Saturday, December 24, 2011

Merry Christmas

Just got back from Christmas Eve service at First Presbyterian. I may be Lutheran but I am also pretty ecumenical. Been know to go to the synogogue several times also for different things. I realized tonight that I am an old foggie. Please do not change the music for traditional Christmas carols on me! I especially liked the bell choir. I got misty eyed remembering Daughter Nicole in a bell choir when she was young.

Finished up the last of my shopping this afternoon. Stepped out of the car at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's Plaza and realized I will never complain about California weather. It was perfect. Not even chilly.

I copped out and got a gift certificate for the lovely young Cousin who's name I drew this year. She gave me a wish list of organic types of skin care. I had never heard of any of them but I checked them out and will definitely check back and get some for meee tooo next year.

First Christmas Remembered 1954
I have lots of memory “snippets” of when I was very young. 9 however is the earliest that I remember whole days. 12/25?/1954. San Francisco. Aunt Hazel and Mike’s apt near the Beach. 1st & 2cd & 3rd Generation Family Christmas. 8 of the 9 children are there with spouses and 4 of the 6 grandchildren plus Grandpa and Grandma. We were only missing Aunt Connie and Uncle Virgle, and little Andrea and Jim, from Waterfall Lodge in Twain Harte. 20 out of 24 was pretty good.



The tyke on my lap, Cousin Bruce, and his wife Anne, are hosting 2cd. 3rd and 4th Generation Christmas Dinner this year. With me in the photo, the little ones are Frank (Aunt Margaret and Scotty), Bruce (Uncle Carl and Dottie), and Susan (Aunt Hazel and Mike)..

Bruce emails me on what to bring. Love it! Sauvignon Blanc and he gives me 3 wineries to choose from. That was sooo easy. Then came the olives. There are like 20 different kinds of fresh olives in the cheese dept at Whole Foods - not one of them is stuffed with anchovies, or tuna or salmon. Need to find out where Bruce and Anne shop! I ad libbed and got some salmon spread also to go with the pimento, feta and garlic stuffed olives. (Last minute thought. OMG. Did he want me to stuff them myself?  Bruce is a chef!)

Daughter Nicole wants to know if anyone will be on Skype tomorrow. I really have not advanced to that yet. But I think there will be a few present who are. It was 5! years ago in Copenhagen when Cousin Pernille told me to get with Skype. So I signed up. Period. Stay tuned.

Don't forget that Dec 25 is the FIRST DAY of Christmas and Jan 05 is the LAST DAY of Christmas. Jan 06 is Feast of the Epiphany. If you forgot that, let me know, and I will send you a catechism refresher course for adults. ;-) And don't forget to laugh all the way to cash register for the "after Christmas sales"!

A HEALTHY AND LOVING HOLIDAY TO ALL.
And don't forget to feed the animals and the elves.






2 comments:

Kelli Nørgaard said...

Love this post and this picture!
Hope you have had a WONDERFUL Holiday season so far!!!!!

And thank you so much for including us on your Christmas letter list!! It was great to read!!

Hvorfor said...

In some traditions, the first day of Christmas is actually the 26th of December, not the 25th. The 12-days end on the 6th January, with the celebration of Epiphany.