Just a few more minutes

How can it be almost 2010? When I was wearing the above outfit in 1967, I was thinking that maybe I'd see the year 2000. I didn't think much past that. I was also thinking about where I wanted to go to college, what kind of person I wanted to marry someday and whether I should wear my hair long or short. (Answers I came up with in 1967: Baylor, someone just like Michael and short.) I cannot believe all the water that has passed under the bridge since I was a size 3 Junior Petite.

So welcome, welcome 2010. I'm running a new motto past old family friends who always helped us make up a theme for the new year. How about "Grin and win in 2010?" (This rhymes in Texas.) If my readers out in blogland have got something better, I'd love to hear it.

Second Annual Vaisselle Awards--2009

Okay, it's unlikely that any of you will have a statue erected in your honor. But the second annual Vaisselle awards recognize achievements in the year of 2009. If you find yourself here, great. If not, I still know you deserve one. So since I can't honor all of you, again I am going to honor my nearest and dearest. But if you've been a little kinder, worked a little harder, tried harder to take care of someone less fortunate or less able than yourself, or even smiled more this year, pat yourself on the back. If we depended on the rich, the mighty and the influential to make our lives great, we would all be in sad shape. It's the little benevolent acts that change the world.

So enough blah, blah, blah. On to the awards:

Drum roll please....

To Michael, the Roger Bobo award for tuba playing. After a long day at work, hauling his horn to a town thirty miles down the road to band rehearsal wasn't easy. But diligent practicing paid off. His big ole tuba made a big difference in his band this year.

To NS, my firstborn, the Pablo Picasso award for wild artistic success in her grad school classes. She's impressed the heck out of everybody at UNT and gotten a quilt into a major exhibition, the Materials Hard and Soft exhibit which just happens to be held in Denton. A real biggie. Go red!

To ZT, her husband, the very bittersweet Florence Nightingale award. His concern and care helped  their dog Wrecks have a wonderful life until the very end.We were all impressed by his compassion.

To MF, my second, the Leonardo Da Vinci award. Whether she was acting as Primary President, Choir Director, hostess with the mostest, mom, wife or dutiful daughter, she did her very best to use her multiple talents. In a very Renaissance kind of way, she wore her multiple hats beautifully this year and even added sewing to an already long list of activities.

To NL, her husband, the Marco Polo award. Not only did he spend the year traveling all over Europe and to the US for his business but he and MF intrepidly took the family to Egypt to see the pyramids. He even traveled to Pennsylvania twice to bring and to take back his family so that they could visit us in Pennsylvania for a month.

To GL, my third daughter, the Barack Obama award. Taking on enormous tasks with courage and enthusiasm was Georgia and our president all over this  year. She continued building her business, did her church work, excelled at the mommy job, started homeschooling her two oldest, and then she had a baby too. Yes she can!

To DS, her husband, the David Plouffe award. David Plouffe was the mastermind behind President Obama's campaign. DS also learned how to run a political campaign this year. Although his candidate didn't win the way David Plouffe's did, DS gave it his all and learned a lot in the process.

To ZL, my son, the Sir Isaac Newton award. Mastering Calculus is hard even in good times. So getting a super grade in Calculus 2 while supporting himself and paying college bills by running his own business in a bad economy is a supreme achievement. So on to Calculus 3!

To my folks, the Dolly Madison award. Like Dolly, they charmed everyone at Dad's 90th birthday  celebration. It was a great party and a wonderful milestone.

And moi? Little moi? I give myself the Marvin Bell award this year. Who is Marvin Bell? I'm so sad I have to explain. Marvin Bell is one of the greatest living American poets. Not only is he a fine poet, but he is an exceptional writing teacher and mentor as my husband Michael can attest. I think I deserve this award because I started up a writing critique group in Wilkes-Barre this year. It's really turned out well and we have a good solid group going. Go me!

To all the rest of you, pat yourself on the back.You're probably harder on yourself than anyone else. Think of something wonderful you've done this year and give yourself an award.

White Christmas in Utah

We did have a lovely white Christmas. The grandchildren were in fine fettle, my son, daughter and son-in-law were amusing and fun to be around. I got to see my other grandchildren on Skype. Little EG, the one-year-old who lives in Prague, had the chickenpox for Christmas and yet still tried so hard to wave at us. So sweet. Although there were some lovely gifts, the most popular one was a set of mustaches (I'm not kidding) that my son gave to his little nieces and nephews. Wildly successful! My daughter laughed so hard at her kids with full-grown mustaches that she had a hard time taking pictures of them.

The kids said some enormously funny things but it was such a whirlwind, I can't remember them all. One of my favorite moments was when the six-year-old was standing with the fridge door open, air conditioning the room. He obviously couldn't decide what he wanted to eat. I asked him what he needed. He said, "I need something that I can eat with a spoon." He had one in his hand. I offered yogurt and he took me up on it. Another prime moment was the two and a half year old who walked up to her mother and said, "I need to take a bath." Her mom answered, "You need to take a bath?" and she said, "No" and walked off.

It was a great trip. It's hard to go back to work after such a lovely time. But laundry will be calling tomorrow morning.

Cinderella shoes at Macy's

While I was trying on shoes at Macy's, Michael took a shot to show what chaos there was at the store that day. I really, really need a pair of brown or beige heels. The pair I wore to GL's wedding wore out (she has five kids now so that's no surprise) and if I wear the pair of Bandolino's I bought to replace them, my feet are bleeding before I get home (this is no exaggeration.) So, unbelievably, they had dozens of pairs of shoes in my size (5 1/2) at Macy's and most of them were brown. You have to understand that most stores don't even carry one pair of shoes in my size. They start at 6. I tried on several pairs but did so quickly, trying hard not to bore Michael. I was looking at the sale rack exclusively, of course. He took pictures of the shoe racks which showed what pandemonium there had been that day at the store. Then Michael handed me a shoe and said, "Try this one on." What a mistake! I don't wear pumps any more because my foot is narrow and I can't find any that fit. I always buy shoes with a strap of some kind. But these fit perfectly. I felt just like Cinderella when they put that glass slipper on her foot. Why was it a mistake? Because they were $89.00 on sale. I have never paid that much for a pair of shoes. Ever. Don't get me wrong. I almost always buy well-made shoes because they fit me better but I always buy them at rock bottom sale prices. I did pay (or Dad paid) $40.00 for a pair of knee boots in 1970. They were beige and I wore them on my honeymoon. I loved those boots. But really. $89.00 for a pair of shoes? What if I wore them twice and they stretched out and didn't fit any more? What if I nicked the toe? So I didn't buy them. I have no real regrets but if they go on a really good sale online after Christmas, those babies are mine!

No Christmas program either but I did see Rudolph

As choir director and organist, today was pretty weird. My soprano soloist is in Cancun trying to get a flight to Baltimore, my bishop and his wife (and prime alto) are snowed in in New Jersey and the rest of us made it to church as best we could. Seriously, we had a very minor snowfall compared to the big snowfalls down South. Just a few inches. But we still called the church music program off. It will be next week. Today we just had a few impromptu talks and lots and lots of carol singing. Luckily, I get paid by the note. (For those not in the know, that's a joke. No one gets paid to play the organ in LDS church meetings.) My fingers certainly got a workout.The photo is not of my organ at church! This is a bit of the console of the Wanamaker organ in Philly.

We're still looking good for flying out tomorrow from Philly. The storm is over down there. The only snag could be if they have hundreds and hundreds of people waiting to fly out because their flights were canceled. I will be checking us in online as soon as it's possible to do so today.

Last night we went to have a hamburger and then do a little shopping. We'd had snow earlier and everything looked beautiful. The snowflakes were so tiny they shone like diamonds. I've always pooh poohed those snow globes with the sparkles inside as being unrealistic, but that's exactly what it looked like.  On the way out of our neighborhood, I noticed that the yard art was moving at one house. Lots of people here have deer statues in their yard. Tell me why you want one when we have so many of the real thing wandering around.  I pointed out the deer to Michael and he stopped the car. Nine deer walked right in front of us. That's all eight of Santa's reindeer and Rudolph thrown in. They crossed the road in front of us and then easily vaulted over a hurricane fence to go the yard on the other side of the road. So much for fencing in your garden. Then while we were at the restaurant, it started to snow again. The ride home was so beautiful it was breathtaking. We followed deer tracks all the way home. Tell the grandkids that I didn't see Santa but I did see his ride. Awesome!

No TubaChristmas!

No TubaChristmas this year! We checked into the lovely downtown Marriott Friday evening at about 3:00 PM. We had Pricelined a room for $61.00. Rack rate for this hotel was $445.00. I found a bill in our room left over from another guest and he had paid 295.00 a night. Anyways, they were lovely to us. Had them park our car (which was going to cost almost as much as we had paid for the room) and then rested up in the room for a bit. Then we went to our destination of choice, Macy's! It was just across the street from our hotel. We wanted to see the Dickens Village and the light show, but most importantly, we wanted to hear the Wanamaker organ.

The Macy's store is the former Wanamaker's department store which is on the National Historic Register. Reminded me of the Galeries Lafayette in Paris. Our local Macy's in Denton was so disappointing. It was just like Dillard's. But this store was very satisfying with lots of designer clothing and stuff I couldn't afford in a million years. A 385.00 Coach purse, for example. So much fun! Just like being in Paris. And so Christmas-y. Just like we had thought New York would be at Christmas time. But last year during our visit to New York everything was so crowded, cold and slushy.

We loved the Dickens Village. It was completely charming. You travel from room to room seeing animated figured (about three feet tall) in settings from "A Christmas Carol."  No details left out. The costumes on the figures were amazing as were all the shops and furniture. We loved it. I just said that, didn't I? I guess we really loved it. Then we caught some of the light show (see picture above) and then returned to our hotel to warm up a bit before going  to dinner. We ate at a diner (see picture) at the Reading Terminal Market. We toured the market a bit before eating. This market put the Lancaster market to shame. The Italian bakery had beautiful arrangements of Christmas cookies including our family's favorite biscotti. Michael says there was one aisle of just salmon. We both saw the largest shrimp we'd ever seen--maybe six inches long and an inch in diameter. It is almost impossible to describe the kinds of fare they had for sale there.

We did some shopping in Macy's and then got settled in (on the floor) for the organ concert. Alas, it was just the light show all over again. I was so disappointed. But as we were walking away, the organ cranked up. We rushed back and caught the whole thing. We went up to the second floor facing the pipes where you can feel the bass notes through the floor. You can also see the console. After the concert, you're allowed to tour the console. What a thrill! There's a whole percussion section of stops, and the ranks are color coded. How else would you be able to find what you wanted? I noted that the keys were made of ivory. We met the organist and bought a CD.

Sadly, we had heard intimations from many folks that the weather was going to turn very bad. We looked it up online at the Fedex center and we checked the weather channel. We made the decision to return home at midnight, making this the shortest hotel stay on record for us so that we wouldn't get snowed in. The young lady who had checked us in also checked us out. They didn't charge us for parking, I don't think. And if we hadn't already paid Priceline, she wouldn't have charged us for the room. We got in in the wee hours and it's as dry as a bone here. But we couldn't take a chance getting snowed in since my big Christmas program is tomorrow morning at church.

So alas, no Tuba Christmas this year. But Michael and I agree that it was one of the best mini-vacations ever.

Dumbfounded

The picture here has nothing to do with the post. But if you look carefully you can see a really big tuba with a white-haired guy playing it. The Hazleton band played a delightful concert at a nursing home the other night. The band members' service represents absolutely the best that Americans can do with their free time.

But back to the matter at hand. I don't really have time to blog but I am absolutely dumbfounded. I have to say something. Remember that for years now, local judges have been denying teens due process, rushing through their convictions and sending them off to wilderness camps and juvie centers so that the judges could get kickbacks from the owner of the juvenile detention center.

So what's on the front page of the Times-Leader today? The ACLU had threatened a restraining order if  the city didn't take down the manger scene and menorah in front of the Courthouse. The city complied because they have so many budget issues they can't justify any funds to pursue a lawsuit. My question is where the heck was the ACLU when the kids and their parents were having their civil rights all trampled over?

Let's put this into perspective. Having a manger scene in front of the Courthouse might make someone who wasn't a Christian uncomfortable. I've seen this manger scene and I don't think there's any chance of someone being converted by looking at it. On the other hand, denying a kid the right to a fair hearing and sending a kid to prison or detention can ruin his or her family life and affect his or her future.

So thank you, ACLU, for doing the right thing. It's clear that you make sure your attorneys earn their salaries by sticking to the important infringements of people's rights. That manger scene was a really hot issue and must have offended thousands of people. I'm impressed by the way you jumped all over it. So Merry Christmas to you, ACLU, and a Happy Hanukkah too.

Partay!

Okay, it's taken me this long to throw our first party in our new home in Pennsylvania. Let's not count up how many months I've been here, shall we? We owed so many people hospitality that we decided to have a crowd over on Sunday night. We had sixteen people in all. Way fun! The hit of the evening (as it always was  at Christmas French Club parties at our house) was Apples to Apples. If you don't know this box game, you should definitely check it out. It's some of the best clean fun you will ever have. (And that's the only kind worth having, IMHO.) I thought that our original box had belonged to one of the children. I looked for it in the attic, but seemed to remember that it was ZL's or GL's. So I sent Michael out on Saturday night (after making several phone calls to find one) to buy the party box edition. Of course, after he bought it, I found our original box! But it's okay. The new edition makes the old one look really sick. The new one has some ridiculous number of red cards like 749.

It was a great evening. I had made two Bundt cakes, two pumpkin pies and a dip that I threw together that turned out to be the most popular thing. As all asked for the recipe, I had to admit that it was one of those "a little of this" and "a little of that" improvisations. You really can't expect one to write down everything one cooks, can you? The Mrs. Renfro's (made in Fort Worth, Texas) peach salsa was also well received. Can you believe that they carry her whole line at a local grocery store?

Can you tell that Michael played a few hands of cards when he was a kid? Look at that perfect fan he's holding. He turned out to be competitive. He won one of the three rounds. I only got to play one round as I had hostess-y things to do. I had fun. I hope everyone else had a good time too.







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A Virtual Christmas Card

Dear Blog Readers,

Nothing can replace the look and feel of a real paper Christmas card and I wish I could send you each one. As the next best thing, I'm sending you two of my favorite old photos with wishes for a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

So much of what I would put in a Christmas letter is already posted on this blog. You can look forward to the traditional Christmas letter info when I give a shout out to all my children's accomplishments in the second annual Vaisselle Awards at the end of the year.

In a recent church meeting I attended, a wise man pointed out the difference between happiness and joy. He said that many people in this world make a mistake in seeking happiness. But happiness can be fleeting and superficial. Instead we should seek joy. Joy is deep, meaningful and life-changing. To all my readers I wish the joy of this holiday season. 

Susan 

Tuba groupies

My daughter MF will remember the trip we made to the nursing home this summer to hear my sweetie play a concert there. Well, he returned there for another concert and all the lovely white-haired ladies greeted him by name. He couldn't understand it. They didn't seem to know the names of the other members of the band. The only conclusion he can reach is that he's got groupies! He's pretty sure he was remembered because of the cute grandkids he brought with him. Or maybe it's because you can't miss that giant horn he plays. In any case, they know him there. How cool is that!

I have gotten a few sweet notes from the buyers of my patterns, telling me what their plans are for the pattern. One is making art with it, another is making bassinette covers for a home for teen moms. Amazing! I'm not going to get rich selling patterns, but I am having an enormous amount of fun. (And a little income.) Plus, it's nice to have a place to plug my daughters' shops.

My mother, bless her, found it difficult to go Christmas shopping unless the weather was at least a little Christmas-y. The first rainy, cold day and she was out shopping with the best of them. Some years with lovely weather we wondered if we'd get any presents at all. She would find my new home a shopper's paradise. We've had two nice snows and will get more this week. Very, very festive. And when you drive down the road and see all the Christmas lights shining on the snow, it's a real live Christmas card.

The photos are views out my window of the first big snow which was last week. Isn't the little living Christmas tree cute? Michael's always wanted one.

Why my house will never be uncluttered

This is why my house will never be uncluttered. There are just so many things I can't throw away. Unfortunately for my future heirs, none of this stuff will have any value on Ebay. But this little memento I don't have to feel too badly about. My mother-in-law who didn't save a whole lot of stuff (she did have to pack up and move to Australia, then England, then the Netherlands) kept this paper which is one of a set of four. It's my husband's first (and last) screenplay. I believe it was from second grade as it isn't in cursive. He was a really good writer even then. This story has everything--emotion, suspense and, of course, a happy ending. Unfortunately, his spelling was amazingly good. Nothing is more amusing than kids who are just learning how to spell. But he did misspell a few. My favorite is the word "throught." He knew he had to use silent letters, he just didn't know when to stop.

Of course, I have the original story, but at some point the cheap paper from his Big Chief writing tablet will disintegrate. Remember those tablets? They had newspaper-like lined paper and a red cover with an Indian on the front. Do they still make them?

So that's why there are boxes of papers, cards, schoolwork, photos, postcards, etc. Even a few of my school things survive. A poem about a cat which I wrote seemed to me wonderful enough to save at the time. In retrospect, I see that Michael definitely showed more writing promise than I.