Christmas 2024 Reminiscences (2 of 2)

Part 2 of my Christmas 2024 Reminiscences focuses on activities, not things: games we played, an extensive list of tasks Jeremy and Robin generously completed to help out Frank and me, and family gatherings we shared.

Games
Games were mainly trying out new Christmas gifts. Alex loved his new manipulative game for dropping circles into a playing board. Technically this was a Bingo line-up 4 and not a Connect 4 but it had two advantages. There was no bar beneath to slide sideways to release the stacked disks. Alex could contently play without inadvertently bumping the release and dumping the disks. He could start playing immediately and not have to check if the toggle bar was positioned correctly. Plus, how could I pass up those bright red and green colors for Christmas? Alex enjoyed it a lot; he enjoyed taking turns with Isaiah to play without the restriction of rules or color preferences. Isaiah, on his own, also liked the color patterns he created in solo play.

Alex loves his dancing Christmas tree. Even Jeremy danced along with Alex and his tree that sings a jazzy version of "Oh, Christmas Tree" while waving its arms, shaking its branches, and wiggling its bottom. You can see the tree performing starting at 2:00 in this YouTube video and ending at 3:01. Jeremy even jigged along with Alex as the tree sang and wiggled. After each performance, Alex is sure to give his tree a love. This tree is not a new 2024 addition, but has been a true Christmas tradition for Alex for many years now. Every year we take it to the St. Denis Home for a few weeks around the holiday to entertain the clients and staff.

We've had this inflatable ringtoss game for a few Christmases now and folks like the challenge. You can see the game in action, included two grandmas inflating it, in a picture from 2022 and in my post for Christmas 2022.

Isaiah and Autumn played several games of Christmas checkers with each other or with a parent or with a grandparent. I bought three of these sets when Robin and Dan were little and each Robin and Dan have a set in their own home. The novelty of Grandma's house makes it a bit more enticing to play here, though.

Friday night, Robin and I took Autumn and Isaiah to Lost Worlds Adventures in Livermore, a dinosaur themed play zone, to blow off some steam. The place was quiet that night and Isaiah had wanted to play laser tag but there were not enough customers to do so. The place was great and rose to fix the situation. Some of the staff joined in as players to fill the gaps so the interested kids could still have the fun experience. 

Sunday was the middle of the visit and we picked up Alex and went bowling. We bowled two games: the first was Oxenford versus Chambers; Robin won with a score of 113. Then we mixed it up and did parents/grandparents versus kiddos. It was a pretty balanced competition but, alas, I have no photo of the final scores. I could never time taking the shot without the orange rectangle overlay.The important thing was that we all had fun, and it was a pair of friendly games. Isaiah got a bit tuckered out a one point. Real nap or fake pose...? I'll never tell.

We had pizza for lunch and then posed in front of the bowling alley's Christmas tree for photos - with Santa of course. I remember taking Vivian and Lillian bowling here one time at Christmas. One ran off in one direction, the other in an opposite direction and in the ensuing chaos somebody knocked over poor Santa. Aaah... memories. These pictures are memorable for another reason. Autumn is smiling and willing to pose. Those pre-teen years often bring about a photo-taking aversion. 

Jeremy, Isaiah, and I played  a few boisterous rounds of The Hot Dog Card Game from Dog Man. It is a fast-paced game of memory and the player who "eats" the most hot dogs wins!

A very popular activity was operating a combination bank/slot machine that I wrapped up as a joint present for Frank and Alex. Alex loves banks so that aspect was for him. When Frank was a child, his mother loved to play the slot machines at the Rod 'N Reel restaurant during their summer vacation at the Chesapeake Bay so I thought that aspect would be nostalgic for him. Frank's family affectionately called the casual eatery the "Rotten Eel". To this day Frank vividly remembers their crab cakes... and the slot machines. This gift soon became solely Frank's, not Alex's; but Frank shared generously with Autumn and Isaiah who also became very engaged in the slot machine operation portion. The slot machine lights up, sounds a bell, and dumps out coins when a "jackpot" is hit. Who'd have thought a last minute $5.99 purchase at a local drug store would have had such an impact. I've included a link to the Rod 'N Reel Resort showing its growth since its establishment in 1946.

One of the jigsaw puzzles we assembled was a 300 piece puzzle called Christmas Stories. The details were really fun to locate and discover. I must reveal, although this was my gift, I did not have the opportunity to participate very much. I was pre-occupied with playing Christmas checkers against various opponents. I will sheepishly admit that after our visitors left, Frank and I did the puzzle again so that I could feel I'd given his gift to me sufficient attention.😉

Another jigsaw puzzle, my gift to Frank, worked out really well as a joint venture. The 400-piece puzzle was arranged as four 100-piece puzzles, one each for a car of the train. They linked together when completed. The LEGO construction of the train added more interest to the image; it also added to each person's incentive to complete his assigned car.

 

Jeremy, Autumn, Isaiah, and Robin played Guess in 10 the Marvel edition. This card game has the players ask up to 10 questions to help identify the character on the playing card. It is really just a specialized, formalized game of 20 questions. Frank and I knew we would not have a prayer of a chance at knowing any of the answers; we are not of the Marvel world! I did gift Frank a version of the Guess in 10 the Disney edition where there was a finite probability we could be successful. We played it the following week with friends over a zoom call. Since we had the cards and our friends did not, they could only play the role of guessing. Alas, they could not even succeed in getting Mickey Mouse. Frank and I will have to play with each other. Not all gifts are winners...

Working hard

The visit was not all fun and games. Robin and Jeremy worked their buns off doing tasks we suggested we could use help with. Robin had assured us that Jeremy liked feeling useful. We put an optional to-do list on the white board trying to be sure that Jeremy would feel "useful" but not "used". He studied it and then calmly said, "I think we do all that this week". The biggest job was getting all the baby stuff from the attic: a pack 'n ply, a high chair, a car seat, a booster seat, a bouncy chair, and an oak crib complete with frame spring and mattress. It is now in our neighbor's garage awaiting deployment to a needy family in Livermore. There was scope creep I must admit. A set of hard maple bunk beds with associated desk and chair also made from out of our attic, out of our house, and ready for give-away. 

Jeremy made his mark other places as well, figuring out how and changing the light bulb in my sewing machine and in my sewing room ceiling light fixture. In our yard he trimmed the pepper tree and installed sprinkler head protectors and organized the outdoor shed. Amidst all this activity Robin and I managed to squeeze in a visit to my local quilt shop. After their visit, when Frank and I put away Xmas stuff, we were so impressed at how Robin had organized our attic. Today I dropped off lamps and a TV wall mount at Good Will, other treasures that had vacated the attic thanks to the efforts of Robin and Jeremy.

Family Gathering and Meals

Our first night we enjoyed a party pan of Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo I had pre-ordered from Strizzi's. Jeremy, Robin, Autumn and Isaiah had been up early enough to catch a 5:00 am flight from Oklahoma City so I expected them to be close to a zombie state by dinner time, even though we ate early. But the food went over really well. We recalled how a year earlier, when both Robin's and Dan's families had been in Livermore for Thanksgiving 2023, the dish (from Costco this time) had gone over well with one small hitch. The chicken had been layered on top and not mixed throughout. Since the six kids were served first, taking servings from the upper surface, the adults had fettuccine without any chicken. We did better this holiday. The Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo (with chicken distributed) lasted two nights and the other nights Robin and Jeremy cooked, or we/they brought in takeout. I was not chief chef at all! 

New Year's Eve we all went to bed before midnight although the sound of mini-explosions made falling asleep difficult for a few. Every one was tired. I thought the pops and whistles were just noises from locals, but apparently the fairground, in the next town over, held fireworks. Autumn was able to watch them from her room, tucked in bed.

January 1st, our final night together we dined on a tilapia recipe Robin had made earlier in the week. It was so good we requested it again. There are two pictures that follow — one taken by Autumn and one taken by Isaiah. We wanted to be sure all were included. Improbable as it seemed with that number of folks, no one had an awful expression. We all seemed pretty happy.

After dinner, the night before they were to leave, rather than traipsing to a movie theater, Frank and I bought a copy of Wicked to view at home. This choice of venue was a smart option. We could take breaks and Autumn could sing along at the top of her lungs without disturbing a movie audience. Frank and I could have captions; we could go back to repeat certain scenes, or misunderstood conversations, or favorite songs. Some of the extravagant dance scenes with their extensive choreography and staging were impressive; we did not feel at a disadvantage since we did not see them on a big screen. Our large flat screen TV was big enough.

It was a great Christmas season. Although Frank and I were both a little under the weather with some temporary medical stuff, for short, intermittent stretches  the Oxenford presence certainly lifted our spirits. The pressure of "houseguests" and "entertaining" was lifted and we all just hung out and enjoyed each other in a low key mode. Yay — what a great start to 2025!

Ponder: Clutter, Organization, and Real Estate

During this pandemic many have used the time to declutter. On the top of my current (but endless) list right now is to declutter the jam-packed linen closet in the upstairs hallway, the randomly filled-to-capacity hutch in the family room, and the games/toys/books cacophonous contents of the bookcase in the family room.  (Linen closet not shown, doors in lower portion of hutch remain closed.) Items do accumulate and, if you do not move frequently, they have a budding opportunity to pile up. 

In light of the upcoming inauguration, I remember watching a TV show about the White House where it was shown how, during the few hours of the inaugural ceremony, staff and movers are pre-organized to move out the previous president and his family and move in the next president and his family. The transfer of families happens in the span of twelve hours on Inauguration Day. No way could I move our clutter in that amount of time! We have been in this pandemic for close to twelve months and our decluttering is far, far from complete. I found this Elle Decor article with interesting facts about the White House move. Following is a summary of its points but check out the link for details. The funeral referenced in item 7...?  The president's own. 

1. Move-in can't start until noon on Inauguration Day
2. There are only 12 hours to move in, clean, and spruce
3. The First Family is responsible for getting everything to the White House
4. Meanwhile, the President spends all Day at the Inauguration
5. There's a lot of flexibility when it comes to decorating the Oval Office
6. Move-in doesn't just involve private spaces
7. One first order of business? Planning a funeral
8. The President-elect has the chance to choose a new chef
9. The new President will receive a new limo
10. The President's photo gallery is updated

Then I began to wonder. "Just how big is the White House and how much is it worth? " The White House is indeed listed on Zillow, all 16 bedrooms, 35 baths, and 55,000 square feet of it; but it is presently off the market. Rent would be $1.6 M per month – $1K per bedroom per month. But with over two bathrooms per bedroom, is $1K that unreasonable?

Just imagine how much you could accumulate in there in four years! Yikes!

Ponder: Breyer Bygone Era

My daughter Robin, who was an avid horse fan throughout her adolescent and teen years, collected scale model Breyer horses, an upscale toy and collector's item for horse lovers for 60 years. Per the Breyer Horse website

Breyer Animal Creations® began as the Breyer Molding Company, a Chicago-based plastics manufacturer. Its first model horse, the # 57 Western Horse, made its appearance in 1950. It was a special order for the F.W. Woolworth Company, made to adorn a mantelpiece clock. Breyer was flooded with requests from people who wanted to know if they could purchase just the horse! With that first horse, the Breyer Molding Company had changed the focus of its business forever!

After college graduation in 2002 Robin moved to Oklahoma in 2003 for an engineering job. A huge moving truck transported the contents of her bedroom out to her apartment. Maybe because she suspected a lack of space, or maybe because her Breyer horse collection was too precious to her to risk sending out, but the horses did not make the trip from California to Oklahoma in the moving van.

After Robin bought her own first house in 2005, I mailed the horses to her in 2006. On this shelf are twenty-two horses but I believe I had already packed some. I wrapped each one individually in bubble wrap and interwove them in a large box. To conserve volume, I did not pack each in its original box. I did keep the boxes though just in case they were important to the collection. The funny story about that package was that I heard something rattling in it before mailing but was not about to unseal it to find out what it was. If I had broken something, we would find out soon enough at the other end. It turns out the mother's ring, which she had gotten me years earlier as a present, had slid off my finger and into the box while I was packing. I was happy I had not lost it as I first suspected. We both had a laugh and uttered a sigh of relief and she mailed the ring back to me.

So here I am in 2020, fourteen years later, and those original classic yellow, blue and red Breyer boxes still filled the top shelf of the closet in my sewing room. They were nested two and three deep to save space but still they took up about 85% of the shelf. Her brother's architectural model from his college days took up the other 15% since his 2006 graduation –  but that is a different story. I am in closet cleaning mode and my daughter and I both agreed it was time to let the boxes go.

I emptied all the boxes out onto the cabinets in the upstairs hallway next to my sewing room. There the thirty five boxes sat for a couple days until I built up the physical and emotional energy to collapse them. I FaceTimed my daughter and we walked down the memory lane of her teen years, reminiscing where and when each horse was purchased, which were her favorites, and which models per Robin had a "new beautiful mold". She even recalled the name of the artists who sculpted a few of the molds. I also found two horses, still yet untouched and in the original packaging. They added another two boxes.

I enjoyed the FaceTime call so much I still wanted to keep a some type of record of what the horses were. I kept the front face of each box with the imprinted identification of the horse number and name. Some had gold seals and other special markings.

I stacked the front acetates, overlapping to show the names, and combined them in columns. I took photos but also typed the names into a list, lest a few be illegible. Some of Robin's horses date back to the early 1990's.

I pulled out the certificates of authenticity and smiled as I saw the green index cards of my daughter's notes, dreaming which horse she was going to add next to her collection. For two horses with special packaging for marketing purposes, I preserved the fancy decorative box background.

Here are the remnants of the boxes, their innards having been dutifully separated from the acetate of the box fronts. My husband carted the components of the collapsed boxes to the recycling bin.

I will mail the box fronts, certificates, and two backdrop scenes to Robin. If I become nostalgic I will reread this post. Otherwise I will enjoy having a entire additional shelf to store my quilting paraphernalia. A roll of batting that I buy in bulk will tuck in quite nicely up there.

Ponder Post: Pride in the Mundane

ALLELUIA!
It's official. The bin purging  has come to closure. I am proud of the results and relieved it is over. The entire task spanned Feb 2nd to Apr 26th.

BACKGROUND
On January 6th we needed to empty the attic of 100+ bins of "stuff" to have some HVAC ductwork done. My Jan 28th post titled Progress but TTT related the tale of migration of stuff from attic to second floor bedrooms on Jan 6th. The  final touches and corrections to the upstairs furnace and air conditioning work was not finalized until the end of January and so in my post for Feb 2nd titled Bin There Done That I describe initiating the task of culling bin contents as we repopulated the attic. My estimate at that time was that with 100 bins, if I did three a day, I could be finished in a month. Here it is, the end of April, and so the reality of that estimate morphed to three months! And mundane as it is, I had to mark the accomplishment and celebrate the success with a post. 

RESULTS
I counted 24 full heights bins - all emptied!

There were 3 half height bins - all emptied. There were fewer of these to start with plus the contents of some full height bins were pared down to fit into a half height bin. So even if I did not let go of all the contents of a full height bin I still did succeed in reducing it. Also, half height bins are lighter and easier to handle so the odds of pulling one out of the attic to access its contents are greater. And there were 6 quarter size bins - emptied!

I counted 29 lids for full size and half height bins. Why three more lids than bins? Bins break, especially when dropped. Lids generally do not.

I counted 14 lids for quarter size bins and 10 shoe box lids. The discrepancy here is that I use some of the smaller size bins as open containers to store patterns, socks, underwear, etc. Heaven forbid I should throw away the unused lids. They got stored in the attic and will continue to reside there. Suppose I should repurpose a bin and need the lid?

Where did the contents of all those bins go? A lot was donated to good will. Fabric (gasp, yes, fabric) was given to a quilt guild to make into outreach community quilts. Two bins of hand crocheted baby afghans (Mar 16th DianeLoves2Quilt post) were sent to my guild's quilt show this past weekend to be sold and the proceeds donated to purchase supplies to make charity quilts. Those not sold will go on to be sold at a church or given to mothers with babes in need.

Some of the nicer nostalgic toys that were age appropriate were shipped to the grandkids; we held on to a fair amount that will be sent when they are older. A post in March chronicled a good deal of those toys. Books were given to the library and we are thinning down some wood puzzles to go there as well. I could not bear to just toss stuffed animals in the trash. Many agencies would not accept them for health and liability issues. Through dogged research, Frank found a charity that will accept gently loved plush toys. They were easy to part with once I learned they would be hugged by another child. We packed them in clear trash bags to transport them. Frank and I wanted them to be able to see out and not get scared.

In retrospect I wish I'd taken a photo of all the emptied bins impressively looming on the guest room bed but alas, I did not. Here they are stacked in the attic though, once we ferried them up there. I am quite proud of the volume of contents that has gone from our lives. Imagine how much space they had occupied when they were full and not in this nested configuration!

My goal was a 33% reduction and I think I succeeded in a 25% reduction. But as each holiday rolls around I plan to cull its decor. For example, four bins this Easter were whittled down to three. Here is the guest room in before and after pictures, the king size bed and floor free of a tower of bins, finally. Feel free to visit now. We have cleared a space for guests to sleep!

There is once again a view out the window of Alex's room, now too. Huge sigh of relief ... !

The saying goes, "One man's trash is another man's treasure". It was a lot of work but I am proud that our "treasures" have been refined to a manageable quantity and that our "trash" has been moved on to become some one else's treasure.