'Twere the Days Before Christmas 2015

'Twere is the pluralized version of 'twas, 'tis not?

If Clement C. Moore can do it, why can't I?

Tuesday, December 22nd

Dan, Carrie, and Vivian were about to spend the Christmas holiday with us in Livermore and their flight from SoCal arrived about 10:20 am. Frank and I parked the car with its child safety seat securely installed, rear facing, in the back seat center, the purported safest configuration and went in to greet them at the Oakland terminal. Meeting up in short order, we transported the luggage out to the parking lot. We had parked in premium; nothing is too good for our granddaughter.  A half hour later, after her parents had inspected and revised the safety seat installation and all the straps had been custom adjusted for Vivian, we left to drive home to Livermore. We had lunch and dinner at home and just hung out and visited. An afternoon walk to a neighboring park fit the bill. Every one had to get into the act on the slide - except the photographer.

We'd tentatively planned a night of Zoo Lights at the Oakland Zoo, but Vivian's long nap, Carrie's slight case of the sniffles, and the damp, chilly weather conspired together that we scale back our plans to be less ambitious. We went to look at Christmas lights throughout the neighborhood and strolled through the displays at our local Deacon Dave's. This is an annual tradition, established 1984, that we've kept since Robin, Dan, and Alex were little.

One year, when Dan was very young, he quite innocently asked us, as we walked through Deacon Dave's Christmas decorated courtyard, "How come we never see Deke, only Dave?" Here he is now, all grown up, with his dad! And if you are still groaning after that pun, it was not made up. He really did think that there must have been two people.

A friendly passerby graciously took a photo of all of us.

Wednesday, December 23rd

Dan, Carrie, and Vivian took BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) into San Francisco and spent the day sight seeing. Frank and I stayed home. I used part of the time making Cheese Blintzes for Christmas Eve dinner, something I had not made in years. I still have my old crepe maker.

I made and froze two full jelly roll sheets of blintzes to fry up for dinner the next evening. Fortunately I had copied the proportions for the ingredients and taped them on the bottom of the batter platter because in its faded state, my recipe card was barely legible. My recipe is my mom's and different form the one printed on the plate. She used to make cheese blintzes at Easter time. We'd eat them with sour cream. Yum!

I also mixed up a batch of cookie dough for cut-out cookies. We would roll them out the next day. This recipe hails from the the early 1970's when my godson Glenn used to make these at Busy Beaver Nursery School in New Jersey. I think it may be time to copy over this recipe before it too fades away. Perhaps it can live on in this blog.

Once Vivian was settled in for the night, Dan, Frank, and I played a few games of Sequence and Tsuro. Dan won most of them. Grrrr. Seems like the torch has passed to a new generation.

I also used any other spare time during the day to work on a vintage Christmas stocking for grandson Isaiah. I only had one more day till Christmas and I wanted it hanging with the others. These stockings symbolize that we are all together in spirit for Christmas. Frank, Alex, and I carried them all with us out to Oklahoma for Christmas in 2014. Dan, Carrie, and Vivian were not there but their stockings were.

Once all others had gone to bed I took time to reflect. Robin, Jeremy, Autumn, and Isaiah were unable to travel to California for Christmas 2015, but they kept us in the loop of Christmas preparations in their Oklahoma home. I took time to enjoy some of the photos they'd been mailing us. Five-month-old Isaiah and three-year-old Autumn seem to be engaged in their Christmas tree-trimming!

Yes, I was reflecting on the growing, happy families. Carrie and Dan are expecting another little girl next May. I love this photo on their 2015 Christmas card.

And of course this one, with Dan balancing pink booties on his head and his daughter on this shoulders, is a real keeper.

I can't help thinking back to when he and Robin and Alex were the size to ride this rocking horse, now pressed into service as a Christmas decoration.

I also mused on the wreath we have in our kitchen. Frank and I bought that the first Christmas we were empty nesters – Robin in Oklahoma, Dan in SoCal, and Alex placed at St. Denis. It was now just the two of us.

It is easy to get lost in your thoughts late at night. And it was late at night. I stayed up until 2:45 am on December 23rd, determined to get Isaiah's stocking knitted to a point where I would have only to turn the heel and complete the foot the next day, Christmas Eve.