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Monday, December 26, 2011

Christmas Prepping!

As preppers, I’m sure most of us have faced the distress and worry of family members that refuse to see the value of prepping, or even stocking up on a few things for that matter. We personally have talked to all of our family about this matter at one point or another, with little results. Oh, I have one brother-in-law that takes a mild interest. It suits his lifestyle of hunter, fisherman, and outdoorsman. Still, he hasn’t made it a priority in his life to seriously prepare his family for unforeseen disaster. Through couponing, I’ve also managed to enlighten a few family members to the benefits of food storage under the guise of saving money. On the other end of the spectrum, I also have a sister that, for a while, was convinced we were going off the deep end and were going to run off and join a cult. Fortunately, I’ve not felt the need to do that either. Hah! Never the less, all of these things left us with a conundrum. How were we going to prepare for ourselves AND an extended family that refused to see the need in doing so for themselves?


Then the answer came to me one day last summer as I sat at my mother-in-law’s kitchen table enjoying a glass of iced tea and a few hours of conversation. She had been reminiscing about her mother who had passed away a few years prior. Grandma, as we all called her whether she was our grandma or not, was an avid canner. My MIL was telling me a story of when she was younger and helping to can up a batch of green beans. Grandma had canned the whole mess in a hot water bath and had ultimately lost all of her green beans to spoilage that year. And boy, was she ever mad, my MIL recounted, her eyes tearing from laughing, while she told of emptying all the jars of spoiled green beans in the field. Luckily, Grandma didn’t give up on her canning. Instead she enjoyed many years of canning, sharing the work and satisfaction with two daughters, as she created not only great meals but great memories. It was then and there that I decided what my MIL’s Christmas gift from us would be. A new canner and a Ball’s blue book of canning. Yes, I’m giving her the gift of a canner because I know it will make her a little more prepared. But I know it will also bring her many hours of joy and hopefully a few more good memories.

 Now, having two daughters of my own that are both young adults, I can also see a gift I can give them. And here it is…

Yes, that’s a near empty canning shelf you’re seeing. And, yes, as a prepper I should be ashamed. But I don’t see that as a barren shelf but a shelf of potential. It’s a shelf of future skill for me to teach my daughters and a shelf of happy memories to be made.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

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