Beneath the Wraps

                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...

            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...

  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...

          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 Julia...

            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.          ...

                 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 ...

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 wer...

           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...