My 74th Christmas has come and gone

.

We had a nice visit with our youngest son and his 3 daughters for the past 3 days.


Nerissa, a Clemson college sophmore, said the best thing was getting to stay up late, sleep late, and not going to classes. She was excited about making all A's the fall semester. We're equally proud of our granddaughter Katie who is a high school senior and made all A's which exempts her from having to take finals when school starts back in January. Our 7th grade granddaughter said it didn't seem like Christmas since it was so warm and humid while they were here from S.C. And to think we spent a lot of time gathering kindling and firewood so we could use our big fireplace at Christmas. We had to turn on the air conditioner instead.


Christmas Day was a lot of fun. We all gathered in the living around the tree at 9 A.M., before breakfast to open presents. There were lots of presents from our older son and his family in Austin, TX. He is recovering from surgery on his nose and they couldn't be with us this year. We will go to visit him in the spring when bluebonnets are blooming.

Some of our gifts were a bit unusual - like the new iron and ironing board I asked for. I would never go out and buy a Rowenta iron with a platinum sole plate, so I asked for one for Christmas and Santa brought me one. My old ironing board has been around about 35 years and it was time for a new one that didn't rock when you tried to iron on it. I dislike ironing (don't do too much anymore) but with my new iron I might even start creasing our pants and ironing the entire shirt or blouse, not just the collars!


 James makes a list each year and mails it to Santa. He wants pretty much the same thing every year. For about 20 years, he has wanted a Red Flyer wagon and we never get him one. This year his brother and his wife from TX sent him a wagon and it is his favorite present. They thought it was time he got what he wanted!




We all had so much fun opening our gifts and trying them out. I wasn't sure what some of the electronic items were for; for instance, an Ipod Touch. But granddaughter Caroline was so thrilled to get one of these from Santa. Then there were Ipod music cards, blu-Ray DVD's, and some other things I didn't know anything about. 


Katie finally got a North Face jacket.
Nerissa got bathroom shelves and an indoor-outdoor thermometer that were on her list.


We had a late breakfast and our Christmas Day meal was mid afternoon when we had spiral cut ham, along with veggies and salad, and praline cheesecake and Corsicana, TX fruitcake.


Friday was a "lazy" day. Jim and Bill played golf and the girls and I enjoyed watching movies, looking at our gifts, with the girls all playing games on our computers or sending messages to friends. Friday evening we had a family night at a movie in Enterprise. Jim stayed home with our son James (who is afraid of the dark in the theater and doesn't like to go). I saw Benjamin Buttons with the 3 girls while our son Bill went to Valkrie, alone. He said the girls love to go to movies but it is so expensive to go as a family - sometimes around $75 if they don't grab the matinee and if they buy popcorn and drinks.


Today they left here at 7:30 A.M. heading back to Florence, SC and the SUV was really loaded with 4 people and all their Christmas gifts, suitcases, etc. A call later this afternoon was to let us know they made it back safe and sound, and good weather. Now they have a week at home before school starts back Jan. 5th.


Christmas is so much fun when you are with family. Last year we were alone and after we opened our gifts, Christmas was over! It was much more fun this year.


I think we're the only people on the street with outdoor decoratations still up and lights burning. I try to make it last 2 or 3 days after Christmas. As you can see, I LOVE Christmas.

Christmas Eve 2008

. 

8 A. M. Well, it's finally here - Christmas Eve. And James is patiently waiting beside the tree. Why does it come so fast when you get older? When I was growing up, it was a very long time from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Now it seems that you barely get over one holiday before another one comes along. Of course the media and stores start celebrating Christmas long before. This year they were filling the stores with Christmas "stuff" before Halloween was over - 3 months before Christmas. That's just too long.


I don't start decorating or put up a tree before the 1st Sunday in December. We usually try to have our tree up for James' birthday on Dec. 8. The tree and the nativity are the first 2 things to appear. James brought home the white ceramic figures for this manger scene when he was attending the "little white school house" in Paris, TX in the 1970's. I bought the wooden manger when we lived in Winston-Salem, NC in 1980's. I turn the small light on and it burns day and night until I pack everything up and put it back on the tallest shelf in our storage building.


Doesn't matter that one of the shepherd's has a broken neck held together with scotch tape, or the back side of one of the camels has a big hole where it is broken, or the little lamb is missing a leg. Baby Jesus used to disappear from the manger where he lay on some straw and we would have to locate him and place him back in the manger. Usually we would find him in James' pants or coat pocket. I'm sure that when I'm gone, all of this will be considered "old" and placed in the dump! But for now it is one of my fondest memories of Christmas.

3 P.M. - Bill and his 3 daughters arrived from Florence, SC. We were so glad they arrived safe and that they got here before dark. They arrived with their packages and there really wasn't room for any more packages under the tree. We kept putting them in layers. James spent a lot of time today looking for his name on presents and he kept an eye on the tree so that nobody would open a gift!


We went to communion at our church at 5:15 P.M. and then rode around looking at Christmas lights. Then we came back home and I made a delicious Christmas Eve dinner. We had smoked turkey breast, pork loin, rice, veggies, Christmas strawberry jello salad and praline cheese cake.

Christmas Pageants - then and now

When I was growing up in the 40's, the highlight of our little country church every Christmas was the Christmas pageant, usually the Sunday before Christmas. We didn't have a lot of people in the audience since most of us were in the pageant, which always took place at night. The same costumes were used over and over except for the shepherd's robes, which were always borrowed from some of the older men.


A couple of years ago, Phillip Mixon, son of one of the ladies in the church, discovered some boxes in the attic storage of his mother's home when the house was being torn down to make way for the new highway. In those boxes were the costumes (folded away neatly) that were used in the Christmas pageants for many, many years. "Miss Viletia" was the only director that I can remember and she took care of the costumes over the years until her death in the 1990's.


More about the pageant. Angels were my favorite. Maybe that's because that was always my part. I wanted to be Mary but the older girls always got that part. Angel wings were made from coat hangers, covered with white crepe paper and outlined with shiny silver tinsel. They were pinned with large safety pins to the back of the white robes. They were always getting off center. Shepherds had to wear sandals and this was a time when men didn't wear sandals. The director made sandals using rope and cardboard for the soles of the shoes. She was very, very creative. I remember that the 3 wise men were always older members of the church, and their gifts were so shiny and pretty. I remember we used macaroni to glue to the boxes and then they were sprayed gold. I always wondered what frankinsence and myhr looked like. Of course we didn't have computers and google to do searches back then to look up things.


What I remember most about Christmas at our old wooden church was how cold it was. The two big wood heaters would start putting our heat and turn red about time to go home. Then the fire had to be put out before we left.


In the 1970s the church we attended in Paris, TX had a production of "Amahl and the Night Visitors". It was fantastic. I had never heard of Amahl and I love the story. The next year and succeeding years the choir presented the Messiah at Christmas. There were visiting opera singers from colleges singing with the choir, and a small orchestra. I remember thinking that this was a far cry from our little Christmas pageant.

Then a few years ago I was brought back to the days of our church pageant when I read the funniest book, "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" by Barbara Robinson. It reminded me so much of my childhood Christmas plays. I learned that a movie had been made from the book and I checked the video out of our library. I think I will see if that movie is still in the library, and just maybe I'll check it out to show the granddaughters on Christmas eve. I know I'll enjoy it but I'm not sure they can identify with the story, never having been in a Christmas pageant.

The children in our church always have a little play a couple of Sunday nights before Christmas and the families crowd into the fellowship hall to see the play. It is always a modern story - no Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus lying in a manger. Gathering with families afterwards for food and fellowship is a great tradition for our members.


Our church has a living nativity scene a few nights before Christmas, in front of the church by a busy street. There is a wooden stable with 3 sides and open to street so that you can drive by and see Mary and Joseph and the baby. 


Sitting or standing around the Holy family are wise men, shepherds, angels, etc. Sometimes they have live animals. Last year we signed up to be there for an hour (and nearly froze to death). There was recorded music that could be heard when cars passed by and slowed down to view the nativity scene. This year I'm going to be one of the "onlookers" and let younger people take my place. Maybe I'll take them some hot chocolate!!

Christmas Classics

I was in college in 1953 before I ever heard of the Nutcracker Suite. It was in a music appreciation class that I heard this beautiful music and the story behind it. It is one of my most favorite Christmas stories and I love the ballet. I've seen it on stage a few times in my lifetime, but the most memorable was in 1998 when I left the farm and flew to Austin, TX to see our granddaughter Allison, age 10, dance in the Austin Nutcracker Ballet. I think she was on stage a total of 5-6 minutes and she was absolutely beautiful and I loved every minute of her performance as a dancing flower.

It was on this particular night that Michael Dell (of Dell computer fame) was Mother Ginger . Each night a different person played that part.

The ballet was beautiful and I was so happy to be able to be there to see Allison dancing.

I enjoyed my week-end, despite the rain and icy conditions. The planes left from Austin on time, despite the icy conditions, and I arrived back at the Dothan airport to much wamer weather and sunshine.

The Nutcracker always brings a bit of sadness to mind for me also. In November, 1996, our daughter in law Barbara was very ill and I was spending some time in Florence, SC with them. She had tickets to take the two older children (ages 6 and 4) to see the Nutcracker ballet and asked if I would take them for her. They would get so excited when they recognized some of the performers on the stage. I remember it was a long evening, trying to keep them quiet. She was so happy that her little girls enjoyed the ballet. She had read the story to them. Then that following Sunday, the day after I returned home to Alabama, our daughter-in-law died after a short illness.

Alabama Public TV has beautiful Christmas programs each year. I just finished watching the San Francisco Nutcracker Ballet and now I'm watching the St. Olaf College singers from Minneapolis singing carols in an old cathedral in Norway, and it's just breathtaking.

Each year on the Sunday before Christmas, one of our male choir members, Kenneth Baker,  sings "Sweet Little Jesus Boy" and everybody waits in anticipation on that Sunday to hear this traditional message of Christmas.

Last Sunday was our Christmas Cantata and included in it were some Christmas carols. I noticed that our mentally handicapped son singing along (quietly thank goodness) when he knew the words of some of the carols. My husband Jim always enjoys singing in the Christmas cantata at Elba United Methodist Church which is usually on the 2nd Sunday morning in Dec. This year the church was beautifully decorated with candles burning in the windows and 60 large red poinsettias at the front rail at the altar.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

It was Christmas eve, 1940, when I was 6 years old. We lived with my grandparents - my mother and daddy, and sisters Christine(4) and Susan (2). It was a cold, rainy night. Mother had slipped on ice on the steps on the back porch a couple of weeks earlier and sprained her ankle. She went to the Dr. and he wrapped her ankle but for some reason, she didn't have crutches to use. I remember she used a straight back chair to rest the injured ankle by kneeling her leg on the seat of the chair, and pushing it along and walking with her left leg.


She made her way to the fireplace in the room where we were all gathered by the big, roaring fire, and we were talking about Santa Claus and wondering what we were going to get for Christmas. We didn't make long lists on the computer, along with photos, etc. of what we wanted for Christmas. In fact, I don't remember making a list at all. I guess I thought Santa would know what I wanted. We didn't have TV to tell us what we wanted, or the newspaper ads to see all the toys that are available.


All we had to do was "believe" and Santa would come and leave us some toys, along with candy and fruit. Once we even spotted Santa riding down the road in the Coca Cola truck, and he waved to us. I don't recall ever visiting Santa in a store and telling him what I wanted.


That particular Christmas was special. It's a memory I have kept all my life. My Aunt was visiting us that night, along with her little son, Tom. Daddy told us to listen, that he heard someone on the roof. We were worried that there was a fire in the fireplace but daddy told us not to worry; that Santa could come in doors and windows if there was a fire. Then we heard someone on the porch. I think probably the wind was blowing the porch swing against the posts and the chains were making a noise. But we all thought it was Santa coming and we were very quiet so he wouldn't know we were still up. We sat still for what seemed like a long time, and then my aunt came into the room and said she also heard a noise and went into the "front room" and Santa had already come and there were presents under the tree. Mother and daddy led us to the Christmas tree and indeed, there were unwrapped presents with our names on them. I remember getting a doll whose eyes would open and close. We were allowed to take one toy to bed with us. I remember taking my doll to bed with me and my heart was pounding at the thought of Santa coming early and we didn't have to wait until Christmas morning to see what he brought.


Looking back, I guess this was a good idea, and probably my parents were hoping we wouldn't get up so early the next morning. Our only heat was the fireplace and we stayed in bed until the fire was warming the room where we always gathered (which was my grandparents bedroom).


On Christmas Day, daddy took us outside to look for the raindeer footprints but we didn't find any. And I guess we didn't think about that anymore. After all, Santa did come, and we got some presents. I think my daddy loved Christmas as much as the kids. He could hardly wait for us to see our gifts. One Christmas he spent long hours repairing a firetruck pedal car for our little brother. He painted the car, replaced broken parts, etc and had it ready by Christmas. I was 10 years old when he was 2. I didn't know my daddy was working on the firetruck and until I saw them putting it in Mama Wilson's closet on Christmas eve. I was very confused on Christmas Day when they said to my brother, "Look what Santa brought you!" This was the first time that I even questioned if there was a Santa. Mother read me the editorial in the newspaper, "Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus". I can remember thinking that if I stopped believing in Santa, I wouldn't get any gifts. So I pretended to believe there was a Santa for a few more years. I didn't want my little sisters to find out there was not a real Santa.

Christmas was so much simpler back then. Jim and I have been trying to decide what to get our 5 granddaughters (ages 13-23) for Christmas and asked for a list. Their lists were very confusing. Many of the items were electronic and completely foreign to us, i.e. wii games, play station 3 games, ipod touch, etc. There was only one sensible item on the list: our granddaughter who is a sophomore at Clemson University and living in an apartment asked for some shelves to put over the toilet for storage. She inherited her "neatness" and organizational skills from her grandpa - not me!! And I can't believe I paid over $50 for a pair of jeans that were faded, torn places on the front and legs, and even allowed the 13 year old to wear them to a school party, before wrapping them up to put under the tree. I thought "why not" when she asked if she could wear them. I bought them for her when we were visiting them in SC at Thanksgiving, so she could try them on. 



When it was time to make my list this year, I couldn't think of a thing I wanted. Most of all I want good health and to spend Christmas with family.


Pictured here is our little friend Isabella is giving Santa her list at the Children's Party at church.


Want to know what I think Christmas is about, besides the birth of Jesus? I think it is "Loving, Caring, and Sharing".

Our Christmas Trees - a family tradition

We have always had a Christmas tree during the 55 years of our marriage.

Our second Christmas we were living in Wurzburg, Germany and we bought a large fir tree. We had to cut off about 12" of the trunk to get it inside our living room. We still have the small part of the trunk we cut off and every Christmas I put a red candle in the center where Jim drilled a hole, and add greenery to make a small yule log. And of course we remember the snowy day that we dragged the tree through snow to get it up the hill to our house. It was frozen and we had to put it in the basement to thaw before we could bring it inside. We didn't have many ornaments for the tree and I don't remember if we had any lights on it. All I remember is how good it smelled.

We had many more trees during the following years, always fresh ones. In Texas the boys went to the woods and cut cedar trees. They were always too big when they brought them home and we had to trim them a lot. One year our youngest son Bill bought some wooden ornaments and painted them. I still put this one on our tree every year. After Bill and Ronnie left home, we helped James collect train ornaments and that's usually what we put on the tree every year. Tonight as we unwrapped the ornaments, he had fun talking about where they came from. The most expensive ornament is a white train with a gold nugget on top and ruby "hub caps" on the wheels which I bought for him at Pinehurst, NC. His favorite is a cable car from San Francisco. Last year he wanted a red, white and blue tree. It was different! Our trees do not have themes and they would never win a designer's award. But we love them anyway. About 10 years ago we bought a small "fake" tree because we didn't have much room at the farm for a big tree. This year we have a new, tall, skinny pre-lit balsam tree and it is beautiful - but you can't smell the balsam scent! 
Our 2008 tree is pictured above, and it is still in progress. Have to add shiny balls.

The ornament pictured on the right is New York City inside a clear ball, with a train running around and around, as long as the tree lights are on. Of course this came from NYC on one of our trips.


I love Christmas trees more than any other Christmas decorations. On the farm when I was growing up we usually had a pine or holly tree. During WWII it was hard to find decoations and we had to make most of ours. We didn't have very many lights on the tree. I remember that we covered sweet gum balls (with all those little stickers on them) with alum. foil we peeled off the back of cigarette cartons we found along the roadside and hung those on the tree. We colored strips of paper and glued chains to put on the tree. We loved our little trees and they were very special to us. I wonder if today's children ever get to decorate their trees. They are missing out on so many things that we enjoyed.

I spoke to my 89-year-old aunt in Brewton last week who still lives at home and she said she and her caretaker had been shopping for a new Christmas tree. Last year she gave her tree to her daughter because she wasn't going to use it anymore. This year she was feeling sad and said she just had to put up a tree or it wouldn't feel like Christmas. I'm planning a trip to Brewton before Christmas and will get to see Aunt Ida's tree and enjoy it with her. I know that some day when I am 89 I will still have a Christmas tree - wherever I am.

A Christmas Memory

A few years ago I watched a TV special "A Thanksgiving Memory" that was written by Truman Capote, one of my favorite writers. Since then I have read the story and watched the TV special a few more times, enjoying it more each time.


I identified with this story about the little boy and his aunt gathering things she needed to make a lot of fruit cakes for family and friends.


You see, we did the same thing when I was growing up in the country and we were living with my paternal grandparents, Mama and Papa Wilson in the Curtis Community. It seems that from early November up until Christmas Day the women were always preparing food for the holidays.

I suppose the fruit cakes required the most work. First they boiled grapefruit and orange peelings in sugar and water to make them crystalized. We didn't have dates so they used dried figs. We got really big Muscat raisins from the grocery store in Elba and we had to hand pick the big seeds so the raisins could be used in the cakes. The Muscat is a very special type of raisin. It is quite large, blackish in color, very sweet and quite sticky. How I would love to have some of those big raisins again. They were in bunches like grapes, and we were told they were dried grapes. 

I went online to see if I could find those delicious raisins and found this info: Muscat raisins are available year round from www.sunmaid.com. Go to Gift Shop link, then Bulk Fruits and find #62: Muscat Raisins, in a five pound box for about $22 US plus shipping. Or call Sunmaid at 800-786-6243.)


Muscat Raisins are large, oversized, dark, meaty, sweet raisins with a full fruity flavor.

We started cracking and picking out pecans early in November, to use for the cakes. Then the day came when they made fruitcakes. They steamed them in the huge pressure cooker they used for canning in the summer. Oh, and they put some of Papa Wilson's homemade fox grape wine in the cakes.

Once the fruitcakes were finished baking, they would be wrapped in a large white flower sacks, and the cloth was then soaked with wine. The cake was put in the "ice box" on the back porch to keep it moist and cool.


It was so much fun getting ready to make holiday cakes. Another cake they baked was called a Lane Cake. The icing was made with sugar, butter, and eggs. The nuts and raisins were ground in the food chopper and added to the icing. And this also had "spirits" in the icing. Today, this is my favorite cake at Christmas time.


Daddy would bring a couple of coconuts home from the store for mother to make his favorite coconut cake. My job was to crack the coconut, drain the juice, and peel the coconut after removing the hard shell. I did not like to grate the coconut as I always grated my knuckles in the process.


My favorite cake at the time was called a Lemon Cheese Cake. The cake was like a sponge cake, made with egg whites. The yolks were used to make the lemon curd used as icing. I was surprised when visiting my sister in London a few years ago that you could buy jars of lemon curd to eat with shortbread cookies. It tasted exactly like the lemon cheese my mother made. Maybe that's where the recipe came from, a long time ago.


My other grandmother, Mama Smith, always made chocolate cakes at Christmas time, with thin boiled chocolate icing that reminded me of fudge. And lots and lots of tea cake cookies.


Now at Christmas time, I have this feeling that I must get busy and start baking. I usually give my goodies away. Nobody likes fruit cake anymore. But Jim and I do. Our daughter-in-law in Texas always sends us one of those delicious Corsicana Fruit Cakes each year and we only eat a little at the time, making it last til spring! People who didn't grow up in Ala. have no idea what a Lane Cake is, and they think lemon cheese cakes are puddings - not cakes!


I'm so sorry my 5 granddaughters are missing out on this great experiece of "getting ready for Christmas" as we did long ago. What great memories I have of smelling the cakes baking, and the aroma of the wine as they opened the cloths to remove the cakes when it was time to eat them.


I guess their memories will be shopping at the mall, ordering things online, and ordering pizzas when getting home from shopping.


When they visit us during Thanksgiving or Christmas, they always want to see what's on the dessert table and they all find their favorites. I must get busy picking out pecans and start baking. Our youngest son and his 3 teen girls (one in college) will be coming from SC for Christmas this year. We can hardly wait.

Sweet Potato Weather

Sweet potatoes

This afternoon was sunny, but cold. Not a cloud in the sky. I came inside around 3 P.M. and had memories of childhood afternoons, coming home from school on the school bus, and running inside the house to get in front of the warm fire place. Then we went to the kitchen for a real treat. There were sweet potatoes baking in the big oven of the wood cook stove. Mother or grandmother Wilson placed them there after baking cornbread in the oven for lunch. They cooked slowly for about 2 hours and were just right. We peeled the dark crusty skin back, sliced the potato lengthwise and put a dollop of fresh churned butter on top of the potato. The potato was still warm and the butter would melt and run down our chins.

I cannot find potatoes in the stores or curb markets today that even resemble those delicious "roots". I think it's the process they went through they went thru after they were dug in the fall. We had to pick up the potatoes after they were turned up from the ground where the vines grew all summer. They were handled carefully and then spread out on boards to dry for a few days. Had to cover them if it rained before they were "cured". Next they were placed in hills or mounds with layers of pinestraw and dirt covering them. boards were placed over the mounds, standing up like an Indian teepee, with an opening in the top for any steam to escape.


I have made many trips to the "potato hill" to get sweet potatoes for meals. We washed them before putting them in the oven to bake. Sometimes we would boil them and then peel the skins off and mother would mash them and make a sweet potato pie, adding lots of spices, eggs, cream, sugar and baking the pie until it resembled a custard. Still one of my favorite pies.


My sister suggested that I bake a pan of sweet potatoes, all at one time and put them in the freezer, taking out one as I desired and heat it in the microwave. They're much sweeter than they are if you cook them in the microwave when they are raw.


I can only imagine our grandchildren coming home from school and being offered a hot baked sweet potato for a snack!


Tomorrow I am going to the store and get a dozen sweet potatoes, the long medium (not big round fat ones) potatoes and bake some for cold days for an afternoon snack. This will take me back about 68 years to those good ole' sweet potato days of my childhood.

More Unfortunate Events that occured during the holidays

We left for Florence, SC on Wednesday, Nov. 26 and found out that everybody in the Southeast seemed to be heading in the same direction! Traffic was bumper to bumper much of the 10 hour trip. We celebrated my birthday a day late with our son and family. Then we checked in at the motel where we were staying and guess what! I was sick all night long with the virus Jim had on Tuesday. He and James spent Thanksgiving with Bill and family and I spent the day in bed at the motel. Friday I was fine and got so spend some time with the 3 granddaughters at noon after they returned from their after Thanksgiving shopping trip.

Friday afternoon our son James started complaining about a stomach ache. After staying awake all night Friday night I took him to the hospital at 8 a.m. on Saturday. They admitted him and he was there 5 days. They did a lot of tests and never did find the cause of his stomach pain. One of us had to stay with him all the time since he has to have care.

We spent last night(Wed. Dec 3) with our son and 2 of his daughters (one had gone back to college) and I cooked dinner and afterwards went shopping with the youngest granddaughter. That was the only time I got to get out and do anything the entire trip.  We left to come home on Thursday, Dec. 4.

I guess I can sum up our Thanksgiving trip by stating that we are most thankful that James is ok now and did not have to have surgery. Pictured above on Dec. 3rd, the day he came from home the hospital.

The trip home was uneventful except for the rainy weather. But hey, it could have been ice and snow if it had been a little colder. It states in the Bible: Give thanks in all things. I am trying to do that!

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

Today was akin to Lemony Snicket's "A Series of Unfortunate Events". I never read the 13 Lemony Snicket novels but the titles alone peaked my interest. And I loved his quotes, i.e., "If you are interested in stories with happy endings you would be better off reading some other book." I wonder if granddaughter Katie Adelaide still has her collection. When she was little, I can remember how excited she was when she started reading "chapter" books. We always gave the granddaughters books for Christmas back when they were all growing up. Now it's high tech stuff. Or expensive clothes. Or makeup. Or cars.

Unfortunate event #1 - Jim got sick again this Thanksgiving; 2 years in a row, the day before we were to leave to go to SC and NC for the holidays. Last year he came down with a bad case of bronchitis. We talked about that over the weekend and how glad we were that nobody even had a cold this year.

We spent Monday afternoon packing our van so we could leave  early this morning. I baked for about a week and made 2 cakes (seven-layer chocolate and fresh coconut cakes). Made some Christmas baskets for my 3 sisters we would be visiting. We had everything in the car when we went to bed last night.

At 5:30 a.m. I heard Jim get up and go to the bathroom, where he spent most of the morning!!

Need I say more. He picked up a bad virus from someplace (not at home; we don't allow germs to enter our safe haven). James and I got dressed for our trip before we realized our driver would not be able to accompany us. Jim went back to bed where he stayed until 6 pm. James was very disappointed that we were not leaving and he told his dad he was disappointed in him for doing this to us! Throughout the day he kept peeking in the bedroom to see if his dad was "over" it yet.

Event #2 - About noon one of my sisters called and said they would not be able to meet us for lunch in Charlotte on Saturday; her husband has pneumonia.

Event #3 - Today is my 74th birthday (for my 75th I'm going to throw a big party and celebrate). My 3 granddaughters in SC have been planning a party for me and only found out at noon today  that I wouldn't be there to help celebrate. They ordered a cake, decorated the dining room, and had a special meal planned. I told them to go ahead and have the party and invite the friends that were coming and when they got ready to light the candles and cut the cake, to call me on the speaker phone and we'd all celebrate together..... and they did. What fun. They are saving the rest of the cake to have when we do make it there, along with the unopened presents.

Event #4 - For lunch, James and I ate the sandwiches I had made for our picnic lunch today on our way to SC. We had emptied the frig over the last few days and had a hard time finding food for dinner tonight. It ended up being a fish and chip dinner. When Jim finally got up and came to the kitchen, he ran back out when the smell of fish cooking greeted him. I quickly lit a candle and turned on the exhaust fan.

I guess that's about all the unfortunate events of the day. I did remember to call the hotel before 4 pm to cancel tonight's reservation. I told them to keep the other 5 nights for the time being. We'll have to see what tomorrow brings.

My Aunt Bob used to say, "When life gives you lemons, Make lemonade!" AND do I love fresh lemonade. I'm think that I might just go outside to the van and make up a tray of all the goodies stashed away for our trip. After all, this is the 1st day of our vacation, and it is my birthday, and besides, they won't miss a few. They don't know that I'm bringing chocolate chip cookies, wagon wheel cookies, brownies, 2 cakes, chocolate peanut clusters. sugared peanuts. peanut brittle, sand tarts, and I can't remember what else I have made. For breakfast tomorrow, I might cut off some links of those smoked baby links that we're taking our son.

Maybe Jim will feel better in the morning and we can still go on our trip. Or we might just leave Thanksgiving day when there's not much traffic, and arrive in time for Thanksgiving Dinner. Our son is a great cook.

Over the River and Thru the Woods, to Grandmother's House we Go

Over the River and thru the woods, To grandmother's house we go!!

Not anymore! Grandma and Grandpa have moved to town. We used to live in the woods and every Thanksgiving we always had a big group of relatives at our country place. We always had a great time and it was fun watching the kids grow up and get together there every year. After a big Thanksgiving feast, everybody helped clean up and then we went walking in the woods. On Thanksgiving night there was always a big bon fire and weiner roast.

After we moved to town, and the nephews and nieces grew up and got married and started their families, the Thanksgiving Get-Together started getting smaller and smaller. Then in 2004 we sold the farm and moved to town. Thanksgiving is just not the same anymore since Grandma moved to town.


Our last big Thanksgiving family gathering was in 2006 when we celebrated James' 50th birthday a few days early. Pictured here are the Thrasher family who all came from NC for James' party.


This year we are going "over the river an thru the woods" to get to South Carolina to spend Thanksgiving with our youngest son and his 3 teen agers. He has been a single parent for 12 years since Nov. 17, 1996 - the year his wife Barbara died. Either we go there for Thanksgiving or they come here.


A couple of weeks ago I asked Bill and the girls to send me their favorite cookie choices. For the past 2 days I have made chocolate chip cookies, peanut brittle, peanut chocolate clusters, wagon wheel choc. cookies, brownies, and a 7-layer choc. cake. I've had two requests to make a pumpkin pie from scratch (not a bought one). And stuffing (dressing) outside the turkey, like we always have in Alabama. And today I made a favorite - homemade Concord grape jelly with juice from our vines. We will arrive in SC late Tuesday and I will have Wed. to do last minute grocery shopping for the big meal on Thursday.


When I was young, Thanksgiving Day was just another day on the farm and I've written before about the things we used to do on Thanksgiving. We never had turkey. 


My birthday is usually around that time but it comes a little early this year on Nov. 25. My brother's is the day after. I have asked for a new queen size pillow top mattress set for my birthday this year so I can start sleeping on "Cloud 9". Actually I have no trouble sleeping or getting up. But I hope the new mattress will help my weary bones and I will wake up feeling energetic and not so many aches and pains. I'm sure all of this all comes from getting older. 

My Habitat for Humanity project

No, I'm not building a Habitat for Humanity home - but I am doing my part by using my master gardener skills to landscape the new home being built in Elba.

The Elba Rotary Club is sponsoring the latest habitat home and since Jim is a Rotarian, I offered my services for their project. At our last Master Gardening meeting, I volunteered to serve as the chairperson for this project and 4 others volunteered to assist.

We met last week to go over the blueprints for the home to get an idea of the space, checked out the sunny and shady places and each went home to draw a plan.  Today we got back together and compared our plans.

                                                    

I invited the mother of the single family family (2 teenagers, ages 14 aned 15), to come to our Master Gardening meeting today so everybody could meet her. She said she loves pretty flowers but has never worked in the yard. She was so pleased that we are offering to help her plan for her new surroundings.

I remember new homes we have built and the stress of trying to decide how to lay out the flower beds, what to plant, etc. I always wanted to plant things that were not native to the area and of course, they wouldn't live. Don't ever plant the beautiful sweet smelling lilacs from Minnesota in south Georgia, or plant tulips and expect them to come back every year.

My younger sister Carolyn helped me plan our landscape for our current home and the feature I enjoy most is the split rail cedar fence in the front yard. And the window boxes at the bedroom windows. When we were working on the plan for the habitat house, I suggested the same fence design for the habitat house. Others seemed to like the idea, except for one man who asked why I didn't just put the fence out by the street and not in the middle of the yard! It's fun discussing projects with a group of about 20 certified master gardeners. You get a lot of different ideas.

Here I have posted our own split rail fence in the spring of 2004 and another photo about a year later in 2005 and one in 2008.

Christmas in the South - Ft Rucker Bazaar

Today I went with a friend to the annual Christmas bazaar at Yano Hall at nearby Ft Rucker.

The big aircraft hangar was the perfect place to hold all the exhibits of vendors from all around the area. We arrived there around 10 A.M. and the building was very crowded. We decided to walk around the entire area - about 6 or 7 long aisles - and then eat some German food before starting to get serious about shopping. When we arrived at the food court, we decided to eat Frito Pie in a bag that our Master Gardener friend Suzanne was preparing at an army Battalion booth. You can imagine my surprise as we started down one of the aisles, to find a family from Elba with a booth - S&B Country Goods by Arnie and Shelia Beerenstrauch. Her handcraft and lettering was absolutely beautiful. I bought this Rudolph with a blinking nose for James to put outside.

Elsie Hilton's booth

Farther down the next aisle was my friend Elsie Hilton and her Herb display. Her husband Roy also had some of his plants, gourds, dried okra, bamboo vases, etc for sale. Elsie works for many weeks getting her herbal products ready for the bazaar. I really liked the wine bottles that she melts down in a kiln to use as a cheese tray. And her lovely china tea pots painted with herb designs.  I first met Elsie at a DAR meeting in 1997 and we've been friends ever since. We are also both Home Economists.

Ft Rucker was where Jim was stationed in 1953 when I met him on a blind date. He graduated from high school in Harrisburg, NC in 1952, and soon afterwards, enlisted in the army and had basic training in Ft. Jackson, SC. Then was sent to Ft Rucker, AL. I met him in the summer of 1953 when he came to Troy State University with a friend who had a date with my friend, and she asked if I would go out with them. It was love at first sight! We were married 4 months later, just before he was sent overseas to Germany. I later joined him in Germany.

Camp Rucker 

"Modern" Ft Rucker

When he was at Ft Rucker, the buildings looked like the ones in this b&w photo and it was called Camp Rucker. In 1955, it was renamed "Fort Rucker" when it became a permanent aviation center. Most of  the buildings at the much larger helicopter training  base are now modern brick buildings.

Our Annual Trip to the National Peanut Festival

Last Wednesday (Nov 5) we left home at 7:30 A.M. to journey to Dothan to attend the National Peanut Festival. Wednesday was devoted to Special Persons Day. James' friends came by bus from the Coffee Co. Training Center. We always meet them there so we can bring James home long before the others return after lunch. James is unable to walk very long on the cement walkways and tires easily due to his kidney failure. 

James looks forward to this day for weeks and wouldn't miss it for anything.  He wanted to go to the midway as soon as we entered the gate. His favorite  ride is the merry-go-round and here's some pictures of him and his dad. It's  getting harder and harder to help James get up on the horses. Jim wasn't with us last year and I gave up trying to help James get on one of the horses, and he and I sat on one of the benches and enjoy going "round and round".

He wanted a peanut festival cap and I ended up going to the fair office to buy one. The building that houses peanut festival products (caps, shirts, etc) was not open on Wed. With his cap in hand, and riding the merry-go-round, he was ready to move along to the end of the midway looking at all the rides. No many were operating on Wed. Near the end he said he was unable to walk any further, and sat down on a bench. He was extremely tired and wanted something to drink. Not a single food vendor was open in the midway. I left James with his dad on a bench in a shade and walked back to the entrance of the park to find someone to come give James a ride back to the entrance so we could go home.I found some nice people at the First Aid station and they came to pick James up in their John Deere "Gator". We found him a Pepsi at one of the food vendors. Then after being there for about an hour, he was ready to leave.

He's still talking about how much fun he had at the fair!Since we were out of the park by 11 a.m., we went shopping and stopped at the mall for lunch in the food court. I had my favorite - chinese food. Our Buick was at Maaco in Dothan getting some dents in the bumper taken out and the bumper painted. Jim and James came home in the buick and I spent a couple of more hours shopping. I was totally exhausted when I got home but after a fresh cup of coffee I was ready to go to Wed. night supper at church. It was a very long day.

The Peanut Festival ended with a parade on Sat. morning. For the past few years, we have made a deal with James. We will go to the fair with him on his special day and he would watch the parade on TV. Usually on Friday before the parade he will say something like "I sure would like to see the parade in person and sit in front of First Baptist Church on one of the chairs they rent to "festival goers" and I feel a little bit guilty for not wanting to take him. Actually the parade is a little nostalgic since I remember marching with the band in the parade in the early 50's. (Note: the first peanut festival was held in 1943) I remember one year the band marched behind Johnny Mack Brown on his famous horse, whose name I can't recall. Yesterday (Mon.) when we took James to his appointment with his kidney doctor, we saw big trucks carrying the fair rides, etc. as they were leaving Dothan. James was excited as they passed us on the highway.

By the way, James got a good report (no change in his kidney function which is 20%). If it gets lower, that means dialysis 3 times a week, in 4 hour sessions. We try not to think about that.

Now that the fair is over, James is looking forward to going to SC and NC for Thanksgiving to be with family. We were there just a month ago. Traveling in our "almost new" Honda Odessey van makes the trip much easier.