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Hi Barbara,
I hope Colleen finds the news about your son doing some tours of duty in Korea comforting. It sounds like there are much worse places that one could be sent. No one likes being sent away from their family but I guess sometimes that is part of the job when you are in the military. How many years has your Buddy been in now? Do you think he will retire from there after the 25 yeas or whatever it is and then pursue another career or just stay in. I know people that have done both.
I sure hope that Jerry can get things worked out so that his Mom can return to her home. Sometimes family can make things much more complicated than it needs to be. Jerry is just trying to help do what his mother’s wishes are-everyone else seems to have another agenda.
Greg was notorious for being out shopping on Christmas Eve. I think the majority of men are just not planners when it comes to gift giving. One thing he is good at is giving electronic gifts-if i want anything like a computer, camera, Bose system he always gets those because those are the things that he likes to buy. I can’t think of anything funny that he ever got me but I’m sure there was something somewhere along the line.
The whole boot thing is okay-it’s one of those things I can’t change so I have worked out my own system for wearing it. I don’t wear it around the house unless i will be on my feet a lot and I wear it if i will be out somewhere that entails a lot of walking. Other than that I can get along without it and don’t have to wear tennis shoes all the time then. I can wear sandals in summer as long as I am not doing a lot of walking. It’s expensive because in order to wear it I have to buy the same pair of shoes in two different sizes-There is no way I could fit that boot in my normal size 7 shoe-so I have to buy another pair in an 8 and1/2 to accommodate the boot. It is what it is and i have worked out my own system of dealing with it.
That’s funny that you thought the short girls attracted the cute guys. Well my days of attracting cute guys are long gone anyway so I would like to be able to reach things without having to carry a stepstool with me everywhere. I never minded being short when I was younger but now it just seems to be an inconvenience-I wonder if i have shrunk also as it seems to me the kitchen cabinets have gotten higher since we built this house 19 years ago. lol
GailHi Adele,
I did like Michael’s suit today. He even had on green shoes, I noticed. I am always sad when i see Quacker clothes on Ebay marked as “ugly’ sweaters. But I guess many would view them that way even though i think of them as little treasures. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
What kind of craft will you guys be making? That sounds like a fun day. I’m thinking that a resolution for 2016 needs to be getting off my butt and making some new friends. None of my old friends are around anymore.
I’m not sure that I know what Vienna bars or luebchen cookies are(I know I spelled that wrong). I must admit that I have not baked cookies for the last several years but when i did make them my staples were a butter cookie, chocolate chip, those peanut butter with the hershey kisses, and an almond crescent which was really a pecan crescent(my absolute favorite-i could eat them all myself),a cheesecake bar cookie and a raspberry bar cookie. I absolutely love love love homemade cookies. A couple years ago I made some pretzel things that you melt a rollo in the middle of. those were fun and would be good to make with grandkids. Now I’m wondering where my recipe for that is. For someone who doesn’t like to cook much anymore i sure have a great cookbook library although i must admit my go to place anymore is my Taste of Home cookbooks-they are the best-no fancy ingredients or techniques-just plain old home cooking.
That is so funny that your dad could never keep a surprise secret. I would imagine that it drove Tillie crazy.
As a kid we opened gifts from our parents on Christmas Eve before we went to Midnight Mass. After Mass we came home and ate if you can believe it! Polish sausage and home made horseradish and rye bread. Then we would go to bed and in the morning a truckload of relatives would come over and we would open whatever gifts that they brought. When we got married we always had to go into the city to Greg’s parents on Christmas Day because Greg’s Mom would get all bent out of shape because it wasn’t the same unless you came on the actual day. So our poor kids would get to open their gifts on Christmas Eve-go to bed and get up and leave all the new stuff behind for a two hour drive into the city. And we went rain snow sleet or hail. One year it was like 20 below and the kids were still babies and I can’t believe I dragged them out in that. It was so cold the car hardly kept warm. I think the only time we didn’t go in was one year when we all had a stomach flu and were throwing up. Greg’s Mom was a lovely woman but that was the one thing i really disliked was having to drag the kids out every Christmas no matter what the circumstances-she sure was unreasonable on that point-but it has made me much more flexible because of that. Anyway, I shall save the story of our Christmas Day celebrations with the relatives when i was a kid for another day.
GailHi Adele,
I’m surprised that people are still buying the collectibles. It must be the older generation as it seems to me like none of the people Jenny’s age collect anything. Plus it seems like there aren’t nearly as many collectibles out there any more as there used to be. Years ago the shopping channels had hours of the different collectibles but they no longer have that either.
I have not started decorating yet. Will probably start this weekend. Jenny is all done. She is so efficient. Of course she probably doesn’t have as much stuff as i do either. Having Passion their Elf on the Shelf back helps keep those grandkids in line too. those poor tired parents one of them has to remember to move that elf every night before they fall asleep. Remember when your kids were little and you thought you’d never get a good nights sleep again-and now we are older with no little kids and we suffer from insomnia. lol
We woke up this morning to a beautiful Christmas like snowfall. When I look out the window it really looks like a Christmas card with the snow laying on the pines that are all around here. Now if only I could get a picture of a cardinal sitting in a tree instead of bashing himself against the back window. lol
So Adele, what kind of Christmas treats do you traditionally bake for Christmas. I’m already imagining the luscious smells emanating from your holiday kitchen.
GailHi Colleen,
I’m so sorry to hear that Stephan will be going overseas again. Wasn’t he in Afghanistan before? Hopefully going to Korea will be more peaceful. Is this considered a deployment or could his family go with while he is stationed there? I imagine the wives at the Fort that they are at now all kind of ban together and help each other out when their husbands are gone. Hopefully there’s a strong support system there. Last time Kaylee was a baby-this time she will miss her Dad more. Maybe they will come and stay with you more while he is gone and you and Ron can help Melissa with the kids. Of course they can’t do it during school time but maybe during the summer. I will pray that he is safe.
I guess we are all lucky to have our children fairly close by. I think of my parents being in Louisiana and having kids in Illinois, Indiana and Colorado-or Greg’s parents having one child in Chicago-one a couple of hours away and one in Minnesota and one in Virginia. Now those are much tougher situations than them being just a few hours away. Many families are so far flung that I guess we are lucky to have ours as close as we do.
Your poor parents must have been exhausted after putting up the tree and getting all the gifts under it the night before Christmas.
Another thing i remember doing as a kid was it was my job to place the nativity scene under the tree and set up the manger and Mary and Joseph and Jesus and the shepherds, kings and animals. I always loved entering that magic little world of the nativity. I actually still have that set that was my parents that was a dime store find from when they were first married. The manger is still original and some of the figures are too so they are close to 75 years old by now. I used to actually use that set but then decided they were getting too fragile so I bought my own new set several years back. But I still have the old one and I treasure it just because it belonged to my parents.
I’m glad that you like the pictures for the beginning of the new discussion. Since they have to be posted as an attachment one is just too small-so i discovered if i post six together it’s like one big picture like we used to be able to post. I still wish that we could copy and paste like we could on the old site.
Thanks for telling me about the wreath contest. For some reason i thought that was part of that basket contest so I would not have entered being already signed up for the basket contest.
I’m sorry you were so tired after your trip to Melissa’s. Maybe you are still tired from Thanksgiving and having the hip shot. How is the back brace going? Does it seem to help? Now if only we could get your stomach fixed you would be like a new woman. Singing and dancing in the streets and keeping Ron on his toes. Today I prescribe that you take a nice afternoon nap. Doctor Granny Gail’s orders. lol
GailHi Adele,
I hope that I am not being a bad influence on you and leading you down the path of a Christmas Quacker addiction. I think I have that same pink snowman sweater. Some of her early sweaters were really made of heavy knit and though I rarely wear them anymore they are almost like little pieces of art to me.
My tastes have changed over time too and it seems like it is no longer in fashion to “collect” things like it was in the late eighties and the nineties. I had a doll collection and except for a few pieces that I still love from my wizard of oz collection and a Polish and a Lithuanian ethnic dolls I tried to sell the rest at Jenny’s garage sale and you couldn’t give the darn things away. I also had a lot of Boyd’s Bears figurines that I just packed up-no one wants this stuff anymore and it really has no monetary value.
Brent had said that he would be home around the 18th and I haven’t heard anything different since then. He seems to have come through the anniversaries better this year so as time marches on hopefully everything will get easier for him.
Somehow I can’t believe that I have never seen the Nutcracker live either. I have seen movies and TV but not a live performance. That is going on my to do list.
Poor Jhonny-the guy just starts a new job after being unemployed and he has to shell out for new tires. Just what he doesn’t need. I will pray that he gets a permanent position. I’m so glad he is working again as I know we all want to give our kids a happy Christmas and that does include some gifts from Santa.
Every time I saw that Holiday Baking show advertised it made me think of you as it sounds so up your alley. I recorded it last night but haven’t watched it yet. I have a feeling it will make me crave all those baked goodies which are my downfall anyway. Love home baked cookies, cakes and pies. i have an overdeveloped sweet tooth-if only my brain were as big as my sweet tooth I could be a member of Mensa!
Hope everyone finds me over here at the new page.
GailGood Morning all my fine feathered Quacker Friends. It’s December so i have started a new Page for us. See you there.
Hi Adele,
Somehow stilts are not as nice as long beautiful shapely legs. lol Glad that you like the story about my colorful grandparents-talking about them did garner a lot of strange looks over the years. Greg is lucky still to be in pretty good shape and still do a lot of things. Actually, the man has ants in his pants is much happier with a project.
I would imagine that France was much like Poland where my family comes from. The Germans were always marching in and out and conquering parts of France and Poland-so some years it would be Poland and other years it would be Germany and I imagine France also being adjacent would have much the same type of history. The scuttlebutt in our family has always been that my great grandmother came from the wrong side of the blanket from someone’s liaison with Polish royalty. Who knows-all I know is the great grandmother in question also led sort of a mysterous life in this country as Sabina (they claim that I have her upper lip-have never seen her picture so i have no idea)mysteriously disappeared for several years and then just as mysteriously reappeared and offered no explanations. Interesting story-too bad there’s no way to follow that one anymore.
What Quacker are you selling on EBay-stuff that you no longer wear or stuff you no longer like? It seems like the Quacker on EBay sells for pretty reasonable prices-is it all used or is some new? I wonder if some people collect the really old stuff. How long have you been buying Quacker. I have stuff from the very beginning-I guess they are Quacktiques.
Can’t believe it’s already the last day of November. Time really seems to fly during the holiday season.
GailHi Colleen,
Yes when Gail (Adam’s mother-yes her name is Gail too and so was the name of his first MIL) goes to Washington to see her daughter (Ericka) she usually stays for 3 or 4 weeks. I guess she doesn’t mind being away for Thanksgiving that much-Adam doesn’t come over for the holiday-son Nathan often goes to his wife’s families place or he was in the restaurant industry and so is she so I think sometimes they work-her other son Aaron and his wife Kelly go to Kelly’s Moms and Kelly’s Dads houses separately as they are divorced and they would stop by Gail’s house if she were home and then go on to Jenny’s. So the whole family would not be gathered all together at Gail’s house anyway so I guess she figures she may as well go to her daughters for the holiday. Adam and Jenny really do not go spend much time at his parents house since Adam’s ex wife lives there-it’s not the most comfortable experience for he and Jenny. It’s quite a complicated situation. Ericka’s husband Nathan (yes-another Nathan) is from Harvard so they both usually will come back in the summer around Milk Day and Ericka will usually stay here for a couple of weeks. Nathan usually can’t stay as long because he is a surgeon in the Army so he usually only gets a week off and then he goes home and back to duty and Ericka stays and visits with her parents longer. I suppose since that’s her only daughter she is probably a little closer to her than she is to the boys so she probably misses her alot-and all three boys live in Harvard so they are close and she sees them more often.
We have not started decorating yet but i have started getting out the holiday glasses and cups for everyday use. I hope to get a lot done this upcoming weekend. We have just about all the weekends in December free this year as we are not working at the ONP event. There are so many other volunteers that want to go on that day and can’t because there is not enough for them to do so we decided to stay home this year after doing it for 6 or so years and let other people get a chance to volunteer that day. I am a little sad but we’ve seen it and it’s time to step back and give other volunteers a chance to go.
I guess by now the leftovers are all eaten-plus it’s now 5 days later so they would not taste as good as the day after.
Amazingly i have never seen the Nutcracker (better known as Walnut) live. Maybe next year I will get tickets and include it in our holiday viewing.
I wouldn’t care if I were taller than Greg. I am just so envious when I see these women with these incredible long legs. It would be nice to be able to reach stuff off the top shelf at the grocery store. I’ve had to leave things behind before because I couldn’t reach them. Oh well-those women can’t sit on a chair and swing their legs like me and instead of their pants being too long they are probably too short. This is one of those things I have to accept because I cannot change.
Hope your decorating is going good.
GailHi Colleen,
It is hard to let go of doing some of those things that we always did for our families. I guess it’s because as long as we are hosting the holidays and such we feel like we are still needed and we are important contributing members. No one likes to feel like they are being put out to pasture and that they are irrelevant. It’s hard to learn to embrace the changes that growing older brings. But by the same token I find that with having given over Thanksgiving to Jenny I can just relax and enjoy the day more too-basically she just took it over when she got married as Adam wanted to have a holiday at their home because of Gabby and Enya-so i couldn’t see any point in resisting and starting trouble with the newly married couple so it was a pretty easy transition. I usually make two or three dishes to bring over anyway so I feel like I am doing my part-and the kids are happier in their own home playing with their cousins so it works well for everyone. It’s just a short drive so that is no problem either. I guess once we have that empty nest we start feeling less and less needed and hosting the holidays is one of our last things that we can still do for our kids and their families. But like you say eventually everything needs to change-just like with our mothers and grandmothers before us. Please try to get as many family stories from your Mom as possible. There is so much I missed getting. I think at least once a month I have a question about something that only my Mom would have known the answer to. There were so many stories she still needed to impart.
Adam’s Mom had been in Washington with her daughter SIL and grandkids this past month. She is coming back this week as there is a family wedding coming up. So that is good that she can take back her babysitting day and I can have more time for Christmas preparation.
Yes,Greg wanting Chinese food the day after Thanksgiving reminded me of the Christmas story too. I really wanted those leftovers so bad but I knew he was tired from working on the washer and from being sick all week too. I still think about those leftovers. I think I will make a turkey breast for us some night for dinner but it won’t be quite the same without all the good sides. Now I guess that i have to start thinking of my Christmas meal.
The musical that we saw last night was really good. It was called Plaid Tidings. It had good music and it was funny too. Great combination. Because these guys were a singing group from the late 50’s early 60’s there were a lot of cultural references to back then-Ed Sullivan-Perry Como. Well this will make you feel old-there was some line in the play about Ernest Borgnine and I could distinctly hear the guy behind me say “who’s Ernest Borgnine?” Well that’s gonna make me feel old. lol Anyway. we had a lovely dinner beforehand at our favorite restaurant 1776 and the down town where the theater is was all lit up for Christmas so it was a nice evening. I love live entertainment-whether professional or amateur-there’s always a feeling of anticipation before the curtain goes up. Nothing quite like it.
By the way-girls, watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade I came to the sad realization that I will never be a Rockette-I am too short. lol (and fat and old to boot). Just for one day I’d like to walk around on a tall girls legs and smell the air from that rarefied height and be able to reach all the shelves in the kitchen.
Gail -
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