Christmas Memories

Christmas Memories

What are your Christmas memories? Are they warm memories of family and friends? Do you have memories of going to church or singing in a choir? Did you ever have to work at Christmas time?

I am feeling especially nostalgic this year and I’m not quite sure why. Daddy has been gone for 6 years this past October and Mom left us August 2010. I’m blaming this nostalgic sort of melancholy frame of mind on all of the recent past and the upcoming changes in my environment. And while I’ve been somewhat weepy I am enjoying the good, warm feeling I get when I give to family, friends and even strangers. So, if you’ve read this far and you are curious, I’m going to share my Christmas’ past, present and what I hope will be in my Christmas' to come!

Christmas’ in the past, as a small child, were magical! The season always stared with Aunt Lynne’s Christmas luncheon at the Houston Club downtown. She would book the luncheon to coincide with the large 2 story Christmas tree in the lobby and the TSU Carolers to be in attendance. There were aunts, uncles, cousins, great aunts, great uncles, and cousins many times removed. Various long time family friends would come and celebrate with us but the best memory of all was after lunch. Mom would take me to see the Christmas scenes, usually animated, in the windows of the downtown Foley’s department store. Talk about magical! And then we would do some shopping before heading home.

Trimming the tree at our house, when I was younger, was always interesting. The annual tug-of-war over fresh cut versus ‘it’s time for an artificial tree’ was always a lively discussion. Mom won out until after we had all mostly moved out on our own. Dad would hang the lights and then watch and direct traffic as we hung the ornaments. Then came the icicles…..a bit of background here – Dad was an engineer so, hanging icicles was not just more decoration, it was a precise balance of where and how many to hang. And woe be unto you if you pulled more than one strand at a time! Pulling out the stockings was always a treat. A friend of the family from when I was an infant, hand made and decorated a felt stocking for me with my name embroidered on the top of it. I still have it and as fragile as it is, it has been hung most every year since I received it!

Christmas Eve in the early years, were spent at my Dad’s mom’s house. I remember food and fun playing with all my cousins and visiting with all the family. And then the gift exchange! Then home with Mom and Dad and off to bed to wait for Santa to come. Some years, Santa would leave me a note after he ate his cookies and drank his milk; I think I still have one of the notes. Amazing how similar to my Dad’s handwriting it is.

Christmas morning was even more magical! The stockings were now filled and usually on the couch or a chair with all of the toys and presents Santa brought while we were sleeping. The living room would be filled with wrapping paper and squeals of delight over all the toys and presents Santa and my parents gave to us.

About the time I was in my early college years, after my Nana had passed away, we had Christmas Eve at my Mom and Dad’s house and now we had my children and then my niece and nephew along with assorted in-laws. We also had what I called the ‘strays’. These were the friends and sometimes friends of friends that had no place to go or no family close by. A lot of this group consisted of doctors and nurses, with no children, spouses or significant others, who would work a shift at the hospital and stop by on the way to work or the way home for refreshments and usually something to unwrap from Santa. Those times as a young adult and later as a mother myself, were just as magical as the Christmas’ from my childhood because I was fortunate enough to see the season through the eyes of my own beautiful daughters.

Some years have been tougher than others. Those Christmas’ that were the first holidays after losing both grandmothers, Aunt Lynne and then Dad and finally Mom were very hard. Somehow knowing how much they all loved this time of year made it easier to celebrate and remember their joy in the season.

The past couple of years my daughters and I and their spouse / significant other have celebrated along with my siblings. It’s a lot more “low key” than years past; a smaller group but still warms my heart that we all still gather together. This year, my brother is living with me. He was just recently diagnosed with MS and is unable to drive so, he is at my mercy. Not that this is a bad thing but he will be with me Christmas Eve and Christmas morning as we celebrate with my kids at my youngest daughter’s house in Houston. A different celebration in a different location from years past but the sentiment and the joyous celebration with family remains the same. We will spend a quiet Christmas Eve finishing up the wrapping and prepping for Christmas morning brunch. The oldest and my son in law are both on call Christmas Eve so they have to stay close to where they might be called in to see patients. There are no young children, this year, to share the wonders of waking up on Christmas morning and running into where the stockings are filled; signs that Santa came during the night; but my hope is that this will be my future Christmas’.

In recent years, I have come to look forward to the company's participation in the Salvation Army Christmas Angel tree. I’ve been doing this for 12 years; when the girls were younger I chose kids close to their ages and we shopped for kids that had less than us. The past 4 or 5 years I’ve picked the ‘Forgotten Seniors’ from the list, one each, male and female. I remember my mom and dad when I shop for these precious angels. After this year, I’ll have to find an Angel Tree on my own. Our contract ends February 29, 2012 and at this point I will be unemployed at close of business on that day. While I am apprehensive, I am not dwelling on my job prospects; that little issue can wait until AFTER I have celebrated this glorious time of the year with my family.

So these are my memories and my hopes for the future. My wish is that all of my precious family and friends will have a joyous and loving time with their own family and friends. Remember those who are not here to celebrate with us any longer and know they are looking down and smiling as we toast each other this Christmas Season.

Have a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year!!!!

TerryT in Galveston: Been Awhile!

TerryT in Galveston: Been Awhile!: I had no idea it had been so long since I put anything on here. I've composed some things but deleted them as inappropriate and trust me th...

Been Awhile!

I had no idea it had been so long since I put anything on here. I've composed some things but deleted them as inappropriate and trust me they were the inappropriate ravings of a middle aged lunatic!!


I need to drop in and just express some random thoughts today; it's kind of bubbling up inside and needs an outlet so here goes!


FAMILY
I am so grateful for the chosen and biological family that I call mine own. They prop me up [sometimes they don't even know they did it!] and drag me up short as needed.

MY DAUGHTERS
I have the best 2 daughters ANYONE could ask for ever in a million years! As those of you who know me well, I am so exceedingly proud of my kids I could just bust wide open! They are both smart, gracious and loving young women who are both successful in their chosen professions. Yes, you could say this is one proud mom!

ODE TO LONG TIME FAMILY FRIENDS
Extended / chosen family can be just as close as blood relatives. Case in point: My dad's mom lived in West U on Ruskin street during my childhood and across and down the street was a woman who's family owned a downtown photography studio. Aunt Tere and in later years her son, Manual, took pictures of most all of the family at one time or another. There is a picture of me, my first Christmas and I am about 5 weeks old, at my grandmother's house with my Mom and Dad. That was the first of many pictures she and her son took of me in my lifetime all the way up to my wedding pictures.

This lady was like another aunt/grandmother/mentor to me as a child, teen and young adult. The funny thing is, my most poignant memory is one that occurred when I was about 4 or 5 years old. Every Sunday my dad would pick up Nana and Aunt Tere and we would all go to Mass together. Being the 'chatterbox' that I was, I would talk incessantly [well, that's what the adults said anyway!] and I had a particularly bad habit of starting each sentence with......Nana, You know what? or Aunt Tere, You know what? So, one Sunday, they had enough and told me I would get a nickle to spend at the drugstore soda fountain on the way home, which by the way was just enough to buy a single dip chocolate ice cream cone. I sat there in the back seat and bit my lip.......and fidgeted......and started to say something....stopped.....and I did this all the way to the Church. After Mass, I got my reward and promptly got into the car, after claiming my ice cream reward and started the conversation with......Nana, You know what? Funny that I can still remember them laughing until they cried to this day.

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY TRADITIONS - OLD AND NEW
As the Christmas holiday approaches and we embark a new memories and new or different traditions, I am reminded of all those long past times when we would gather at my grandmother's house on Christmas Eve. I hope this year will be the beginning of some new traditions that will incorporate some of the old ideas with my own kids. With mom and dad both gone and the 4 of us going in different directions, it's hard to let go of the old traditions. I keep thinking that change can be a good thing sometimes and this will be the start of different memories and different traditions, not bad, just different.

I won't be putting up a full size tree this year; it's just me, Bubba and my little dog so the small tree with the mini-ornaments will be fine. I don't miss having a full size tree; I always hated putting it up and decorating it alone the years I've done that so I won't miss it at all. What I will miss is having everyone wake up under the same roof Christmas morning. We will all get together at one place mid morning but it's just not the same. New memories, new traditions to look back on in the future.

PROMISE TO MYSELF
I will try to get here more often. I feel centered and calm when I can put my random thoughts on 'paper'. I just wish I was a better writer! With the ending of my contract at NASA, I will need this blog to keep calm and centered. So far I'm there but I have a feeling I won't always be this serene about losing my job for the last 12+ years. So, my promise is to stop by more than every 5 months :-) and to keep breathing deeply and letting it out slowly!!

Pet Peeves aka Yes, I am Venting!!

I will have to set the stage for this one. Be patient with me so you can feel the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat experienced by myself, my daughter and her husband yesterday!!

I spent the day yesterday helping my oldest child and my son-in-law move into their new place. They are starting a new phase in their respective careers and being a Mom, I felt it was my duty to lend a helping hand, however slight, to their new adventure. I took a vacation day - all 8 hours worth - left the island early and caught up with them at the old place in League City, Texas. [for those not from the area, it's a burb about 25 miles south of Houston on I-45]

When I arrived, late, around 9am, the son-in-law was on the phone with the 'scheduled' moving company. The moving company's excuse for not being there or on the way there is "they had a 7am move and that crew isn't finished". The plan was they would call the kids or show up by noon. HA! The 3 of us made an executive decision to load our respective vehicles with the little stuff, stuff in open containers, pictures, etc and head to the new place. The new place is in the Bellaire area of Houston [again, for those not knowledgeable, Bellaire is a city within the big city and known for it's fabulous homes and great high school] We make it to the new house about 11:30am and proceed to unload boxes, bags, pictures, etc. All this time, son-in-law is talking to the original moving company and trying to arrange a backup solution. Attention Fly By Night Moving Companies: We are on to you; we know you only want the money and you hire minimum wage jerks who are also scam artists trying to screw the unsuspecting customer out of more cash!! We will not use you again and will tell everyone we know and that's a LOT of people!!!! And quit over booking your trucks and people, dumbass dispatchers!!!

We decide at this point to divide and conquer; Mom [that's me!] stays at the new place to unpack - unload - put away the few things we've brought in our vehicles and the kids [daughter and son-in-law] leave to meet the movers [or so we hope] in League City. I work on putting things away and arranging the kitchen and then I sit...........and wait...........and read my Nook............and play on my Blackberry.........and 2:30pm rolls around. No movers......no truck........craptastic!

The kids in the meantime are calling all over the Houston area looking for movers, a truck, helpers, etc. At this point it's evident that the original movers nor the backup movers are going to show up. No one is returning phone calls to the kids and they are beginning to PANIC! Son-in-law starts his new Fellowship on July 1st and this move has to take place on June 30th!! About this point in the day, I'm so bored, I go out into the backyard and start pulling weeds on the patio. Son-in-law now has several moving companies [and I use the term company loosely] lined up and the first one to show up with strong backs and a decent size truck wins the prize!

I am now running low on Nook power and only a third of the way through my latest book. My Blackberry is down to about a quarter of battery power and there is no cable tv scheduled to be installed until between 5pm and 7pm I do, however have 2 tv's in the house so if the cable guy(s) show up, I'll at least have tv. No one has shown up or called at the League City apartment and the kids have now taken apart the bed and staged all of the boxes to be moved. And they wait, and wait, and wait.

Fast forward to 5:20pm more or less. I talk to my daughter - they are still in the same holding pattern and the cable company is now on the clock. At 6:30pm I go out to my car, start it up and plug in the Blackberry so the battery can charge. I call the cable company and get a dispatcher on the phone. She was very polite and professional and tells me "it's not yet 7pm and the guy is on his way to your location." At 7:30pm, no cable guy BUT there is now a truck headed to the old apartment!! WOOHOO!!!!

Approximately 8pm, the movers are finally at the apartment - moving company number 1,268 on the call down list. The FB message from the son-in-law reads "We have adopted two special needs children. Named them "the movers". Now, I have nothing against hard worker guys that use their backs to perform manual labor BUT, what the hell happened to taking pride in your work?!?!? These guys bitched and bellyached and fussed about working so late and if I heard from the one guy another time about how he only gets to see his girlfriend 2 nights a week, I was going to SMACK the guy!!!

The movers finally make it to the new place around 11pm. HALLELUJAH! They get there right after the cable installers leave.

Oh yeah, the cable company calls about 8:30pm to say that they are about 45 minutes out and did I still want them to come out.....well, Yeah, I still want them to come do the job they were asked to do! WTH did you think I was going to say?!?!? I nicknamed the cable installer team Dingleling and Dingleberry.......first it was "it's too dark to make the connection on the pole outside"......You have got to be kidding me! There are two of you and you each have a ladder and you each have a good strong flashlight and climb that damned ladder and make the connection! So, they get the connection to the house working. Then they say....."where is the computer?" Ummmmmm......it's being loaded on a truck in League City as we speak, should be here in about an hour more or less. The two Dingles start to PACK UP THEIR STUFF!!! WTH! Oh, they cannot split the work order and only do a portion of it and they cannot do the internet connection without a computer. Plan B - call the youngest daughter, who is on her way over; in my best Mom voice I tell her, go get your laptop and bring it with you. The Dingles then give me the Reader's Digest version of a day in the life of a cable installer; up at 5am, to work at 7am and still on the clock at 9pm. [mentally I am playing my small violin in sympathy] Ok, and? You want my sympathy? You are not getting any sympathy from me - you need to work more efficiently, gripe about it less and just do your job, dammit!!

Laptop shows up, Internet and Cable T.V. are now functional. Cable guys leave. And now the moving truck shows up. All you folks reading this that are military understand the acronym for SNAFU and the phrase that starts with Cluster? Multiply that by about 1,000!!!!

The tall mover dude, Tweedledee, says to my son-in-law, after stopping traffic on the busy street in front of the house to maneuver the truck into the driveway, they won't unload the truck until they get paid and now the rules have changed, they have to get paid in CASH. NOT the agreement that was made with their company. They finally get it, that no one is paying in cash so, they get the card info and the truck is opened and they begin to unload. Tweedledee and Tweedledum start bringing things into the house; both of them constantly grousing about how late it is and they don't want to be there.....youngest daughter tells Tweedledum to be happy he's got a job and a paycheck - she works in HR for a large company and knows how tough the job market is out there. Tweedledee keeps tripping over the step down just inside the front door - the entire time he is there moving things into the house, I don't think he ever hit it just right. Oh, and they dropped the king size mattress on the ground, in the dirt and do nothing to clean it up, apologize.....nothing. Good riddance to bad news!!

By MIDNIGHT all of their stuff is in the house - HOORAY!!!! Bed is set up and has linens; boxes lined up in the extra room off the kitchen and the kids are pretty much settled into the new abode.

The things I took away from the day are this:

• Mover types, the small local ones anyway, tend to be fly-by-night operations with no vision for repeat business. I've used both local and nationally known companies in my many moves and have come to the conclusion it's worth the money to spend on the bonded larger movers. My opinion and my experience color this one. [Click here for my take on my most recent move]
• Cable installers come in two flavors: there are the complainers like I encountered last night that bitched and griped the whole time they were there, making sure I knew they were on their way home and got called back to do this install OR the type like I got when I moved last month - one dude, efficient, professional, offering advice on where to place the modem, etc. Cable tv and internet are necessary evils - again my opinion, the cable companies know this and are indifferent to how good or bad the customer service delivered to the customer is and they don't care as long as they get paid

So, the move from hell is over for now. The wifi at the new place was balky but we got it working this morning - me on the phone and my daughter plugging and unplugging stuff until it kicked in. We discovered that the new place has fleas in the backyard so she's hunting for flea spray this morning. Would I do it again? Hell yes, it's a Mom thing. You do what you have to for your kids. Did I want to kick some ass yesterday? DOUBLE hell yes!! Mess with me BUT do not mess with my kids, biological or married to my kids. I will be writing an impromptu review of the two cable guys; that was really uncalled for. And as for the movers, well let's just say, I won't be recommending them to move the fleas from the backyard.

In closing a general observation about customer service in general. If you don't have the personality or the patience or the demeanor to perform customer service work, I am sure there is something else out there. And if there isn't anything else out there, then be professional and give it 100% effort; you will be rewarded in the long run. I work in a customer service capacity; I know I have bad days and I have good days but I try to remember that my customer is why I get a paycheck and the customer is the primary reason I am working in a place I truly like working in and hope to continue working there. I know how easy it would be to let my personal life - family, health, money - interfere. All of those things could color how I deal with customers on a daily basis and I know that in order to give professional service, I have to leave those distractions at the door and I am a better employee and a better service provider for making the effort.

TerryT in Galveston: Game Changers aka Life Changers

TerryT in Galveston: Game Changers aka Life Changers: "Let's talk about game changers - you know that play in the third quarter that changes the momentum of the game. You know what I'm talking a..."

Game Changers aka Life Changers

Let's talk about game changers - you know that play in the third quarter that changes the momentum of the game. You know what I'm talking about, right? Or that double play in the inning that turns the game around or the home run that knocks out the starting star pitcher? Those kinds of game changers but related to life.

Life Changers are those events in your life that seem to rock you back on your heels or make you stop and reflect. They are those moments or days or weeks-months in your life that you can point to and say "Aha! At that point I started seeing my world in a different light", be it for the better or not. It's those events that cause stress, good or bad, but stress nevertheless.

At 50+ years and counting, I seem to have more of these life changing events coming closer and closer together. I think it's the piling on effect that is rocking me on my heels! I keep hearing my mom and grandma telling me 'that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger' and I have to wonder, is that really true? We used to tell my nephew 'it builds character' and he would do the infamous kid-eye-roll as he walked away. But seriously, why does it seem that the life altering events in our lives seem to come faster and closer together the older we get?

Let me define what I think is a life changing event:

• Learning to ride a 2-wheel bike with no training wheels
• Moving from Elementary to Middle to High School
  
• Getting a new baby brother or sister in the family
• Losing a favorite family member - aunt, uncle, cousin
• Losing a grandparent
• Moving out of the house to a college dorm
• Marriage proposal
• Graduating from college
• Getting married
• Having kids
• Getting a divorce
• Having to deal with teenagers alone
• Watching your parents age before your eyes [and knowing you might have hastened the process!]
• Moving more than a 5 hour drive away from home - to another state
• Major Surgery
• Menopause [sorry guys, had to go there]
  
• Losing a parent
• Making the choice to move back to your home state and then making it happen
• Having to admit that your living parent needs around the clock care, not at home
• Losing your second parent
• Experiencing catastrophic weather events like floods and hurricanes
  

These are the things I have experienced in MY life. And pretty much in that order but the last few seem to come faster and closer together. As I look back over the list, I don't see anything that is glaring, out of the ordinary or earth shattering; it just looks like a list full and semi-normal life events.

Many years ago, Gail Sheehy wrote about Passages in our lives from the ages of 18 - 50. She has written other books, but her original book really spoke to me in my 30's and screams at me in my 50's! I am living those passages through life events. In a nutshell, my personal stressors are at an all time high. Life is throwing lemons and I can't make lemonade fast enough! AND I'm running out of buckets, barrels, pitchers and places to put the damned lemonade!!! How's that for cliched and snafud??

How do other people deal with these life changing, game changing events? Do they seem to come closer together as you get older or is it just me? I'll be curious to see who posts comments on this one. :-)


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Here is a site that rates the stress of events in your life: http://www.stresstips.com/lifeevents.htm
Or another site with a list of events and their point totals: http://www.stressaffect.com/Stressful-Life-Events-List.html

More crockpot cooking on a hot Sunday

Yes, I cooked today. Well sort of.....I took a recipe I found online and did what my Mom used to do best - I ad libbed it!

So here it is - I called it "Enchilada Crockpot Bake"

3 lbs really lean ground meat
6 tortillas - I used the low carb flour ones
1 1/2 packages finely grated cheese
1 can refried beans
1 can chopped green chilis
2 cans diced rotel tomatoes
1 can enchilada sauce
2 pkgs taco seasoning
2 cups picante sauce

I browned the meat, drained and rinsed it off
Added the canned items and the taco seasoning and mixed it all up in a large skillet

In my big crockpot, I layered torn tortillas, the meat mixture, cheese and repeated 3 times. Set the crockpot on high for 4 hours and we will see how good this is!

Howdy from The Beach

Well, I moved out of DD#1 house into a 2bd/2ba apt on the Seawall....check out my blog post about the move - http://terryngalveston.blogspot.com/

Little brother is still hanging on BUT he does have a job at Target which is way better that nothing - which is what he had until 6 weeks ago. He has the little, tiny bedroom and I'm not making it very easy for him to stay.....

Gotta go dig thru another box and put some more schiznit away. {{{{HUGS}}}} to all the Sistahs!

Let's Talk About Moving

Let's talk about moving.


I have engaged in this 'activity' way too many times in my 50+ years. I've moved from one family home to another at the age of 8, then to a college dormitory, then to Beaumont with my new husband. After that we moved 5 times in 5 years with 2 kids in tow. Never out of the state and into places I left a piece of myself behind each time.

Then there was the heart wrenching move from The House we had built together that I thought was going to be where we lived in marital bliss and watched kids and grand babies grow up. NOT! I could not wait to get out of that house after he left; the memories were just too painful and the loss of all those dreams were devastating. After the divorce there was the house I bought all by myself. Those were great times; the girls learned to stay home alone; I made friends outside of my comfort zone and moved into a different working environment. After that was the mad dash to find a rental inside the loop because HISD stopped granting out of district transfers so, we moved into the area where my daughters were already established in school.

A couple of moves after that it was a move into my sister's house to help with the nephew - little sister was traveling about 75% of the time then. And then there was The Move Out of State.....OMG!

I moved out of state for all the right reasons, or so I thought, at the time. This was one of those, you make a decision based on the facts in evidence, you pray and talk it over with those who you trust and you make the leap of faith! Northern Alabama was a very interesting place to live; I made some new friends and got re-acquainted with others. During that time I lost my dad and wasn't there for my Mom but I got myself back to Texas as quickly as I could! I laughingly tell people that I "did my 18 months in Huntsville......Alabama, not Huntsville, Texas" LOL

Newly arrived back from Alabama, I shared a house with my oldest daughter to 'help with the dogs whenever she was on call' and found my HOME on Galveston Island! From the moment I moved my belongings into that first little place in the 'hood, to the house she bought while in residency to the small 2 bdrm 2 ba apartment I am in now, I Am At Home on Galveston Island!!!

Each time I have moved I find that I pitch more material things; I cling to the family heirlooms but ditch the other 'stuff' I've accumulated. I find things that I've misplaced or lost along the way - this time it was the 2 gift cards to Target and Bed-Bath & Beyond I found while packing my dresser.

One week after the latest move, I still have lots of boxes everywhere but can function in the kitchen and my room and bathroom. Most of the boxes will be unpacked and those that are not will get stored in closets until I can let go of those items that I still hold onto even now.

If you've made it this far, thanks for putting up with my ramblings. I am enjoying writing these missives and I really need to do this more often!!