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!

 

 

 

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.