Monday, November 07, 2005
DECEMBER....1998
I thought we were having an unusually warm Fall but in researching my diary for 1998 I see the first part of December was so warm I had the house open with no heat for the first week or so. I do love fresh air and always hate it when I have to close down for heat or air conditioning….however, it’s important in the Ozarks. We are far enough South that we get terribly hot and humid in the deep summer months.
It was time to get the Christmas cards out and this was BTP….before the computer. I was still laboriously writing notes in as many as 90-some cards. I hate to get “just a card” with nothing in it. My mother and her sisters were writing each other all the time and never thought of sending any kind of card without a letter. Traditions are hard to break. Since then, in my older age….help came calling in the shape of a square box. That little miracle can send my thoughts, greetings and pictures anywhere in the world. An amazing invention once it is understood to one’s advantage.
I had the usual seasonal events to attend and managed to cover up my rash enough to hide it. Some days I hurt so bad I didn’t accomplish anything so I learned to get things done when I could and when I was out of commission I read or wrote. I was amazed how this disease could debilitate my strength like it had but I was fortunate because it didn’t keep my brain from crawling back out of a deep hole each time. I simply was not going to let it rob me of the precious days God had granted me. Some days I won and other days….. “it won.” Kinda like the white dog, black dog story.
Mid-month I made my annual fruit and nut cakes. Barbara’s mother made this cake and shared her family recipe with me. She was such a wonderful cook I always came home with lots of recipes and ideas. I had not cared for the typical commercial fruit cakes but hers was to die for. With 2 quarts of pecans it got my attention. Pecans are a good thing in my book. Her recipe only used candied pineapple and red and green candied cherries. Add a pound of white raisins and you’re looking at the best fruit cake you ever ate. (I’m getting hungry here.)
I kept busy making the families favorite sweets and boxing up to send them. With all of them working and far from home they appreciate baking and candy making more than anything. I have such good memories of the children working along with me in the kitchen and fixing their own little box of cookies. I had several friends in during the evening hours and we shared gifts and news of families.
George arrived on the 22nd for his birthday. We have been fortunate to share a lot of those with him because it is so near Christmas. This year I had crocheted him a one-of-a-kind afghan in an oatmeal tweed…….designed special, just for him. I was pleased that he liked it. I am always thankful that the family appreciates hand made items. Position or money has not deferred their gratitude for the labor of love it takes to make something like that. It wouldn’t be much fun to make things if they weren’t appreciated.
We had a traditional Christmas meal on Christmas Day and enjoyed our gifts again that we opened the night before. We shared phone calls all around when John, Barb and LJ called and then again when Jennifer called. It’s always fun to hear what everyone got for Christmas and to thank them for ours…..it isn’t dimmed at all because we can’t be together. Mr. Bell invented something long ago that brings the family close enough to laugh and talk with and that’s pretty great.
George went home the day after Christmas and I put the house back in order. On the last day of the year, I raked and burned leaves in George’s lot until late afternoon. The woods were brown with leaves on the ground and the trees still holding some of them back until Spring. I could hear squirrels rattling around in the leaves chasing each other and running up and down the trunks of the trees. They were feeling frisky…..I suppose they could feel a change in the air. Winter was coming………..
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
It was time to get the Christmas cards out and this was BTP….before the computer. I was still laboriously writing notes in as many as 90-some cards. I hate to get “just a card” with nothing in it. My mother and her sisters were writing each other all the time and never thought of sending any kind of card without a letter. Traditions are hard to break. Since then, in my older age….help came calling in the shape of a square box. That little miracle can send my thoughts, greetings and pictures anywhere in the world. An amazing invention once it is understood to one’s advantage.
I had the usual seasonal events to attend and managed to cover up my rash enough to hide it. Some days I hurt so bad I didn’t accomplish anything so I learned to get things done when I could and when I was out of commission I read or wrote. I was amazed how this disease could debilitate my strength like it had but I was fortunate because it didn’t keep my brain from crawling back out of a deep hole each time. I simply was not going to let it rob me of the precious days God had granted me. Some days I won and other days….. “it won.” Kinda like the white dog, black dog story.
Mid-month I made my annual fruit and nut cakes. Barbara’s mother made this cake and shared her family recipe with me. She was such a wonderful cook I always came home with lots of recipes and ideas. I had not cared for the typical commercial fruit cakes but hers was to die for. With 2 quarts of pecans it got my attention. Pecans are a good thing in my book. Her recipe only used candied pineapple and red and green candied cherries. Add a pound of white raisins and you’re looking at the best fruit cake you ever ate. (I’m getting hungry here.)
I kept busy making the families favorite sweets and boxing up to send them. With all of them working and far from home they appreciate baking and candy making more than anything. I have such good memories of the children working along with me in the kitchen and fixing their own little box of cookies. I had several friends in during the evening hours and we shared gifts and news of families.
George arrived on the 22nd for his birthday. We have been fortunate to share a lot of those with him because it is so near Christmas. This year I had crocheted him a one-of-a-kind afghan in an oatmeal tweed…….designed special, just for him. I was pleased that he liked it. I am always thankful that the family appreciates hand made items. Position or money has not deferred their gratitude for the labor of love it takes to make something like that. It wouldn’t be much fun to make things if they weren’t appreciated.
We had a traditional Christmas meal on Christmas Day and enjoyed our gifts again that we opened the night before. We shared phone calls all around when John, Barb and LJ called and then again when Jennifer called. It’s always fun to hear what everyone got for Christmas and to thank them for ours…..it isn’t dimmed at all because we can’t be together. Mr. Bell invented something long ago that brings the family close enough to laugh and talk with and that’s pretty great.
George went home the day after Christmas and I put the house back in order. On the last day of the year, I raked and burned leaves in George’s lot until late afternoon. The woods were brown with leaves on the ground and the trees still holding some of them back until Spring. I could hear squirrels rattling around in the leaves chasing each other and running up and down the trunks of the trees. They were feeling frisky…..I suppose they could feel a change in the air. Winter was coming………..
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
