Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories Christmas Cards

OK,  I apologize!  This is not going to be about Christmas Card today but I posted that because that is the only way the Geneablogger search engine finds it!  So for the "Sub-title"  I am posting:

The Office Christmas Party #1

So tonight Marion, our part-time counter helper at the Library had a German dinner for the staff and missionaries.  And because Marion is a great cook, she had a BIG crowd.  She cooked a fantastic meal  Here are our hosts Marion and Guenter.

Here are a few of the wonderful things on tonight's menu!

Here is the gravy in a Bunzlau pottery dish.  I have some of this Polish pottery also.  Love it!  Then a brocolli dish, another dish of kind of a creamed pea dish and cucumber salad.  Cheeses, salami, sourdough bread and another type.

So in the middle, red cabbage and on the other side is Sauerkraut.

German Goulasch and on the right 130 Roladen!  Now that's alot of Roladen.  I am glad I only have to make about 15 for Christmas.  That's plenty!  Marion was so nice we could even take home some left-overs!

Here are some of us eating while others are still in line, hoping there is food there when they get to it.  And there was plenty for all and then some!

And here is the other side of the table!  Notice I am smiling.  That was before I realized I had just gained 15 lbs!

Here is the elite group that sat in the formal dining room.  Notice they have no food yet!

Marion makes a 9X13 Black forest cake.  Really nummy, behind that some streusel Kuchen.  She made two kinds, one with blueberries, too.  She made about 6 different desserts. 

More dessert.  Did I say I gained 15 lbs?  or was it 16, 17...or what?

Those numbers just keep on going higher and higher... oh my.
Well, it's getting late, I'm tired and soon need to sleep.  So that unpictured items, were mashed potatoes, spaetzle, the breads and cheeses.  So it was fun, great food and now it's time to diet!

Advent Calendar Christmas Gifts

There is nothing better to me than seeing the excitement in a child's eyes as they open the package of that one thing they wanted more than anything else.  I have to tell you that as a child, I was pretty sneaky.  I knew all my mom's hiding places.  We had a real small house back in Minnesota, so there was not a lot of places to hide anything.  And I would look.  And shake, and rattle and R O L L .  Yes, I was not the perfect child, was I?  I hope my mother isn't reading this post....

I would try very carefully to peel back the tape and re-stick it.  I doubt I did too good a job of it.  OK, I admit it.  I couldn't stand waiting.  It was the worst in my child's mind.  Well, now you all know my deep, and very DARK secrets.

We would open our presents on Christmas Eve after a dinner and a little program of sorts.  I think one of my best and most favorite gifts was when I got my bicycle.  It was great to have the freedom to ride around with my friends and take little picnic lunches with us.

Another favorite gift was a really big doll that could walk when I held her arm.  Those are the ones I really remember. 

Now, I don't worry about getting gifts, I mostly am getting someone gifts, my grandkids especially, who I love to give worthwhile gifts to.    They mean so much to me and I hope they will always be aware of that.  Spencer and I try to give them things that they either really want or really need and might not otherwise receive. 

In the past, I have found little Logan, re-taping some gifts, too. He is his gramma's boy, isn't he? And given the above facts, do I have a right to scold him???  Probably not.  Here are some pics of Christmas gifts past.

Here we are in California while my parent's still lived there.

Weren't my kids just sweet.  Now they are all grown up..... (wasn't I thin....)

Well enough of the old pics, it was fun to reminisce!  The picture above was a real fun Christmas Present given to the neighborhood kids by the snow-plow guy.  We had so much snow this year that is was all pushed in the corner of our yard and stacked up with a back-hoe, if you can believe that and made a fabulous sledding hill.  The kids loved it, till it turned into ice and they all fell off the hill before they got on their sleds.  That wasn't too fun...I think that's Jamie on the upper right with her hand on her hip and Brian on the lower right sitting down.  The "neighborhood Matterhorn".   We have never had it since then so I am glad I got a picture so we can all remember!

Advent Calendar Christmas Cards Dec. 4

The newspaper card shown, was from my dad and his boss.  His job was at a newspaper in Minnesota.  And this was the card that they had in 1961.
Christmas cards!  Back in my youth I remember our family always receiving what seemed like LOTS of Christmas cards...shiny with glitter and beautiful scenes and pictures.  I remember once when Christmas was over and my mom got a Christmas card sales book.  It was thick, probably 6 inches thick if not more, (at least my child's memory says so!) and it was full of many samples which mostly were glittery and beautiful.  I used that book and cut up the cards and made all kinds of projects of great importance with them....and then suddenly I got this itchy, awful rash all over my arms.  It was awful!  What caused it?  Guess what, the glitter on the cards that I was playing with.  I still remember that till this day.  It took a little while to figure it out but then we did and away went my beautiful cards and along with that went the itchy rash.  To this day, everytime I see a glittery card I remember!  It's funny sometimes what we do remember and that made a BIG impression on my little mind.

We always had many cards that my mom would always display in the living room.  Cards from Germany from relatives we hadn't seen for years.  Cards from my parent's friends and neighbors.  Cards were a big part of the season.  I remember my parents spending long hours writing cards and Christmas letters to everyone, and back then there were no copy machines to make things less time-consuming.  Then each one was hand written or typed and written especially for that recipient. 

For many years in my married life, Christmas cards were individually written as well.  But slowly the xeroxed Christmas letter came into play saving many tedious hours of writing and trying to think of what to write.  Just signing your name was hardly worth the cost of the postage stamp, it had to be really worthwhile!  Now on my computer I see the Christmas letters of many years past in English and in German.  They serve as a little journal piece of my life.  In fact in my journal, they are now included as I have retyped all my journal pages into my computer.  After all, who would be able to read my horrible hand-written chicken scratches. 

This year I haven't even written the yearly xerox letter.  I am tending to think most of my friends and relatives are following my blog, so a yearly re-cap may be not so necessary as all the important stuff is on my family blog.  So a fast Christmas email may be all I do except to those who have no computers, which is just a small handful of people.  Over the years, the amount of cards that I receive and put out to display has also declined, so I guess its a general trend.  In some ways nice, because we are so busy, and in other ways sad to see that tradition slowly going away.  As long as we still manage to stay in touch with friends and loved ones, that is the main thing!