Today's blog is about matching pajamas. Did any of you have to wear matching P J's for Christmas? We did. We usually opened our gifts on Christmas Eve and there was always a present containing matching PJ's Then, my sisters and I would have to go change into our outfits and make pictures. Then, we had to go to bed.
On Christmas morning, we were matching in all of the pictures as we checked out all of the goods we got from Santa.
I was even in my teens and was still a part of this annual ritual. I had to get married to be exempt from the matching PJ's!!! Not really...just kidding.
I actually enjoyed it and it is funny looking back on it. Pretty good bargain hunting for my mom since we were all ages and sizes. I was 5 years older than Tina, amd 7 years older than Tami, and 12 years older than Dana. So....Mom had to be pretty savvy to get the array of sizes that matched.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
Story #7
Hey folks,
Today's story is a short one but kinda on the sad side. My mom was such an organized person that she always planned our holidays with trips and activities: especially trips to the doctors. She never wanted us to miss any school so on Easter Monday, or Thanksgiving Friday or even during Christmas break, we all had appointments to the dentist/eye doctor/gen. physician, etc. One time....my sister found out that she was getting her tonsils out during the Christmas break! Ouch.....Merry Christmas to her!
Well.....this particular Christmas, the unexpected happened. Tina and Tami both came down with the MUMPS at the same time. Needless to say....Christmas Eve and Day wasn't as fun as it usually is. They were miserable, trying to open gifts with their swollen chipmunk cheeks. They tried to smile in pictures but it was a " wish I was in the bed " look. Poor things....I felt so sorry for them. But, in all honesty, I was really glad it wasn't me. Good thing....I had already had the mumps years before them.
Really glad that mumps is not a childhood rite of passage anymore.
Today's story is a short one but kinda on the sad side. My mom was such an organized person that she always planned our holidays with trips and activities: especially trips to the doctors. She never wanted us to miss any school so on Easter Monday, or Thanksgiving Friday or even during Christmas break, we all had appointments to the dentist/eye doctor/gen. physician, etc. One time....my sister found out that she was getting her tonsils out during the Christmas break! Ouch.....Merry Christmas to her!
Well.....this particular Christmas, the unexpected happened. Tina and Tami both came down with the MUMPS at the same time. Needless to say....Christmas Eve and Day wasn't as fun as it usually is. They were miserable, trying to open gifts with their swollen chipmunk cheeks. They tried to smile in pictures but it was a " wish I was in the bed " look. Poor things....I felt so sorry for them. But, in all honesty, I was really glad it wasn't me. Good thing....I had already had the mumps years before them.
Really glad that mumps is not a childhood rite of passage anymore.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Story #6
Today....I want to reminisce about the yearly Christmas tree family decorating event. It is kinda the same scenario every year....so it really doesn't matter what year it is.
We always used a live evergreen tree. Dad would get the tree home and then we were all supposed to get into the spirit of decorating. The tree was always too tall and had to be trimmed. Of course that meant we had to get the vacuum out to clean up the trimmed off needes. Then....we had to wait while my Dad and Mom put the lights around the tree. That took forever and usually Mom and Dad were arguing over trying to untangle the lights. Me being the oldest...it was my job to occupy the little ones while we waited. We were all supposed to sit quietly on the couch until it was time to put the ornaments on. Tina usually read and Tami and Dana usually got into a fight and I would try to quiet them so that we would stay out of trouble.
Next came the garland.....we had to all circle the tree and pass the garland wad around until it was just right. That is when you would hear alot of "ouches" from the needles sticking us.
Ornament time: first one out of the box was usually dropped and broken.....which would make my dad angry.....then Mom would try to be the peacemaker and then we all would get silent. I would try to clean up the ornament before someone stepped on the glass....but of course I would get a cut and need a band aid....Such merry memories.
Finally it was icicle time.....by then....it was tense....so we just threw clumps on as fast as possible so we could be finished. It wasn't until I was married and Larry and I decorated our first tree that I found out that icicles were meant to be put on using individual strands and not clumps....Who knew?
So....there you have it.....our good old fun family decorating tree event.....As soon as were were dismissed.....we ran...not walked....to our rooms for de-stressing.
Ahhhh....such fond memories....
We always used a live evergreen tree. Dad would get the tree home and then we were all supposed to get into the spirit of decorating. The tree was always too tall and had to be trimmed. Of course that meant we had to get the vacuum out to clean up the trimmed off needes. Then....we had to wait while my Dad and Mom put the lights around the tree. That took forever and usually Mom and Dad were arguing over trying to untangle the lights. Me being the oldest...it was my job to occupy the little ones while we waited. We were all supposed to sit quietly on the couch until it was time to put the ornaments on. Tina usually read and Tami and Dana usually got into a fight and I would try to quiet them so that we would stay out of trouble.
Next came the garland.....we had to all circle the tree and pass the garland wad around until it was just right. That is when you would hear alot of "ouches" from the needles sticking us.
Ornament time: first one out of the box was usually dropped and broken.....which would make my dad angry.....then Mom would try to be the peacemaker and then we all would get silent. I would try to clean up the ornament before someone stepped on the glass....but of course I would get a cut and need a band aid....Such merry memories.
Finally it was icicle time.....by then....it was tense....so we just threw clumps on as fast as possible so we could be finished. It wasn't until I was married and Larry and I decorated our first tree that I found out that icicles were meant to be put on using individual strands and not clumps....Who knew?
So....there you have it.....our good old fun family decorating tree event.....As soon as were were dismissed.....we ran...not walked....to our rooms for de-stressing.
Ahhhh....such fond memories....
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Story #5
Today's memory is one that I still laugh about. We always opened gifts on Christmas Eve in my family and then Santa came on Christmas Day. 24 hours of gifts!!! We loved it.
One year, Dad decided that we could open a gift early on Christmas Eve morning. He said we could choose our gift but there was one hitch: we had to use whatever we opened that day.
So...we all went to the tree and picked out our gifts. 1-2-3 we opened them up.
Funny...but I don't remember what any of us opened except Tina. She thought she knew what she had picked out. She thought she had picked a horse book that she had wanted. She was a reader and loved any book that had horses as the topic.
Well....to her surprise and disappointment: she opened THE LIVING BIBLE. The look on her face was priceless! So...she was compliant and read a chapter in Luke.....the Christmas Story. How fitting. Me and my other sisters opened our Bibles that night with all of the other gifts.
To this day...if I see one or hear someone say Living Bible.....that thought pops in my head.
One year, Dad decided that we could open a gift early on Christmas Eve morning. He said we could choose our gift but there was one hitch: we had to use whatever we opened that day.
So...we all went to the tree and picked out our gifts. 1-2-3 we opened them up.
Funny...but I don't remember what any of us opened except Tina. She thought she knew what she had picked out. She thought she had picked a horse book that she had wanted. She was a reader and loved any book that had horses as the topic.
Well....to her surprise and disappointment: she opened THE LIVING BIBLE. The look on her face was priceless! So...she was compliant and read a chapter in Luke.....the Christmas Story. How fitting. Me and my other sisters opened our Bibles that night with all of the other gifts.
To this day...if I see one or hear someone say Living Bible.....that thought pops in my head.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Story #4
I have been asked about pictures from the old days. Well...maybe I can find some but I have to look through the albums at my mom's house. So...I will search for some and post them at the end....if I find some.
Today, I salute all of the creative people in my life. I am so blessed by people who are able to make things with their hands. I can come up with concepts and brilliant ideas, but I can't make them look like they look in my head. My good friend, Tria, would always bring my ideas to life. We were called the Lucy and Ethel of the church. But, that is a whole different blog for another time.
I really love holiday creations made by my friends. And, they always put the personal touch on it by including the color purple in the creation. My friend, Barbara, made this beautiful decoration several years ago. It had a musical theme and was a beautiful shade of purple. She was worried that I wouldn't like it because it was homemade. I just think it is LOVEMADE.
Preview for tomorrow: a memory about when Dad let us open a gift on the morning of Christmas Eve and we even were allowed to choose our package. My sister, Tina, was not too thrilled with her early gift!
Today, I salute all of the creative people in my life. I am so blessed by people who are able to make things with their hands. I can come up with concepts and brilliant ideas, but I can't make them look like they look in my head. My good friend, Tria, would always bring my ideas to life. We were called the Lucy and Ethel of the church. But, that is a whole different blog for another time.
I really love holiday creations made by my friends. And, they always put the personal touch on it by including the color purple in the creation. My friend, Barbara, made this beautiful decoration several years ago. It had a musical theme and was a beautiful shade of purple. She was worried that I wouldn't like it because it was homemade. I just think it is LOVEMADE.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Stories 2 and 3
I noticed that yesterday when I started this blog that I was actually a day behind. So...today is catch up day...( I love ketchup) hahaha
When Keith and Erica were younger, I bought a candy cane decoration at a Christmas market. When I brought it home, I wished that I had purchased more. So, Larry made me some more and the kids painted them. We still use them to this day. Wasn't that sweet of Larry?
And here they are lining our driveway.
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STORY # 3
This memory is one that seemed to repeat itself every year for me. You know, as a kid, you always received clothes for Christmas. Not always the favorite gift, but you still had to act like you liked the clothes. I really always liked my clothes. My parents wanted us to wear our new clothes on Christmas Day when we saw all of the relatives.
For me.....usually some of mine didn't fit. Of course, my sisters' clothes always fit. But, Debbie, the chubby one, seemed to experience a growth spurt in all of the wrong places in the fall! Well, the summer before 7th grade, I gained alot of weight. I went from 90lbs in the 6th grade to about 120lbs in the 7th grade. And I promise....I never saw any of the numbers between 90-120. It was like I gained 30 lbs overnight. Of course, we all know that doesn't happen. But in a child's mind it does.
So, anyway....Christmas morning.....I woke up and really had some cool clothes under the tree from Santa. He came thru this year for me....since I was no longer a child (7th grader and knew everything).
I loved my long sleeve turtleneck and the blue denin fringed vest....but the cool burnt orange courduroy dungarees were too tight! Bummer....couldn't wear the outfit. Then it was Mom to the rescue. Santa had left an extra pair of pants for me in a bigger size just in case! Wow! Santa really plans ahead. These bigger pants did fit and I was able to wear my ensemble to the family functions. I gotta say that my self esteem hit a low that day but obviously that feeling didn't last, because I didn't really do anything about my weight that year.
But.....I was able to wear the new clothes right along with my sisters. So all is well that ended well.
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STORY # 3
This memory is one that seemed to repeat itself every year for me. You know, as a kid, you always received clothes for Christmas. Not always the favorite gift, but you still had to act like you liked the clothes. I really always liked my clothes. My parents wanted us to wear our new clothes on Christmas Day when we saw all of the relatives.
For me.....usually some of mine didn't fit. Of course, my sisters' clothes always fit. But, Debbie, the chubby one, seemed to experience a growth spurt in all of the wrong places in the fall! Well, the summer before 7th grade, I gained alot of weight. I went from 90lbs in the 6th grade to about 120lbs in the 7th grade. And I promise....I never saw any of the numbers between 90-120. It was like I gained 30 lbs overnight. Of course, we all know that doesn't happen. But in a child's mind it does.
So, anyway....Christmas morning.....I woke up and really had some cool clothes under the tree from Santa. He came thru this year for me....since I was no longer a child (7th grader and knew everything).
I loved my long sleeve turtleneck and the blue denin fringed vest....but the cool burnt orange courduroy dungarees were too tight! Bummer....couldn't wear the outfit. Then it was Mom to the rescue. Santa had left an extra pair of pants for me in a bigger size just in case! Wow! Santa really plans ahead. These bigger pants did fit and I was able to wear my ensemble to the family functions. I gotta say that my self esteem hit a low that day but obviously that feeling didn't last, because I didn't really do anything about my weight that year.
But.....I was able to wear the new clothes right along with my sisters. So all is well that ended well.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Stories from the past Christmases.
Hey followers,
I plan to write a memory from my Christmases that have passed. I want to do one everyday til Christmas. We will see how my memory is and how disciplined I can be to think up one and remember to make a blog! haha
I remember as a 10 year old, going to bed on Christmas Eve and deciding that night that I really hoped Santa brought me a drumset! I believed that Santa could do that and I thought with a lot of prayer that night that it might prime the pump!!!!
Well....to my dismay, I woke with NO drumset! However, I did get an electric guitar and amp from Sears placed cleverly under the tree. I never questioned the fact that it came from Sears. I was a Santa believer all the way. Even my friends who received that same Sears guitar/amp combo didn't waver my belief. So....I just thought that I would make sure Santa knew earlier my desires for drumset for next Christmas.
I plan to write a memory from my Christmases that have passed. I want to do one everyday til Christmas. We will see how my memory is and how disciplined I can be to think up one and remember to make a blog! haha
I remember as a 10 year old, going to bed on Christmas Eve and deciding that night that I really hoped Santa brought me a drumset! I believed that Santa could do that and I thought with a lot of prayer that night that it might prime the pump!!!!
Well....to my dismay, I woke with NO drumset! However, I did get an electric guitar and amp from Sears placed cleverly under the tree. I never questioned the fact that it came from Sears. I was a Santa believer all the way. Even my friends who received that same Sears guitar/amp combo didn't waver my belief. So....I just thought that I would make sure Santa knew earlier my desires for drumset for next Christmas.
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