Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Christmas at Our House

 Lyrics from my favorite Christmas song: "Christmas At Our House" by Barbara Mandrell:

 
Christmas at our house . . .
 
 Newington, Connecticut, 1950's
 
Warm memories

Andrea, Cheryl & Nancy; Christmas 1953

Bright colored presents
And Christmas trees

 
Marshmallow meadows
 
Applegate, Thanksgiving 2014
 
Candy popcorn balls
 
Photo courtesy of Taste of Home.com
I knew that Santa wore overalls
 
 
Mama's baking in the kitchen
Daddy's chopping firewood
 
 
Raisin cookies I was snitching
Christmas was good.
 
Reaching out to help a neighbor
That's the way it always was
 
 
We knew Jesus as our Savior
Christmas at our house still does.
 
 
Christmas at our house
Some things have changed
 
Faces and numbers have rearranged
Kristen & Grampa (1923 - 2005)
 
Mom (1921 - 2014) and the "Stunning Smith Sisters", 2008
 
Hank, Cheryl & Nancy (1952 - 2010) , Wells, Maine 1987
 
Giggles from children stay in a place
 
Andrea, Cheryl holding Nancy; Christmas 1952, Newington, CT
 
Rob, Aunt Joanne, & Kristen, Christmas 1978, Essex Junction, Vermont
 
Rob, Katie, Kelly, Kristen, Kevin & Kit; Christmas 1990, Andover, Mass.
 
I see old Santa has gained some weight.
 
 
Mama's baking in the kitchen
 
Nancy, Christmas 2006
 
Daddy's chopping firewood
 
Kristen & "Mommy" (me)
 
Raisin cookies I was snitching
Christmas was good.
 
 
Reaching out to help a neighbor
That's the way it always was
 
 
 
We knew Jesus as our Savior
 
 
Christmas at our house still does.

22 Applegate Lane

Christmas at our house is love.
   
Anna & Aunt Nancy
 
From our house to yours...
 Merry Christmas!
 
 
 

Monday, December 1, 2014

A Misfits Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving was . . . different.

Our power went out at about 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving Eve due to almost a foot of wet heavy snow that surprised us early this year. 

It wasn't back on when we woke up so we relied on our trusty generator to provide enough power to cook the 19 pound turkey we had thawed and stuffed.


I felt bad for the families who were unable to cook Thanksgiving dinner at all. Some coastal peninsulas, like Harpswell, still had no power yesterday.  I imagine that it's difficult to be thankful when you're cold and hungry.
 

Since my Mom passed away in April  and my sister, Nancy, before that, our family has grown smaller. I miss the days when we would have 20 or more people at our house for Thanksgiving.


Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving 2009

This year, it looked as if there would be just THREE of us for Thanksgiving - DH, DD and me. I wasn't sure how to make that feel "festive".

Then it became FOUR; my friend who is a minister would be between church services and was excited to share Thanksgiving dinner with us. We laughingly referred to ourselves as the "Misfits Thanksgiving" . . . a day for "the otherwise uninvited".


On Thanksgiving morning, the snow storm added another guest to our little dinner group. Another friend was stranded in the snow and couldn't join his family in Massachusetts for Thanksgiving.
Now we were FIVE. This was beginning to feel like a real Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving 2004
The dinner was delicious and the sweet simplicity of the day was an unexpected joy.
As we were contemplating dessert, the doorbell rang and BFF Mary Elizabeth arrived.  Now we were SIX! We sat over pie and coffee martini's and Bailey's well into the evening, sharing stories and laughing.
We were thrown together for Thanksgiving due to changes in our families and changes in the weather. And, at least for that one day . . .

Our little band of "misfits" became a family.