Leslie Smith Doan, a native Arkansan, is a retired Technical Writer and active blogger. She enjoys traveling and attending special events with her two daughters, ages 23 & 18. Leslie lives in Little Rock with her two rescue pets, Oreo, a black & white Australian Shepherd and Lilly, a calico kitty. She blogs about her personal experiences as both a cancer survivor and widow along with movie reviews and humorous essays.You can find Leslie online at her blog, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.
This month’s theme on Arkansas Women Bloggers is CELEBRATE. As we are winding down the Holiday season, it’s easy to think about all the beautiful celebrations associated with Christmas and New Year’s. I normally write about meat and livestock, and there are lots of great ways to celebrate with a ham or a nice beef roast. Yet, for this post, I’m stepping away from that and writing about celebrating life.
This was a hard year for our family to celebrate Christmas. My mother passed away suddenly this summer, and this was our first Christmas without her. Anyone who has lost someone close to them knows how hard it is to celebrate those first milestones without the one you love. Buying gifts without her on the list, making the dishes she loved on Christmas day, taking the kids to see Santa without her help to corral them were all more difficult than I can explain.
As I contemplated what to write about around the theme of celebrate, all I could think about was celebrating her. We had a celebration of her life a few days after she passed, but I feel like the real celebration of her life is in the way we live our lives going forward.
We celebrated her when we put up her Christmas tree at Dad’s house over the Thanksgiving holiday. We hung the ridiculous number of ornaments. We laughed at how old and worn some of them were. We poked fun at each other’s hand-made ornaments from grade school. It was like she was right there with us, laughing and cutting up.
I celebrated her when I volunteered to shop with kids in need in our community. I made sure my daughters know how important it is to help everyone have a Merry Christmas.
My sister celebrates Mother in her classroom when she gives extra time and attention to kids that struggle with learning. Mom taught us to appreciate ALL kids and what they can contribute to the world.
We will celebrate her by helping with Vacation Bible School and the children’s programs at church.
I celebrate her by embracing my naturally-positive attitude about life and assuring others that everything will be okay.
We celebrate her when we include everyone and ensure that no one feels left out. This was so important to Mother. (As kids, we had to invite every single kid in our class to our birthday party, no matter what.)
We celebrate her when we speak to children like adults and use ‘big’ words. Thanks to my mother, I had quite the vocabulary and without even realizing I’d done it, I passed that trait on to my girls.
We celebrate her by taking charge. Mother never sat around and waited for someone to ask for her help. If she saw a need, she just took charge to get things done. The older I get, the more I feel this part of Mother’s personality come out in me. Now that she’s gone, I’ve really embraced it.
We celebrate her by continuing to laugh. It isn’t always easy to laugh through grief, but somehow she made it seem natural. Our family has gotten through the darkest hours with laughter.
We will celebrate her life when we talk about her. Because they are so young, my youngest daughter and nephew will likely not remember my mother, but they will know her. They will know the things she loved and how she lived her life. They will know about her service and her faith.
In the days and weeks after her passing, I felt a sadness that I’d never known before. I knew my life would never be the same again. I grieved for what my kids would miss by not having her in their lives. But as we moved on, I knew that her spirit would live on in us and the effect we have on the world. She (and my Dad) passed on the spirit and love of their beloved grandparents by celebrating their lives with us.
She celebrated her grandfather by laughing and joking, even in the hard times.
She celebrated her grandmother by working tirelessly to make her grandkids feel special.
She celebrated her grandmother by telling us to be ‘Pretty on the inside.’
She celebrated her uncle by teaching Special Ed and helping kids who struggle to learn, even those who struggle to talk.
They celebrate my dad’s grandfather with the ‘Christmas Eve Gifts’ tradition.
We celebrate my grandmother by enjoying her Pozole recipe with homemade tortillas to ring in the New Year.
I could go on and on. My parents celebrating their loved ones is what shaped my childhood and my Christian faith. I plan to pass that tradition on to my girls. Celebrating the life and loves of my mother has really helped me deal with her loss. I now know that she likely did the same when she lost people that she loved.
As we begin a new year without Mother, it’s still hard to think about continuing without her. But, I know that we still have a lot to celebrate.
There are just certain foods you expect at every family gathering, am I right? Certain standby recipes, if you will. At Thanksgiving there will always be turkey, dressing and pumpkin pie. At Christmas there will always be ham and homemade candy. I could go on and on but I think you get the picture.
In my family, something we have always come to expect is my sister’s Dot Cookies. My sister is the baker in our family. I love to cook but baking is just not my thing. The taste is always there but the presentation, not so much! Oops!
Dot Cookies are tiny sugar cookies with just a “dot” of icing on top and are just the perfect size to pop in your mouth and eat! Or, if you are my niece Paycen, you lick the icing off and give the cookie to your Aunt Ricci to eat. HA!
I believe the Dot Cookies came about when my aunt worked at a local bakery that made them. She started making them for our family get-togethers and then my sister started making them when my aunt didn’t want to any more.
The recipe has been tweaked a few times throughout the years but I love them no matter how they are made, HA!
I think these cookies are just adorable and I love these cookies are completely customizable in that you can make the icing whatever color you want to match your event. These cookies are perfect for holidays, birthday parties, baby showers, wedding showers, potlucks, really just whatever! They also travel well which is always a plus in my book!
While they may be a little time consuming, only in that they have to chill for a few hours, I think Dot Cookies are the perfect addition to any celebration!
This time of year is full of many celebrations. Celebrating the New Year has me in a time of reflection. The older I get the more I prefer to celebrate traditions over anything else. One tradition that came to mind was the passing on of knowledge. Old, lost arts like crochet and knitting.
Crochet is what my grandmother and my mother do best. What is crochet? Crochet is where you strategically weave yarn to form different pieces. Oh the amazing things you can crochet. Scarves, blankets, gloves, hats, and so much more.
My Grandma Dorotha was amazingly talented at crochet. She would spend hours working away. Her afghans had beautiful colors and were the perfect way to snuggle up under on a cold day. Even as a very young child, I wanted to know how to do it myself. I remember getting my first book and crochet needles. I would chain on and on for hours on end.
As I got older I lost interest, but my mom started to pick it up again. Crochet is almost like therapy. It’s one of those tasks that take skill and concentration. You’re able to zone out of all of your problems and enjoy the creation in your hands. When we lost so much after the tornado in April of 2014, I think my most missed piece is the beautiful, ornate crochet blanket that my mom made for me. It was blue, my favorite color, and now knowing crochet helped me realize how much time she had to have put into it. She recently gave me a bag of yarn that has the remnants from that blanket that I hope to do something with even though it’s not enough for a blanket.
Through the struggles after and the enormous amount of stress and anxiety, I found the need for that crochet therapy. I looked for some yarn and bought me a new J hook. While I learned the basics from my grandmother, I found YouTube helpful in her absence. So many wonderful ladies keeping this art alive. I have been able to expand my knowledge of more stitches and techniques and am now working on my very first afghan. Just like my mom and her mom would make.
I even see my own daughter taking interest in my crochet and it fills me with such joy. Three generations of our Arkansas ladies that have learned crochet with possibly of a fourth inspired to learn this intricate art. There is such a feeling of accomplishment when you are able to make something with your own hands. I am so thankful to have had two beautiful women who have shown me the value of keeping this skill alive.
Ami Lee is a paleo mom turned food blogger trying to feed her 3 kids and LEO husband gluten and dairy free, among other things. She’s not a professional chef, but what she lacks in education she makes up for it with a little bit of common sense and a lot of love. Inspired by many chefs including Julia Child, Gordon Ramsay, and Emeril Lagasse, she is encouraged to try new things and do what she does best… Make it up as she goes along.
By Melissa of Cowhands: calloused hands and tender hearts
Melissa is married to her best friend Paul and they own a small beef cattle farm in Southwest Arkansas. She a mom of three grown above average kids. She is shaking things up a bit in 2016 by leaving her career as a County Agriculture Agent and will be pursuing another lifelong dream of being a writer. Melissa is a fan-girl of many bloggers and has started her own at Cowhands: calloused hands and tender hearts.
Wow! I was so honored to be asked to be a part of the ARWB Blogger of the Month series. I don’t know where I would be without the wonderful ladies of the Arkansas Women Bloggers. They have been such a great support network to me.
I became a mom 7 years ago. Until it happens, you may not realize that when you become a mom, you join this special club, the Mom Club. Moms help each other out. All moms. From your own mom, to your sisters and aunts, your mother-in-law, friends, moms at church, moms at school, even random moms in the grocery store line or in the airport are willing to help each other.
Moms are full of great advice. When you become a mom you question everything, and, thank goodness, there are hundreds of other moms full of knowledge and willing to give you advice because they’ve been there. It may be about diapers or baby clothes, breast feeding (or not), schools, day care, toys, tons of stuff. When I became a mom, I joined this special club and found this community of women, helping each other, giving advice, and I wanted to do something to contribute.
That brings me to the blog.
Moms have lots of questions about the food they feed their families. People today are bombarded with loads of information about food, where it comes from, how animals are raised, and if it’s safe. So much of this information can sound so scary, and it’s so hard to know what’s true. That’s where I found my way to contribute to other moms.
People hear really scary things about meat and the way it’s raised and processed. These things may or may not be true. So, I started writing as the Mom at the Meat Counter, to help people feel better about the food they feed their families. I have the expertise in this area, and I want to share what I know with other moms.
Many times, I’ve been at the meat counter in grocery store and I find myself answering people’s questions about the meat they are buying. Answering questions like, “What does Natural mean?” or “What is all this I hear about pink slime?” I just imagined them going home to tell their families about the advice they got from that Mom at the Meat Counter who seemed to know about meat.
My favorite posts are the ones that came from people’s questions. So I love comments and questions about meat and the meat industry. Ask me anything that may be on your mind. No question is off-limits. If you’re worried about something concerning meat, ask me. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll find someone that does.
I work at the University of Arkansas in the Department of Animal Science and I love to help students learn about the industry. My husband, Ed, is also a meat scientist and works for Tyson foods. We have two girls, Vallie (7) and Wyn (2). When we aren’t taking #meatcounterselfies, we are herding cows and our 3 sheep, watching football, or spending time with our families.
My social media feeds are mostly meat, cows, a few sheep and lots of pictures of my kids.
The Foodie Friday 2016 theme is #Celebrate. Come join us as we focus on a different way to #Celebrate each month. In January we are all about “Celebrate Celebrations.” I can’t think of a better way to kick off a brand new year than with this Ding Dong Cake from Rhonda Bramell of Bramell: Party of Five.
Should you find yourself in need of an easy (yet impressive) dessert for a special occasion, check this one out. My friends, this is the dessert that will woo your enemies and win you admirers for life. This is my go-to recipe when I need a birthday cake, office potluck dessert or just for the “lots of people coming over” occasion.
The beauty of the Ding Dong Cake is that it looks like it was completely labor intensive and difficult to make. Alas, it’s not! There are only a few ingredients and it doesn’t require a culinary degree to pull off. And, I might add, there’s nothing better than homemade whipped cream
The downside to making this cake is simply the temptation of having it in your house. As a result, I don’t make it as often as I’d like…because I would totally eat it myself. As my kindergartener demanded as I removed it from the fridge, “Give me the cake now!”
I definitely suggest making this your next celebration dessert, too. Or, at the very least, go grab a gallon of milk and a fork and celebrate your baking victory!
Rhonda Bramell is a blogger in Northwest Arkansas. She is the ringleader of a circus that includes her husband, three kids and a rambunctious Boston Terrier. Rhonda has been blogging at Bramell, Party of Five for eight years; her blog is a collection of stories about the real life joys and challenges of parenting.
Natalie Zanatta is the mom of 3 wonderful boys who moved to Central Arkansas two years ago. Natalie writes about healthy living covering gluten free cooking (due to Celiac Disease), DIY, gardening, fashion/beauty, and more to help us all be healthier inside and out. Check out her blog Great Contradictions to be inspired!
Leslie Smith Doan, a native Arkansan, is a retired Technical Writer and active blogger. She enjoys traveling and attending special events with her two daughters, ages 23 & 18. Leslie lives in Little Rock with her two rescue pets, Oreo, a black & white Australian Shepherd and Lilly, a calico kitty. She blogs about her personal experiences as both a cancer survivor and widow along with movie reviews and humorous essays.You can find Leslie online at her blog, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.
Ami Lee is a paleo mom turned food blogger trying to feed her 3 kids and LEO husband gluten and dairy free, among other things. She’s not a professional chef, but what she lacks in education she makes up for it with a little bit of common sense and a lot of love. Inspired by many chefs including Julia Child, Gordon Ramsay, and Emeril Lagasse, she is encouraged to try new things and do what she does best… Make it up as she goes along.
