ADVENT CALENDAR DECEMBER 13TH

 

Did we travel anywhere????   NO, there was no where to go.   My dad would bring my grandmother to our house.  My mother was an only child and my fathers only brother died in 1951.   

He had told us all that we didn’t have any relatives, with the exception of a few aunts, and I found out recently that there were a lot.

I am wondering now if Gertrude did not associate at all with her husbands siblings?     I have a feeling that there is more than meets the eye, and I probably never find out.

Advent Calendar December 12

 

Cheating?????   The only “cheating” I can associate with Christmas, and I had totally forgotten was my parents would celebrate Christmas on December 24th.

Their reason was that the kids would not want to go to church once they started playing with their toys.    It was done by telling the unsuspecting sibling that December 24th was Christmas.  They were so busy playing that they never went outside to compare findings with the neighbors.

Today, with all the instant electronic communications, they would have never been able to pull it off.

I will have to ask the sibs if they remember that???   I had long forgotten, but the title of the Advent Calendar made me remember.

BLOG ANNIVERSARY DATE

 

I was reading some of my favorite blogs when I came upon  Blog Anniversary Dates in GENEABLOGGERS.   I thought my date should be coming up  soon and so I checked…..

Much to my amazement it is December 22, 2008.    Have I only been writing here for one year???   It must be so because I have the written documentation……

I love reading others blogs, it gives me inspiration, where and how to research and just ideas on what to write about.  

I have been working on Genealogy for three years now and I must say I have found more and gotten farther than I would have thought to be possible. 

My biggest regret would be I did not start it sooner and gotten information from my parents or grandparents.   Some one posed a question to me one day.   If you could have dinner with anyone throughout history, who would it be?    My initial answer was Thomas Jefferson, but now it would be my great grandparents.  There would be so much to find out.   I would love to talk to the people who came before me and who genes made me who I am today.

WHAT MY SISTER SAID

Today I had a demonstration and a tutorial on placement of flowers in the cemetery vase. My sister said she read my blog and had to give me a call. She did wire the flowers in the vase, it begins with very fine wire and you have to weave the wire thru the stems of your flowers.

The second step is to place the wires thru the little holes at the bottom of the vase and then wind the ends around the stem at the base of the holder.

She said that the flowers will blow away and the wiring help to prevent someone from taking the decorations. Hard to believe that some one would take decorations from a grave.

Advent Calendar December 12.

The question was did your family do volunteer work at Christmas. The answer is No. I think my parents were busy trying to eke a life of their own. My parents had given money to the church but other than that I do not think there was any to give.

I know later, after we were gone he and my mother gave money to organizations but never got involved in volunteering. I think my father had social anxiety disorder, it there is such a thing. He was always uncomfortable with people other than his family and people at work.

ADVENT CALENDAR OTHER TRADITIONS

My family celebrated the usual traditions. But I do have another tradition story. When my daughter was in first grade the community had a large Jewish population. In the holdiay season they learned of the traditions of Judaism and Christian. She came home one day and told me she wanted to celebrate Hanaukkah. I told her to go ahead and celebrate what she wanted but I was not going to give her nine presents.

I thought it was a good idea that they would be taught about other beliefs, celebrations and customs. Happy Hanukkah to those who's celebration starts tonight.

ADVENT CALENDAR DECEMBER 10TH

What was the favorite gift I have received? I honestly do not know......I like things that are a total surprise. Something you would like and would not buy for yourself.

At first we bought gifts for everyone in the family, that proved to be too expensive, especially with the addition of family members.

Then we tried a Christmas grab bag and that worked for a while, but also got too expensive. Now we just get little things. Last year I gave my sibs a copy of a picture my sister in law had taken of the six of us. Some times you will get pictures, ornaments or some tasty food item.

I think what I like the best is the company of my family and just getting together for dinner, and sharing the time.