"Christmas Eve I saw a stable, low and very bare, A little child in a manger. The oxen knew Him, had Him in their care, To men He was a stranger, The safety of the world was lying there, And the world's danger. " ~Mary Elizabeth Coleridge
"Christmas in Bethlehem. The ancient dream: a cold, clear night made brilliant by a glorious star, the smell of incense, shepherds and wise men falling to their knees in adoration of the sweet baby, the incarnation of perfect love. " ~Lucinda Franks
"Christmas is a holiday that persecutes the lonely, the frayed, and the rejected. "
~ Jimmy Cannon
"Christmas is a season for kindling the fire for hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart." ~ Washington Irving
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas....
I used to love the holidays and from Thanksgiving till Christmas Eve I was busy buying little things and wrapping gifts for everyone.. I took the kids shopping so that each of them could buy gifts for their other family..allowing them to choose something for their real parent and for their step parent and any children or Grandparents that might also be a part of their other family... after that I had to take them to buy each other gifts... as well as gifts for Dave.. he would wait till the very last possible minute and have the children to show me things so that they could try and figure out what to buy me.. I never considered myself hard to buy for.. a notebook or a pen.. a book or even a book marker.. a live plant or a package of seeds.. and of course there was always the doll or tea set....
The last few years I simply haven't had the same Christmas spirit.. I wonder if it's because I am older or if it's because all the kids are grown? Honestly I don't know... Dave and I have discussed and re-discussed what we want to cook.. he said Turkey and I said ham.. I have one of each defrosting in the bottom of the fridge... I told Mama tonight maybe I should cook and slice both and put them on the table with all the fixings for sandwiches... make it easy on Dave and on me... some paper plates and a cooler of ice for the soft drinks and we can lay around and watch TV and wait to see who shows up... Let each one open their gifts as they come and have a snack with us.. before they have to move on to the next house... easy on the kids too since they won't have to try and eat a half dozen meals while traveling about..
The simple truth is that we don't know who will be here and at what time.. now that all the kids are grown and gone it is just as hard as it always was for us to plan anything.. we always hated the fact that as soon as they opened gifts here.. all of the children had to be carted off to the other parent's house for the rest of the day.. then at night they would come home to us tired and cranky and pouting because they had to leave something at the other parents' house... Christmas hasn't changed for Dave and I... we still feel as if we have to take whatever time is left when the other family is through... Christmas has been hard for us for a long time... Dave said he thought that when the kids grew up it would be easier... I knew it wouldn't.. though my own family was always together .. I learned from Gaylon's family what it was like to have two sets of family... and as hard as it is for us as adults... I know it is so much harder for the children..
I have all my gifts bought and wrapped.. I have mailed a small gift to both of the grown sons who live on the other side of the world.. the gift pile is slimmer this year.. the economy decided that for us as well as for almost all families I know.. Dave said that he had racked his brain trying to think what to buy... he said with no kids to take shopping he was having a hard time deciding what I might like.. it was as if he needed a kid to take along to help him pick out something.. plus he knows that I like anything at all the kids buy.... He did great with my computer... he managed to buy it and get it in the house without me seeing it and most likely could have left it sitting where he had it and I wouldn't have even noticed it but he couldn't wait... I have been enjoying it for a whole week now.. he never looks under the tree.. he has a few things under there.. Dave loves anything at all that someone gives him.. but he says he would rather have nothing and have all the kids to sit down for a meal together just once on Christmas day.... without having to hurry to get to another place... I am satisfied that that will never happen but I do agree that it's a very wonderful wish!
Dave and I will spend our Christmas day like we have so many before.. we will cook together and wait for which ever children come.. we will worry about those who live far away and we will worry about those who might be traveling not so far to see us.. we will enjoy the limited time with our kids and wish then well as they move on to spend the rest of the day with their other families..
I hope that each and every one of my readers has a wonderful Merry Christmas!!
Patsy
Showing posts with label gifts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gifts. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Penny Day!?!
"Pennies do not come from heaven. They have to be earned here on earth." ~Margaret Thatcher~
“ A Penny wise is often A pound foolish.”
~ French Proverb~
"I would roll up pennies to take the subway to work in Times Square. I was broke, but I was happy." ~Jennifer Garner~
Friday, May 23rd was Penny Day! I was thinking that Morning that a Penny wasn't worth very much any More. That hasn't always been the case. When I was a small child we were tickled to death when Daddy would put a reward on something. You see there were eight of us and somehow, even though we knew better, we would sometimes get a tool of Daddy's or scissors of Mama's and forget to replace them. Daddy would have all of us looking and after a while he would declare the item to have a reward attached. His rewards were usually a nickle or dime in the beginning. A nickel was worth a sack slam full of candy if you shopped carefully.
My Floyd opened the little Country store down the road from our house. He had everything a country family needed from cold drinks to fresh cuts of meat. But best of all he had a well stocked candy county. Sometimes the whole family would take a short walk down there and get a cold drink. Daddy would usually give each of us a dime or a quarter on those days. But at other times if you had a nickel or dime Mama might let you walk down there and shop on your own. I never got past the penny candy section. There were rows and rows of penny candy. I would always look at those first. My Favorite Chick-o-sticks were a penny for a long stick. Mary Janes and Bit-oh-honey were a penny each. There were packs of five Bubble gum balls for a penny as well as many other sweet treats. They had candy Money in long packs for two pennies and sometimes I would get one of those. They were long packs of candy in thin wafers about as big around as a nickle . You could let them melt on your tongue. That way you got a lot of candy for your two pennies. He also had Bubble gum machines that had a wad of gum as big as a golf ball for a penny.
My favorite though was the big tub of two for a penny candy. They were BB bats and caramels and chocolate footballs. My youngest Brother Reuben loved the chocolate footballs. Being that Reuben almost always ran and got the items as son as the reward reached a nickle, He ate lots and lots of those. There were Bubble gums with Comics inside and wax bottles that had a sweet liquid inside. We called those candy cokes. They also had packs that were tiny chocolate balls in long sleeves. A nickles worth of them eaten slow would last a long time.
If you had a penny left over or if you ever got lucky enough to find a penny, you saved it. You wouldn't have to save long to buy a cold drink for a nickle or later for a dime. We would save drink bottles and sell them back to the store owner for a few pennies each. Even after I was a grown up woman and needed some quick cash, I walked along the road and picked up drink bottles to sell. At that time they were a Nickle each. Now we sometimes see people picking up aluminum cans the same way. They aren't making a lot of money at once on those cans but each penny builds up over time. Each penny counts.
I have a can over my washing machine to collect the unwanted penny's that somehow gets left in pockets. I always smile when I find a few pennies in the bottom of the washer. It's a reminder of the times when I stood in awe at Mr. Floyd's; and later after Mr. Floyd died; at My Uncle Oneal's store and jiggle the few penny's in my pocket as I tried to decide how I would spend my few pennies.
Every once in a while I empty that can into a large pickle jar and watch as my pennies grow and grow. Dave and I took our honeymoon on rolled change. Most of it pennies. We had a wonderful time. A few years ago we took all but one of our Children and one Grandson to the beach for a week-end on rolled change. Again most of it pennies. We didn't spend a lot but we had a great time. In Fact that is one of my best beach memories. Paid for mostly with pennies.
I went to the grocery store Friday and asked the cashier if, being that it was Penny day, they had anything for a penny. I had to laugh when she looked at me as if I was for certain retarded if not actually a crazy person. She simply asked with the stricken look on her face... " Mam, Are you OK?" I smiled and told her her believed I was. I was walking out with my purchases when the young man who had bagged my items came running along besides me and said.. " Mam, I think they still sell one cent stamps here... you know because they just went up and you might have had some of the old ones.." I tipped him a whole dollar for that information as I hurried over to the customer service counter to ask for something that I could pay for with a single solitary penny!
Pennies are not worth much alone but still I save them. They allow me to save a tiny bit here and there. I always toss all pennies into a jar. People used to say a Penny saved is a penny earned and I say NO.. A penny saved is just a penny saved. A penny earned takes work and time. Now a found penny saved is even better because you didn't work for it it was a gift. Tiny but a gift none the less. If You find a penny pick it up. If you don't want it drop them into a jar for a needy person somewhere. Even a penny counts in their lives. I don't think there will be many more days when we can Buy anything for a penny. There have been discussions of getting rid of the penny altogether. But I will always remember the wonderful things a penny has bought for me.. From a Mary -Jane when I was a tiny girl to the Honeymoon week-end in the Fancy Hotel years later.
I haven't really been looking but since Friday I have found eleven pennies. I have felt blessed eleven times.Not because I can buy anything with a penny but simply because I feel that they are very tiny gifts. Very tiny blessings can grow into large blessings. I know it can take a long, long time for pennies to amount to much but if you pick up every one you see you just might be surprised. I actually could have bought a piece of my favorite candy; a chick-o-stick; with those eleven, at a store here in town. I tossed them in my jar. Who knows what Dave and I will do with the next batch we roll.
Enjoy life. Remember that Sometimes even small things like a penny can build into something larger.. something richer.. Appreciate the small things in life.
As they used to say "A Penny for your thoughts!" ; May all your thoughts be worth at least a penny!
Have a great day!
Patsy
“ A Penny wise is often A pound foolish.”
~ French Proverb~
"I would roll up pennies to take the subway to work in Times Square. I was broke, but I was happy." ~Jennifer Garner~
Friday, May 23rd was Penny Day! I was thinking that Morning that a Penny wasn't worth very much any More. That hasn't always been the case. When I was a small child we were tickled to death when Daddy would put a reward on something. You see there were eight of us and somehow, even though we knew better, we would sometimes get a tool of Daddy's or scissors of Mama's and forget to replace them. Daddy would have all of us looking and after a while he would declare the item to have a reward attached. His rewards were usually a nickle or dime in the beginning. A nickel was worth a sack slam full of candy if you shopped carefully.
My Floyd opened the little Country store down the road from our house. He had everything a country family needed from cold drinks to fresh cuts of meat. But best of all he had a well stocked candy county. Sometimes the whole family would take a short walk down there and get a cold drink. Daddy would usually give each of us a dime or a quarter on those days. But at other times if you had a nickel or dime Mama might let you walk down there and shop on your own. I never got past the penny candy section. There were rows and rows of penny candy. I would always look at those first. My Favorite Chick-o-sticks were a penny for a long stick. Mary Janes and Bit-oh-honey were a penny each. There were packs of five Bubble gum balls for a penny as well as many other sweet treats. They had candy Money in long packs for two pennies and sometimes I would get one of those. They were long packs of candy in thin wafers about as big around as a nickle . You could let them melt on your tongue. That way you got a lot of candy for your two pennies. He also had Bubble gum machines that had a wad of gum as big as a golf ball for a penny.
My favorite though was the big tub of two for a penny candy. They were BB bats and caramels and chocolate footballs. My youngest Brother Reuben loved the chocolate footballs. Being that Reuben almost always ran and got the items as son as the reward reached a nickle, He ate lots and lots of those. There were Bubble gums with Comics inside and wax bottles that had a sweet liquid inside. We called those candy cokes. They also had packs that were tiny chocolate balls in long sleeves. A nickles worth of them eaten slow would last a long time.
If you had a penny left over or if you ever got lucky enough to find a penny, you saved it. You wouldn't have to save long to buy a cold drink for a nickle or later for a dime. We would save drink bottles and sell them back to the store owner for a few pennies each. Even after I was a grown up woman and needed some quick cash, I walked along the road and picked up drink bottles to sell. At that time they were a Nickle each. Now we sometimes see people picking up aluminum cans the same way. They aren't making a lot of money at once on those cans but each penny builds up over time. Each penny counts.
I have a can over my washing machine to collect the unwanted penny's that somehow gets left in pockets. I always smile when I find a few pennies in the bottom of the washer. It's a reminder of the times when I stood in awe at Mr. Floyd's; and later after Mr. Floyd died; at My Uncle Oneal's store and jiggle the few penny's in my pocket as I tried to decide how I would spend my few pennies.
Every once in a while I empty that can into a large pickle jar and watch as my pennies grow and grow. Dave and I took our honeymoon on rolled change. Most of it pennies. We had a wonderful time. A few years ago we took all but one of our Children and one Grandson to the beach for a week-end on rolled change. Again most of it pennies. We didn't spend a lot but we had a great time. In Fact that is one of my best beach memories. Paid for mostly with pennies.
I went to the grocery store Friday and asked the cashier if, being that it was Penny day, they had anything for a penny. I had to laugh when she looked at me as if I was for certain retarded if not actually a crazy person. She simply asked with the stricken look on her face... " Mam, Are you OK?" I smiled and told her her believed I was. I was walking out with my purchases when the young man who had bagged my items came running along besides me and said.. " Mam, I think they still sell one cent stamps here... you know because they just went up and you might have had some of the old ones.." I tipped him a whole dollar for that information as I hurried over to the customer service counter to ask for something that I could pay for with a single solitary penny!
Pennies are not worth much alone but still I save them. They allow me to save a tiny bit here and there. I always toss all pennies into a jar. People used to say a Penny saved is a penny earned and I say NO.. A penny saved is just a penny saved. A penny earned takes work and time. Now a found penny saved is even better because you didn't work for it it was a gift. Tiny but a gift none the less. If You find a penny pick it up. If you don't want it drop them into a jar for a needy person somewhere. Even a penny counts in their lives. I don't think there will be many more days when we can Buy anything for a penny. There have been discussions of getting rid of the penny altogether. But I will always remember the wonderful things a penny has bought for me.. From a Mary -Jane when I was a tiny girl to the Honeymoon week-end in the Fancy Hotel years later.
I haven't really been looking but since Friday I have found eleven pennies. I have felt blessed eleven times.Not because I can buy anything with a penny but simply because I feel that they are very tiny gifts. Very tiny blessings can grow into large blessings. I know it can take a long, long time for pennies to amount to much but if you pick up every one you see you just might be surprised. I actually could have bought a piece of my favorite candy; a chick-o-stick; with those eleven, at a store here in town. I tossed them in my jar. Who knows what Dave and I will do with the next batch we roll.
Enjoy life. Remember that Sometimes even small things like a penny can build into something larger.. something richer.. Appreciate the small things in life.
As they used to say "A Penny for your thoughts!" ; May all your thoughts be worth at least a penny!
Have a great day!
Patsy
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