Aprons

APRONS

I don't think our kids know
what an apron is.

The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath,
because she only had a few, it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and they
used less material, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing
hot pans from the oven.

It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for
cleaning out dirty ears.

From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and
sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.

When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.

And when the
weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms.

Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood
stove.

Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.

From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been
shelled, it carried out the hulls.

In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the
trees.

When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture
that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.

When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and
the men knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.

It will be a long time before someone invents something that will; replace that
'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.

Amy

Now that Christmas is over and the New Year will be upon us my thoughts are turning to Amy and Floyd's wedding. We had seen Momma Mia over the weekend and I just can't help but relate to the part when her daughter asks her to help her dress and get ready for her wedding. Where she thinks about when her daughter was little and how she has grown.

I too think of Amy when she would sit and watch David and Stephanie as they play, how excited she would get when Stephanie would be coming home from school, how even then she had a stubborn streak in her. She was as petite as they come, her hair was almost white, and she had the smallest face I have ever seen. You could hold her face in the palm of one hand and was like that for a long time. Her clothes size never changed for years. She never liked the Santa at the mall's or the Easter Bunny (and still doesn't). Her favorite thing when she was little was her pacifier. We tried so many times to get rid of it and one day we took it and told her that the birdies took it away. Her best friend's in elementary school were Sydney, Katherine, and Kevin. She would always want trucks and farm sets for Christmas, forget the dolls. She would jump into the pool and come right out, she didn't like to swim long. She made friends wasily and even the teachers liked her. One of her teachers told me one time that Amy should get part of her pay as she would not let her forget anything she said in class the day before. Her and Stephanie have a special bond that I guess comes form being my "Irish Twins". Stephanie would help me to understand what Amy would say and she had a language all her own. David would be her protecter and always look out for her. Amy always stood up for herself and would tease that I would send her on dates with Stephanie so that no one would take advantage of her. Amy was and still is a now nonsense person.

When Amy was in 5th grade I remarried and had Beth. Amy seemed like she conected with Beth and has taken on the role as her play mate, friend, and sister. They are very close today.

When she was in Middle school she ran track and was very good at it, broke records and all but it wasn't something she felt challenged at so she found out boys were more fun. She became a cheerleader in her Freshman year of High School and was made captain. We spent more time in the emergency room that year that the x-ray tech's know us by name. Before her Sophomore year we moved to Delaware where she felt lost had it not been her close relationship with Stephanie and her friends Katlin and Lindsey. She meet Floyd that year and as most of you know the rest is history. They will be married in May of this year and starting on her own life's adventure with a new husband and hopefully some day children as Rob and I both can not wait until we can spoil grandchildren.

So as I get things ready to send my baby on to her future I will always hold dear the memories of her growing into the beautiful young women she has become. I wish her all the happiness in the world and I love her dearly.

Christmas Eve

The wait is over and the holiday is already behind us, but we had a wonderful Christmas this year. I had my family around me, my health (although a little shaky with a cold),and my heart filled with the spirit of Christmas.

Christmas Eve the girls and I took my mom and dad to mass at St. Margaret of Scotland. I have not been in a Catholic Church in years and was surprise how much of the mass I remember. Beth was not sure what was going on but she was a trooper.

We came home and cooked dinner which is the Seven Fishes dinner that I grow up having but we have put our own spin on what fishes are cooked as the other fishes no one would eat any more,and ate around 6:30 which is late for us but well worth it. Mom helped cook and it was great to have her in the kitchen with me again. Beth also helped with things going on in the kitchen this year and I think she had fun. Mainly I think because her Mom Mom was here. She was so excited to have them come down this year. Her and Stephanie were just crawling out of their skin with excitment. David and Danny also came down to spend Chritmas with us. They came down Christmas Eve spent the night, went back home to have Christmas breakfast with Danny's mom and sister then drove back down to have dinner with us and spend the night. We are so blessed to have had veryone with us this year.

We also have a tradition of hiding a Cyrstal Angel so the one picture is of Beth, Amy,and my mother looking for it on Christmas Eve. Floyd found it last year and so he got to hide it this year. I told them to look high as Floyd is tall. Beth found it the next day so she will be the one to hide it next year.

We eat dinner, have a pollyanna, then sit around and talk, send everyone to bed and then Rob and I bring up the presents and put them under the tree. The kids still like to be surprised on Christmas morning. We had 10 of us on Christmas morning and it was so great to have everyone here at once to wake up together and celebrate Christmas.

It was a wonderful Christmas!

Hip Hip Hooray!!!

I finished the never ending task of wrapping presents last night!! Need I tell you how relieved I am, now I can bake and have fun with the hoilday. The girls will be here this weekend and we are going to be baking up a storm. I give out cookies as gifts to some of my friends so it will look like a bakery in my kitchen.

I love doing things like this with my children and love the fact that they want to do it with me. I hear so many families who can barely tollerate each other this time of year and I am gratful for my family.

Beth's Concert

Beth had her Winter Concert at St. Mark's last night. It was so good to hear all the children singing and getting everyone in the spirit of Christmas or what ever holiday they celebrate. I always get goose bumps when my children are on stage or proforming in some way. She sang beautifully and I just love to hear her sing.

She will go around the house singing the songs weeks before the concert so as she is singing on stage I am singing along with her in the audience. I was sitting with my best friend Stacy and her husband Jim as their daughter Cassidy was also in the concert. When Beth got on the stage we were waving so she can see where we were sitting. She did see us and later told me she had said to her friend next to her,"see those two weirdo's, yes they are my family". I just love how she had no problem pointing us out to her firends.

We look forward to the spring concert. In the picture Beth is the second form the left on the bottom row.

Dashing , Dashing....

Well it is a week before Christmas and I am just not ready. This year it seems like I am running behind the 8 ball. I still having some shopping to do, cookies to bake, house to clean, presents to wrap, dinners to make, kids to help, husband to take care of, friends to meet,thank goodness the cards are mailed because I don't think I could wait in that long line at the post office.

Christmas Party

On Saturday night we had out Christmas party with friends and family. It is differnet each year. We had a good crowd this year. As always we played Guesstures and the Chinese gift exchange. This year we had a couple of "newbies" at both so it was fun to watch as they give us clues to the words they had picked. The "popular things at the exchange were the Stanley tools, Hoops and YoYo pillows, and snowman that light up.
It was great to be able to spend time having fun and relaxing with family and freinds who both mean a lot to me. I love to be around people and esepcially at a gathering. It helps me with the spirit of Christmas to have my heart filled so.

The picture is of our WHOVILLE tree. It is straight on the bottom then had a hump toward the top so it looks like it is leaning but it isn't. This tree has character!

Kids today

As I was driving home from work I was thinking of the children I have in my class and how some of them may not get anything for Christmas because of the situation some of the famiies are in. How they would wake up on Christmas morning and not get anything. I had asked a few of the girls today if they wrote to Santa and told him what they wanted for Christmas and they looked down and said no, but they told me what they would ask him for and I guess hope they see under their tree on that morning.

I wish I was able to bring some kind of gift to them on Christmas morning to brighten up their day. I know Christmas is not all about presents and Santa but to these little ones that is all they know and hope for. Jenny, my co-worker and I always give them a gift and candy so that they can have something.

This is the hard part of this job. Trying not to make it personal and get all tied up in the feelings, but it is hard not to do especially this time of year.

So when we are opening our gifts on Christmas morning try and think of the many children and people who have to do without this year.

May we all be blessed this Christmas.

Stephanie

Well last night Stephanie was coming over for dinner then coming to go get our tree. She called to let me know she was going to stop for gas then be over. She called about 10 minutes later to say she was in a car accident coming off the ramp at 896 off 95. The car in front of her stopped and she stopped and the car behind her stopped but the tractor trailer did not and hit the car and it went like a chain reaction. She was not hurt and I don't think anyone else was either but when the lady behind got out to see if she was ok here it was a friend of hers mother.

So long story short she was shaken up, Rob was on his way home too and had called on the house phone as I was on my cell talking to Stephanie so he went right to where she was and checked out the car and see if she was ok, which was also fine, and then they came home.

As you can see from the Christmas tree pictures she was in good spirits but when she woke up this morning she was in a little pain with her neck and back. I have not talked with her since this morning.

Our Christmas Tree

Well we got our tree. It took all of 15 minutes from leaving the house to putting it in the stand. We go to the local fire house which is just around the corner from where we live. So we all piled in the car and got to the fire house, we walked around saw one the fire guys cut the bottom to fit into the stand and off we went. Of course we had to talk and joke with them. We even took pictures because the girls know that I need pictures of everything. The girls even took the branches they cut off and did a pose from White Christmas, the Sisters part with the big fans. It was hysterical. Oh and the best part was they were in a barn near the fire house so it would not matter what kind of weather it was it was indoors.



We got it home put it in the stand and stepped back and the tree trunk is crooked so the tree looks like it is leaning. We all bet that you David will be the first to point it out. HeHe!

So our tree is in the stand and will be left to drop so we can put up the decoration on it in the next day or two.

Tuesday December 9th

Well after dinner tonight we are going to be looking for our Christmas tree. It will be nice to be able to look at trees without freezing or having it snow or rain on us and get one before they freeze and not relize just how big around they are until the thaw out and we have a tree that will take up the whole living room.

I will post later to let you know what we ended up with.

Craft Show Weekend

We had such a blast this past weekend in Harrisburg. My sister Mair, my daughter Amy and my neice Kim and I all went to Harrisburg/ Hersey to go to an over 500 vendor craft show. You can not believe all the wonderful things you can get from snowmen to (this year) knives.




The first night we were there, after driving for over 2 hours, we got to the hotel and check-in, put our bags away and went down to dinner. We were tired and hungry. We were asked if we were part of a group who had coupons to eat free and we said yes of course that we knew BOB or as we call him Uncle BOB. The waiter got a kick out of it and sat us in his section. He then told us his name was Simon and when we sat he said " Simon didn't say to sit" it was all we needed and we just joked with him the whole time. When Jared (aka Simon) came over he asked what we would like to drink and I made a jester with my hands for a large diet coke. When he came back with the order my drink was about 4 inches tall in the smallest cup I have seen. We still are laughing about it today. He was GREAT!! we asked for him every meal and had a blast.




We got to the craft show and arrived at 9:00am and we got a great spot to park. We need a good spot so we can run out our treasures we buy during the day. Actually Amy and Kim run things out. We were able to get decorations for Amy's new house, as she will be married by next Christmas, Kim was able to buy for her apartment now that she lived in it for awhile. We also bought things for Stephanie's new house since she just moved this summer and doesn't have alot. Of course Mair and I buy for ourselves plus Christmas gifts. We were there for 5 to 6 hours shopping. We had a blast.

We all can not wait for next year to come so we can do it all over again.

Well here I go!!!

This will be the first time doing something like this. I am always afraid to post things on the internet so for me to do a blog is a big step. I hope this all will make more sense in the coming days because right now I have no idea what I am doing.
Well set back and enjoy!

Hello Everyone!!

I hope to be able to keep you all up to date with what is going on we us here in Delaware. Our lives have become so busy and I don't want to lose touch with you. I will hopefully be able to post pictures and keep a daily if not weekly tabs on what is going on in our lives.

I hope to be able to figure out how to get and read your comments so please be patient and enjoy the blog.