COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS – WHERE PAST MEETS PRESENT

I love the December countdown to Christmas Day. From the time I was little until I graduated from college, I had a new advent calendar every Christmas. It was tradition. Nowadays, the tradition is a December countdown to Christmas on this blog. I love to do it. This year, the theme is “past meets present” – musings on the old-fashioned Christmas of yesteryear coupled with the happenings of the day, illustrated with my collection of family photos and scenes from Christmas cards.

“I live mostly in the past now,” wrote my Great-aunt Ida (Grandma Ina’s sister) in 1924 when she was 64. I can relate. Sometimes I feel that I live mostly in my imaginary past. It’s not that I think the past was better than the present. Okay, so yes, I DO think that some aspects of the past were better, but I also know that we live in the present. So, while I love to think on the Christmas of the past, the present is all we have, and we must make good memories for those we love in the here and now.

Feeling rather guilty for enjoying my imaginary world, I roused myself to make Grandson Silas a pair of Santa slippers last week. They worked up fairly quickly, even though I had to start over three times. I couldn’t find a pattern sized for a toddler, so I enlarged a pattern for baby booties. I hope Silas can wear them, and I hope he likes them. KW

POST-THANKSGIVING MUSINGS

It snowed today. It remains to be seen how long it will stay around.

Some years back, discussion here mentioned that Thanksgiving is really a lovely holiday that should be celebrated in its own right rather than as “early Christmas.” I was convinced, and I now segue from Halloween to Christmas through Thanksgiving with a harvest theme – earth tones, pumpkins, and Pilgrims. Meanwhile, Christmas decorating in my neighborhood began to happen last weekend, which makes me feel a little behind.

Brother Chuck called the other night, and he said that his family will help him put up Christmas decorations but not until next weekend (the first weekend in December). That seemed late, he thought, and when it’s late, it’s hardly worth doing, he added. I understand; sometimes I feel that way, too. But – I think the first of December is still well within appropriate limits. “Maybe we could leave them up longer,” he said, and I agree. Do we have to put it away all at once? It’s an individual decision.

Mike and I went out on Black Friday for a bit of local shopping. He suggested that we wear masks since social distancing might be a problem. However, it was not a problem at all, and we soon eliminated the masks.

The rest of my Black Friday / Cyber Monday shopping has been accomplished from the comfort of my recliner. I shop for this and that as I think of things I want. Reports are that Black Friday sales surpassed expectations, and that’s good for the economy and our collective morale, but mostly I’ve found the deals underwhelming.

And of course, they try to make us think that these good deals will disappear tonight, but don’t let them fool you. Time is not almost up. There’s always a sale. And sometimes I wonder what retailers are thinking anyway. What’s a dollar off on a $6.00 pattern? What’s 10-15% off on a skein of yarn or a sewing notion? At this point in my life, such sales don’t matter very much, though they might have when I had a family.

We do risk that some products will sell out or won’t be delivered before Christmas if we wait too long, but trust me – there will be more deals, now and forever. KW

HAPPY TURKEY – ER, CHICKEN – DAY

Thanksgiving Day, 1959

Times change. With us, the extended family potlucks revolving around our parents are a thing of the past. Gatherings with all of our own extended family seldom happen. We just live too far from one another. The times are different and the world is different, but we’re still thankful for our blessings. I know a number of people who are just having a quiet celebration at home this year, including us.

And that brings us to the subject of turkeys, the traditional Thanksgiving entrée. Turkeys are so expensive this year that I thought long and hard about buying one, especially since we aren’t feeding a crowd. (I don’t think turkeys these days are all that good anyway.) As I cogitated on the matter, Mike suggested grilling a chicken.

So, on Tuesday – and yes, that was late – we were off to buy a whole chicken. We went to Walmart first just to buy dog food. And then we went to Albertsons for our groceries and discovered that they were out of whole chickens. I guess others had opted for chicken as well. So, Mike called Walmart and ascertained that whole chickens were available there, and back we went to buy our Thanksgiving chicken.

This morning I’m making our traditional Dr. Pepper salad and mystery pecan pie. (I hope my crust isn’t tough.) Another couple will join us for dinner, and they will bring the cranberry sauce and vegetable side. We will have plenty of food, just not the variety that you find at a potluck.

Neighbors on either side of us have put up exterior Christmas lights. My own decorations are on a Thanksgiving theme with just a hint of Christmas. KW

BLACK FRIDAY DEALS

Whatever happened to Black Friday, that all-important shopping day on the Friday after Thanksgiving. “Brick and mortar” retailers offered one-day specials, sometimes at ridiculously low prices, beginning early in the morning or even late on Thanksgiving Day. Some people got up early on Friday (some people never went to bed) and waited in line for the store to open in order to compete for those special deals. I suppose if you were looking for certain gift items in electronics and toys, it was worth it. At any rate, some people thought it was fun and enjoyed shopping that way. Not me. I cherish my sleep, and I don’t enjoy fighting over stuff.

Mike and I only participated in a Black Friday event once. He saw a drill he wanted advertised at a hardware store, so we got up and went. He readily found the item, and then we stood in line for 20 minutes in order to buy it. No one fought us for the drill. Sounds rather ho-hum, doesn’t it? And it was, but Mike was happy with the drill.

Black Friday now seems to have morphed into something else. Every day I have email messages wanting me to buy some Black Friday deal. I know, I know. It’s just a way of saying that this is a super-duper deal, perhaps the best of the season, but to be certain I’m not wrong in my thinking that actual Black Friday sales are a thing of the past, I googled it. What came up was “Black Friday deals are here at J.C. Penney’s, Walmart, Amazon, and Kohl’s,” and I’m sure that’s not a comprehensive list of retailers. But if Black Friday no longer happens on Black Friday, why do we still call it Black Friday? I think it’s time to let it go and call these holiday specials by another name.

I also googled, “What killed Black Friday,” and discovered I’m not the first to ask. They say that online shopping and competing promotions contributed to its demise, not to mention the pandemic, supply chain shortages, and worker shortages in the stores. Though the article didn’t say so, the hordes of shoppers sometimes resulted in mob mentality with ensuing violence, and these days, maybe we think twice about getting involved.

Here's an informative statement from Almanac.com: “In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt changed Thanksgiving from the last Thursday in November to the second-to-last Thursday. It was the tail-end of the Depression, and Roosevelt’s goal was to create more shopping days before Christmas and to give the economy a boost. However, many people continued to celebrate Thanksgiving on the last Thursday in November, unhappy that the holiday’s date had been meddled with. You could argue, however, that this helped create the shopping craze known as Black Friday.”

By 1941, Thanksgiving Day as a U.S. federal holiday was firmly established on the fourth Thursday of November.

So you see, the importance of holiday shopping to our economy has been a factor for many years.

What about Cyber Monday? Will we have Cyber Monday this year? Or are we already having it and just don’t know it? KW

LESSONS FROM MY MOTHER’S KITCHEN

Mike and I have more or less adjusted to the return to standard time, but Bess doesn’t get it. “Why can’t I have my supper now?” she whines. “Why are you making me wait?” 

What about you? Have you adjusted, or are you whining?

The Family Home, 1959

My mother followed a recipe with great care. For example, a cup of sugar or flour was carefully leveled off with a straight edge. She showed me that certain knives and spoon handles are curved and therefore must not be used to level a measuring cup. “Just a teaspoon one way or the other will make a difference in your end product,” she said. 

Mother had taken “home ec” in high school, and she said that as the girls – all home ec students were girls in the 1920s – followed the same recipe, no two came out alike. Mother saw this as an indication that better care should be taken in measuring. If the recipe is the same, the results should be the same.

Mother was an excellent cook. Sauces and gravies were smooth, meat was tender and tasty, and pies were her specialty. My dad lauded her flaky pie crusts. When Daddy mentioned Mother’s flaky crusts to his sister Myrtle, she exclaimed, “But Dorothy puts her hand in it!” Apparently, Myrtle disapproved of that practice, but Mother said the heat from one’s hand was important in mixing the crust.

Since Mother preferred to control the end result, she didn't allow me free rein in her kitchen, and in later years, she felt guilty for my lack of training. Frankly, I didn’t feel that way. When I had my own place, I discovered that I liked to cook, and it never occurred to me that I didn’t know how. To my way of thinking, Mother taught me to follow a recipe and measure with care. What else did I need to know?

I don’t watch cooking shows much, but now that I have an “Echo Show” in my kitchen window, I will occasionally ask Alexa to show me a recipe, and I have been amazed as the baking gurus throw ingredients into the bowl. “We need a cup of flour,” she says, scraping the excess flour off the cup with her hand and leaving it anything but smooth. “Add a tablespoon of peanut butter,” she says, as she scrapes a heaping tablespoon from the jar. And yet, her end product appears to be fine. 

Well, I believe you can go wrong with the measurements, but I also think that when it comes right down to it, there is margin for error. You just may not be able to totally duplicate your end result another time. KW

A CHANGE IN THE WEATHER

According to the weatherman, high temps in the Gilbert country will be at or below freezing with lows mostly in the teens for the next ten days. That’s a call to action. We winterized the farmhouse yesterday (Sunday, Nov. 6).

“It seems early,” said brother Chuck.

“It IS early,” I agreed.

Basically, it’s disappointing to have to close the house before Christmas. Time was – and not so very many years ago – we could count on a mild autumn – no prolonged cold snaps anyway, but in recent years we’ve had to winterize the house before Christmas. If we spend Christmas there, we have to open the house and then winterize it again.

It sounds so easy, doesn’t it? – “winterize the house.” Well, it’s quite a routine, and it falls to Mike to do it. The best I can do is to supply him with warm drinks and hot food.

This region experienced high winds last Friday and Saturday, and once again, the old maple tree in the front yard dropped some limbs. Mike removed my big windchimes from one of the limbs to be stored for the winter, thus saving them from possible damage. The tree needs drastic pruning.

There were a few small mounds of snow on the ground, but upon closer inspection, they looked more like sleet. The pond is still low and is already crusted over with ice. Wasn’t it just a few weeks ago that we had such warm afternoons? A long cold snap at this time seems unreal.

But -- the Clearwater Mountains are already capped with snow. KW

A LESSON LEARNED FROM MY MOTHER

Sister Harriet, Mother (Dorothy Dobson) & me - 1971

Over the growing years, I learned many lessons from my mother, but as I grow older, I realize that she never stopped teaching.

In her latter years, I often took her shopping. She moved slowly, and I wasn’t sure if she was actually that challenged or if she just savored the opportunity to spend one-on-one time with a family member. Outwardly I was patient as she looked over the goods. Inwardly, I was frustrated with her dawdling. I had three teen-agers at home and things to do.

As we shopped, if a product she wanted was missing from the shelf, I would say, “Well, they’re out of that,” and attempt to move on, but Mother would reply, “Just a minute now. Let’s just look.” And she would proceed to push the cans or boxes around, peer into the back of the shelf, and look on the shelves below and above. And lo and behold, not always but often enough to reinforce this behavior, she would be rewarded for her efforts.

I thought of this as I shopped the Dollar Tree for my favorite Yardley lavender soap which has been scarce everywhere. I found several Yardley varieties but no lavender. However, I wasn’t in a hurry, so I poked around a bit and came across one box of lavender mixed in with another brand – just one.

That’s when I thought of Mother and her penchant to thoroughly search for what she wanted. I am becoming my mother. KW