Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, November 25, 2023

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Mountain View News Saturday, November 25, 2023 


WALKING SIERRA MADRE - The Social Side

by Deanne Davis


“For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food,

For love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

We have survived another Thanksgiving. Actually, 
Thanksgiving was pretty much wonderful.

I guess where I am the day or so after Thanksgiving 
is counting blessings and naming them one by one. 
Blessings are small things. They seldom arrive on a 
pink unicorn tossing glitter about.

Blessings are a shared moment you didn’t think 
would happen. They are unexpected hugs, a text 
from someone you haven’t heard from for a while. 
It’s pulling out the pictures of turkeys the kids have drawn since they were very little 
and taping them up where everyone could admire them. It’s using the pinecones turned 
into turkeys with a little construction paper and pipe cleaners.

You probably did the same thing at your house. I hope you kept all those Thanksgiving 
art projects. They become more precious as the years go by. The picture today is one of 
those.

A blessing is a lovely meal where we all held hands around the center island where all 
the food was waiting and said we were thankful for pretty much what you’d expect…
health, family, each other. We ate too much, enjoyed eggnog, dozed through a movie or 
two on Disney + and, even though we knew eating one more thing would be dangerous, 
we devoured pumpkin cheesecake anyway. No, we will not be weighing ourselves for a 
few days.

“Count your blessings, name them one by one,

Count your many blessings,

See what God has done.”

Johnson Oatman, Jr. (1897)

The two things my family like best for Thanksgiving are creamed spinach and Lime 
Jell-O Salad. Everybody has some sort of Jell-O salad thing but mine was shared with 
me by my Aunt Helen many years ago. My aunt was renowned for being a person who 
never said anything unpleasant or unkind about anyone, unlike Teddy Roosevelt’s 
daughter, Alice Roosevelt Longworth who famously said, “If you haven’t got anything 
nice to say about anybody, come over here and sit right next to me.”

My Aunt Helen has been in heaven for quite a while now, but she lives on for me and our 
family whenever we make her famous Green Jell-O Salad. Yes, I know Thanksgiving is 
over and we’re giving serious thought to Christmas shopping…how could we not when 
every store is stuffed with Christmas stuff and we were lucky to be able to find some 
Thanksgiving napkins! The thing about Helen’s Green Jell-O Salad is that everybody 
likes it, it’s gone almost immediately and you can make it again for Christmas dinner.

Just another thought about my Aunt Helen…she never married or had children of her 
own, but she loved me dearly and I can still see her sitting on the floor with a shaded 
lamp, reading Winnie the Pooh to me when I was about five and had a serious case of 
measles. Yes, another one of those blessings I can count. She sewed doll clothes for me 
on her treadle sewing machine, helped me write and memorize a long report on Victoria 
Falls when I was in third grade and was a blessing to me all her life.

HELEN’S GREEN JELL-O SALAD

1 regular size package lime Jell-O

2 cups boiling water

24 oz. can crushed pineapple

1 Tb. lemon juice (you can add more if you like)

2 cups miniature marshmallows

1 8-oz container whipping cream whipped till it’s nice and thick.

Put the Jell-O into whatever dish you plan to serve it in. Drain the pineapple juice into 
the Jell-O, but not the pineapple. Add the marshmallows, the 2 cups boiling water, the 
lemon juice and stir till the Jell-O is completely melted. Refrigerate. Keep a close eye on 
this as you want it to thicken, but not completely set. Add the pineapple and whipped 
cream and mix well. Be sure all the Jell-O is off the bottom and mixed in. Refrigerate 
until completely firm. You can add walnuts or pecans. You can double this with complete 
impunity and great success. Easy, but you can’t go to the movies till it’s totally set.

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” Ps. 107:1

“I haven’t even finished eating all my Halloween candy!”

Sally Brown, “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving”

My book page: Amazon.com: Deanne Davis

There are treasures there! Trust me! 

Including “Star of Wonder – A Christmas Love Story”


WHAT'S HAPPENING AT THE 

SIERRA MADRE PLAYHOUSE


Our holiday show begins this Friday! Cori Cable Kidder's Holiday Spectacular: A 1940s 
Christmas Revue will play on our stage from Nov 24 (the day after Thanksgiving) 
through Dec 23.

These original WWII-era military-themed holiday concerts star Sierra Madre Playhouse's 
Patsy Cline, Cori Cable Kidder, who received an Ovation nomination for her 
2015 Sierra Madre Playhouse performance following a four-month run of sold-out performances 
of Always...Patsy Cline. You won't want to miss Cori performing military 
and holiday classics of the 1940s, with live musical accompaniment by Sean Paxton on 
piano and a 3-piece band.

For this Black Friday weekend only, use code CHEER20 to take 20% off regular ticket 
prices!

Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com