Nina – Connecticut Yankee

Today has been a great day.  Started the morning off with water aerobics and that was really good.  Was able to get laundry done, the prison craft organized, got a person to go up with me, as I cannot go alone.  Donna is her name and she is a gem. I got some of my arizona pictures posted, with some help from the man of the house. Thanks again hon.  At some point in this life I will not have to ask for computer help, maybe. ^-^

Today Christopher enter the Missionary Training Center.  I am so happy for him to be able to have this experience.  It is a blessing for our entire family. Looking forward to his experiences on his mission.

Arrived home today from my trip to Arizona.  It was a long drive and it was good to see Roland.  Thanks Jaelene for a wonderful visit and for all of the great chats.  Tonight I went to the Relief Society get together and there were not too many there. We had a nice dinner and tied a quilt for a missionary.   Nice way to spend an evening.

I think I should be writing in this blog each water aerobics day.    This morning we left and Roland mentions we have plenty of time to get to the class.  I like to be early and for him 15 minutes early is plenty of time.  In most cases I would agree.  So I thought as we were driving over to the club why do I need to be there early and why does he not care.  Then I realized that he does not need to worry about his “spot.”  He is most the time the only man there and he is tall.   He can be where ever in the pool  Me I am shorter about 5′4″ as are most of the other women in the class.  So if one is later, one does not get a “good spot.”  This would mean that the water level is either going to be too high or too low.  Today however it was not a problem.

Roland gets out of the pool early and I wondered why.  He says he is pooped !   Later he says that he slipped on the blue line and went got wet.  I am thinking well we are already wet, but wet meant his head went under the water and he twisted his knee.  So we are at the post office and I mentioned that we were close to Ranae’s shop which has cinnamon rolls.  Roland says he cannot run to the store but he could walk. Twisted knee and almost most drowned body. He goes to get some healing help.  I go to the post office.   He comes back with two bags of “medicine” one is a cinnamon twist and the other looks like pumpkin bread with icing.

We get to the house and are in the garage and I ask him to get two boxes of butter so I can make cookies today for the prison and the missionaries who are coming to dinner.  He then wonders if he could get  3 boxes so he can have some cookies too !!   I had to laugh.   He says I only make cookies when someone is coming over or when I am taking them to someone.  In part it is true.  Only because this year trying to get the weight off does not help when I make cookies.   So today I will take out the duct tape, maybe pink in color and bake away.  No cookies for Nina today.

My husband makes me smile, especially when it involves eating the sweeter things in life.  Just a normal morning here in Pocatello, Idaho

It has been a great trip to the east area.  We were able to spend 10 days with Dawnmarie and Kirk and the family.  We surprised the grandchildren and that was great fun.  We had so  many wonderful moments while there.  So much fun to be able to play with the grandchildren and to be able to chat with them.  We did a bit of crafting while there.  It was fun to participate in the Christmas excitement.  The traditions in the family of Christmas Eve and the great dinner prepared by Dawnmarie and the excitement of the kids opening presents.  It was all so much fun.  I got to play the day long with the kids and toys.    We went to many of our favorite spots in the New Wilmington area.   They did a new tradition this year which was Boxing Day and we made gifts for each other.  It was a very nice evening.  Thanks for the memories and thanks to Kate and Rachel  for giving up their bed !   Always hard to leave family members.

We left to go to Kirtland to visit with Pam and Ed on Friday the 1st.  We had a nice drive through Chardon, Ohio.   It looks like a picture from Currier and Ives.  It is such a comfortable feeling being there.   It was snowing when we drove through and that made the square look even more beautiful.  I believe it is still snowing there.   We had a swell visit with Pam and Ed.  They are great hosts !   There is a lot of snow there as well.   Currently it is snowing and the wind is blowing hard.  The temperature is 19 degrees but does not include the chill factor with the wind.   We had a lot of good chat time and Pam and I were able to have some sister time on Saturday. We were able to do some damage at Pat Catan’s and at the half price book store.  We went to church this morning in the Kirtland ward and were able to see some friends we have not seen for years.  It was like we had never left except for the fact we are all older.   After church we headed to Pam and Ed’s home and had a nice dinner and then Pam and I looked at Family History together. We were able to get some papers organized that Pam had made copies of for me and we have made a plan to be able to get working on our family history together.   It was a nice way to spend the time.  When we left the house we saw that it had snowed about 4-5 inches.  We are now in the hotel room and Roland made us both some hot chocolate and the hotel supplied us with some free cookies from the front desk.  Nice touch.   Before bed I need to repack several things so we can fit all the stuff into the trunk of the car.  I thought we would be headed back with more space.  Hmm not so.  Guess part of Ohio and PA are going back with us !

In the morning we will go to Pam’s work so I can say hello to Patsy a worker there that I have gotten to know.  Then we will begin our trek homeward.  It has been a nice trip and I feel ready now to tackle this new year.  Thanks again to Dawnmarie and Kirk, Madison, Spencer, Rachel, Kate, Jillian and Olivia.  Pam and Ed.  It was so worth the drive.

One Christmas we drove to my Grandpa and Grandma Holbrook’s house.  My Mom was still living there as well.  It was a long drive for Roland and I and the children.  We were living either in Ohio or Indiana.  I am not sure which state.  Probably does not matter much.  It was a long drive either way.  We always drove the whole night through back in those days.

My Grandfather Holbrook wanted to give everyone his Christmas present in a unique way.  He was a retired banker and he decided he would get brand new $1 bills and then he connected 10 of them together end to end.  Then he attached them to the tree.  The tree was covered with many long strings of $1 bills.  I don’t remember how much money that amounted to.  Every one who was there for Christmas that year got one.  I know he was worried about all of that money on the tree while we slept !

When we got up in the morning what a great surprise that was !!   I wish I had a picture of it.  In  my mind it is always there for recall.  What a grand person my Grandfather was.   He was a gentleman through and through.  He was well liked in the community.  I have many fond memories of him and of my Grandmother.  It was a Christmas that I will always remember.

When we moved from Japan to Indiana Roland was in school at Purdue University and money was tight.  We were going to go to New Haven, Connecticut to have Christmas with my Mom and siblings and my Grandfather and Grandmother Holbrook.   Well I love, love Christmas.  Having a Christmas tree that was a real tree was always a must !  Just the whole experience was exciting to me.  Most of all I loved the smell of the trees.

This one year because we were going to go to Connecticut Roland said we should not get a tree.  However I really wanted one.  But there was not much swaying him over to my  side.  So I got a bucket and went out into the back yard and found a tree branch and I put dirt in the bucket and stuck the branch into the bucket.  I made things to hang on this  pitiful tree.  Our 3 children wee young enough that they did not know the difference.  For them it was exciting.    The next morning I was laying in bed and thinking about a real tree and I could actually smell the evergreen smell.  The mind can do mighty things I thought !!   I got out of bed and went into the room where the large twig/branch was and there was a small Christmas tree in its place.  I was ever so excited.  Roland had bought a tree and put it in the bucket when I was sleeping.  It for me was one of those Christmas tree experiences that I will never forget.   Having a real, live Christmas tree was of upmost importance.

This year we are headed to PA for Christmas and I debated whether or not I would put up our tree which is now artificial.  I pretty much had myself convinced that I did not want to do all of the work to have a tree up.   Then I thought of all of the trees and joy that comes with Christmas and I knew I could not have a Christmas without a tree.  So this year I hauled all of the stuff up and I decorated the tree,  I often sit and look at the beauty of the tree with its lights and ornaments.   The ornaments are reminders of places we have been and it seems that for awhile all is right with the world.

Tonight Roland and I went to the concert at the Jensen Center to hear the Symphony.  It was simply magical !   It started with a half hour pre-program and it was delightful. Then the Symphony  and the Acoustic Eidolon were on the first half of the evening.  Acoustic Eidolon consists of a husband and wife team and they are very good.  They played with the Symphony and it was a very good program.  Then after intermission we sang Christmas Carols with the ISU Concert Choir and the Camerata Singers and us !  We all sang 4 carols along with the symphony playing.  What a grand way to end the concert evening.   It was really beautiful.  A must do each Christmas season. Thankful for all who were part of it.

One of my favorite gifts when i was a teenager was a pair of white ice skates.  I wanted them so bad.  I loved ice skating on the country ponds in Connecticut.  My Mom would take us ice skating quite often.  There seemed to be many ponds that one could skate on.  Those new skates were the best !   No matter how cold it was I always had a great time. I can remember at times that someone would have a small fire going to keep us warm.   My Mother was a good ice skater and skated with racing skates for many years even after I was married and gone from home.

We always had our presents in a pile.  One pile for me and my siblings had their own pile.  We could just open them as we pleased, but together as a family.    I have always loved new crayons.  I use to get a large box of crayons from my mother on Christmas day.  To this day I love getting new crayons !

I can remember the drive from New Jersey to Connecticut  to go and visit my Grandparents.  My Mom’s parents.   I loved going over the George Washington Bridge and loved the city lights.    Being with Grandparents was always fun.

Some of the traditions we had when I was a child I did with our children as they were growing up.  Having traditions in a family is a good thing.

I have two more memories that stick out in my mind from my childhood.  One was the Christmas when I found two dolls hidden under my Mother’s bed.  One had blond hair and the other had brown.  I wanted the blond haired doll.  I was the only child in the family that had brown hair.  Come Christmas morning the dolls were not there.  So I asked my mother about them and she had forgotten them. I volunteered to go and get them.  I of course choose to keep the blonde hair doll and my sister got the other one.  I have never felt guilty about that either !

The other thing I remember is that we always had to save our wrapping paper from year to year.  We had to take it off carefully and fold it up. This way it could be used again.  I have not a clue how many years we did that.  Once again as I think about it we probably had a need to save the wrapping paper.    My Mom was always teaching us how to be thrifty.  I am thinking she never wasted anything.   A good principle to follow even today.

I decided that I would write a bit each day about some of my favorite Christmas memories. Starting with my childhood.

When I was young I lived in New Jersey and my parents use to decorate the tree after we went to bed.  At least that is how I remember it.  In those days they use to hang tinsel on the trees. A piece of tinsel was made with lead and it was silver in color and came in long strands. Each piece of tinsel was hang by the very end and it would then be placed piece by piece on each branch of the tree.  When the lights were turned on it was the most beautiful sight to a child’s eye.  Come Christmas morning we all had to sit on the stairs and wait for my father to turn the lights on.  It was so exciting.  It was a magical time for me.  As I now look at the pictures of us kids and our mother sitting on the stairs I see that our night gowns and bathrobes were very worn.  I suspect that perhaps we did not have much money at times.   In spite of this Christmas was always fun for me.  The view of the tree when we ran down the stairs was such a thrill.  As I have grown older those memories are even more cherished. I often think of the amount of work it took them to create such a wonderful sight. I love my parents for going above and beyond the effort to make my Christmas a magical time.