Summary: Family is also who you choose, and so are traditions.
\nWritten for day 18 of the 2021 Advent Calendar.
\nRating: G
\nWord Count: 1705<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Bonanza Family Traditions<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhere is \u2026?\u201d Adam mumbled, scanning the supplies in their jars, bags, and tins in Hop Sing\u2019s storeroom behind the kitchen. \u201cThere should be a big bag of rice flour.\u00a0I brought it myself along with the fruits and sweets. And it has to be rice flour. It makes the cake sticky on the teeth \u2026 as a boy I didn\u2019t like the feeling \u2026 but yes, it has to be like that, absolutely.\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n Adam rummaged through the bags, then he opened the lids of the jars.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n Yes, there it was. Perhaps Hop Sing had been better for a few hours and tidied up his pantry? A tidy house before New Year was an important Chinese tradition. Maybe he did it yesterday when I tried to ride into town?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/i>The snow had blocked the road completely, so Adam had returned without the remedy he had hoped to get from Doc Martin. In the end he was thankful just to reach the ranch house again. Hop Sing had been lying on his bed, coughing, sniffing, and feverish, but with a mug of herb tea from his own recipe that Pa had brewed for him by his bedside and a warm stone that Hoss had heated for him at his feet.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>When Adam had asked what he needed, Hop Sing said they should stop fussing over him.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>His voice had been not just hoarse but faint,<\/span><\/i>\u00a0Adam remembered, and just then he’d planned out what he was doing now.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>Adam lit all the lamps. They were bright enough to illuminate the kitchen even on a dark night in the middle of January.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>Rice flour, sugar, honey, water \u2026 something else?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/i>No, neither cooking nor baking were among his special talents, he was absolutely aware of it, but he had to make the Niangao. He was in charge of restocking provisions this week. Normally, this meant driving the buckboard into town and buying whatever Hop Sing ordered, and so he had done before the snow prevented anything–even a sleigh–from reaching a mercantile, Chinese or American. So, that was the fact, there was no New Year\u2019s cake. Not a tiny bit. Tomorrow was the last day of the old year in the Chinese calendar.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>Hop Sing was too sick to cook, there wasn’t a way to buy the cake, and it was his job to keep all their provisions restocked. So it was that Adam stood here in the night stirring and tasting.<\/span><\/p>\n Adam eyed the mixture in its bowl.\u00a0Maybe I should add some eggs?<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n After the second egg, the batter was more fluid. Not too bad,\u00a0<\/i>Adam tried to convince himself.\u00a0It tastes sweet at least.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>Nevertheless, Adam added another egg, then a handful of raisins and nuts.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>Next he looked for the special small molds Hop Sing always used when he simmered the cakes in hot water. His gaze fell on the crate with Christmas decorations that still stood in the kitchen. On top lay the Christmas angel Inger had made. Adam smiled as he always did when he remembered the Christmas eve with Inger, the paper toy theater and his first Lussekatters (Sibylle:\u00a0The Paper Toy Theater<\/i><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>They were already a Christmas tradition especially after Hop Sing had found an original Swedish recipe.\u00a0<\/i>Three weeks ago he had also stood in the kitchen stirring. Adam smiled again. He would never forget to cook the barn elf his sweet porridge the way Mama Inger had taught him. Even in Boston, in the house of his grandfather, he had made the special bowlful. (DJK:\u00a0Remembering the Barn Elf<\/i><\/a>). He hadn’t known how his grandfather would feel about something his stepmother had taught him, or briefly if he would tolerate his love for Inger. When Abel did, the anxiety that had always tightened his heart in his grandfather’s house had vanished and he had sung, with a joyful and free heart, the Christmas carols his own mother had loved.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>Most of those his father had taught him long ago but there were two he had learned in Boston and they were now his and even Joe\u2019s favorite Christmas songs. Yes, it was possible to have two different strands of traditions! Or even more? Marie\u2019s china and table decorations and the old Bible from the Cartwright family were also part of the Christmas tradition.<\/span><\/p>\n Where was the other crate? The one with the Chinese decorations, and other things they would need for the New Year? Here it was!<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/i>As Adam searched in the crate for the molds he unpacked the\u00a0fai chun<\/i>, red and golden decorations with Chinese characters which stood for \u201cluck\u201d, \u201clong life\u201d, \u201cwealth\u201d, \u201chealth\u201d and other good wishes for the New Year.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/i>Adam emptied out the whole crate but still didn\u2019t find the molds, so he decided to cook the cake in a baking pan that he put in a pot with water. While the water was heating he had a closer look at the decorations.\u00a0They look battered,\u00a0<\/i>he thought.\u00a0Maybe I should freshen them up.\u00a0<\/i>So he ran to his room for golden ink, and while the cake was cooking he restored the decorations. He also made some new ones but resisted the urge to throw the old set away, despite their shabbiness and childish inaccuracies. He remembered making those with Hop Sing when Marie was so sick after Little Joe\u2019s birth. Even Hoss\u2019 flowers-drawings became only a new loop\u2014they were also part of the tradition (LissaB,\u00a0Dragon Dance<\/i><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>After about another hour, once he was satisfied with the status of the decorations, he decided the cake had boiled long enough, cleaned up the kitchen, and finally went to bed.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>\u2026..<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Hop Sing opened his eyes. The headache was gone. He felt weak, but he would stand up and go to work. There is so much to do on the last day in the year, cleaning, baking, cooking, decorating. So much\u2014maybe too much.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>Hop Sing didn\u2019t open his eyes fully but shuffled into his kitchen. First, he would make the cake. He went into the store room but couldn\u2019t find the rice flour.\u00a0<\/i>And where were the molds and the decorations? Was nothing in its place? Would nobody respect his feelings? When he were healthier he would shout and be irate. Maybe leave this ignorant family.\u00a0<\/i>Now only a small cry came from his lips as he dropped into a chair at the kitchen table.\u00a0And the Cartwrights are sitting in the table in the big room eating breakfast\u00a0\u00a0without any thoughts about me and the New Year.\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0Hop Sing covered his face with his hands.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/i>Just then Hoss entered the kitchen. \u201cHop Sing, you are up! Do you feel better?\u201d But after a second glance he added quickly, \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>The other three Cartwrights now came in, surrounding him, asking their questions in unison.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>\u201cHop Sing?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>\u201cAre you all right?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>\u201cWould you like to go to bed again?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>\u201cShould I bring you something to eat?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>Hop Sing only shook his head and croaked, \u201cHas somebody seen the lice flour and my molds and \u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>Four voices answered \u201cyes!, four Cartwrights ran out of the kitchen in the store room, trying to shove past each other.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>\u201cNo, they not inside, Hop Sing alleady looked for it,\u201d Hop Sing said tonelessly. \u201cNot on place.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>In that moment all four came back with his molds, forms, and pans in their hands. They put all the items before him on the kitchen table.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>\u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d But at the moment he asked, Hop Sing knew what it was:\u00a0\u00a0four totally different, miserable, unprofessional but real New Year\u2019s cakes.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>Incredulous, he looked up, and became aware that Joe\u2019s hair was cut, that he and Hoss had brooms in their hands, that the\u00a0<\/span>fai chun\u00a0<\/span><\/i>hanging in the big room seemed shinier than ever, yes, and there were even red envelopes on his employer\u2019s desk. Cleaning the house to sweep the bad luck away; not cutting the hair in the first days of the New Year so as not to cut the good luck–all was being observed. (Joe had needed a haircut even before Christmas!) And the usual gifts were surely waiting in the red envelopes.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>\u201cYou, you did all what\u2019s important for me, for the New Year \u2026 thank you \u2026\u201d Hop Sing stammered.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>\u201cNo,\u201d Adam said loudly.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>Hop Sing looked up at him, startled.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>\u201cWe Cartwrights have a lot of traditions from a lot of different cultures. I thought about it last night. It\u2019s not only blood that binds a family together, but also having the same traditions and rituals. You taught us when we were boys to celebrate the New Year the right way, so that we will have luck and happiness in the following year. And to celebrate the New Year in this way is a Cartwright family tradition that not one of us will ever forget!<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>\u201cSo, Hoss and Joe, go on with the cleaning, so that all the bad luck can be swept out! Pa and I will finish hanging the decorations; and you, Hop Sing, can sleep, so we can sit together tonight as long as possible, so we all\u2014and especially the older generation of the family\u2014\u201d here he winked at Hop Sing\u2014\u201cwill have a long life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/i>Family,\u201d\u00a0<\/i>thought Hop Sing, as he walked back to his bed, with a good warm feeling in his heart.\u00a0And we will eat the cakes to the last crumb, even if they taste as awful as they look.\u00a0<\/i><\/span>At least I will.<\/i><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/i>The End.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n Author’s Note:<\/span><\/p>\n I think we all have – especially with the prequels and sequels-\u00a0\u00a0our own universe with things that \u201chappened\u201d for us from stories we wrote ourselves or from other authors’ work. In my case there are two other stories that mine refers to. I highly recommend them both: DJK’s\u00a0Remembering the Barn Elf<\/i>\u00a0(Advent Calendar 2016) and LissaB\u2019s\u00a0Dragon Dance<\/i>, my favorite Hop Sing story ever. Thanks for those brilliant stories and I hope it\u2019s ok that my Cartwrights are remembering what you have written. It is their past.<\/span><\/p>\n I have to say thank for their help also to Sandspur and Sklamb.\u00a0<\/span>THANK YOU!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Character: Adam <\/p>\n Link to Day 19 of the Bonanza Brand 2021 Advent Calendar:\u00a0 Christmas Angel by wx4rmk<\/a><\/p>\n
\n~*~*~ Advent Calendar ~*~*~
\n* Day 18*<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>Activity: restocking provisions<\/span><\/p>\n