In The Year 2010

Happy New Year!  It seems like it was only yesterday when we were preparing for total disaster in the New Millennium -  you remember…when all technology was supposed to fail?  Can ten years really have gone that fast?  Goodbye and good riddance to 2009.  Each month brought new disasters in our economy and government and on and on.   “Ten” will be so easy to say and write and remember.  Beverly, for Pink Saturday, has asked what things we’d like to improve upon in the coming year…do you have a couple of hours???LOL  (Actually, the older I get the more satisfied I am with the way things are…or should I say accepting?) Since most of my New Years Resolutions FAIL I thought I’d come up with more positive ideas – you know more achievable….  so here is my list of…..

Things I Want to Improve in 2010

1.  Learn Photoshop!

2.  Pay attention to my electric bill due date...stop paying Stream Energy one lousy day late and paying their money grubbing late charge!

3.  Organize my pictures on my computer...and not at 3 A.M. either!

4.  Have a Valentine making party.

5.  Eat healthier - (after my Valentine making party)

6.  Use less of everything (unless I need to make something prettier) and remember to never use that annoying phrase "carbon footprint".

7.  Stop coveting my neighbors garden house (even though I really, really wish I had one just like it)

8.  Take more naps

9.  Figure out why my new towels always have tiny bleach spots when they aren't near bleach.

10.  Walk more….Whine less!

Hey! I’ve already improved just by making this list.  So what are you going to improve in TEN?  Have a great Pink Saturday, a wonderful  week and a prosperous and healthy year, blog buddies.

                                                         Happy TEN!!!!

                                                             xox0Nancy                    

 

del.icio.us Tags: pink saturday.new years resolutions,self improvement

A Mary Christmas

I love this little Nativity scene.  And how fitting that Mary is in PINK!

When I put this in my entry hall the room seemed to take on a pink glow.  I’d like to say it’s been in the family for years.  But, no….I found this at a St. Vincent de Paul store marked $3.00 and then it was on sale since it was after Christmas for 

50 cents.

   It’s old and well used and I love the chippy paint and wonder how anyone could let it go?  I’ve looked forever for just the right set and love this one.

How scary it must have been giving birth in such difficult circumstances.  Maybe she really did put on her best pink gown to receive all those visitors.

Anyway this sweet little scene is in my care for now

casting a pink glow over the little hall.

I hope your Christmas was blessed with family and friends.  Thanks to Beverly for hosting our Pink Saturdays.  xoxo Nancy

del.icio.us Tags: Christmas,Nativity,Pink Saturday

Christmas Eve Advice

When all else fails........

Write a letter to Santa!

Or just find a cozy spot under the Christmas tree and......

And take a nap!
Or you could just blog a little when you should be getting ready for the party tonight! Hope all of you are having a stress free Christmas Eve!
xoxo Nancy

KK’s My Favorite Tradition

Ask either of my kids or  Judy’s or Barbara’s kids about KK’s and they’ll tell you it’s one of their favorite traditions along with all their parents. 

KK stands for Kris Kringle – like you didn’t already know that!  We started doing this in 1981 and continued for about 12 years.

 

 

Around the first of December we would have a kick off party to draw names and for the entire month sneak around from house to house and leave little treats for our KK’s.  Sometimes it would be at our house

 or Judy and Brian’s house

Or Barbara and T’s house   

We all lived within a mile of each other and the mailboxes at night would be a busy place.  We’d slowly drive up the street…lights off put a little treat in the mailbox

 

and peel out with maybe a honk of the horn or just rush home and call them up, voice disguised and whisper “K K.” (This was way before caller ID and cell phones!)  If you happened to receive the call you’d rush to the mailbox and hopefully your name would be on the little treat!  

    

We were soooo sneaky and the kids thought it was great fun to try to catch your KK.  One Friday night the boys went undercover on the roof of the house and waited for hours to see if a car would drive up!  I even got an ice cream sundae one night! 

 

This went on until a couple days before Christmas when we would have our big “Reveal” KK party.  Everyone hammed it up then, too.  Slowly walk around the room, maybe hand your “final” gift to someone and quickly grab it back until finally you presented your big final gift to your KK.

 Of course it was never about the gift…it was about the fun! Heaven forbid the ribbing you’d get if you’d been a lousy KK!   I love our pictures from those years.  Two babies were born…the kids went from little to high school, puppies became old dogs.  That was before Brian died  and the kids grew up and we all moved apart.

Judy moved to Corpus, Barbara was still in McAllen and we had moved to Austin .  It’s not that we don’t see each other…(we all live in Central Texas now) but every five years or so we have a reunion weekend…dedicated to KK’s. I’ve put the pictures somewhere safe…so safe I can’t find them!!! but here we are…first generation KKs.

  

Now it’s the grandkids who love to do KK’s. We do a stocking for each person – If there are 10 girls each girl brings 10 things for the girls stocking – same for the guys and same for the kids. I think we had around 30 stockings that were filled to the brim!  It’s different from what we originally did but we just kind of honor those magical years. We look at our old pictures and remember.  So my favorite tradition hands down…KK’s!  Thanks for the memories KKs! 

And thank you Beverly for the opportunity to share my story.

xoxo Your secret KK….Nancy

del.icio.us Tags: Christmas traditions,friends,kris kringle

Since it rained for almost two weeks and stayed really cloudy it was hard to get good pics but I made a couple of slideshows with them anyway. The Heritage House home tour went great. We had a lot of people and hopefully raised a lot of $$$ for the museum.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Pink Saturday Favorites

My favorite Christmas decoration....why that's almost like picking my favorite child. This year I've pulled out all of my decorations because my house is one of eight on the Heritage House Christmas tour. Some things haven't been out in years and some things don’t make it onto the tree every year.  My tree in the living room somehow turned out all silvery white last year so I'm going with that again this year. I remember where almost every ornament on there came from and who gave them to me.It's when I get out the things for my kitchen tree that I really smile and get a lump in my throat.   It's like all the special people in my life are right there in my kitchen with me.  My son in 2nd grade giving me this little pair of  felt and paper clip ice skates he made at school… lots of things from my girlfriends and my shopping trips with them.  There's my sister with the Mary E ornament. 

My son found these Santa mugs and pitcher at a flea market years ago and thought I might like them.  (Chip off the old block…they turned out to be Holt Howard!)

  

Love this checkered Snowman from my sister in law. 

Since I just didn’t have room for a larger tree in here this year I put three small ones into the old roaster and garlands over the doors to hold most of these ornaments. 

(And something’s going on with snowmen…they just seems to multiply) 

Anyway, I love all this stuff and it’s a happy place when all these guys take their place each year. 

Thanks to Beverly at How Sweet The Sound  for hosting a fun December Pink Saturday special event.  Stop to visit her and all the Pink bloggers.  I’ll be stopping by later this weekend since I’ll be away from my computer all day today.  Can’t wait to see your favorite ornaments! 

Be Merry!  Nancy

 

del.icio.us Tags: Pink Saturday,Chritmas decorating

Overwhelmed

I love these girls.  I’ve been overwhelmed several times the past couple of weeks.  I’m trying to get my house decorated and cleaned for the home tour Saturday.  The weather hasn’t cooperated and I’m behind.  Thank God for my friends.

Last week Barbara and Judy showed up to spend the night and decorate my upstairs bathroom   and my little attic bedroom.    They even did a whole village display for me.  And they cooked dinner that night.  I’m overwhelmed!

Yesterday Patty called and said she was on her way.  She walked in with spray starch and proceeded to iron all my linens for me.  We dressed and decorated tables   and beds and cleaned and again….I’m overwhelmed.

I’m overwhelmed with their gifts of time during this busy season.    Thank you soooooo much.  I can’t even begin to tell you how much I appreciate all of you….and love you. 

 

del.icio.us Tags: friends,hometour

Christmas Memories

For Pink Saturday we’re supposed to write about a childhood memory.     My dad worked most nights and we always had our “tree” on Christmas eve.  We didn’t get a ton of gifts like kids today – usually a tea set or such, a doll, and of course pj’s or clothes!  So my memories are those of seeing the spectacular sights in my hometown, McAllen.  I think the population was about 10,000 back then, if that.  The thing I’d get most excited about was when the town started decorating for Christmas.

The reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh on top of  the fire station looked like these.  I can almost hear their little tinkling bells as they rocked back and forth.  If we were good my mom would take us to see them and  then we’d go wave at my dad (a projectionist at the theater) and he would open his window above the marquee  and wave down at us.

This is where I think we went to see Santa but

 

this is where I did all my shopping!  I think I’d get about three dollars - a Huge amount of $$$$$$!!!

My childhood memories are all Old McAllen.  The Christmas decorations on Main St were the most beautiful I’ve ever seen.  Strung across the street with a big wreath in the middle of each swag they lined Main St and were a sight to behold.  My favorite post I’ve ever done is the one I wrote last year so if you really want to know my memories I’ll repost them.  Thanks, Beverly, for the prompt!

````````````````````

Written September 18, 2008

I ran across this postcard online while looking for something else the other night.

So I sent it to my three best yaya friends and said......

I saw this and got so homesick - well homesick for this McAllen. I could go see my Dad or shop at Anthonys and send my money upstairs through the tube - maybe buy a Miss Pat dress at the Advance shop. If I could go back I'd also go to Woolworths and buy every Millinery flower and plastic santa in the store. What would you guys do?

This is what I got back.

From LaVerne:

Well, I would go to Jones and Jones for a chicken salad sandwich and POTATO SALAD, which I loved...they ran it through a ricer not a dicer and it was different from any I have ever had...I would take rubbings of the beautiful stone full of fossil shells on that old building ...I might treat myself to hand blended powder at the make-up counter...they kept powder formulas on file and made each to order... I would go down to Valley Merc and stand at the very corner where you could do the mirror magic acrobatics in the glass reflection...I would go into Anthony’s to smell it to check my scent recall...I can still “picture smell” the oil-sawdust they cleaned the floors with...I think it smelled like Murphy’s Oil Soap...I would certainly hit the dime stores...Woolworth, McClellans, there was one more downtown that I don’t remember the name...and then head out to Winn’s...(I came across something with an old Winn’s price tag the other day and I just got the biggest lump in my throat),,,I would buy velvet leaves, flower bunches, and cards of buttons
I’d get a cherry Coke at the downtown City Drug and some time head for Forgy’s cafe where you could get a grilled hot dog and a root beer from a real wooden barrel ...I would go to Mr. De la Cross’s Cafe at Hoover’s Paradise for a slice of Chocolate Pie, the likes of which I have never had again...I would go in late Feb or early March when the citrus was blooming and the whole Valley smelled like the Garden of Eden...O.K., now I’m good and era-homesick for the hometown of my memories...Back to reality and today’s task which is to take Mother back to her apartment at Argent Court and get her settled. Thanks for the diversion...LaVerne who had an 18 or 19” waist back in the day

From Barbara:

I would tell my mom that I was going to walk to the Palace and get my 25 cents to get in...then I would take my 25 cents and sneak over to the Queen and get in for 20 cents and use the nickel to buy popcorn and a coke. I would make sure that I had a napkin to put on the back of the seat so I didn't get ringworms.I would go buy cheese enchiladas at the White Kitchen. I would go swimming at the Casa...I think that might have been the last time I went swimming. I would go ride the escalator at Anthony's right after my money went up the tube. I would go to Sears and buy candy in the center of the store...my most of my memories involves eating....while I'm at it I would go to Jones and Jones for an Apple Dumpling with ice cream on top. I would go to Puryears and get that hugely, fabulous, gay guy to measure my foot and buy some shoes. I am really tired and I am going to go back to sleep...way to much memory lane for now....Before I go to bed I will go down one more lane and go to the Palms drive-in to see a movie or maybe the Buckhorn to see the wild animals and play on the swings or even to the Cactus to smell the stinky bathroom. Goodnight sweetheart well it's time to go..da-da-de-dada.....goodnight sweetheart well I hate to go....I hate to leave you but I really must go....Goodnight sweetheart Goodnight, Barbara(I just wrote this whole note without glasses not because I was on memory lane and I didn't wear glasses then but because I'm tooooo lazy to go get some.)

From Judy:

I too-o have memories of the same things. Mom would drop us off on the side of the Palace and we would run in and usually step in gum or maybe sit in it because someone dropped it from the balcony. But it was ok because it just happened every time so it was part of the experience. Then, we would go to Harry's and drop off a pair of shoes to be repaired because Barbara bought so many shoes from the flame at Puryears that I had to wear her old ones! If it was a Saturday we might go down to A and W and get a root beer float!! Can't you just taste the foam on top?? Their hamburgers weren't bad either. Or, on a summer afternoon we would go with the Waugh's to play miniature golf and eat watermelon, and I don't even like watermelon, but I guess I did then. Probably overdosed one day. These are a few of my favorite things...memories from the corners of my mind...yesterday, all my troubles seem so far away!!!  Need I go on. Judy

What a gift to have lifetime friends with long ago memories to share. So what are some of your memories. Indulge me and yourself - share some!

xoxo Nancy

del.icio.us Tags: Christmas Memories,Vintage McAllen,Pink Saturday

Kitchen Christmas Style!

Using blogger to post is just as hard as ever. The one advantage is that the pictures will enlarge.
Anyway, Santa made his annual trip down from the attic to keep tabs on the kitchen. And the little days of the week towels are back on duty this year keeping us organized.
Having no room for a big tree this year it's all about garlands and little trees.
The back hall is coming along....
And there are three little trees in the old roaster displacing my feather chicken. (You know it's just as fast to do an oil painting in lieu of using blogger uploader.)