First of all it’s my birthday today. Happy Birthday to Me! It’s not really a big deal, just another day. It comes every year like clockwork, right in between Christmas and New Year. No stopping it. I don’t feel any older; nor wiser.

We had a very nice Christmas with my sister and Mom. We drove up last Thursday to pick up Mom. It’s only 3.5 hours away, but doing the up and down trip in the same day is a bit tiring. Traffic wasn’t too bad and the weather co-operated by not raining or snowing. On Friday we shopped for Mom’s Christmas present to herself, a new plasma television. We found one and got a good deal on it since it was “open box,” meaning someone had returned it to the store. It did not appear to have even been set up since the remote had not been used and we had them plug it in and test it. It seemed fine, so we bought it.

Saturday found us driving up to Warwick to pick up our Buche de Noel [Christmas yule log cake] from Jean-Claude’s bakery. We had heard it was so special that people drove from miles around to get one. It looked yummy! The rest of the day was spent just enjoying each other’s company, preparing dinner and waiting for my sister’s phone call about which train connection she was able to make from Penn Station. She arrived just in time for dinner and it was a short drive to the station to pick her up. Dinner was Coq au Vin [chicken in wine] and we had picked up some small treats while at the bakery for dessert.

On Sunday we had planned to drive into the city and see the tree in Rockefeller Center. Everybody thought we were crazy for going in on Christmas Eve and advised us against it. We were all tired anyway, so we opted for a drive to Warwick and the little town of Sugarloaf instead and a lunch out. It was enough of an outing for everyone. We had quiche and salad for dinner and bowled right in our livingroom with our new Nintendo Wii.

The bears also cooperated and made their appearance. Both sets! The usual nearly-dark parade of the one bear with her two cubs in the woods behind our house, and the bear that was at our bird feeder most recently made a particularly brazen visit to our neighbor’s front yard, then on to ours and finally right down the middle of our street on Christmas Day. We know it was the same bear as she has something wrong with her right hind foot or leg. She limps and also holds it up when standing still.

Our prime rib dinner on Christmas was the best we’ve ever had. Cooked to perfection and very tasty! We didn’t exchange gifts this year, but we enjoyed watching the dogs and cats open and play with theirs. Our Buche de Noel was a huge disappointment. After looking so wonderful, the taste did not live up to our expectations. The frosting was a buttercream, and almost pure butter. Way too rich. Almost like eating pure grease. Sigh. We tried but it wasn’t good. We won’t do that again.

We dropped my sister off at the train station yesterday morning on our way to take my Mom back. We set up Mom’s new TV and she was thrilled with it. Until that is we got home about 5:00 p.m. and while talking to me on the phone, the screen of her brand new TV went totally blank and black. AARGH!!! Must be defective as we tried everything and it would not power up. So, tomorrow Rick will head back out and pick up another TV and spend the night at Mom’s. Even though the TV appeared to be fine in the store and it was working for several hours at Mom’s house, it was obviously not right. We will never trust “open box” again. Wouldn’t you think they would know if it had been returned because it was defective??

The other disappointing news is that Bart is not eating. We’ve been spoon feeding him a chicken and rice gruel but he doesn’t really want it. He is really heading downhill in a hurry. I just hope he can make it through the weekend. It’s so sad to watch. We took him with us yesterday on the ride to Mom’s. He was happy that when we arrived at her house we were greeted with a couple of inches of snow. He wandered around eating snow and enjoyed his time alone with us and being away from the other dogs. Three dogs in three months is just too much to bear. But, it has to be faced.

All in all, it was a lovely family holiday and I hope my sister and Mom enjoyed it as much as we did. It was nice to be together for Christmas after twenty some years of spending it apart.

On to the New Year!

In Santa Claus, that is. I don’t remember how old I was, but I remember the exact moment like it was yesterday. It was after the photos below were taken, and most of these were taken in 1957 and 1958. Just look at the glee on my face as I see my new doll carriage! I don’t look big enough to push it properly, do I? I remember the Christmas my sister and I got matching Patty PlayPal dolls, they were great. The next photo is my sister and I with our grandfather. Our grandparents played a huge role on Christmas Day. As if all the presents from Santa and my parents weren’t enough, the package parade would start anew when my grandparents came over. Talk about overload! We were quite spoiled as children.

I remember Christmas as being magical. The glittering Christmas tree with all the tinsel and bright lights. Baking cookies and decorating them, then leaving some out for Santa to munch on. It hardly seemed like I could stand to wait for Christmas Day. Finally the day arrived and we awoke to find a tree bursting with presents beneath it. After all the packages were opened, I would always put everything back under the tree to be taken out and played with or admired for the next three or four days. It was quite the ritual to sit under the tree and draw out my presents one by one to give each one individual attention.

My sister popped my Santa Claus bubble. One Christmas she came to me the week before and told me that Mom & Dad were really Santa and that she had seen what we were getting in their closet. She took me to their closet and opened the door. Sure enough, there were two beautiful canopy doll beds. I was crushed. No Santa? No magical sleigh with eight reindeer flying through the sky? OH NO! For years I resented her for telling me. But really, I can’t put the blame on her. She was older and wiser than I. It was just a matter of time before I would recognize my Mom’s handwriting on the thank you note from Santa for the cookies, or some child at school would laugh at me for still believing.

I often wonder in today’s modern world how any child can really believe in Santa past the age of two! They all seem to be so grown up much earlier than we were. Such a shame. It was fun while it lasted and I look back on those years with very fond memories.

Withouth any snow of my own, I thought I’d share a gorgeous photo sent to me by my good friend Linda in Denver. Like I said in my previous post, I can’t remember it ever doing this at Christmas when we lived there. Isn’t is beautiful? Thanks, Linda for sharing! By the way, that “lump” is the car that didn’t quite make it up the driveway! How do you feel about all this snow now Linda?

I always knew it. Now I have proof. I am A Weather Godess. No matter where we live I can guarantee that the weather will be not the norm. Case in point: it’s a freakin’ blizzard in Colorado right now. I just talked to my friend Linda in Denver and they are SNOWED IN. On the flip side, here in New Jersey, where by the way, people told us we were crazy to move to because of cold winters, are in the 40s and 50s with no chance of snow. Go figure. You want good weather? Okay then, just ask me to move to your locale.  You want snow? Same answer, ask me to move elsewhere. I am really getting tired of this. This has happened more than once.

Coincidence? I think not.

GRRRRR. Bah Humbug to you all with snow tonight.