Christmas Highlights

The Christmas Tree looked like this:

Christmas Day looked like this: (It rained. A lot.)

Going home on Christmas Day Night looked like this:

Getting home and putting my feet up looked like this: (Blissful, happy sigh...)

Remembering The Slightly Early Christmas Stranger

It's Christmas Eve Eve, and as I always do this time of year, I'm remembering my family's slightly early Christmas Stranger.

You can read the details here.

I hope she learned to make better choices, that she's had a good life, and wherever she is, I'm wishing her a very Merry Christmas...

Ghosts of Christmas Past

My friend, Deena the Poet, sent me this card -- you may recall my comment (confession) that Roy Rogers was (is) my hero. Deena created the card for me herself, and I, of course, am thrilled to receive it. It will take a place of honor beside the Roy Rogers birthday card a reader sent me a few years ago. (Apparently I must tell EVERYBODY I love Roy Rogers.)

Anyway. Deena's card made me think of what was probably my best childhood Christmas ever. I was three, and Roy was in his Hey Day (See below.)

At the time, we lived a block or so from the Rockwell Theater, where Roy appeared regularly on Friday and Saturday nights. I absolutely loved going to the Roy Rogers movies. Roy and popcorn. It didn't get much better than that. I remember the agonizing wait for the movie to actually start. I liked the cartoon, and I didn't mind the previews so much, but oh, that newsreel. (How long, how long?) The newsreels are where I got the idea that President Harry Truman and that other cowboy movie star, Gene Autry, were the same person. (What can I say? They looked alike to me.) I remember, too, that I didn't quite grasp the idea of Santa Claus or why he would want to bring me a present, so imagine my surprise when he left me a pair of red Roy Rogers cowboy boots like the flat-heeled ones on the poster below. Red! Roy Rogers! Cowboy Boots! I think they must be the reason I still love red shoes.




I loved those boots so much -- I'd like to have a pair now, that's how much I loved them. But it wasn't just the boots that made this particular Christmas so special. It was also a white Christmas, one of the very few we've had here in my lifetime. It's even documented in the family photo archives. (See below again.) That's me -- my face is scrunched up because the snow was blowing into it. I also seem to have socks on my hands. No little girl gloves, I guess.

And clearly this photo was taken BEFORE the boots arrived or I'd be wearing them. (I think I actually slept in them.) I don't know the purpose of the upside down barrel. The house you can almost see next door belonged to a banker. Well, actually the banker. I understand he wasn't a very pleasant man. I can only vouch for Mrs. Banker. I ran away from home to their house around this time, and she gave me a peppermint candy cane off their Christmas tree until my mother came to reclaim me. As a result, I liked her quite a lot.




Anyway, that was THEN. The photo below is NOW.

By my calculation, I would have been standing in the vicinity of the "N" and the "G." The banker's house is long gone, too, replaced by a medical office. And see the fire hydrant? I once stood there with three soldiers from Fort Bragg and helped them thumb a ride. At three, it was all very interesting to me -- trying to get a car to stop with one's thumb. We did it, though. I say "we," because I did my best to help. Which they said they appreciated. Very much.



And did I say it's snowing here tonight -- probably the reason I'm so nostalgic. Too early for an actual White Christmas, but still.

So. This concludes my trip down Christmas Memory Lane. Till next time...

P.S. The Roy Rogers "Christmas Is Coming" poster was a gift from the dh. (He's very understanding re: his rival.)

Christmas Recital Report...

The Steppin' Out-ers were splendid as always, yes?

Going Digital in February 2010

THE BRIDE FAIR, one of my backlist historical novels and winner of the Romance Writers of America RITA Award for short historical fiction the year it was published, will be available in a 3-in-1 Kindle format e-book in February 2010.

It was selected by Wendy, the Super Librarian, to be "bundled" with PRAIRIE WIFE by Cheryl St. John and MARRIED BY MIDNIGHT by Judith Stacy.

Blogger Bundle Volume V: SUPER LIBRARIAN SELECTS Love, American Style

is now available for pre-ordering at the Kindle Store on amazon.com.

(Click on the link above.)

(I am SO hoping all of you have Kindles.)

The Pink Glove Dance

I just love it when my own kind goes a little nuts -- especially when it's for a good cause (in this case, Breast Cancer Awareness).

Check it out:

Christmas Recital Coming...

The granddaughter tells me she and her equally adorable fellow dancers will be performing "I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas" at the upcoming dance recital. If you need to refresh your memory, click on the video play button below. (WARNING: THIS SONG WILL GET STUCK IN YOUR BRAIN AND IT TAKES DAYS TO STOP SINGING/HUMMING IT):

Squirrel Update

Not only did the precarious squirrel's nest survive four days of heavy rain and 40 mph wind gusts...

...there are more up there than I thought. Five, at last count. The pecan tree is only a few yards to the right. Very handy.

It rained off and on all day yesterday. Still gloomy and overcast this morning. More rain coming Sunday.

And this concludes the local weather and critter report. (What can I say? Sometimes there's not much happening -- for which I am very grateful.)

Till next time...

So, What Have You Been Doing?

I've been participating in a quest for a cookbook, a team effort with a very nice reader of the blog who wanted to find a copy of The Grange Range for her young daughter who is a budding cook. It was also matter of nostalgia for her -- her mom had owned (and used) one. There is no doubt that the cookbook is a stellar collection of "real" recipes from "real"cooks and worth the effort to locate one.

So. The quest was ultimately successful. You can read a blow-by-blow account and discover the way to acquire a new, updated copy of said cookbook by clicking on The Grange Range link above.

I've also participated in a Big 1-3 Birthday Bash for grandson No. 2. (I gave him some "manly" shower gel in honor of his teen-hood, among other things.) Children get older so fast, don't they?

I'm really anticipating Thanksgiving this year. Assorted family is coming from afar, including our World Traveler, if he's over his cold and sore throat enough to be able to fly. The menu is changing constantly. My locked-in contribution is always potato salad and I'd be happy Charlie Brown-ing it with toast and popcorn, so this isn't on my worry list. It's times like these, though, that I miss my Grandmaw Wagner and her chicken and noodles, green beans and white corn (yes, cooked together), and peach custard pie with a meringue top. (sigh)

And speaking of Thanksgiving menus and cookbooks, one of my favorite holiday recipes from The Grange Range is Mrs. Troy Miller's "Cherry Salad."

I thought I'd share it with you:

CHERRY SALAD

1 large can sour pitted cherries (save the juice)

2 small cans crushed pineapple

1 cup chopped nuts

1 orange, grated rind plus juice

1 lemon, grated rind plus juice

2 packages cherry Jell-O (NOT the sugar-free kind)

3/4 cup of sugar

Mix juice from the cherries and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to boil and remove from heat. Add all other ingredients (except nuts) and stir until Jell-O is dissolved. Add nuts (I use pecans). Pour into a pretty bowl and refrigerate until set.

(NOTE: Don't fiddle around with the can sizes because it may not gel if you do and you don't want Cherry Salad soup.)

That's it for this time.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Autumn In The Back Yard

Today, a short fall tour. In the photograph below is The Swing. I'm very fond of it because late uncle made it for me using a pattern that belonged to my grandfather. It's incredibly comfortable for an uncushioned wooden swing and highly effective when it comes to getting a baby to nap. Add a little warm sunshine. A soft breeze. MawMaw's lap -- and "Zzzzzzzzzzzzz...." Unfortunately, it's also a favorite place for wasps to build their nests, so one has to be careful before sitting. There are a few wind chimes in the maple tree just to add soothing ambiance. This particular tree is lucky to be here. Hurricane Hugo took out its center, and for a long time it looked like a big leafy bowl on a stem. It has recovered nicely.

See?

Another view of said maple, with a dash of pecan tree and an oak tree in the distance:

And here are two of the many reasons why I never get any pecans off the pecan tree. See the two brown blobs high in the treetop? Those would be squirrel nests. The one on the left is in a very precarious location. We may be getting some high winds by midweek courtesy of the late season hurricane (Ida, is it?), so this particular limb choice could be a problem for the nest dwellers. Like many of life's situations, I suppose it seemed like a good idea at the time.

That's all for now.