Treasures

I happened to remember this story the other day, and decided to have my husband unearth it from the archive of an ancient website.  It is one I wrote 10 years ago.  It is based on actual events, but details have been added to make it more entertaining.   My family really did gather at my Uncle Dick and Aunt Clara's house every Christmas Eve until 1971.  That was the year we lost Uncle Dick, and Christmas was never quite the same without him.  He was such a sweet man, and I miss him AND my Pop every year about this time, more than usual.  
Family memories are a true treasure.  
The broken bottle of liquor I mention in the story was a real event, only it was a half-gallon of vodka that took the wax off the kitchen floor when Pop dropped it.  (My aunt and uncle were visiting, and Mom and Aunt Clara had been making vodka gimlets, I think maybe they got carried away a bit.)
This is my first Christmas without Mom.  I haven't spent Christmas with her or my family since about 1988, but she was always there to call and talk to.  (Though recently, it had been a challenge, as she had dementia.  She could remember the past quite well, though, and we shared many happy memories.)
There is a picture that I hope to find and include with this, of me with my dog in front of the Christmas tree, but I don't know if I'll have time to hunt it up!
Well, I couldn't find the photo. It is SOMEWHERE in the mess that is my office file cabinet.
Today we will share time with friends and with our St. Paul's family,  
Our wish for you is all the peace, light, joy, love, and hope of the season, and health, happiness, and prosperity in the year to come!
Please enjoy my little story. 




One Crazy Mixed Up Christmas
By Carolyn Kay Armistead, 1996

It started off like any other Christmas Eve. Mom made me wash my hair first thing in the morning, so it would be curled by time to go to Aunt Clara and Uncle Dick's house that evening. She set it for me as soon as I got it dry enough with my sister Susie's old hair dryer. I had to play all day with rollers in my hair. Not fun. They itched, and sometimes even pulled my hair and hurt me. But, Mom wanted me to have curly hair, so I wore them. (Why couldn't she ever accept the fact that all of us, except Walt, had straight hair just like Pop's? Walt never let his get curly, he kept it slicked down with "greasy kid stuff" as Pop called it.)
Anyway, things started off OK, like I said. Pop came home from work early, bringing the usual turkey AND a ham, and a bottle of liquor of some kind that would join the unopened multitudes on our highest kitchen shelf. (Someone at Pop's job always gave everybody a bottle of "holiday cheer". My parents weren't drinkers, so every year, the stockpile got bigger.) Mom then got after me to get dressed, she brushed out my hair, looked disappointed with its insistence on remaining fairly straight, and told me not to get into anything while she finished getting ready.
Walt showed up with his girlfriend, and we all got ready to go. That is when things started going nuts. We were going to ALL pile into Walt's Fairlane. Me, Mom, Pop, Walt, and his girlfriend. Well, theoretically, there was plenty of room. We loaded up the trunk with the presents for Aunt Clara, Uncle Dick, my cousins and their kids, and all piled in and got ready to go. The car started, no problem. Walt went to put it in gear, and the gearshift came off in his hand. I don't mean the knob came off, I mean the entire gearshift came loose from the floor of the car. Ooops.
Well, Pop said, we'll just have to take Mom's car. No, Mom said, there's not enough gas in her car, and besides, its been making that funny noise again. We all groaned. You couldn't go anywhere with Mom in a car making a "funny noise." She would spend the entire trip with her eyes clamped shut, whispering prayers under her breath. By the time you got where you were going, everybody in the car would be nervous.
So, we had no choice. Mom and Pop and I, and as many of our presents as would fit, scrunched into Pop's 1963 Volkswagen Beetle. Walt and his girlfriend had to take his Ranchero, which ran OK, but didn't have a heater that worked at the moment. Mom gave them an afgan or two, and told them to be careful. We started out in our weird caravan, down the crazy freeways from Compton to Placentia. We made it just fine, much to Mom's great relief. (Pop's driving in the VW always made Mom really, really nervous. She was always sure we were going to get squashed.)
There we were, at Aunt Clara and Uncle Dick's house, and already all the cousins were there. (I was hoping there would be some food left for us, until I remembered that Aunt Clara wouldn't let ANYBODY eat until everybody she expected showed up. Besides, with Aunt Clara around, you NEVER went hungry!) Uncle Dick met us at the door with his usual big smile and warm hugs for everybody. I usually didn't like huggy grownups, but Uncle Dick was different. He kind of looked like Santa without the beard and white hair. He was always laughing and joking, too. His eyes twinkled and his mouth was "drawn up like a bow" just like the Santa in "A Visit From St. Nicholas". (Which he read to us kids every Christmas Eve, by the way. ) Aunt Clara greeted everyone from the kitchen, where she was, as usual up to her elbows in wonderful smelling food preparations. Mom went in as always to try to help, and as always, Clara got her a cup of punch and shooed her out to the living room and told her to relax. ("After all, Sarah Gene, you'll have all that work tomorrow when we all come to your house." That's what she always used to get Mom out of her tiny kitchen on Christmas Eve. It always worked, too.) The usual round of cousins asking where Susie and Jim were came then, and they were answered as always: "They have Christmas Eve at Jim's folks' house." ( My sister and her husband didn't know what they were missing this year!)
Well, the cousins and I were just about done comparing Christmas lists, and getting ready to start bugging the grownups with the usual "When do we eat?" "Can we open presents yet?" litany that we observed every year, when there was a knock at the door. We were puzzled, the whole family was present, who could possibly be at the door? Aunt Clara thought perhaps one of the neighbors needed to borrow something, so imagine her surprise when she found Santa Claus on the front porch. Seems he'd been making the rounds of the neighborhood, "doing last minute checks for my naughty and nice list" as he put it. Well, Aunt Clara decided to be nice and let him in, she gave him some punch, and all us kids took turns sitting on his lap to have our picture made, and tell him what we wanted most of all for Christmas.
When my turn came, I noticed that "Santa" smelled a lot like that bottle of booze that got broken on its way home with Pop one year. I played along so as not to upset the littler kids, who really thought this was Santa. Once I had a chance, I went over and told Uncle Dick what I noticed about "Santa." About that time, "Santa" started singing German drinking songs, and my older brother Butch was about to join in because he knew the song. (Much to his wife's displeasure.)
Uncle Dick then suggested maybe Santa had better hurry on his way, after all, he had a lot of homes to visit that night. Uncle Dick offered to walk him out to his sleigh. He told all us kids to stay in the house, it was too cold to go out anyway. Uncle Dick left with Santa and was gone quite a while. When he came back, I heard him talking to Aunt Clara in the kitchen. "Yes, I got Hans home all right. Greta was worried that this might happen. At least they live right next door, so he wasn't out driving anywhere."
Aha! I knew that Santa had to be a phony. It was fun, though, to watch the littler kids get so quiet, and so determined to be on their best behavior. For the first year in ages, Kimberly and Joey didn't try to dismantle each other. The only bad effect was that Butch kept starting up that drinking song again. Oh well, Anne had a little talk with him and he was OK after that.
We had our usual wonderful Christmas Eve dinner with the whole family, and after dessert, Uncle Dick read to us "A Visit From Saint Nicholas", and we each got to open one gift. I got a really nice stuffed dog from Uncle Dick and Aunt Clara. I always liked stuffed animals. I held him all the way home. That trip home was pretty normal until we passed Walt's Ranchero pulled over by the side of the road. Seems the headlights had joined the heater in deciding not to work. Well, we just made sure they were following us all the way home, and Pop had his emergency flashers on so people would see us both. There wasn't much traffic at all at that time of night on Christmas Eve, anyway.
Every time I think about that crazy year, I remember how much fun it all was in spite of all the crazy things that happened. Christmas Day was almost a let down after all the excitement that Christmas Eve. Our Christmases were always a lot of fun. Mostly because of my Mom and Pop, and Aunt Clara and Uncle Dick and all the neat things they did for all us kids.
So my dear family, wherever you are, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night! I miss you all very much.

The Gift Of a Beautiful Day In Late Winter

Today was a lovely, almost Springlike day here in Central Oklahoma.  A rare treat, since we've had snow and COLD off and on for weeks, with only a day or two of respite.  (Not exactly normal for us.)  Today was sunny, and bright, and not too cold.  A perfect day to get out and visit our friends at the winery.

Canadian River Vineyards and Winery in Slaughterville, OK is a lovely place to visit. Friendly folks (even if they haven't known you for years), and GREAT wine.  They have a nice deck overlooking the vineyards where you can sit and enjoy the view.  You can taste all the wines they have available in the Tasting Room, and we ALWAYS buy some, even though we really go just to see our friends.  All the grapes are grown locally in Oklahoma, and their wines have won awards at several festivals.  My favorite right now is the Moscato, which is sweeter than the wines I usually like.  They also have a fabulous Merlot, and Shiraz, and chardonnay, and ... it's ALL good!

We have a long tradition of taking food out to share with our friends (and even other customers if they want some).  Today I took a simple appetizer that I got the recipe for from an email pal years ago. You take a small wheel of Brie (or, as I did this time, Camembert), put it on a microwave safe plate, and spread the top with basil pesto. (I use my homemade pesto.  I try to put enough in the freezer every Summer to last until the basil comes back again in late Spring.)  Then you pile some toasted slivered or sliced almonds on top, and zap it in the microwave for a minute or so, just until the cheese is softened.  Served with toasted baguette rounds, it makes a lovely accompaniment to all types of wine.  We also took some of Matt's homemade beer mustard and some corned beef.  All were very popular.
I made a batch of dark chocolate shortbread and took that as well.  A few folks were eating that with the Moscato and with the Merlot.  (Dark chocolate and Merlot pair very well!)

Being able to share good food with good friends is a great joy.  Wish we could do these things more often, but life is so very busy.  I just decided that the laundry could wait this week, and we should go see friends we haven't seen in awhile.  We had a very nice visit, and I only used my phone a couple of times to upload a photo or two.  Spent the rest of the time talking with our friends and other visitors to the winery.  It was a very, very nice day.

Now we are home, the wine is safely stashed in the wine rack, and Matt has the brisket in the brine for the home made corned beef for St. Paddy's Day.  Time for me to finish this up, start the laundry, and see what else I can get into.

I hope your Saturday was enjoyable as well!

We made a happy wine rack today.  All full up.  (The liquor shelf was already happy.)

Let The Wild Revels Begin!

Me and my best friend, lover, husband: Matthew.  Long ago and far away.

 Friday, February 20th

My work week is done, that means that my Birthday Vacation Week has officially begun!  Not much exciting stuff planned, but some fun stuff.  Friends coming over tomorrow for braised short ribs, got an early birthday present in the mail today, Contemplating whether or not to make a birthday cake this year.

Saturday, February 21st

Got up and cleaned house this morning.  Still have to work out and start laundry before friends arrive at "5-ish".  Matt is busy cooking.
Got another birthday present in the mail today.  The other Perlgirls are spoiling me.  Now I have to figure out how to spoil them back.
The dinner this evening was FABULOUS!  Dear Husband has outdone himself!  Beef short ribs braised in wine, with carrots and onions, butternut squash soup, roasted cauliflower, Gratin Daphinois (of potatoes with Gruyere).  SO good!  Also, had the company of very good friends, and poundcake and berries for dessert.
Had a Mustang Brewing Co. Washita Wheat Beer before dinner, and some very nice Shiraz from our friends at Canadian River Winery and Vineyards with dinner.  Had some herb tea with dessert, and used the birthday gift my friend Kelly sent for the tea.  (A mug covered with pictures of my favorite actor's mug!)

They are threatening us with nasty winter precipitation starting tomorrow into Monday.  I sincerely hope it doesn't come on very strong.  I would like freedom to travel around the area on my birthday week.  (Also, I'd really prefer to do the commissary trip on Monday if I can, but since I'm off work this week, I could easily go another day.)

Even though it is Birthday Vacation Week, I will still need to do laundry tomorrow.  Sigh.  Laundry never sleeps.  It just keeps sitting there piling up on you until you run out of clean underwear.

Getting ready to close this out and head for sleep.  Before I go, a little poem:

Treasures
As time goes by
It seems to me
That though I try
To let you all  see
How much I care
I cannot express
Or easily share
The happiness
The laughter,
The joy
You bring to my life.
Dear friends,
Know that no
Material things
Can ever mean
As much to me
As the joy of your
Friendship does.
Your kindness
Overwhelms me
The fact that you
Are there when I
Need cheering up
That you let me
Cheer you up, too,
The give and take,
The laughter
And the tears
Are things I will keep
In my heart
And treasure
For YEARS.

All my love to my wonderful Matthew, our dear friends Mike and Nancy Rogers, and Mary, Kelly, Fi, Mallory, Jana, Linda, Paulette, Patti, Chloe, Anna, Marie, Amy, and Brina (the Perlgirls),
and of course, Julie D, Megan, Grace, Aaron, Darrin, Sally, Emily, Annette, Heather, MaryM, Molly, Shannon, and all the other wonderful, talented, and dedicated people I work with.  Life is good.
Katie

Random Observations

1.  I spend an inordinate amount of time sorting things.  Most of my job involves sorting and organizing.  When I get home, I have to sort laundry, silverware, groceries, etc.  I am just a biologically based sorting engine.

2.  Free time escapes faster than work time.  If I sit down to work on something at work, chances are I will finish in a fairly timely manner. (Phone calls and meeting room bookings notwithstanding.)  If I sit down to work at my desk at home, a million other squirrels will appear and need to be chased. 

3. Working out really does feel good.  Not so much when you first start, but by the time it's done, you feel a lot better about yourself.  Like you accomplished something.

4. Laundry expands so that you never really get done with it.  Laundry is an ongoing battle.

5. When we are resolved to eat healthy foods, the grocery list becomes longer and more complicated.

6. I admired James Spader's acting even before he started doing the Blacklist, wherein he wears a Fedora a lot.  (Did I mention I really like Fedoras?) (And though I am OVERJOYED that Ron Perlman will be on the Blacklist next Sunday, WHY has there been no Shatner?  Shatner and Spader play off one another SO well.)  (Hello, Boston Legal?)

* Ron being on the Blacklist is what has motivated me to start catching up on the episodes I have missed.  Thanks again, Mr. P, for helping me find a good show!

7.  Stay away from Pinterest if you are on a diet.  People persist in posting really good-sounding, EASY, decadent dessert recipes.  I have tried a few.  They ARE good, easy, and decadent.  And they will make you fat.

8.Even among geeks and nerds, I'm a misfit.  I and my obessive fandoms do not fit neatly into anyone's idea of what a geek girl is like.  I have MANY areas in which I have a generous amount of knowledge and experience, (like baking, cross-stitch embroidery, Star Trek TOS, gardening...) I do not specialize in one category of geek behavior.  Also, I can interact with Mundanes without anxiety on either side. According to the book Geek Girls Unite!  I am even atypical in my music geekness.  I like a wide variety of stuff, from grand opera to Sinatra, to bluegrass, to Scottish folksongs, to some current pop music.

9. Once you start collecting Pop vinyl figures and Gipsy Danger figures, you can't stop.  There are now three Gipsy Danger figures in my office, and Two Groot figures, as well as a Rocketeer, a Clay Morrow Pop vinyl, and action figure, and a Pop vinyl Iron Giant.  (Of course, my husband has the 18" Gipsy Danger, and she's in the living room!)

10.  A random tweet from someone you admire can brighten your whole day.  Even if they tease you about your typos in said tweet.

11.  A hug from Matthew can fix almost anything.  And he can nearly ALWAYS get me to smile, and laugh, even.

12. Some people are so organized that they really are ready to file their taxes in January.  This is why they get upset that we have no tax forms at the library until February.  I don't even have my W-2 forms yet, people, nor the interest reports we will need.  (Also, if I'm going to pay, I'm gonna keep that money earning interest in MY bank account as long as I can before I send it to Uncle.) We do have an accountant, and she's worth her fee, because we have gotten refunds most years that are more than her fee.  (Also, her fee is cheaper than a penalty if we screw up)

13. I am reluctant to number any substantive point in this post 13.  I guess I have a bit of latent Triskadecaphobia.  

14.  My obsession with office supplies must mark me as a partial Luddite.  I love technology, and use quite a lot of it, but I sit here in an office that has no less than two mugs full of pens, half of them fountain pens, and two mugs full of pencils, half of them drawing and colored pencils.  (Oh, and one pencil has a pewter dragon sitting on top of it, with its tail curled around the pencil, and one has a plastic Garfield on top, and another has Odie.)  There are also styli that go with my touchscreens hiding out in at least two of those mugs.  There's another mug full of bookmarks.  I do an awful lot of my reading on my tablets now.  Ebooks.  No bookmarks needed.  Yet, I have a collection. As for other office supplies, there are drawers and shelves filled with paper, stationery, card stock, paperclips, ink, stamp pads, decorative stamps, tape, and calligraphy pens. 

15.  No matter when I start these blog posts, I never seem to finish them until fairly late at night.  On rare occasions they will get themselves written earlier, but not often. 

Christmas Eve Ruminations

I'm awake!  Got a late start because I finally go to sleep after 2 when the pie finally got cool enough to go into the refrigerator. 
I've gotta make a list of what I need to get done.
Gotta make a list for Matt who is going out to get last minute stuff.
Little patters of squirrel feet on my roof make me smile in the middle of everything.  I'll go out and refill the feeders.  Merry Christmas, Squirrely Whirly, and birdies.

Almost 4 pm.  Chores done, presents wrapped, still some cooking to do.  We'll eat our first feast this evening, then nibble tomorrow, and on Friday, have the Feast of the Festive Leftovers with our good friends.  (There may be a few things made fresh for the "leftovers" feast.  All depends on how things go...)

Joys of the day:  A dog joyfully playing ball with his human as I passed by on my walk.  The neighbor dogs who stop barking and wag their tails as soon as I say hi and tell them how pretty and what good doggies they are.

Dinner eaten and almost all cleaned up. Soup was excellent, beef was good, beans need a little work... but they'll be OK before the Feast of the Festive Leftovers!

A tweet out of the blue yesterday really made my day!  Nice to be remembered, and a very nice thing so close to Christmas.  Still smiling.

Time now to recoup a little before getting ready and heading for church.  This late service makes for a long day for us, but we'd be up late anyway...

The service seemed  longer than usual, and boy, did we sing a LOT of carols!  Only three anthems, but LOTS of carols!  And they let us have lit candles in the loft for the end of "Silent Night".  They're either brave or crazy. 

Sermon was called "The Light Must Change Us".  About how now that the Light of the World has come to us, we should live more like we've seen that light.  Share that light by our deeds, not by preaching and trying to convert people, but by touching people's lives and hearts the way Jesus did.  It was a good sermon. 
And so, to bed.  A long day, since I stayed up so late last night. It is almost as late now.  Christmas Eve is always a bit this way.  Now that I've had some of each kind of pie (both came out well, yay!)  and some hot chocolate, time to wash up and clean my teeth and head for zzzzzzz.

The light of love does change us. It lightens and warms all those upon whom it shines.  May the Light of  Love shine in our hearts and into the lives of those we encounter, may we all be changed for the better, made more loving, by that light. 
Peace to you, and Merry Christmas!!

Wait! It's Not Supposed To Be Winter Yet!!

Early Winter
By C.K. Armistead
Nov 16, 2014

Freezing air that greets
My reluctantly waking feets
I pull them back under the sheets
While the alarm clock uselessly bleats.

Seeking warmth, I hit the shower
Hot water seems to take an hour
Before it gets to its full power
Helping sweeten my mood so sour.

Joints that normally don't pain me
Today rebel and seek to blame me
For the cold that seems to contain me
Making them all inflamed, you see.

Oh, the joy of my cozy nook
To curl up and read a book
A window to help me look
Upon the trees by cold winds shook.

  

Winter Signs on A Fall Afternoon
C.K. Armistead
Nov. 2014

Swirling, falling drifting
Lightly dusting and sifting,
Flakes flying on north winds
Coating shrubs and ground again.

Fluffing, chattering, then still
Sparrows huddled on my windowsill.
Waiting for a decrease in the wind
So they can go after the seeds again.

The singing kettle, the bubbling pot
On the stove, making a lot
Of good things to drink and eat
To take our minds off of snow and sleet.

To keep the cabin fever away,
Time on the elliptical to bob and sway
Also burning as much as I should
Of all that good and hearty food!

So, it isn't even Thanksgiving yet.  It is usually nowhere near this cold here this time of year.  Fall is usually the nicest time weather wise in Oklahoma.  I'm glad they switched from "Global Warming" to "Climate Change", because Climate Change is more descriptive of what happens as the earth has these temperature cycles.  It has happened before.  With or without man, our planet goes through changes.  Oh, we probably make it worse, but it isn't ALL on us.  The geological record upholds that fact.  The problem is, we ARE putting more chemicals, particles, etc into the air than would otherwise be there.  It DOES do nasty things to the planetary environment.  So, we do our little part to help curtail some of it.  Walk to the store instead of drive if I can, recycle everything I can. (But I have to drive to the recycling center.  That kind of rankles...)
My plans for today include making some more home made applesauce, and a batch of shortbread.  I also want to try to make some little meat pies with the egg roll wraps we have left.  (Not as fattening as pasties, but maybe ALMOST as good.  We'll see...)  The laundry is almost all done, including the towels.  I need to make out a grocery list and pay some bills.  Also praying for the weather to not leave us with a real mess on the roads in the morning.  (I'd like to do my shopping and get it all put away before I have to leave for Voice.)

Looks as though the roads will be iffy for quite a bit of tomorrow.  The schools are going to be closed.  (Oh, joy.)  May have to shop Tues before work.

Just feel so run down and tired and vaguely irritable during this weather.  Never fails to show up when I have other stuff to do! 

Here's the dessert I made tonight:

So, now that I've put my big, cozy sweater on, and had a bowl of this, I'm full and I'm SLEEPY!  Catch you later!