Second Sunday in Advent, a little Baileys' and down memory lane we go

Aaron, Travis, John and Lisa in front of the tree at Aunt Ann's in 1973

It is about 1957 or so.  There is a long thin package under the tree with my name on it.  It looks like it could be a gun but I am sure it is not.  After the lutefisk, lefsa and potatoes we gather in the living room to open presents.  There are not a lot of them but my eye is glued to that long one.  Final it is my turn and I rip the paper off like there is a tornado knowing that really Mom likes to keep it.  There in from of me is a long shiny metal stick with a place for a foot on each side of the pole.  I stare in wonder, really wondering what it is.  Well of course it is a pogo stick what ever that is.  The short story is that pogo stick gave me much fun for a long time.  As the snow melted away and I could play with it outside I became pretty darn skilled with it.  I could get on it and jump all the way to the barn, turn around and come back again.  I think it gave me good balance that carried over into my adult years.

mine was not colored but it was pretty much like this

Christmas is here and I am so excited. I let Mom and Dad know that I would like a clock radio.  Now I am not sure if any electrical device will work upstairs in the winter as the temperature often goes below freezing.  Sometimes I go to sleep counting how many frosty nails I can see that poke through the roof boards above the bed.  But I am thinking that maybe, just maybe, Mom and Dad were able to get a clock radio for me.  Mostly what I would like is to be able to see the time when I woke up but even more than that it would be glorious to lie in bed in the summer time and listen to Harry Cary announce the St. Louis Cardinals baseball games.  THERE it was on the floor in front of me, a kind of square package that certainly had the possibility of a radio AND yes it was that.  The only downer was Mom then told me she would not have to call upstairs to wake me in the morning.  Shoot, I always liked that as it made me feel important but of course the radio out weighted the downer of that.  For the next several years I listened to Harry C as I lay in bed trying to convince myself it was not stifling hot in my bedroom during June, July and August.  Now the clock could not be counted on to be accurate when ever the temp dipped below freezing in my bedroom.

The lutefisk and lefsa were all gone(we had them yesterday)  the presents were opened and they were pretty thin this year but there had been a new puzzle so that was good.  We huddled in the cold car, as always, and headed the 3 miles to Grandma and Grandpa's home.  It would be a fun evening with cousins and Grandma and Grandpa were always fun to visit.  Grandpa had a laugh that would echo back from the Grand Canyon,when he was still in ND, and Grandma always had cookies, lots of them!  Of course we would have to endure Grandpa eating way way longer than anyone.  He would grin from ear to ear and then take another helping of something just to tease us.  As he looked into our worried faces he would throw his head back and laugh, a laugh that I can still hear today.  The evening would be long.  We would eat and then play games.  If the weather was nice enough all the cousins would venture outside for a game of hide and seek.  I think I may have been really good at hiding!  As the evening wore on we would get tired and want to go home but about that time the adults would be in the middle of a card game so it was into Grandma and Grandpa's bedroom, move all the coats off the bed and go to sleep.  As midnight approached it would be home again in the cold car and then hustle upstairs and cozy under the layers of blankets to keep warm.  As I drifted off to sleep I am guessing I was already looking forward to New Years Eve when we would put puzzles together, maybe put leaves in the table and play ping pong and for sure toast thin slices of potato on the cast iron stove top.

On another note we have a tennis match tomorrow at home.  In fact our last 3 matches of the season are at home.  I have been practicing my serve and I am hoping Terry can chart some things for me to see if it is an asset yet!  We play Grandezza, who we took 2 of 3 from earlier but they won all three courts against Pelican Sound last week so I am guessing we will have our hands full.  I am hoping for 3 wins, I will be OK with 2 wins but anything less will be a downer.  As you can see success brings about a certain level of greed I would say.  I will try to change but....

Terry is continuing to get better but at a very slow pace.  She did walk a mile in under 30 minutes two days ago.  The Dr wanted her to be able to do that by the end of December so my idea of slow pace may be totally off base and she may be doing very very well.

We plan to put together our Christmas cards in the next couple of days.  For us we are a bit late but maybe not as we have received one card so far!  Maybe that is all we will get.

One last sip of FP, the Baileys' is long gone, and I will sign off.