Christmas 2021

               We had signed up to feed the missionaries at 4:00.  We watched “An American Christmas Carol” and Jenna and I took Bonnie for a walk.  I think we talked with all three boys before Roland started dinner.

          Jenna says it’s tradition that we always have a breakfast meal for our Christmas Eve dinner.  So guess what the elders got? It wasn’t the traditional breakfast that we normally have.  Roland started cooking the meal just after 3:00.  Our meal consisted of steak, eggs, cornbread and hash browns with bacon.

Three elders arrived shortly before 4:00.  We put Bonnie in my room and fed the elders in the back room where we have the tree. Jenna does not like steak and could have made a meal out of corn bread alone. I think she had at least four pieces.

After the elders left we watched “Encanto” – well, Jenna did.  Roland and I watched part of it and fell asleep during most of it.  Shortly after 5:00 Jenna announced that she’d be going in her room.  Still tired, I asked Roland if he thought it was too soon for me to fill stockings and place the rest of the gifts under the tree. 

Jenna knocked on our door at 5:00 a.m. the next morning and told us that Christmas had officially started as she believes our waking up at 5:00 is also family tradition.  I guess it is, but then so is going back to bed after all gifts have been open – at least for the older folks.  But only Roland went back to bed and I fixed a light breakfast as I didn’t want only candy.

Jenna and I had learned to play a new game which Roland had received from Tony and Rochelle’s family.  It was fun.  We took Bonnie for a walk.  We each wore Santa caps and I wore a new outfit that I had received for Christmas and she was dressed as an elf. Jenna pointed out the snow capped hills behind the clouds that surrounded their base.  The rain has washed it out since our walk. 

At 4:00 Roland started getting hungry and we had our simple dinner of sausage and cheese.  Another tradition as of Christmas 2018 (see here).

Reminiscing New Years

         Nine years ago today I started my blog.  I explained my purpose and the reason for the title.  The next day I posted about New Years – my goal was to give gratitude with every post.  My posts may have started out that way but I don’t think I was diligent.  I don’t know.  I haven’t gone back to reread every post. Toward the end of the year I was more focused on my mom’s needs as she had dementia and I highly suspect that my posts did not always reflect that of gratitude.

        At the end of the year I had taken Jenna to the library for an afternoon countdown – counting up to 12:00 and blowing horns.  She had wanted to stay up but had conked out by 11:30.    We had gone to my mom’s house New Year’s Day 2013.  We played games with my sister and her husband.  Jenna played with her cousins.  When Corey called my mom later on she told him that we had gone hiking.  We had not gone hiking.  It was too cold.

        I did not post about New Year every year, but when I did I would usually mention the weather, traditions of taking down the tree and reminisced on someone always being sick or emotional on New Year’s Eve.

        By 2014 my mom had passed away.  It was Roland’s turn to be sick and yet he had donated blood on New Year’s Day.  Go figure.  The weather was awesome that year.  Jenna and I took Shilo (aka Highness) for a walk in the park.  Autumn leaves were still on the trees and on the ground.  It was awesome.

        2015 Jenna’s final countdown with West Valley library. We did not know that we would be living in another state within six months. 2016 our first New Years in Oregon.  Jenna rode her bike and I took pictures. 

        There was no mention of New Years in 2017.  Jenna and I had purchased a calendar and had decided to celebrate the list of silly holidays that were suggested. On 2018 I took a suggestion that my sister had posted to write down positive things throughout the year and place them in a jar to be read 2019.  I remember reading through each paper on New Years.  That is the year I had set a goal to write at least two dashes per week or month – I can’t remember. 

        New Year 2020 we completed taking down the decorations (which we had started early due to weather and Roland’s insistence) It was Jaime who was sad that year.  We didn’t know that 2020 would become the longest year known to man. 

        Which brings us to this year.  2021.  Jenna and I played games hoping Roland would join us – but he’s had this cough for over two months now.  A severe cold but nothing COVID concerning.  He’s not always the greatest at taking care of himself.

        At 10:30 we put in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle so that at midnight when Dwayne Johnson put the emerald back into the Jaguar statue.  Roland opened some sparkling cider that we drink only once a year.  It was still warm and half of it exploded on his pants, on the couch and in one of my slippers.  We poured at the rest to toast the New Year and said “Jumanji” with the rest of the cast as it seemed more fitting than happy New Year.

        Jenna and I took down most of the decorations from the house.  There are still a few strands of lights framing the deck and the eaves.  Roland was quite staple happy when he put them in, but I didn’t wish to drag out the ladder to unstapled them.

        The weather was nice until just after 3:00 – a fierce wind swept over our street just as I finished bringing in the chords that Jenna and I had neglected earlier.  And as with every other year, all of us are finding things that didn’t make it to the shed.

Cold to Freezing

 It is colder outside than 

I remember it being the entire 

time we've lived in Oregon.  

I have even been sleeping with 

blankets which is highly unusual. 

I don't use blankets all too often 

except around my feet.  

Jenna has school for the next two days 

but will not be attending seminary at all.  

The students who attend the local high 

school are off for the week and 

thus is seminary.  

She wants things to return to normal.  

Most people do.  

We have an upcoming holiday in the U.S. 

It is called Thanksgiving.

There are many people who will 

spend the holiday with extended 

family members to eat a traditional 

meal that many include turkey, 

sweet potatoes, 

cranberry sauce and 

pumpkin pie among many 

other side dishes.  

Our governor has asked us to limit 

Thanksgiving to only six people this year.  

Though not everyone in the state 

will honor that suggestion, we will.  

There will just be the three of us.  

We won't be having our 

traditional Thanksgiving meal.  

Jenna would like pizza. 

Why not?

Bill's April Fool's Joke

          Bill and Jenna both share a similar personality.  They enjoy pranks even when it is not April Fools - so I really don't know what makes it different from every other day.  At least Bill separated the two events that occurred on April 1st.          

                  

                  

retrieved from Facebook.  I thought it was hilarious

 

          I remember having learned that the Julian calendar had originally started with April as the first month of the year but the other months were added.  History channel says "Some historians speculate that April Fools’ Day dates back to 1582 when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar."  Either way, the start of New Years supposedly once fell upon April 1st.  People who forgot about not being a new year were pranked.  Or else Bill and Jenna among others made certain their ancestors found a way to create the tradition of "April Fool"

          Bill and Kayla have a tradition of doing the Easter eggs and "gifts" on Saturday.  So the kids had already dug through their baskets buckets of treasures, experience the hunt for plastic eggs and decorated  (or attempted to anyway) almost two dozen eggs the day before Easter.

          After the children were asleep, Bill made some Jell-O and put it in cups.  On Sunday he brought them out and told the kids that he had made a special drink for them and that they should drink their "punch" as quickly as possible.  They enjoyed his little "trick".  But none bothered to eat the Jell-O.  

Bill's weren't filled quite as high

Ham, Potato Salad and Other Memories

            When I was growing up, Ham and Potato Salad were on the menu during the Easter holiday.  I remember my mom saying she had made (or was making) a big batch shortly after Jenna was born (though she arrived eight days earlier than her due date - which was on Easter that year).  I was still in the hospital and mom had made arrangement for our oldest son (Ooki had lived with our family for his senior year but was living with another family when Jenna was born) to bring her the car seat and she fed him and everybody else in the family who had come for Jenna's birth.  What a rip-off!  I had to stay in the hospital with my newborn and would have rather had mom's potato salad than hospital food.

 

            Mom packed some potato salad in a container and brought it with her the next day. 

            This year Kayla made deviled egg sandwiches for lunch on Easter Sunday.

Ooki with his one day old American sister

1 day old Jenna with dad and brothers

Jenna's first birthday

 Jenna turned 14 yesterday.  Oh the memories!

Jenna's 14th

St. Patrick's Grunge Pledges

                Our Saturdays are usually tied up with plans - most of the time it's been going to Roseburg to do shopping, though there are the occasional weekends our plans are attending various activities here in Myrtle Creek or surrounding areas.  Occasionally we actually have a free Saturday which is what I had supposed this last weekend, but Jenna reminded me that I said I would drive her over to the pool to watch the "Grunge Plunge". 

                Most of the pictures I share are cropped screenshots of live event video posted to South Umpqua Memorial Pool page on March 17, 2018

  

                On March 4 last year, South Umpqua Memorial Pool held its first ever "Grunge Plunge".  I didn't even know about it until after the fact - which is actually kind of weird as social media, namely facebook, seems to be this town's most important source of marketing. It appears that there were ten jumpers last year.

2017 Jumpers holding up awarded t-shirts saying:

I Survived South Umpqua Memorial Pool's 1st Grunge Plunge

          Those that had pledged help raise 2,600 and added a pooling carpet to the hurtful cement floors in the dressing rooms and spruced them up to look nice.  Their goal this year was to raise over that amount - which they did.

         The pool site was/is in need of a makeover and the Grunge Plunge provided the community with a unique fundraiser by making pledges for certain individuals to jump into the grungy (and I would imagine frigid) pool that, although covered by a tarp since September, has still had elements effect the conditions of what was once clean water.  

SUMP facebook page cover this month

            I think Jenna would like to do the jumping, but the jumpers have to be over sixteen years of age.  I like that as she had been sick last year and was barely getting over her cough this year.  Four teachers and principal challenged their students to raise at least 200 dollars.  They announced that each of them would jump for every 100 raised after that and if 600 was raised, all five would jump.  There was also call for a germ phobic who said she would go in if 1,000 was raised.  They also challenged South Umpqua High School.  I didn't notice a response.  

 

            This year they did not have to jump as individuals but could do so in groups.  They could also choose to jump from either side of the deep end (shallow end still covered in tarp) or they could go off the diving board.  There were 13 groups or individuals that were sponsored to jump.  We had representatives from Coffenberry, Myrtle Creek Fire Department, State Farm and the mayor among others.  

            Josh Norton was the emcee who passed out awards/trophies before anyone jumped in. Our mayor received one for his attire 

our mayor accepting his award

and the water treatment boys received one for the most money raised.   

2018 trophy

Toward the end, Josh challenged one of his lifeguards to jump as well.  He didn't seem happy about it but accepted the challenge.  Josh jumped in last and thanked the community for the amount of money that was raised: more than twice the amount as last year.

See the crowd all around the pool

calm waters before the jump

Before the jump

After the jump

water with jumpers

            It was a fun event.  Crowded.  I'm happy that it was recorded as It was easier to watch and identify some of the people on the video than it was from behind the fence.  Jenna had gone inside to stand with the crowd to cheer on the Coffenberry instructors.  I prefer standing away from the crowd - or next year - sitting in my pjs and watching the video.  Then I don't have to worry about parking either.  I LOVE living in a small community!                    

Holidays are the Hardest - Missing Traditions

Pie Making

         I can’t find a reference to mom’s traditional pie making event. I suppose it could have started with her children.  I do recall having assisted with pies at least once in my childhood.  Kayla says she remembers a time when it was just her and Corey that did it with mom.  I don’t think I ever viewed it as an actual tradition until Ellen and Kimball were small.

            My mom made a huge assortment of pies on the Wednesday before  Thanksgiving each year.  The grandkids looked forward to assisting with rolling out the dough and filling the pie with whatever they chose. 

            We’d have apple pie, banana cream pies, coconut cream, chocolate cream, cherry, lemon meringue and of course, pumpkin.  More pies were added to the dinner each time new grandkids were added to the family.

            I don’t remember how often my boys had made pies with grandma.  At least twice – and they have fond memories.  And I have pictures of some of the pie making events.  Jaime may have been a baby when some of these were taken.  Neither Jenna nor I recall her ever having had the opportunity to assist with rolling out the dough or wearing an apron.

            It wasn’t long after Jenna was born when mom announced her last year for her annual pie making event.  Each year after that we ate pies that had been made in the bakery department of various stores.

            My boys had just recently commented on how much fun they had had making pies – and then Kayla had posted a message in facebook about the yesteryear tradition.  I got overly sentimental and cried for nearly a half hour.

            I miss the family that I grew up with. I miss so many traditions that we shared at one time.

 Hand Made Nativity

            When I was growing up, I loved “Dip n Drape” dolls.  I remember going with mom to look at pattarns and material for the project.  We settled on a nativity set as it was closed to the holidays.  I remember buying Styrofoam balls and cones and craft sticks and following directions.  I was in high school at the time.

            It was a good first project.  We had it on display just once a year – usually on top of the piano – where the entire thing fit nicely.  And many of the flaws were overlooked – like one wiseman who had the appearance of having a “stuck-up” personality.  And one wiseman who’s arms were heavier than his body – and was giving a present to lean on so that he did not appear as though he was trying to do push-ups.  And the baby Jesus became a permanent part of what Mary held in her arms – though it probably looked like she was dropping him.

            I had intended on making a manger – so that it would appear that she was placing him in.  I had intended to make camels and sheep – though realistically the seven pieces I had took up quite a bit of room both on display and then in storage.

            It boggles my mind that the set has been around since I was in high school – making it roughly thirty-five years old now.  Mom hadn’t taken it out the last few years that she lived at home.  And I took it back before we sold her house. 

Growing up, I never thought of our house as huge.  It was an average sized house.  It had three bedrooms, two baths, living room, kitchen and unfinished basement.

            Over the years my parents put in the money to have half of the basement finished and added a back room addition to the house.  The house included five bedrooms, three bathrooms, kitchen, living room, family room, game room, dining room, laundry room, storage room – not to mention it had an attic. 

            I’ve lived in two houses since I’ve been married.  The two houses combined did not have as much space as the house I grew up in.  So of course there is not nearly as much storage room

         I had put the nativity up last year.  I had to put the wisemen on a different area than the other four pieces.  Roland had suggested that I part with it last year.  I just didn’t have the heart to throw it away – though many of the dolls were beheaded.  I had planned on making it one more round.

We have even less room for it to be displayed than we had last year.  Plus I’ve been cleaning out my shed and either throwing out or donating a lot.  (12 yard bags and counting) but I still couldn’t bring myself to throw it out. 

         I knew if I donated the dolls to the thrift store, the majority (if not all) would get thrown away, and so I put it in the classifieds and someone picked it up less than an hour after I had posted for free.  She didn’t seem to mind the fact that many of the dolls needed to be repaired.   I hope it works for her and that it may be around for a few more years at least.  

  

Christmas Lights

I remember one year going with my sibs and mom to temple square.  It was Christmas night and the weather was really quite awesome.  We had gone downtown to see the lights.

This year the November was nice weather overall.  Cold, but bearable.  Excpet the last day.  It was cold and bleak and actual typical of so many November days that I can remember – although the last few years have seemed to make an exception.

            I was surprised at how warm the weather seemed yesterday – well, in comparison to Sunday.  Jenna and I started out with a beautiful morning.  I had dressed in layers, but had taken the top layer off as I headed back home.

            I had dressed in layers while picking her up.  I had stripped both layers down while waiting for school to end.  Both Jenna and I carried our coats to the bus stop.  But by the time we reached the crossover, we both had our coats back on.  It cools down quite drastically once the earth rotates away from the sun.

            Roland had given me a camera for Christmas last year – only he had given it to me before Thanksgiving so that I could take pictures and get a feel for it before Christmsa.  It was a nice camera.  A red Nikon which I liked a lot – that is until pushing the power button no longer did anything.  

It had died before Roland and I had taken to Jenna to Disneyland at the end of August.  I hadn’t had the camera an entire year.  That was truly upsetting.  

            I was hoping the battery was the problem, but I had the battery tested in addition to another working battery put in my camera.  I was told my best bet was to send it into the manufacturer – which I did.  I never heard back from them.

            The other night he produced another camera meant for Christmas.  This time a Sony W830 – which may take me a while to figure out.  I’ve had Sonys before, and I like them, but they have all died as well.  And I don’t expect this one will last much longer than the Nikon – though I welcome the opportunity to be proven wrong.

            I told Jenna that we should go downtown to see the lights.  December started out with quite pleasant weather and I though since it was so nice that we should go last night. I suggested to Roland that we go see the lights for family home evening.    I would have just taken Jenna on the train if he had not wanted to go. 

            Downtown was crowded with patrons who had come to see the lights and take pictures.  I really don’t have the hang of my camera.  It will be a while.  I did get a few okay pictures – among a bunch of duds.  Thank heaven for Photoshop, huh?

Gingerbread Traditions

           As I have mentioned in a few posts already, I grew up in a house across the street from George and Peggy Bird. Both are from American Fork.  Peggy grew up learning all of the domestic skills of saintly motherhood.  She cooked, she sewed, and she baked. She loved her boys.  She was a devoted mother.

           

            My mom was raised in San Francisco.  She did not grow up understanding canning and food storage or many of the skills that Peggy had acquired.  Mom did try her hand at baking, sewing, crocheting, and even canning.  She loved us.  She was a good mom.  But I think my brother Patrick and I both believed that Peggy was better at baking.  It seemed like she was always baking.  I remember almost every time I walked into the house, she was baking.  What I remember most is the molasses cookies.  Was there ever a time I had gone across the street when molasses cookies weren’t available?  Not when I was in elementary school anyway.

 

I also remember the many Christmases we spent with the Birds. We became part of their family and enjoyed their traditions.

            There was the annual Christmas pageant.  For the longest time I was Mary.  When other families were invited to join in the production I lost my glorified role.  I remember getting demoted to an angel with no speaking parts.   Humility was not my strong suit.

            One tradition that mom had adapted into our own household was the annual ornament that each of us received and would add to the tree.  And when we were grown and out on our own or starting our own families, we would take our ornaments with us.

            One tradition that we didn’t adapt (though Patrick and I would drop hints each year) was the annual gingerbread house that Peggy made from scratch (I now fully understand why mom didn’t seem as excited about what Patrick and I thought would be great.  And perhaps she did attempt it but it just wasn’t her forte)

            I don’t know how early in the month she made it.  I would imagine it was decorated on a Monday night.  Each of the boys would help decorate (as I recall) and it would become part of the decorations.  On New Years Eve the boys would hold their annual Gingerbread Smash.  I think Patrick must have gone to them all – and I’d gone to a few (I usually got sick just before the new year) and we would each have an opportunity for hacking away at the house and then devour it.  That was something special.

 

            Nowadays commercialism offers pre-made gingerbread kits.  The taste of the gingerbread isn’t near as wonderful as the rich taste of Peggy’s made-from-love.  But Roland purchases kits each year – first for the boys and now for Jenna.  And each year Roland builds the house and instructs the kids on how to assist and then allows them to finish decorating with wherever their imaginations lead.  Less than 24 hours later the house gets broken into.  A few pieces here and there – the house goes from slum to run down eye-sore.  He doesn’t believe in display.  Too bad.

 

            Fortunately I have taken pictures every year – even last year when the house started out looking like a HUD home. Crooked, run-down.  Each year we’ve used up all the frosting.  This year was just a little bit different.  Roland purchased a pre-made house that we didn't have to glue.  We also ended up with tons of frosting left.

            Jenna decided that she wanted a green roof.  Roland helped her to spread the icing.  Other than that she decorated the entire thing by herself.  She included a flower on one side and a vegetable garden behind the house.  I thought it ironic that she’d call them vegetables as two of them in real life are vegetables that she refuses to let near her mouth.  

            Jenna created a vine and gave it tomatoes.  Next to that are two carrots.  And then a corn stalk with a few ears.  Finally eggplant which I don’t think she’s ever tasted before.  I have.  Haven’t been impressed with the taste of it.

            On the other side is a Christmas tree.  A Christmas tree and a vegetable garden.  I suppose it’s possible.  Not in my part of the world.

            Roland took some cookies out of the pantry and told us to decorate them. 

We still have frosting left.  But many parts of the gingerbread house have been eaten - including some of the roof.