I did not have to go anywhere at all today. I know I told you that yesterday but usually something happens that makes me have to leave the house for something or other. The farthest I got today was the mailbox.

I did more decorating of the tree today. I hope to finish that tomorrow. I put away a lot of the everyday decorations too so I can put up the other Chrismas decorations.

Bart called to tell me that the truck with their stuff had arrived and was ALL unloaded. How nice that they have their possessions all in one place again. Mother had commented that she could see things there that MUST mean something to Barb and how she must want them with her - even if she didn't NEED them necessarily. Why do we get so attached to things. Probably because of the memories attached to them. I get all comforted putting the ornaments on the tree. MOST of them have a memory attached to them. Some go back to when Bret and Bart were babies and many to the early days of Dick and my marriage. Many are gifts. I cannot bear to toss any of them, even the "Paddy's Pig" that has his curly tail broken off. I just put the damaged side against the tree.

The meatloaf was super. For several years, I have used breadcrumbs made of all the pieces of leftover bread I have all dried up and mixed with a little butter and garlic. They are fresher. If I don't have dried bread, I just dry some hamburger or hot dog buns, buttered and garliced and dried in a very low oven. I fixed corn mixed with sauteed onion and peppers too.

Dick and I filtered the currant wine today - twice. Tomorrow we can bottle it. We should get 17 bottles. It does not taste too raw now, but we will let it mature for a full year because we have learned that the currant does benefit from aging.

From Highlighted in Yellow by H. Jackson Brown and Rochelle Pennington

Leave a quarter where a child can find it.
Skip a meal and give what you would have spent to a street person.
Offer to pay for parking and tolls when you ride with someone.
Buy whatever kids are selling on card tables in their front yards.
Make a generous contribution to diabetes research.

Look outside yourself and bring pleasure to children. Such a good idea that should spread beyond the Christmas (yes, I said Christmas - not Holiday) season.

Be happy

Mary

We went to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I REALLY liked it. It is such a big book and there was a great job of keeping the theme of the story while condensing it into three hours or so of movie. I hope they can keep these kids "kid" enough for the last three stories. As you probably know. Two more books are already out in print. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. A final episode is promised by J. K. Rowling. No word on that yet.

We always have popcorn for lunch on movie days. We go on Friday Afternoon for the old people special. It only costs us $7.50 to get in. It costs more than that for our popcorn and soda.

The morning was spent cleaning the kitchen and running a few errands. I am now at 6:30PM VERY tired. It is going to be an effort but I will try to stay up until 9:00. It is much easier for me to sleep through the night that way.

Tomorrow, I do not have to go ANYWHERE. SO - we will filter the Currant wine and I will decorate the tree. We are going to have meatloaf for dinner tomorrow with garlic mashed potatoes.

The other day, a news broadcast was showing the Christmas Boat Parade in Newport Harbor, Newport Beach Wisconsin. When I was living in California, I got to go on a couple of those. It is really fun and an impressive site. All the boats that want to decorate and fall in line. Then they slowly sail around the harbor. On the boats, you not only get to see all the other boats but also all the beautiful mansions that surround the harbor. They are all decorated too, of course. Food and drinks are always there. I had the hottest chili I ever enjoyed on a Christmas Harbor Cruise. It was so hot that it burned all the way down. BUT it left a great taste when the heat died down.

I received the following in an e-mail.

If you want someone who will bring you the paper without first tearing it apart to remove the sports section
Buy a dog.! []


If you want someone willing to make a fool of himself simply over the joy of seeing you
Buy a dog. []

If you want someone who will eat whatever you put in front of him and never says its not quite as good as his mother made it
Buy a dog []

If you want someone always willing to go out, at any hour, for as long and wherever you want
Buy a dog. []

If you want someone who will never touch the remote, doesn't care about football, and can sit next to you as you watch romantic movies
Buy a dog. []

If you want someone who is content to get up on your bed just to warm your feet and whom you can push off if he snores
Buy a dog.[]


If you want someone who never criticizes what you do, doesn't care if you are pretty or ugly, fat or thin, young or old, who acts as if every word you say is especially worthy of listening to, and loves you unconditionally, perpetually
Buy a dog.[]



But, on the other hand, If you want someone who will never come when you call, ignores you totally when you come home, leaves hair all over the place, walks all over you, runs around all night and only comes home to eat and sleep, and acts as if your entire existence is solely to ensure his happiness...

Then......................................



Buy a cat! []


(You thought I was talking about men didn't you!)


I finished my fantasy football tonight. Good thing. There are some games tomorrow.

Love
Mary

Another day closer to Christmas. We went grocery shopping, but not until about 11:00AM because we waited for Jim to plow the driveway to avoid getting it all iced up. He got up early but not before our usual time of 7:30 ot 8:00AM. He can't do the plowing at 1:00AM because he would be waking up the entire neighborhood.

Tonight we had choir practice and have all the music planned for Christmas. We practiced a little longer so we can be ready. I think Beth picked some good pieces.

The Rockettes, as I mentioned this morning, were really wonderful. They have several traveling groups, I understand. There are 18 women on stage for each routine. and they are totally precise. I think my favorite dance routine was the March of the Wooden Soldiers. Eighteen soldiers doing the whole march from Babes in Toyland. Wooden Soldiers are way at the top of my favorite Christmas characters.

We had a super lunch at Carlucci's not far from the Rosemont. The meal consisted of pizza for an appetizer, (really good), a mixed green salad (pretty non-descript), a choice of beef or chicken. I had the beef and liked it a lot. Dessert was tirimisu. Tirimisu is either great or whipped cream. This was great.

I started putting ornaments on the tree. So it should be done by Sunday. Tomorrow we are going to see Harry Potter. I have been waiting patiently through other plans and injuries and it has been put off since the premier. So - tomorrow we will have popcorn for lunch. Yum Yum.

Saturday, we are going to filter the Current wine twice and then on Sunday we will bottle it. Things are going to be moving rather fast an furious with the scratch wines. I have three other batches to start as soon as I free some gallon jugs. I have wild grapes, marigold blossems and lemon balm elixer. We will have wine working all winter this year.

Got Mom's application for Senior Care filled out and will copy it and mail it tomorrow. Whew! Medicare D has been quite a project but I have made the best decisions that I know how and we three, Dick, Mom and I, are stuck with them, at least for a year.

Here is a recipe for REALLY easy bread that tastes good fresh and hot or toasted later.

Beer Bread

3 cups self rising flour
2 Tablespoons Sugar
1 can beer

Preheat the oven to 350 Degrees. Grease loaf pan. Mix the above ingredients IN THE PAN and let settle for a few minutes. Bake for 1 hour.

Good luck

Mary

We got back last night exhausted from the trip to Chicago to the Rosemont Theatre to see the Rockettes. The show was spectacular with dancing, singing and a lovely Nativity Pagaent to climax the show along with a reading of A Solitary Life.

My leg is very sore as we drove straight through from the theatre to Sheboygan because of the weather. Usually there is a stop to refresh and stretch.

Anyway, just letting you know. I was just too tired last night. But I am back now.

I'll post again tonight.

I heard that turtles can breath through their butts. I wonder what purpose that serves.

Mary

Turned out to be an eventful day. I got a call from Mary Yurk, who is the neighbor across the street, called just before noon and offered me an "opportunity". She is the Queen Mother of a Red Hat group here in Sheboygan and some of them were joining an Elkhart Lake group for a bus trip to De Pere to Frank's Dinner Theater for a comedy musical production. One of the ladies was unable to go because a root canal had infected and she was VERY ill. So I got to go free. We left at about 3:15 and got back home a bit after midnight. The show is a musical and a comedy. This production was a Christmas program with a lot of traditional music and based VERY loosely on the Christmas Carol. I had Red Snapper for dinner.

Tomorrow we are going to see the Rockettes in Chicago so this is turning out to be quite a week.

In the museum under the Arch in St. Louis there is a plaque that has this inscription. I liked it and just recently found the picture that I took of it.

"I was first a bogtrotter (in Ireland), din a cobbler, din an immigrant, din a weary (Private Soldier), din a corpril, din a sargint, and now I'm a commissioned officer and captain fur life... and gintlemin, by act of Congress." Captain Gerald Russell.

Isn't that great?

Later

Mary

This was the best that my ankle has felt since Thanksgiving - However, tonight my hips just ache. I probably overdid because I did feel better.

Went to Bible Study this morning. We always have a good discussion. I like the idea we have now of discussing the passages that will be read the following Sunday.

The Sheboygan County Writer's Club had their annual Christmas Party. We go to lunch, this year to Arabella's, and then exchange the $5 gift and read anything that we have. I am really tired so will cut and paste the little short blurb that I wrote to read at the lunch.

My Mother shared a memory with me this year. She asked me if St. Nicholas had come to our house this year. December 5 is St. Nicholas Day, you know.

St. Nicholas used to come to us when I was a child. St. Nick always brought a piece of fruit and a little bit of candy to good boys and girls. He was a reminder that Christmas was coming and that we had to be good. Bad boys and girls got coal. One year, my brother Jeff got a lump of coal.

Her memory is this:

Grandma and Grandpa Bowser were living in Lomira. Only Mother, about 4 years old and her younger brother Noel were born at that time. One of the neighbor men dressed up in a long fur coat, like those used to ride in horse drawn carriages years ago with a hood. He carried a long staff and wore a beard. Then he traveled around to all the homes where little children lived.

At that time hired hands were quite common. They would work on the farms and live and eat with the family. Grandma and Grandpa had one.

“St. Nick” proceeded to ask Mother and Noel if they were good little children and if they said their prayers faithfully every day. They assured him that they did.

Then he asked the hired hand if he was good and if he said his prayers. The hired hand laughed and said that he never said prayers and never would. At that, St. Nick rose up and began to “beat” at the hired hand with his long staff and drove him out of the house.

This whole thing really terrified Mother. She said that she really said her prayers after that. Actually – she still does.

By the way – St. Nicholas did not come to our house this year. He did not come to Mother either.


I also wrote a poem for a Christmas Card. Here it is.

Tiny Baby, Son of God
The Angels sang the story
Shepherds, Wisemen came to see
This Child of endless glory.

The message of this virgin birth
Through the ages we still tell
I proudly shout his name to all
Jesus - Our Emmanuel

Good Night.


Mary

I went to the 8:00AM mass this morning. The roads were quite clear in spite of the wet snow that we had last night. It was chilly - in the 20s all day but partly cloudy and quite pleasant.

I visited with Mother after Mass. She is fine. We always have such nice visits. Her tree is up and in the process of being decorated. She will spend this week doing that. She is also baking stollens and cookies for gifts and to eat. I am glad that she is making Lizzies as I didn't this year. Jim can't eat them because of the nuts so I decided not to bother.

I tried out the new crock pot today. I made a recipe called butter beef. Cubed chuck steak with dried onion soup, butter and a splash of white wine. Then I added fresh mushroom for the last hour. We had it over noodles with peas and salad. The crock pot works just fine. Good thing. I am making Mac and Cheese in it for Christmas dinner.

Jim and I went out shooting today. He did pretty well. I have been worse but have also been a lot better. Practice. Practice. Practice. That is what they say.

Tomorrow I have Bible Study and then Writer's Club Christmas Party. I still don't know what I am going to bring for my $5 gift for the gift exchange. Well, something will come to me. $5.00 is an "impossible" amount. But we all seem to come up with something every year. The idea is that it is a token gift.

When Bart was a little boy, he was quite a worrier. He even worried about who he was going to marry when he grew up. I remember that his babysitters always found him quite funny because he would propose to them. He was only about 4 when this was going on. I think I told you that he did not want to come to Wisconsin for a visit because he worried about the "red tomatoes" (tornados) because I mentioned that a tornado had gone through Sheboygan County and killed a baby many years ago. He hasn't changed much. Some people just are very serious about thing.

I got my Christmas e-cards sent today. Now, I have the BIG job of those that I have to mail.

If it's true that we are here to help others, then what exactly are the others here for?

Have a good Monday.

Love

Mary