For my 200th post, I'm picking a photo that makes me smile and makes me hungry! I haven't baked a thing yet this year and I'm hoping to soon. I wish these elves were here to help and get the flour flying, but they'll be here soon enough... with their fiances... ready to help bake and eat! Favorite Sweets to Make: Tradtional iced cookies... Snickerdoodles... Coconut & chocolate chip mounds... Candy Houses... Peanut Brittle...
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I've always loved this picture of Don with the kids, heading back to the car after an afternoon performance of The Nutcracker. I love the kids in their coats, holding Daddy's hand... and also holding some kind of treat, that was given to children after the show. I remember feeling relieved that Heidi had loved the show and also a little relieved that Scott had slept through most of it. Sadly, Scott woke grumpy and refused to participate, when a photographer for the St. Louis Post wanted a photo of our family with the Sugar Plum Fairy! Shows We've Enjoyed: A Christmas Carol at Houston's Alley Theatre... Christmas Pops concert in Tulsa... The final performance, before Lauren Anderson retired as Sugar Plum Fairy (first African American princiapal dancer for Houston Ballet)
I miss the quiet of snow and I miss this wonderful house. In Grinnell, Iowa we had lots of snow and I remember piling on lots of layers to play. We made snowforts, snowmen and snow angels. We pushed and pulled each other on sleds and sometimes skated on the icy street. Best of all, on special nights, my parents took the 4 kids on sled rides, running up and down the street, under the street light. Hot came chocolate later, after our layers of icy clothes were removed. Sounds in Winter: The sound of car tires on the quiet, snowy street... Kid voices echoing over the cold snow as we played (at least it seemed that way)... Icicles falling with a thud or a crack... Boots walking on crunchy snow... The wind howling or whistling during a snowstorm... Branches clinking and sometimes cracking after an ice storm...
These pics were taken at Sugar Land's Town Center, at one of the annual tree lighting celebrations. For a few years, we had the fun of standing out in the square watching Scott and the S.F. Austin High School drumline perform as part of the festivites. One year the temps dropped into the thirties and I feared those drummer fingers would all snap right off. Xmas Music in the Past: Mrs. Whitby's annual piano recitals... 18 years straight of neighborhood caroling in 3 different states... Middle School and High School band concerts... Often humorous attempts at caroling around our piano and antique organ... Watching and singing along, with Muppet Christmas Carol, still!
These 10-year-old photos amuse me. They remind me of all the times the kids hammed it up for the camera, when I was just trying to hurry up and get a Christmas card shot. Even though Scott & Heidi were faking a little gleeful anticipation, the photo does remind me of how much I do love a wrapped gift. The wrapped gift under the tree, is just as much fun as the opening. Wrapping Memories: Little ones having more fun with ribbons and bows, than gifts... Grown kids coming home at Xmas with shopping bags, looking for the "wrapping station"... Heidi dressed in a giant wrapped Xmas box for a holiday parade... Present wrapping getting sloppier as the job goes on... Fingers sore from using scissors to curl ribbon... A time when there were no "gift bags"....
I love this old friend we spotted in Virgina City, Nevada a few years ago. Oh how I wanted to be a kid and climb on Old Rudy and put my Keds in the stirrups! But the sign reminded me that it was for "Kids Only... Have Mercy!" Thoughts of Rudolph: It was such a huge deal when Rudolph came on TV for one time only each year... I was perplexed as a kid when I realized there was no Rudolph in The Night Before Christmas story... Each year I love getting out our stuffed Rudolph and finding him a place to sit... I'm reminded each year how long the song is when young kids beg to sing it... As a kid I loved spotting those well decorated homes that actually had a sleigh and Rudolph on the roof!
I love this photo of my son and mother, holding hands and laughing over their hats. Mom had Alzheimer's, but she still had a great ability to enjoy. The holidays, with all the decorations and foods, delighted her. But seeing her family was the absolute best. I have always enjoyed sharing Xmas festivities with older folks, even those I'm not related to. Elder Xmas Memories: My grandma, Daw (who owned no slacks) opening my gift to her, of yellow sweatpants... Lively staff and visiting family, dancing with residents (many with wheelchairs & walkers) at Silverado Senior Center... My great grandmother Dede at nearly 100, sitting in her rocker while we kiddos opened gifts... Sitting around the "quilt table" with many of my senior groups, sharing stories of childhood Christmases...
Heidi's cat Josie has enjoyed a few Christmases with us. She always added a little extra decoration... to the decorations. It's been many years since we've had a cat living in our home, but I do love memories of cats at Christmas. What Cats Do: Climb the tree or knock off ornaments... enjoy the ribbons and wrapping more than anyone... steal the best ray of sunshine for a nap... Jump onto the set table when you don't want them to... Curl up with you when you're watching a Xmas movie, if you're lucky...
This is the time of year I used to get the kids to pose for a Christmas card photo. It helped to have a kitten for distraction and it of course helped to have coordinating outfits... I'm not sure why! I miss those days of bowl haircuts and hair bows. Past Holiday Posing: The kids in grandma's yard, near a snow covered pinetree... As teens, cutting up with lots of posing sarcasm... Baby Heidi, posing on grandma's antique rocking horse... Kids posing in scarves, beneath our palms in 80 degree weather... Years with glasses and braces... Awkward 1st Xmas pose with infant Heidi, looking as stiff in her starchy dress as her rigid parents... The kids posing with, sweet and always patient Molly Dog...
I think I'll aim for Christmas/Winter pictures during December. I'll start with this one that I love, of Heidi and my dear friend Claire, cross-country skiing in Utah. Claire and I had about 20 years of catching up & storytelling, as we skied and laughed. Heidi was the age we were when we'd met, so it somehow felt like going back in time, with Heidi joining in on the fun. Three college girls, in a Back to the Future moment! (Although Heidi probably didn't see it that way!) Reunions with Old Friends: A surreal and wonderful day with my friend Diane, sorting through memories and catching up on what we'd been doing for 40 years... A sad phone reunion with my dear HS friend, Lorie. She didn't sound excited to hear my voice after about 20 years. Then I learned I'd called the wrong number. I eventually reached my friend and heard the familiar shriek and giggles... My friend Jenny and I got together after 20+ years. We watched our own kids quiety play games, while we rememebed the (never quiet) goofy projects we threw ourselves into, from clowning jobs to Japanese tea parties...
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