Home for the Holidays ?

Leaving New Orleans for the Christmas Holidays I felt an emptiness. It was the same emptiness I felt when I left my precious family to go to New Orleans just before Thanksgiving. I almost felt like I was abandoning a loved one. New Orleans is in dire need of help. The national media has taken her from the front pages. Most people in other cities have gone on with their lives and think that life in New Orleans has resumed. I can tell you first hand that even though it has gotten better in the surrounding areas, it has not in New Orleans. The politicians want everyone to believe that it is better so that people will return, but their is little or no housing for them to return to. Most of the damaged areas of New Orleans look much the same as it did days after the storm. Even Jefferson Parish , where you see the most activity, is only at about 40%.

At the level of the people their is no lack of heart. We are fighters and want the city to answer the 10 count. People are trying to rebuild but are running into fierce obstacles from local and federal governments. They ask you to rebuild but make it very difficult to get building permits.
They tell you to rebuild but can't tell you if you will need to raise the level of your house in order to do so. They tell you to rebuild but everyone else tells you not to.

My decision will be based soley on the future of my children. Can they come back to good schools ? A lot of Jefferson Parish schools are reopening but many of the teachers are still displaced in cities where they can be paid a much better salary. Will they return ? The level of education before the storm was questionable. If you wanted your kids to have a decent education you had to pay a premium for it. Would we be able to pay the cost of a post Katrina decent education ? It seems that the base for rebuilding the city of New Orleans will be Jefferson Parish. All of those kids will now be in Jefferson Parish schools. How many kids will be in each class. Pre Katrina was approx 30 per class ; Post Katrina ?

There are so many questions and , for now, so few answers. My family was relocated to another area for their safety. I wanted them to retain some resemblance of normal life. Hopefully one day soon we will be able to do that in New Orleans.

The Magic

When I was growing up Christmas at my house was magical. My Mom liked to bake during the holidays and she was good at it. She would start with her own special kind of Fruit cake. It wasn't really Fruit cake but more like a candy, but then again what we call goolash isn't really goolash either.......it's all in the perception. She would then use her Mothers recipe to make a Pecan Log and then that special Divinity. After the candy was done , usually a few days , she would start making the Sugar Cookies......again my Grandma Smiths recipe ( the perfect name to bake things ). She usually made cookies that looked like a Christmas Tree, Santa, Snowman, Angel, a bell and a snowflake. When they were done she would Ice them will all different colors and put them in cans to give away. My Dad had his own little chores while she baked. He chopped the pecans for the pecan log, he chopped the Nilla Wafers and fruit for the fruit cake, he would help roll the pecan log and he would help shell more pecans. He also took it upon himself to test everthing to make sure it was just right. That was all prior to Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve Mom would start her Christmas dinner. Thomas Turkey, Cornbread dressing, fresh cranberry sauce, Spinich Mandaline, Greenbean Casserole, Candied Yams....( or one of at least a hundred sweet potato recipes that she experimented with), baked rolls, orange jello with cheese and pecans, and let me not forget the PINAPPLE MARSHMALLOW SALAD. She would generally try a few new recipes every year but these were the staples. And then she would start on the pies. She made her own fresh Pumpkin pies. she would use the left over pumpkin to fill about 5 ramkins for us to nibble on that night. She made custard, banana cream pies, pecan pies, and coconut cream pies. On Christmas day after all of the magic in the morning we would eat Monkey bread and then wait for all of the visitors. Our house would generally be full of people all day until dinner time around 5pm and we would all eat buffet style. It was such a happy time. We all thought that it would last forever. The funny thing is that even though the people change over the years the Magic stays. It's all about the giving and the kids. The magic is made by the kids. When I get up in the morning to see the magic in the faces of my kids it brings back the magic for me that was there on every Christmas Morning. Thanks to my parents for teaching me that. I can remember that for my parents it was all about us.
When I had my own children I finally understood.

Santa if your listening from up above....................Thanks for the magic.

1 Dead in the attic

this picture says it all. Money, Publicity & power, petty arguements..... don't mean anything to the person that was in the attic of this house. Life is precious.....and short. Instead of wasting our precious short time on BS we should use it to make the best memories that we can.

Anyone that had the blessing of family and friends after August 29th should count their blessings.