Merry Christmas to ALL

Tree cutting in 2008

Here we are celebrating the last Christmas of this decade.  I can not remember details of celebrating the last Christmas of each decade of my life but I can try and what I don't know I can make up and it will (I think) be close to what happened!  So if anyone happens to read this today come along for the ride OR go back to enjoying the morning and the blessing of Christmas!

Friday, December 25, 1949

OK how can I remember anything at the age of 2!  Well the answer is "I can't' but some guesses.  Mom and Dad still have everyone home as Ronald, the oldest is 11.  For sure there is a girl's bedroom and a boy's bedroom with Helen yet to come and me perhaps still in a crib downstairs.  Out side of family things TV is becoming popular as 100,000 TV sets are being sold WEEKLY.  A TV comes to the farm more than a decade later!

Friday, December 25, 1959

Well my memory, maybe, kicks in a bit here.  I am now 12 and in 7th grade.  I am into reading books, playing sports and waiting for older siblings to come visit!  Mom and Dad are in the middle of some very lean years money wise.  I think our car is pretty old or so it seems to me.  Much of my world is about school and the time Dave and I spent together.  It seems that I am maturing faster than the average young boy.  I still have NO interest in girls yet take some delight in paging through the toilet paper catalogs in the out house as I shyly look at the pages with girls in lingerie!  Perhaps I should not admit that but then I think I am kind of normal.  In the world there is a big scandal with the TV show "64,000 dollar question" and in polities Nixon and Khrushchev engage in the "Kitchen Debate".  

Thursday, December 25, 1969

I am now a married man with a son, John.  Gail and I live in Old Main at the School for the Deaf and our dorm room (apartment) has 12 foot ceilings.  We purchase a tree at the last minute and get one that is perhaps 10 feet tall as it was the only one left.  Why?  well it would not fit in any houses!    It certainly is a HUGE change from our tree last year which was a tiny Charlie Brown one!  On the world front Nixon is president, Eisenhower dies and the last issue of The Saturday Evening Post is published. 

Tuesday, December 25, 1979

We have now relocated to St. Paul and have been here for two years.  We now have 3 sons and much to Gail's disappointment no daughters.  The boys are 10, 8 and 6.  They are into sports and are doing well in school.  I am busy teaching middle school deaf kids and coaching on the side.  With school tuition, living expenses etc. it seems that the purse strings are very tight.  Life is full, life is busy and it seems like the weeks go by so fast. The boys are into playing sports, especially soccer.  In the world Carter is president, ESPN is launched and the Sony Walkman is a new thing!

Monday, December 25, 1989

Here we are a family of 3 boys and Gail got her girl who is already 9 years old.  The boys are into soccer big time at their high school SPA and Aaron is the star on the Highland Catholic soccer team.  Cynthia has already become a soccer fan and a very good player.  Of course there is also basketball and John and Travis are into biking.  It seems that the world is going 100+ MPH and I almost get dizzy trying to keep up.  I am teaching, coaching and being a fan it seems almost daily.  We now have a conversion van which almost serves as a weekend hotel, almost!  H W Bush is now president and one of the big news of the year was the 3 Mile Island Nuclear accident.  

Saturday, December 25, 1999

Oh my goodness.  We are about to go into the next century and there are all kinds of thoughts and rumors that when the clock strikes midnight on the 31st many things will happen.  I know of more than one family that has gotten a generator in case the grid goes out!  It happens to be a none event.  We now have no kids but 4 adults.  All the boys are college graduates and Cynthia is a freshman.  Oh my but the time flies and I even look at myself and say "am I really 52?  Of course the answer is YES.  On the world scene we have seen the impeachment of Clinton, the Columbine event and the Yankee Dandy DiMaggio is no longer with us.

Friday, December 25, 2009

It is the first Christmas since Gail passed away.  As one can expect it is a very different Christmas from the last 40+ ones.  Cynthia, Mike and Travis come over for Christmas Eve dinner and we actually have lobster which I had never had in my life.  John and Mary with the boys come over on Christmas Day.  There are now 5 grandchildren much to my delight.  I am 2 years into retirement and it is good.  I have gotten more into woodworking and at this moment that is my "go to" thing.  In the world we now have Obama in as president and in Minnesota the big news was a LONG recount with Franken becoming a senator.  

Wednesday, December 25, 2019 TODAY!

Life has changed so much in the last decade.  Terry and I have now been married 8+ years.  We spend summers in St. Paul and winters in Naples.  Terry has adult grandchildren who are going places fast with advanced education etc.  I now have 14 grandchildren with the oldest being 16.  Our time in MN is spent on home and yard while in Naples it is spent on tennis, the shuttle out to the beach and some biking.  Oh both of us usually read 20-30 books each winter.  We are blessed to have adult children who are doing well.  On the political front the events are wild, crazy and more than a bit concerning.  It seems that the world is fast changing and one has to work hard to keep just a bit behind!  As for me.  I am feeling blessed.  Terry and I seem to both be in good health and life is a daily joy.  

SO I SAY LETS SPEND THE LAST FEW DAYS OF THIS DECADE ENJOYING AND RECALLING OUR MANY BLESSINGS.  THEN LETS GREET 2020, A NEW DECADE, WITH AN ANTICIPATION THAT LIFE WILL GO ON AND WE CAN BE PART OF THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF FAMILY AND FRIENDS.  AS I CLOSE THIS MORNING I GIVE THANKS TO GOD WHO IS SO PRESENT.