December 20
Holiday plans are falling into place.
1964
It snowed about 7 or 8 inches between 4 and 12 o’clock. It’s snowing again now. In fact. I hope there’s no school tomorrow. It would serve them right for letting us out only two days before Christmas. I HOPE IT BLIZZARDS! 12 more inches, in fact, all over the place! Hah! Maybe then I’ll get some satisfaction out of school. Oh, by the way, yesterday Dad got an invitation to LBJ’s inauguration. Of course, he can’t go, but what an honor!
Comment 2022
It was not lost on the school children of New Milford, Connecticut, that even though we were a town with a huge area and a small population, meaning that most of the students traveled by school bus, we seemed to NEVER have snow days. Don’t bother to fact check this assertion. It was accepted fact by every child in the school system. I would go to bed watching a very promising snow fall, only to wake up to plowed roads under sunny skies. Adding insult to injury, my brother and I did not ride the bus. We walked to school, across the unplowed athletic field.
How did Dad get that invitation? I have no idea. Perhaps as the local newspaper editor, or a friend to various local politicians. He was pleased enough to frame the invitation and hang it in the rec room, right above his bowling trophies.
1984
This entry is not a transcription. The original one was all about a toilet training milestone in Kiddo 1’s life (and mine), which is just too personal to share beyond the two of us. So I am going to tear it out of the notebook and give it to her privately. Imagine your own Great Moments in Parenting.
2001
Made the glass candy but not the snickerdoodle. Today I do grading.
2021
Such sweet memories of Christmas past.
2023
Holiday plans are falling into place. We tend to go low-key, a habit adopted after my mother died and the nest emptied out. For decades, the stretch between Hallowe’en and New Years had been the busiest time of the year. Jim worked in retail display and so was playing elf right up through the big reveals after Thanksgiving. I had exams, grading, and winter graduations, of course. The kiddos had the usual round of performances, as did we, once we re-joined the church choir. This was on top of driving from DC to New England to visit family and friends.
Jim sings with three groups, and I join him in two of them (a senior Rock ‘n Roll chorus and an early music ensemble. (Yes, our musical tastes are eclectic!). For the last few weeks, those have occupied most of our attention, between practicing and rehearsing. (There IS a difference!) Last night was the rock concert (Thunderstruck! Virtual Insanity!) so now I am just working on the early music concert, which is a month away. Ahhhhhhhhh.
So: a bit of reading, a little knitting, and two food-centered, gift-free gatherings await me over the next week and a half. Also some walks in the brisk winter air, and a batch of gingerbread. as I said, ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.