RRN Online Volume 393

December 13 '03

Volume 393

Seasonal Happenings Lightening The Load

Mistakes are part of publishing a newsletter. Lately, I seem to be making more than my share of them. For instance, just last week, I dated Volume 390 as December 13^th instead of December 6^th. I caught the mistake prior to emailing the newsletter and posting it on my website, but not before stuffing it into the envelopes for regular mail.

It's not uncommon for me to spot a misplaced comma after all the issues are printed, and occasionally I forget to verify a fact such as stating Fred Carter lives in Lakeland, FL instead of Mulberry, FL. Yes, these are minor mistakes, and for all readers who overlook the grammatical and sometimes factual shortcomings of this newsletter I thank you.

I don't always have a good excuse for mistakes that show up in RRN, but lately I have been busier at work and at home than I would like to be. Additionally, I've been trying to get Barbara up before daylight to walk "the circle." It's good exercise for the both of us, but it also takes another half-hour from my day and gives me less time to concentrate on this newsletter.

I look forward to December each year for several reasons. The Holiday Memories that readers contribute help put me in good spirits for celebrating the Christmas Season. Plus, those contributions mean I can devote less time to writing my own articles. My Holidays are no less busy than the next persons are, and without the help of readers contributing a special memory, I would be hard pressed to keep "the presses" rolling.

Therefore, I wish to express my thanks to those readers who find time to lighten my burden in December, and in so doing, brighten my Holiday Season. Thank you!

As for brightening the Holiday Season, the exterior illumination for our house made it's debut on Sunday evening, December 7^th.

Rayanne is good to ensure that Daddy's house is decorated for the season early, but this year she ran about a week behind her normal schedule. The basic look outside is pretty much the same as last year, except we've added a lighted tree just at the entrance to our front door. It's the same tree we've had on the lanai for the past two years, but it's missing its multi-colored lights. Rayanne's still a stickler for clear lights, even though I point out that I'm seeing more multi-colored lights than in past years.

"You can string them if you want to, but I'm not putting my name on any part of it," she insisted and threatened to halt her work on the wreaths for the front windows.

The woman drives a hard bargain, and I know when to back down when it comes to keeping free help working. I imagine that if I live long enough, she'll be insisting I purchase multi-colored lights to replace all the existing clear lights, and I imagine it'll be sooner than she expects, too.

As is often the case, Rayanne left without finishing decorating the inside of our house. Early on, she enlisted Anson to put up the tree and string it with lights, as she devoted her energies to those areas in which she prefers, namely arranging displays on tables and the mantle as well as reworking existing door wreaths to make them more Christmassy. In the end, she ran out of both daylight and moonlight. Thus, if one should happen to stop by our house in the next few days, it may look better on the outside than on the inside, but somehow and before Christmas, it'll come together.

My Christmas Story By Linda Thomas

Like most families, mine had limited resources in post-war Chattanooga. My father served in World War II, and, when he returned home, he built a modest house for us using a VA loan. We were quite proud of this house, but as our family grew so did the house, with rooms added as needed. My parents were do-it-yourselfers and did all the work.

My father worked for TVA, but with four children he found he had to work weekends in other jobs. He did plumbing, installed TV antennae, or did any job someone needed if they would pay him on Saturday night so Mother could buy groceries.

The money crunch never interfered with our Christmas, though. My parents were from large families and never had bountiful Christmas celebrations we know today. But, they wanted us to experience the holiday to the fullest. Mother made gifts and bought at least one big surprise for each child. One year she numbered the gifts instead of putting names on them because my brother always sneaked a peak. When mother forgot which number she assigned to each child, the result was hilarious.

Our most memorable Christmas was not of receiving gifts but of giving them. As we opened our gifts and enjoyed the morning, one of our uncles arrived to tell us he had visited a neighbor and found that he had nothing for his children or his wife for Christmas. Without any prompting at all, my siblings and I scurried around and gathered good used toys and some of our new ones along with some fruit and a ham that was to be a part of our dinner. We donned our coats and the entire family went to this man's home to play Santa. I shall never forget that little house with a wood-burning stove and one dim light bulb hanging from the ceiling. There was no Christmas tree and no big dinner on the stove. The man cried as his children smiled over their gifts.

Our parents had good hearts and thank goodness they passed them on to us. What a Merry Christmas it is when you give more than you receive.

Linda Thomas and husband Keith reside in Pontotoc, MS.

Christmas At Grandma's By Rhea Palmer

I always think of my Grandma Lois at Christmas because we always went to see her on Christmas Day. Each Christmas morning we celebrated at home, and then Dad and I would dress up in our new clothes and head to Grandma's where we would stuff ourselves silly and watch football. I remember one year it was so warm we played softball in the side yard.

And the food! Grandma would fix a huge roast pan full of dressing, sweet potato casserole, butter beans, mashed potatoes, corn bread, and on and on. Dessert was always a chocolate cake that had icing oozing all through it, coconut cake, or chocolate meringue pie.

No matter what happened that year, I always saw my aunts and uncles and cousins at Grandma's house each year. We have our problems just as any family has, but they always seemed to be forgotten when we were at Grandma's house.

Rhea Palmer and husband Tommy live in Oakland, Tennessee.

Eastern Market By Sarah C. Brown

In the way to the Memphis airport, Miriam Clark whipped out a clipping from the November issue of Southern Living, which highlighted Washington D.C.'s Eastern Market as a tourist attraction that should not be missed. Mina Davis had seen the same article, and I wondered how I missed it, since I am a fan of the magazine. The real drawing card for me was the statement that the blueberry pancakes were worth the thirty-minute wait in line. As we noted on our first excursion on the Metro, the last stop heading east is, of course, Eastern Market.

We rose early on Saturday morning in order to be in line for breakfast at the market and were on our way by 7:00 a.m. We walked a few blocks to Dupont Circle, caught the Metro, and easlily found the market across from Eastern Market Metro Station.

Eastern Market is billed as the oldest farmer's market in the U.S. Brochures state that the market was completed in 1873, to provide an orderly supply of goods to urban residents of the DC area. By 1929, Eastern Market had lost a number of vendors, and the coming of grocery store chains almost spelled its demise. However, when the DC government moved to close the few remaining public markets after WWII, Charles Glasgow, Sr. assumed management of the market in the mid 1950's The Eastern Market Corp. was formed, and in recent years a revitalization of the Capitol Hill area has made the market the "town center" that it was during its early days.

Eastern Market is actually a giant flea-market/ farmers market. We noticed open-air vendors for fresh flowers and vegetables as we walked the main sidewalk, following the signs, in quest of the famous restaurant. What we found was an old-fashioned butcher's market with a short order kitchen in one end.

As we stood in line for ordering, I noticed the butcher case filled with all types of cuts of beef and pork. As I looked down the line my eye caught a sign for fresh chitterlings. Stunned for a moment, I remembered that Washington is just across the river from Virginia, a true southern state, which would explain the chitterlings.

Meanwhile, Miriam opted for the Blues (regular blueberry pancakes). I ordered the BlueBucks (buckwheat pancakes with blueberries), and Mr. Davis and Mina selected the French toast. The waitresses handed us our plates, and we ladled syrup from five-gallon buckets. We decide the author of the magazine review was right, the food was definitely worth the thirty-minute wait.

Fortified with a nutritious and calorie laden breakfast, we browsed the open-air flea market. Miriam, who has her own booth at the Antique Mall in Pontotoc, was interested in the china and linen. The Davises were looking for something special for their girls, and this was the perfect place. I was most interested in the antique furniture and compared prices to those in our area and found them to be about the same.

I purchased a strand of fresh water pearls from China for Felicia, knowing that I would not be able to live with her if I didn't bring her back a gift from my trip. The vendor was a retired schoolteacher who looked honest to me, but I had to take her word that the pearls were actually from China.

Each pearl is imperfect, but when strung with the others the result is a pretty strand reminiscent of the single strand Jackie Kennedy made popular. I could just envision a wonderful lesson for Felicia's class of high school students at North Oxford Baptist Church about how each of us is an imperfect part that God can use to make a beautiful whole. So I had to buy them for her.

Miriam and I found a vendor with collectable homemade Santas, and Miriam got her business card since the woman did not make the Santas, but purchased them from different people in the United States. Miriam, her sister, and her mother work cooperatively to make their own line of Santas. Who knows? Maybe, their line will be on sale at Eastern Market next fall.

Completing our visit to Eastern Market, we sought out a vendor with the pear cider (pasteurized, I duly noted) that Miriam had heard about from someone. Unfortunately, the smallest container was gallon sized, and we could not figure how to bring that home on the plane.

Note: This is the third in a series by Sarah recounting her recent trip to Washington, D.C., where she and other representatives of Pontotoc High School were honored for their Blue Ribbon School.

Aunt Jo Improving Now In Swing Bed

A number of subscribers and others have asked about Aunt Jo since I reported a few weeks ago that she had taken a nasty fall at home and was in the hospital. At the time of the article concerning Aunt Jo her physical condition was poor and the various physicians diagnosing and treating her numerous aliments agreed there was little they could do to fix her more serious problems without jeopardizing her life. The course of treatment they suggested and subsequently approved by her family was to make her as comfortable as possible during what might be her last months.

Of course, no one can predict the future, but at the time her future looked dim. Aunt Jo’s health began to show some improvement in the days that followed. She began to eat solid food, after not eating anything for several days, though she only wanted a few morsels at each meal. Then, on Thanksgiving Eve, she was transferred from the Medical Center in Tupelo to the "swing bed" wing of the Pontotoc Hospital. She remains there at the time of this article (12/10).

After spending seven weeks in hospitals, she is ready to go home and insists she can manage at home as well as she can in the hospital. Personally, I doubt she can, for she is unable to turn herself in bed, get out of bed, or feed herself without assistance. Yet, I’m convinced she’ll have to at least try staying at home before being reconciled to the fact that other health care alternatives may be necessary.

The way Aunt Jo figures things, she’ll have Home Healthcare workers, housekeeping help from Three Rivers, and a next-door niece, Peggy Carter, to help transition her toward complete independence. It’s difficult for me to be optimistic about Aunt Jo regaining her independence, and perhaps I simply don’t have enough faith in the healing hand of God in effecting a miracle, but then her being so improved from just a few weeks ago is something of a miracle in itself. Stay tuned.

Bodock Beau Christmas Humor

Signs of Christmas abound. Many homes and most businesses are decorated for the holidays. In fact a few places have some imaginative signage.

Christmas Signs

Toy Store: "Ho, ho, ho spoken here."
Bridal boutique: "Marry Christmas."
Outside a church: "The Original Christmas Club."
At a department store: "Big pre-Christmas sale. Come in and mangle with the crowd."
A Texas jewelry store: "Diamond tiaras -- $70,000. Three for $200,000.
A reducing salon: "24 Shaping Days until Christmas."
In a stationery store: "For the man who has everything... a calendar to remind him when payments are due."

Reindeer Jokes

And as the reindeer say before they tell you jokes ....These jokes will sleigh you!

Did Rudolph go to a regular school?
No, he was "elf"-taught!

'Father Christmas has two reindeer. He calls one Edward and the other one Edward! I bet you can't tell me why he does that!'
'Oh, yes I can.' the elf said.'Because two 'Eds are better than one, of course!'

How can Santa's sleigh possibly fly through the air?
You would too if you were pulled by flying reindeer!

How do you make a slow reindeer fast ?
Don't feed it !

How do you get into Donner's house?
You ring the "deer"-bell!

How does Rudolph know when Christmas is coming?
He looks at his calen-"deer"!

How long should a reindeer's legs be ?
Just long enough to reach the ground !

How would you get four reindeer in a car?
Two in the front and two in the back!

What do reindeer have that no other animals have ?
Baby reindeer !

What do reindeer hang on their Christmas trees?
"Horn"-aments!

Why is Prancer always wet?
Because he's a "rain"-deer!

Which of Santa's reindeer has bad manners?
"Rude"-olph!

Which reindeer have the shortest legs ?
The smallest ones!

What game do reindeer play in their stalls?
Stable-tennis!

Where do the reindeer like to stop for lunch?
"Deery" Queen!

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