miraculously the oil lasted for eight nights, long enough to prepare more oil.
Kwanzaa uses a candleholder called a kinara, containing seven candles of red, green, and black, to represent the seven principles of Kwanzaa. Those seven principles are: Unity, Self-determination, Collective work and responsibility, Cooperative economics, Purpose, Creativity, and Faith. (Much thanks to the Official Kwanzaa Website.)And while candles aren’t the most important symbol in Christmas celebrations, they do play many traditional roles.
In Ireland it was traditional to place a lit candle in the window and leave the front door unlocked, as a sign of the hospitality Mary and Joseph were denied on the night of Christ’s birth. And in many countries the candle in the window is a sign of welcome for the Christ Child, Himself, who is said to wander the countryside looking for homes in which He will be received. He could be in the guise of a beggar or a poor, hungry child. You never know how He will appear to you, so it is important to offer hospitality to all who come to the door on Christmas.
Candles in the Advent wreath are lit in the weeks leading up to Christmas. There are accompanying prayers for each candle, one lit per week, that remind believers to focus on the true meaning of Christmas.
Queen Victoria popularized Christmas trees in England. Her German-born husband, Prince Albert brought Christmas trees, a German custom, into their home. The queen was well loved and widely copied, so since she had a Christmas tree, everybody else wanted one, too. Candles were placed directly on the branches, and later in little holder-clips attached to the branches. These lights on the Christmas tree symbolized the Star of Wonder that illuminated the Magi’s way.
Today we have replaced the candles with electric lights, which makes me happy because one house fire was one too many. People even put electric “candles” in their windows. The fire itself was replaced, but we retained the light.
The lights that surround and infuse theses holy days remind us to BE the light so desperately needed in this world. We need to be the light that illuminates others and ourselves. We need to be the light that shines into the darkest, dankest recesses of humanity. We need to be the light that beams into stormy seas and guides foundering hearts to a safe harbor.
If we would all be that light, we could banish hatred and intolerance. We could drive out ignorance and fear. And we could extend a beacon of hospitality and hope to those who need it most.

Happy Holidays from the House of the Burning Prairie!

Some things the House does right:

1)We bought an existing house, 2)We walk Monkey to school in all but the very worst weather, 3)I quit taking the daily paper, 4)Reusable grocery bags! 5) Buy local food when available, 6) Don’t own a Suburban anymore, 7)Recycle the copious number of magazines that we always seem to have, 8)Re-use plastic bags, 9)HE front-loading washing machine, 10)Fluorescent light bulbs.

Things we do that aren’t so good:

1)Disposable diapers, 2)Buy water, 3)Forget to compost, 4)Forget to recycle everything else, 5)Old house is not well-sealed.

One thing we’ve done that is better for the environment, but is actually done to save money: curtailed or eliminated driving-for-fun.

Something we’ve done that is better for the world, but is actually done to spare our frazzled nerves and keep from pissing off strangers-that-never-did-anything-to-us: Take the kids on a real vacation (we always drive).

Someday(doesn’t everyone say that?), I’ll do better. Solar power for the House, hybrid or electric car, alternatives to air-conditioning for the House, gray water for the yard.

Things I need to do NOW: plant a vegetable garden, put up a clothesline, potty train Pumpkin, recycle everything recyclable, compost all plant matter, remember to turn off the power strips at night.

And I don’t care if this is Oklahoma and it does start getting pretty hot this early, I REFUSE TO TURN ON THE DAD-GUMMED AIR CONDITIONER IN APRIL!!!!!!!11!!one!!!!!!eleven!!!!!!