It is the Last Day of 2008

It’s the last day of 2008. Looking back on the year I continue to be an optimist. We had our 401(k)s go down the drain, gasoline prices went to heights never imagined, fires in California were devastating, etc. But, as little orphan Annie sang, “Tomorrow, tomorrow is a day away.”


2009 will start with grandson’s first birthday on the 8th of January. He visited with us for a week during Christmas, and we miss his not being here. He is such a charmer, not yet walking, but can crawl faster than his abuela can keep up with him.

Grandson--all boy!

For the first time in several years we were able to bring our entire California family together for Christmas day. We did our traditional toast before sitting down to enjoy a repast of ham, turkey and all the sides, salads and trimmings. I am always afraid that there will not be enough food, but, of course, there are always many left overs—glad to have two refrigerators for these occasions.
 

 

 Our California Clan

So tonight, New Year’s Eve, we will quietly watch the new year come in on television as we have done for many years.


I remember when I was a child that Mom and Dad always looked forward to celebrating New Year’s Eve by going to some dance in Corpus Christi with a big-name band from Mexico or from the US. Since my dad did not drive, they always got together with one or more married couples. My sis and I would stay home with my grandmother or great grandmother. When Mom and Dad would get home from the dance I would already be asleep, but in the morning we would find the party hats and noisemakers that had been distributed at the dance. What confused me was that in the movies people always made lots of noise as the new year came in, and my sis and I could not make noise even with the newly acquired noisemakers because Mom and Dad were still asleep. Even if I went outside to play with the noisemaker, I could not get excited that it was a new year.

Great To Be Back--Christmases On My Mind

I am feeling so out of it because I have not posted since Hubby's birthday almost a month ago. I was not well since the day after Thanksgiving, but thankfully I am on the mend. I am certainly looking forward to Christmas because Grandson comes to visit us.

I have done most of my Christmas shopping. Gift giving this year will be modest--the economy being what it is. We have been to several Christmas parties already, and it was great to see and visit.

The Retired Public Employees Association Chapter in Orange County collected toys to be distributed to the children of the encarcerated. This is the second year we do this. Our president is a former policeman who works with the charity St Vincent de Paul in organizing the gift-giving event for the children.

The program Ability First had their Christmas party last Saturday afternoon. The menu was pizza from Costco. I joked that pizza from Pizza Hut was better, but I don't think the organizers thought I was being funny, until I revealed that Son works at Pizza Hut, and has worked there for over 18 years. We left that party before Santa arrived. Two and a half hours of loud music had given me a headache, and we needed to get "refreshed" for the next party.

 

Hubby and Son at Ability First Party

Hubby has been retired since 1997, but the math department teachers have stayed in touch since before his retirement. One of the math teachers (who retired several years earlier than Hubby) has been hosting a potluck for the math department teachers and spouses for at least 12 or 14 years on the second Saturday of December. Our group may be diminishing, but we hope to keep the tradition going for as long as we can.

 

Our gracious hosts!

I have been working on our Christmas newsletter this past week. There are still some I cannot reach by email, so I printed thirty copies to snail mail. Most of the others on my list are on my email address book, so hopefully they were able to read what I sent. Hubby  and I have been Mac people since day one. Although we tolerate Windows, we do not really do Windows. My first attempt at sending my newsletter did not go well. My choice for a font was probably not the easiest to translate to Windoz and then I probably had too many photos. Anyway, instead of sending the newsletter as a Word document, I saved it as a pdf file, hopefully everyone has Adobe Reader. If you are still having trouble reading my newsletter, please let me know. The central figure in our year of 2008 was, of course, our handsome Grandson.

As I think back of Christmases past, I think one of my favorite ones was when Sis and I were attending parochial school at St Anthony's in Robstown. For "Misa de Gallo" (literally the Mass of the Rooster--because of the wee hours) we were angels in costumes of white and glitter. We were two of about twenty girls, but I felt so special in my halo and wings. We walked up the aisle to the altar where the nativity scene had been mounted. The entire church smelled of cut trees that my dad had donated for the altar.

I remember the ritual of kissing the icon of the baby Jesus. Father Dunne held the baby and we all lined up as if to receive communion. Father had a napkin or handkerchief that he wiped the last person's kiss before the next one came to kiss the baby's leg. Were we fearful of transferring germs? We never gave it a thought. Our faith was so sincere that such ideas never crossed our minds.

After Mass we went home on Avenue D. I think we all walked home. Everyone used to walk everywhere--neither Mom nor Dad drove a car. Since it was after midnight, Sis and I discovered that Santa Claus had visited our house. We each got a pair of roller skates. Have I ever mentioned that my sister and I always received identical gifts, and we wore identical dresses all the time? Mom's idea of being fair was to be identical. Later, in our teens, Sis and I decided equal did not have to be identical.

Neither my sister nor I ever had a bicycle. Even though there were "girl" bicyles, Mom assured us that bikes were not ladylike and therefore, not for us. We were happy with our skates, but the street was unpaved (had caliche top), and our front yard had a narrow sidewalk about 15 feet long, at the most. The skates were the kind that had a key to tighten around the sole of your shoe. We learned to skate anyway in our carefree days.