Adams Wife’s Weblog

It occurred to me this morning that Christmas Eve has always been my favorite day of the season.   When I was growing up my dad always had to work Christmas day.  (He worked at the post office and was one of the few who could be counted on to show up sober on Christmas and New Year’s.)  So our big celebration was on Christmas Eve.  We always went to Grandma’s house with all the other relatives.  She made turkey and all the trimmings.  After dinner the presents came out.  Grandma always gave the best gifts!  Sometime during the evening Dad and one or two of the other men would have to go out for one reason or another - some last minute thing that just had to be done.   When we left Grandma’s house we always drove around town to see the light displays.  Working at the post office Dad heard about the best displays from the guys who delivered the mail.  And then it would be home for the night.  When we got home Santa had always been to the house and left our gifts while we were gone.  It was a wonderful time of life.

As an adult I miss the gathering of relatives at Grandma’s house.  I miss the evening with Mom and Dad when they have nothing to distract them from us.  And I miss sleeping in on Christmas morning!  Dad eventually got enough seniority not to have to work Christmas day, but we continued to have our main celebration on Christmas Eve.

This year the grandkids and I are making goodies for our Christmas Eve party (just us).  We will be baking some bread and cinnamon rolls, making tortilla pinwheels, cheese ball, chocolate pie, egg nog, and other good stuff.   Then the six of us are going to turn on some Christmas music, eat all the goodies, and get ready for Santa to come visit us.  I just know it’s gonna be a wonderful day!  I hope all of you have a most wonderful day, too.

M E R R Y   C H R I S T M A S

I tried to make this post red, but my font colors are not working for some reason.  The dashboard assures me that the font is red - but I only see black.  lol

At the rate I’ve been posting lately, this may be my last chance to wish you all a very Merry Christmas.  I took the g’children shopping Saturday.  Yesterday we wrapped the gifts.  We all went to the Christmas party at Church Saturday evening.  I’m beginning to catch the spirit of the Season a bit.  Looking forward to a quiet Christmas day after a rambunctious Christmas Eve.  We will be doing some baking the next few days so that we can take goodies to our neighbors and friends.  It’s very difficult for me to relax and let the kids help me, but I’m determined to make it fun for all!   It has long been our tradition to go out Christmas Eve and view the beautiful light displays around town.   Christmas Eve we will be having cheese and crackers and other appetizer-type things for our supper.  Christmas morning we will have a leisurely breakfast after the gifts are opened and enjoyed.  Then the kids will go to their dad’s for a few days.  Daughter and I will be going to lunch at a very nice restaurant and then to a movie to fill in the quiet hours of the day.  We’re looking forward to this new tradition.  We are consciously trying to build new traditions that will last from year to year.  It’s a good thing.

I’m feeling a lot more upbeat today.  Partly it is due to my grandson coming home from kindergarten singing at the top of his lungs:  “Jingle, bells, jingle bells…”  He loves to sing and does a very good job of it.  Makes an old grandma smile.   This made me smile, too.  Hope it brightens your day, too.  

One more week ’til Christmas.  I can’t get into the Christmas spirit this year.  It just doesn’t seem real that it’s only a week away.  Part of the problem is I’ve been under the weather again.  Had to call off work a couple days this week.  That kicked me out of the transition class.  I will start a new class December 30.  In some ways I am very grateful not to have to work for a couple weeks.  It’s been stressful for me and for the grandkids to have me working every evening from before they get home from school ’til they go to bed.  They miss grandma, and I miss them.  I’m hoping when I complete the training and actually start work it will be better.  I should only be putting in four hours a day then.  I hope they mostly schedule me from noon to four or from six to ten.  Either of those times would make it fairly easy to get the kids some supper every night at a reasonable hour.  Lately they’ve had to eat whatever they could find or fix for themselves.  Mom gets home from work, depending on her shift, between 6:00 and 10:00 pm.  So, I really need to be able to have supper for them and give them that much structure in their lives.

I wish I could think of something clever or uplifting to write about.  Maybe next year.

I love the Christmas season.  I love the story of our Savior’s birth.  What’s more I believe it with all my heart.  I love the giving and receiving of presents.  I love the making of breads and other good things to eat.  That being said, I have to admit that this year it’s all a bit much for me.  I find myself crying for seemingly no reason at all.  Last year I was so involved in trying to make things OK for my daughter and her kids after The Idiot walked out on them that I didn’t have time to realize the difference in my own situation.  This should be a time of joy and wonder and not a time of mourning and loss.  However, by the very nature of the season, the expectations that we hold for magic and happiness, mourning becomes a natural byproduct for those who have lost loved ones, those whose families have been broken.  So, while I long to sing songs, to experience the wonder of the season (and this is not entirely lost) I have to take time out to remember better days and to mourn their loss.  It makes the season in some ways more meaningful.

I finished my on-line shopping yesterday.  I had hoped to find what I wanted for all four kids at the same store.  I ended up having to order from three different places to get what I needed.  That makes the shipping costs a bit more.  But, I found what I wanted and now I can relax.  Three of the four gifts are even coming already wrapped.  Now I just have to pick up a few ‘little things’ to round out the day.  And I have one stop to make for my daughter.  I ordered something for her online, too.  Looking forward to a Merry Christmas.

No, I didn’t hit the sales this morning.  I’d very much like to post something really awe-inspiring and articulate about all the good things I enjoy.  However, I’m finding it very difficult to be grateful for getting the stomach flu for Thanksgiving.  No turkey, no gravy, no smashed taters.  And definitely no pumpkin pie.  I am no longer worshiping the porcelain god, but I’m still not celebrating with good food.  I’ve had Sprite and chicken broth to sustain me today.  The best I can do for gratitude is to be thankful it didn’t land me in the hospital.

And then on Monday, of course, we visited the cemetery.

Before hitting the Sizzler on Sunday evening we visited the waterfalls in the Snake River Canyon East of the city of Twin Falls.  First is the Twin Falls for which the city was named.

Twin Falls

Twin Falls

What was once a twin fall is now a single waterfall.  When the hydroelectric plant went in the second fall was dammed off.

No more water over this fall

This scarred face is where the second fall used to be.  You can see the fill and the dam that shut it off.  I think it’s very sad - but I do like the advantages of having electricity.  In the canyon near the river and the waterfall, and taking advantage of the damming of the river are boat docks for water sports and a lovely park built and maintained by Idaho Power Co.

Twin Falls Park

We also visited Shoshone Falls which is further down the Snake River from the Twin Falls.  There are also a park and boat docks located in this area.  Shoshone Falls is higher than Niagara though not nearly so wide.  Unfortunately we were there after the spring runoff ended and they started taking water out of the river for irrigation.  The waterfall is not as spectacular now as it is during runoff.

Shoshone Falls on the Snake River

During the annual runoff those white rocks are all under water.

Shoshone Falls

There were a lot of visitors to the Falls that day.

Shoshone Falls Overlook

And looking down river from the Falls.

Snake River below Shoshone Falls

I promised pictures and a report on my Memorial Day weekend.  I admit - I’ve been lazy about getting the pictures ready to post, but today is your lucky day.  First off - the motel where we stayed.  I usually stay at a small, old-fashioned motel in Buhl, close to my sis.  However, I waited too long to call for a reservation.  I ended up booking reservations through Price Line.com.  We stayed at the Comfort Inn in Twin Falls for $35.00 a night.  That included a free breakfast (we mostly went for the Belgian waffles and biscuits and gravy).  So - here’s the motel.

Comfort Inn

Comfort Inn

I neglected to take a picture of our rental car.  But here is a stock photo of a Nissan Sentra.  We got that through Price Line, too.  Only $30.00 per day with unlimited mileage.  (Next time I’m gonna start even lower and see how cheap I can go.)  lol

Nissan Sentra

We had steak and lobster at the Sizzler Sunday evening.

Sizzler

We went to church in Buhl.  There was a beautiful tree in bloom just outside the church.  I think it’s a flowering crab apple - not sure.

Tree in bloom

Close up of tree in bloom

It was a good trip.  We enjoyed ourselves very much, just visiting with family and friends and taking it easy at the motel.  Sometimes the simplest entertainments are the best.  We had one disappointment - the hot tub was having problems with its thermostat.  We tried it one night, but it was too hot to get into (we’d have looked like our entree at the Sizzler and been just as well-done.)  We asked about it later, but were informed that it was still running either too cold or too hot.  Dang!

More Tomorrow!

  Happy Valentine’s Day to all my bloggie friends!  I hope you all have the opportunity to cuddle up with a sweetheart and share some hot kisses. 

I know I have neglected you all shamelessly.  It’s been a bad year for me health-wise.  I finally wore out the cold/flu that had me miserable for about a year and a half.  I had one full week of feeling really, really well, and then I developed a horrendous cough.  I’ve coughed so hard and so often that I’ve rattled my brain and have a headache, too.  I am so looking forward to Spring.  A cessation of snowfall and resuming of warm temperatures.  Maybe my body will respond to that stimuli and I will feel better finally.  If I had any money I’d go to Florida and bask on the beach.

I’ve been spending a lot of time on a singles site.  Not really looking for dates, but it is interesting to visit with other singles.  We talk about the octomom, how many dates does it take to establish you as an “item,” how difficult or easy it is to cuddle in different movie theaters, and how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop.  Last night I was invited to chat with a 32-year-old who said he hoped I wasn’t put off by the age difference but he was just so attracted to me.  We messaged back and forth for a minute and then he abruptly left the conversation.  I think he must have realized that he had misread my age by 20 years.  Oh, but it made my day for a minute there.

There is another guy who seems to like to chat with me about his dates with other site members.  I’m not sure why he chose me to be his mother-confessor, but it’s ok.  It gets me out of my misery for a few minutes and into another world and it frequently makes me laugh - out loud even.  Laughter is something that is very important to me.  It makes me feel better for those few seconds while the chuckles last.  (Of course, right now, it also makes me cough - everything makes me cough.) lol

I had intended to go out and do something fun tomorrow.  That was before the cough came to stay forever.  Now I’m just looking forward to staying home and having the house quiet (daughter is planning to take the kids and go to a friend’s house).  I hope your Valentine’s plans are more exciting than mine.