We go to the lake and the lake isn't there

The water used to be up to this sign. No swimming, indeed!
Even the geese are padding across mud where the water used to be.

Another picture, another story

Yes, Granddad was sick the months before Christmas. But he still managed to have a present for everyone.
How did he do that?
Well, during the days that he felt too sick to get out of bed we cleaned his room. Unopened boxes of stuff he'd ordered through the mail were piled high. In those boxes were mail-order clothes --dozens and dozens of them, more than would fit in his drawers or closet, more than any one person would wear in a year. If he ordered one of something, he ordered all the various colors it came in so there were plenty of each item.
Why not give some of them away?
Why not give everyone something for Christmas from his bounty of brand-new shirts, jackets and socks?


So it happened that everyone opened a package from Granddad when we celebrated Christmas.
And everyone put on what they found in their package.






And this resulted in a group picture:

Can everyone say "Haband Christmas?"

Getting a picture of all the kids

Behind every picture is a story.

Here's the picture.

Here's the back story.

Christmas Cake Pops

The Cook is ready.

She got all the ingredients for Cake Pops as a Christmas present.
She has her helper by her side.
She has the mixer to mix the batter.
The helper puts the cake in the oven and they do science experiments with baking soda while the cake bakes.
When the cake cools the Cook grabs handfuls to crumble.

Crumbling the cake is particularly satisfying.
So is mixing in the icing.
So is rolling the mixture into balls and sticking sticks into them.

This is hands-on cooking!
And you get to lick your fingers as well as the bowl.
The next day the pops are iced and dipped in sprinkles.
The Cook carefully puts red-hots in strategic places.

That night the cake pops are served and pronounced a delicious success.
The Cook enjoys her work!
Especially eating the results.
What's next?
Radishes!

Christmas with marbles

We tried to do some things differently this year.

One thing we wanted to do was to give the kids experiences rather than buying them a commercial toy.

So there beside the Christmas tree is a funny looking present wrapped in green plastic (the same green plastic that comes on shirts cleaned by the local laundry.)

Inside the plastic are cardboard tubes.

Lots of cardboard tubes. (I'd been saving them for quite a while)

Also three rolls of masking tape and a bag of marbles.
This is what you need to make a two-story marble raceway.

You also need help.

Everyone got into the act.

The big guys provided engineering advice and decided that you really need duct tape rather than masking tape.

We had duct tape.

And before long, we had a two-story pan-piped curly marble raceway!

Christmas begins

Christmas is here!

Hurry up, everyone - I can hardly wait!
'Cause we've been good, very very good!

Good things come in boxes...

we can't wait to open more.

And good things happen when we all get together!

A little help with the decking

Little elves have come to decorate the Christmas tree. Are you ready?
The ornaments are very carefully placed,

although somewhat concentrated towards the bottom of the tree.

Decked, without holly

The Christmas tree arrived yesterday. It is a demure little tree with a slender trunk, unlike our usual robust and rotund trees with their thick stumps. The tree holder is made for big trees, but we managed to tighten it enough for this small one.

I mixed a brew said to preserve pines and lengthen the time before they dry out - it features corn syrup, bleach and vinegar.

It was late by the time the tree was satisfactorily set in the stand and watered with the special concoction. So we left it standing on its own and went to bed.

Early this morning I followed the dog into the dark living room and there was the tree flat out on the floor. There was that awful sticky and stainy stuff all over. There was me wailing while the dog, uninterested in the disaster of the tree, danced around ready to run outside.

I am trying not to regard this as an omen.

Christmas recess

Mimi and I snuck away for a break from our nursing home duties.









We visited a curious little museum made from a family home.

The family had saved lots of memorabilia, and the museum was set up to show a Christmas in the '40s during WW II.



The service star hung in the front window.





Some of the furnishings were remarkably familiar . I was ready to open the drawers and set the table from this buffet as I did so often from the one just like it in my Grandfather's house.

Christmas themed radio programs were playing with news from December 1942 breaking into the big band music.
On the table lay correspondence and rationing books.

Each mantle was covered with the Christmas cards saved from that time period.

There were intriguing play things from the time -

my favorites were the little box rooms from the "Newlywed's" house.

The furniture was made of paper.






Mimi remembered lots of details about her Christmases during the War.

It was a welcome break for both of us.

Wipe down

Yesterday was "Clean Granddad's Room" day.

Every surface had to be wiped down with a bleach solution...

from the ceilings to the floors, and all the stuff in between.

Thank goodness I had hard-working help! We wore our cleaning rags to pieces!

Stone cold

This morning was icy and snowy. Schools were closed and our driveway unplowed.

So I walked to the nursing home to see Granddad.

There are sculptured figures tucked into the landscaping around the retirement center.
The snow made them more noticeable than usual.
I was reminded of the statues I admired in the cemetery this past summer.
Sort of solemn figures to set around a nursing home, I thought.

Then I caught sight of a bright red hat and scarf decorating a different sort of statue.
Here's a figure celebrating vigor...

but he does look cold!

Sweet Advent

Yesterday a bright yellow box arrived in the mail from Germany. Granddad brightened up when I brought it into his nursing home room.
He was a little puzzled when he opened it.
Here was a jolly couple in fabric.
Hanging below them was a long line of pockets in various shapes.





Spilling out of the pockets...candy! Lots of candy!
I quickly stuffed the candy back into the pockets as he began to open the shiny foil and consume the chocolate Euros that fell into his lap.


I explained the concept of the Advent calendar and how he should find the pocket for the day and then could eat the candy from that pocket. He pointed out that as it was already the 14th, he could eat all the candy up to that point. Ha! I suggested that as he wasn't so fond of marzipan I would gladly eat all the marzipan candy we came across. We were both gobbling chocolates as we talked.

I wonder if the giant chocolate Santa will make it until the 24th....

We skipped from Halloween to Christmas...

I haven't been at school since early in October, before Granddad went into the hospital for the first time. I had just gotten a display up in the display case featuring Owls reading at night. I meant to have this display morph into a more directly Halloween-y one later in the month, for Scaredy Squirrel to acquire a flashlight for his night reading, and then to go into a harvest themed display for November.

Didn't happen.

Poor kids had to look at the same old dark display until this past Saturday.

I met the school librarian and we took out the owls and put in winter bears.
Our plan is to meet once a month on a weekend when I can get away to change displays.

(And to catch up on school gossip!)
So I'm keeping a tiny teensy finger in the library world.

Sunday visitor

Sunday brought Granddad a welcome visitor.While the snow fell outside they had a warm conversation inside.
Later we hijacked the visitor to go to the hardware store.
Remember that door that was down?
We wanted to fix it up before Christmas company came.

And it was great to have someone who tossed around heavy birdseed bags as if they weighed nothing. I took advantage of the opportunity to load up.
The snow was still falling and I wasn't sure when I'd get back out to get birdseed.
Or groceries...

So we loaded up on them too. Let the snow come - the birds and I will have plenty to eat.

It looks as if the holidays will come

It looks as if the holidays will come, whether I am ready or not. I am enjoying the decorations in the nursing home. Trees and tinsel, pine branches and ornaments - it feels like a holiday when I walk in. The outside is covered with tiny white lights that sparkle in the snow when I leave at night.

How glad I am that people make the effort to put up decorations in these public places!
In my own home, the decorations and goodies arrived in the mail yesterday: a tower of treats. This is the only indication of Christmas in the living room. Thank you, Hillsville folks!