by MarianBeaman | Jan 2, 2014 | Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia, Recipes, Uncategorized
New year, new opportunity: Vote for My Gutsy Story @ http://soniamarsh.com/2013/12/vote-for-your-favorite-december-2013-my-gutsy-story.html Haven’t read it yet? There’s still time!...
by MarianBeaman | Jan 1, 2014 | Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia, Uncategorized
Here is a postcard from precisely 100 years ago: Grandma Fannie Martin Longenecker’s New Year’s greeting passed down to me and then to our daughter Crista who now displays it in a frame with her holiday decorations: They were called penny postcards for a...
by MarianBeaman | Dec 21, 2013 | Conflict, Memory, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia, Uncategorized
The Longenecker Christmas Tree. Well, there was none. Not one. Not ever. Despite the fact that the Christmas song, “O Tannenbaum” is of German origin, most Pennsylvania Dutch Mennonite homes of the 1950s and 60s did not light Christmas trees. Decorated...
by MarianBeaman | Dec 14, 2013 | Family / Nostalgia, Lists, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia, Uncategorized
You won’t find the definitions for rumspringa or bundling, (often referring to the Amish) in this mini-dictionary of Pennsylvania Dutch words, but here are some expressions the Longeneckers and other Mennonite families in Lancaster County often used growing up...
by MarianBeaman | Nov 30, 2013 | Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Mennonite Lore, Recipes, Uncategorized
When our children were little and our family visited Mother and Daddy in Lancaster County, PA , we could always count on an enamel-coated refrigerator drawer full of soup–either chicken corn or vegetable–to get us revived after a long car trip from...
by MarianBeaman | Nov 16, 2013 | Coming of Age, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia, Reflection, Uncategorized
My mother and I are waiting in Doctor Garber’s examining room, which always has a sharp smell of rubbing alcohol. She’s the patient, and I’m with her sitting on a chair eyeing the metal tray holding at least a dozen tiny vials, so cute they look like they could fit in...
