Saturday, December 22, 2007

A really good thing....and a really bad thing..

Today is the first day in months that I get to hug both of my daughters. It is too bad that they both live so far away. But that is modern life. But today I get to see both of them. HOORAY!!

But on the other hand we got news that my brother-in-law passed away. We just saw him at Thanksgiving and he looked (and acted) pretty much the same as he had for the past 10 years. Quite a shock actually.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Exactly what I feared....

nothing to say.

I guess it is appropriate to continue what I started yesterday.

Grandma Fry always had a "huge" live Christmas tree (funny how we call it live after we cut it down). Of course, the fact that her son who literally lived on the adjacent property had a Christmas tree farm probably had something to do with this. On the other hand, Grandma Hobaugh (my paternal grandmother who was widowed when my dad was a boy and remarried a few years later) always had a very tiny (maybe two feet but only if it and the yard stick had an understanding) "fake" tree. She always placed it on a table next to her front door (between the door and the front window). We always went to her house (notice that Henry - I never called him Grandpa - none of us did - also lived there but it was "Grandma's") on the Sunday before Christmas . But as I write that I remember that occasionally we hit both Grandma's on Christmas Day - that must have been when it fell on Sunday - greatly aided by the fact that it was about seven miles between my Grandma's houses.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Christmas memories from my kidhood...

I grew up in a big old barn of a two story house. Pretty early on my parents hit upon the idea of putting one of the lower branches trimmed from the bottom of our live tree (from Uncle Homer's Christmas tree farm) at the top of the stairs (there was a bit of a "wide-spot" in the hallway there). We would put a few small ornaments on it and called it the "upstairs tree". Then Santa would leave each of the kids a present under that tree (usually a book but sometimes a small toy) that we could get whenever we got up. But we had to take it back to our bedroom. We couldn't go down stairs until after our parents got up. But the "token" present gave us something to do so that we could let them sleep in.

After unwrapping our presents and maybe taking a break for breakfast we all had to get dressed in new Christmas clothes and pile into the car to go to Grandma Fry's house (Grandpa Fry lived there too but it was still Grandma's house). Command performance, attendance required. You HAD to go to Grandma's on Christmas Day. Of course, by the time I can start to remember some of my older cousins were already bringing "significant others" if not spouses. With my grandparents, their 8 kids and their spouses and the 22 first cousins and half a dozen or so of their spouses it soon became a spectacle to see nearly 50 people in essentially two rooms of Grandma's house. Their were a couple of cooks in the kitchen but no one in the bedroom (that was reserved for the coats on the bed - usually a pretty impressive pile). That left the "dining" room and the "front" room. Basically everybody had to find a seat and you were stuck there (the origin of the phrase 'move your feet, lose your seat').

Of course, a few of the youngest cousins (Linda, Cindy, Dave, Mike, myself, Ken and Mel) would escape upstairs. But there wasn't any food up there :-) It did get us out from under foot and let us move about a bit. Downstairs was definitely not "kid" friendly.

Grandma always had a present for every grandkid. Usually Lorraine got recruited to go out to Grandma's house a week or so before Christmas to help wrap.

And the big decision of the day was who was to host the family New Year's Eve party. Usually there were at least a couple of volunteers but all of the aunts had to get together and decide whose got the "privilege" of hosting the whole crowd a week later. There wasn't any set rotation but it seemed to rotate fairly equally. Of course, the fact that Carl and Margaret lived 60 miles away and the rest lived within 15 miles of Logansport made it possible to get to whoever's house was the designated party spot.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Everyone has to start somewhere

Where better than here?

I think that I am just going to play here for a bit and see if I like the concept.

First, the name. I am a licensed hot air balloon pilot. I am also not a "small" guy. Therefore, to participate in one of my favorite activities requires no small amount of hot air. Of course, some folks would say that all I need do is open my mouth and I can supply a fair amount but the propane burner does a much more efficient job.

I am also a husband, a father (and SOON a grandfather). A big fan of Purdue University football and men's basketball. I enjoy bike riding in good weather (trying to lose a few pounds but it isn't working), reading and watching sports (of almost any sort). And, oh, by the way, an electrical engineer who designs integrated circuits for a living (ya gotta do something to keep a roof over your head).

I am betting that all of those topics will be mentioned from time to time.